Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is a metroidvania that features excellent hack n’ slash combat and beautiful visuals. However, its writing choices may not be for everyone
There’s been a bit of a lull when it comes to metroidvania games, with recent notable entries being titles such as MoonScars or last year’s Metroid: Dread for the Nintendo Switch. Besides those two titles, there haven’t been many notable metroidvania games. But what about Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune? A 3D side-scrolling hack n’ slash developed and published by IceSitruuna. Could this fill that metroidvania void?
For those of you who don’t know, metroidvania is a subgenre of platforming games that take inspiration from the Castlevania and Metroid games. These games often feature large maps of interconnecting rooms, some of that require the player to return when they have obtained a certain item or skill.
In the case of Frontier Hunter Ezra’s Wheel of Fortune, it takes its inspiration from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the spiritual successor to the Castlevania series. Much like Bloodstained, it breaks the usual metroidvania mold by being entirely 3D despite being a sidescroller.
In Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune, we are introduced to Ezra, Lead Tactician of the Imperial Frontier Survey Team, who is aboard the Tempest airship and is tasked with hunting the various types of beasts and monsters that lie within the game’s beautiful and mysterious setting. Ezra will not be alone on this journey.
Joining Ezra on her is the rowdy Ciara, a young girl who Ezra rescues before the beginning of the game, and Nia, a survivor that despite her lack of wits, is incredibly kind and generous to her adopted siblings. Much like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, you will have the ability to switch between the three girls in combat.
Each girl has their own strengths and weaknesses. Ezra attacks faster than both Ciara and Nia but doesn’t have many ranged abilities. Nia’s attacks deal more damage but are slower than the others, and Ciara’s attacks deal the least amount of damage but can stun enemies more easily. Switching between characters is vital when going up against different enemy types, as when a character isn’t equipped to face that type of enemy, they will soon be KO’d, and you’ll be unable to use them until you reach a Save Room.
They will also have access to different types of weapons that change the way that each girl fights in combat. In the case of Ezra she has access to katanas, these do large swooping attacks and deal more damage than rapiers, Rapiers that while being weaker than katanas can attack faster and stun certain enemies; and finally Spears, which deal the most amount of damage and has a larger attack range but is slower than both Rapiers and Katanas. These weapons make the characters much more versatile and allow the player to have more options when it comes to gameplay.
Combat in Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is one of the game’s biggest strengths. Attacking is incredibly responsive and impactful; this makes combat very enjoyable as you slash and charge your way through enemies. When you attack said enemies, you will rack up a combo score; the higher the combo score, the stronger your next attack, as well as the chance to perform a Weapon Skill. These are powerful attacks that can stun and knock-back regular enemies, but in the case of bosses, they allow you to break through their shield and deal massive amounts of damage.
When you defeat enemies and bosses, they will drop various materials that you can then use to craft new equipment aboard the Tempest airship. The Tempest will serve as your main hub of the operation, with the various members of the crew offering you different services. Nyano, the cat demihuman nurse, serves as the ship’s medic and lets you buy health potions and other pick-ups. The ship’s chef, Roland, lets you buy recipes and ingredients for food that you can make at Save Rooms. This food can give you a temporary combat buff while exploring the world.
As for the actual world of Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune, it is filled with beautiful 3D lush forests, and scenic floating islands that are bursting with vibrant color. But beware, as this beautiful world comes with its own set of dangers, from sky bandits to the savage tribes of bestial demihumans, Ezra and her party will need to stay on their toes while exploring.
So far, with its beautiful environments and excellent combat, Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune seems like a pretty praise-worthy game…but sadly, where the praise ends. While Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune has fun gameplay and beautiful visuals, its writing falls very short.
The biggest flaw in Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune’s writing is that it relies heavily on tropes commonly seen in anime and manga, and it doesn’t do the game any favors. A good example of this is with the characters and the roles they play, such as Ciara. She is the Deputy Captain of the Imperial Frontier Survey Team and is a part of Ezra’s Tactical Platoon, whose main weapon of choice is a heavy machine gun.
Now with that description, how would you imagine she looked? An experienced female soldier whose strong arms are riddled with scars from all the combat she’s seen, who would fight for Ezra no matter what the cause? Nope, she’s a petite 16-year-old girl who runs around in a frilly dress flashing her undergarments as she runs, whose only real personality trait is that she has a pervy crush on Ezra.
Using pre-established character tropes isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They are meant to be used as a framework when you write or design a character and are either meant to be built upon or subverted, but here the tropes are treated more like checkboxes. Small Girl, Big Gun? Check. Idiot with a heart of gold? Check. Lecherous old man? Check.
These don’t do these characters justice and ruin moments when we get actual character development because the designated pervert needs to make a comment about wanting to touch girls. Having these characters being nothing more but stale tropes just make them forgettable, especially when there is more than one character filling that role.
Even the heroines of the game’s story can be summed up as conventionally attractive fair-skinned anime girls in frilly dresses, with the only differences between them being their height and their play style. The only one out of the three that stands out on her own is Nia, but even then, the game allows you to change the character’s appearances making what uniqueness they have meaningless.
Another major flaw in the game’s writing is its world-building. In a large fantasy world such as the one where Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is set; it is vital that the writers weave the world-building into the narrative. The writers don’t do this and instead explain the world and its setting through long-winded monologues during cutscenes as if you’re watching an episode from an anime. Unlike anime, the game isn’t limited to a 30-minute run time, so between drawn-out cutscenes, you just get moments with absolutely no world-building.
Even then, Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune just makes things up as it goes along. What do you mean Ciara knows healing magic? Then why do I need health potions? The game also doesn’t explain why certain things exist. Why does Ezra still use swords for hunting when guns exist? Why do platforms such as BiliBili exist in this world? Why are some demihumans more human than others? We don’t get told any of this.
Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune is an excellent hack and slash metroidvania but its writing isn’t the greatest and might not be everyone’s cup of tea. If the writing and its quirks don’t bother you, then give the game a try.
