Freedom Wars: Remastered Review

It's always fascinating to revisit games that feel so emblematic of a specific period in time - and Freedom Wars is definitely one of those cases. Back when the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita were still current hardware, Monster Hunter jumping ship to Nintendo's handheld was a major deal; the franchise was the king of the jungle on the PlayStation Portable, and so there were no shortage of competitors that tried to take a slice of that pie. Games like God Eater, Toukiden, Lord of Arcana, and much more - yet it was when the Vita released bereft of a mainline Monster Hunter, that's when things really heated up for the genre. In addition to the existing franchises, we had even more hitting the scene - and even Sony throwing their own hat into the ring in an attempt to fill the gap. Game's like Soul Sacrifice, and yes, Freedom Wars.

What's the point in sharing this? Put simply; Freedom Wars itself perhaps hasn't aged gracefully, but it represents something that was so much bigger than any one of the Monster Hunter competitors that sprouted up at the time. A brief explosion of all these different developers, trying different things, in order to see what would stick; if their own take on the "Hunting Action" formula could lead to the same sort of juggernaut franchise that kept Capcom relevant throughout their decline during the early to mid 2010s. It's reminiscent of the current and seemingly unending chase for GaaS - Games as a Service - hits, and one that outside of a few notable exceptions has largely dissipated. In that sense, now that the dust has settled, it's a fascinating experience to get to revisit what was undoubtedly the most successful attempt at capturing some of Monster Hunter's success.

Let's back up a tick. Freedom Wars centers around one single core conceit that drives everything about the game. A hundred thousand years into the future, the Earth's resources have been more or less depleted - with a shadow of the human population remaining, situated in heavily surveilled cities called Panopticons. Due to the dire situation that the species finds itself in, the authoritarian regimes that control these city-states will instantly convict and sentence anyone even remotely accused of a crime; the very act of being born, itself considered a most grievous sin. As such, nearly everyone is born into this society with a 1 million year prison sentence, and is labeled a "Sinner". In order to gain your freedom, you must fight to protect what little resources your Panopticon has, including the Citizens with valuable skills that are one of the most valuable resources of them all.

I mentioned that Freedom Wars is a Hunting Action game; but that's only partly the case. While many missions will include giant monsters called Abductors, the real meat of the game revolves around securing and rescuing Citizens. These can be held captive in Abductors, but they can also be the target of skirmishes with rival Panopticons - and their own Sinners that you'll have to intercept from stealing your Citizens. Merely reaching them isn't enough; as regardless of whether you're up against an Abductor or a team of Sinners, you must escort any Citizens to an RRU - a Resource Retrieval Unit - to send them back home.

On a base level, missions in Freedom Wars are markedly faster-paced compared to those in Monster Hunter. In fact, when up against an Abductor the goal isn't always to take it down; often while you can, the real objective is to secure any Citizens that it has entrapped. The real goal is to restrain and then seize its cargo; with its destruction merely a secondary concern.

The way that you tackle this is also Freedom Wars' most unique feature. You can have multiple weapons equipped at once - a mix of melee weapons and firearms of your choosing - yet in addition players also get access to 3 varieties of "Thorns". Thorns enable a variety of abilities depending on the type, but the primary usage is to grapple onto and cling to structure, offering a vantage point to strike enemies. You can even grapple directly to Abductors, to either target weapons and shields attached to their body, to attempt to topple them for a direct shot at the compartments holding your Citizens, and more. Thorns also have a number of secondary effects depending on the type, and additional usages that are dependent on taking a moment to charge up for those special actions. Players also can equip and customize their own wardens - android "Accessories" that escort you during missions, and can even be ordered to complete specific tasks during combat, such as delivering a citizen themselves while you distract the enemies.

While Monster Hunter: Rise comes close to the breakneck speed that players can engage with combat in Freedom Wars, it's still very much its own beast - with only the developer, Dimps, work on Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet drawing any direct comparison. While that game has been the butt of several jokes proclaiming it to be "Freedom Wars 2", it's obviously not quite the same thing compared to the PlayStation Vita's most popular original IP. There's a charm to the way the game handles its themes with a straight face; the jokes such as "So-Chlo", one of a few substances that Sinners are allowed to indulge in, which is of course just "Sodium Chloride"; table salt. The various infractions players run into that extend your sentence, equal parts frustrating and hilarious. There's a reason that Freedom Wars has retained its fans, and why this remaster was green-lit in the first place.

So, how does the game stack up with the Remaster's improvements? Visually, the game does look quite nice compared to the original - and the improved performance and resolution is quite appreciated. However, the biggest upgrades probably come down to the controls. The Vita of course had a limited selection of inputs; even the default controls for Remastered are quite different, but they undoubtedly feel a lot less cumbersome than they did on Sony's handheld. There are some additional wrinkles that help with build-craft; modules have been overhauled, with the most notable change being that they can be added and removed to equipment at will, rather than being expended upon use. There's also a new higher difficulty mode that players can opt into, that wasn't present in the original release.

That being said, there are at least a few very small caveats that relate to this release in comparison to the original Western Vita versions; the available Panopticons you can pledge to are only those that were found in the original Japanese release, so none of the non-Japanese prefecture Panopticons remain available in the game. This isn't a major deal, and especially if you never played the game on Vita it won't even be a noticeable change, but it is at least a little disappointing all considered. That being said, it's undeniable that this remaster exists primarily for the Japanese audience - the rest of us are just along for the ride. It's not a real issue in the grand scheme of things, but I figured it was worth noting.

At its core, Freedom Wars is still very much the same game as the PlayStation Vita original, warts and all. It has the same frustrating pacing, the same story that while conceptually interesting maybe doesn't fully deliver on that promise in practice. As fun as the high-speed action combat can be, it's still very limited in what you can actually do; and the scope of missions and the areas they take place in certainly betray the game's history as a handheld title from a decade prior. Still, even if it was merely a time capsule - I'd still be glad that Freedom Wars got to be remembered. It's a real treat, then, that this remaster has done an admirable job to polish up a game that for many Vita fanatics was the high point of the system's life. I can't say that Freedom Wars: Remastered is worth playing for those who never had the chance to play the original, but it would be nice if this wasn't the last we see of the world inside the Panopticon.