Freedom Wars Remastered review: Re-vita-lizing a classic

Freedom Wars Remastered has to be one of the most surprising games I've played in a long while. On the surface, Freedom Wars is your typical JRPG affair, with a robust combat system. However, it's in its presentation and intuitiveness that it shines the most. Unsurprisingly, playing Freedom Wars Remastered constantly reminded me of my time with 2023's Crisis Core Remaster.

There's really something special about the Xbox 360 and PS3-era games that never fails to captivate me. As for the game itself, Freedom Wars is pretty similar to games like God Eater or Astral Chain. You basically set out on "hunting quests", kill otherworldly monsters, level up, craft more powerful gear, rinse, and repeat.

However, there's a certain charm in games with such a simplistic gameplay and progression loop. While not perfect by any metric, Freedom Wars Remastered is probably one of the very best games I've played in a long while. Let me explain why.

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Freedom Wars Remastered: Monster Hunter, but sci-fi

Presentation, visuals, and sound

Art style of Freedom Wars Remastered (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

In terms of its art style and visuals, Freedom Wars Remastered is almost identical to the 2014 original that came out for the PlayStation Vita. However, as a remaster, it has received some subtle yet substantial upgrades. Firstly, the rendering resolution of the remaster is significantly higher than that of the Vita, especially on PC and current-gen consoles.

Furthermore, the overall texture and asset quality are much higher, giving the game a crisper presentation. While the remaster does look quite good (even at higher resolutions), it has some graphical shortcomings. One of the issues I found is related to the character models, which look quite dated, even for a PS4/Xbox One game.

Furthermore, I also found the game's UI to be a bit more convoluted for my liking. Although the game's underlying systems are quite intuitive, the UI isn't particularly reflective of that. The UI in Freedom Wars reminded me a lot of Metal Gear Solid games, which are notorious for their intrusive and (needlessly) convoluted UI.

However, on the flip side, I do think the UI, as it is, does add a lot to the game's "sci-fi theme" and immersion. Backing it all up is an excellent soundtrack, which I found to be one of the highlights of the entire Freedom Wars experience. The game's OST mostly includes industrial music, which often reminded me of Nier: Automata and Replicant.

All-in-all, I think developer Dimps Corporation did a fantastic job at translating the PS Vita title over to modern systems, with very little artistic compromise. While I would've liked the character models to have been updated a tad bit, it's only a small blemish on the otherwise excellent presentation of Freedom Wars Remastered.

Gameplay and progression

Combat in Freedom Wars Remastered (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

The general premise of Freedom Wars Remastered is quite similar to games like God Eater or even Monster Hunter. You basically go out on specific quests, kill monsters (Abductors), craft new gear, and repeat. There are additional steps to the game, but combat is what dictates most of Freedom Wars' moment-to-moment gameplay and progression.

Apart from the basic hunting quests, there are also missions where you need to race against the clock and defeat Abductors carrying civilians. These missions were very reminiscent of the Rampage Quests in Monster Hunter Rise's base game. While not as elaborate as the Rampage events, the civilian rescue missions do offer a fun distraction.

As you progress through the main campaign, you will face more challenging Abductors. However, the difficulty in Freedom Wars Remastered is nowhere near as overwhelming as Monster Hunter or God Eater. Freedom Wars very much feels like a game that's meant to be picked up and played in short bursts.

Considering it was a PS Vita title, originally, the low difficulty is understandable, and also, appreciated. However, despite the game's lower difficulty, it certainly isn't less "grindy" than the traditional "monster-hunting experiences". I think Freedom Wars is perhaps one of the more egregious examples of grinding in single-player games.

You will constantly find yourself replaying certain missions in hopes of rare resource drops, which you can then use to craft powerful weapons, which, you can then use to "grind" more powerful monsters, for more powerful gear. Thankfully, the game does support online co-op, which can help ease the burden of grinding.

Despite the game's grindy nature, I found Freedom Wars Remastered to be an incredibly enjoyable experience from start to finish. Much like in Monster Hunter, the grind in Freedom Wars Remastered is its primary gameplay loop. However, given the game's engaging combat, you will rarely feel the tediousness of the grind creeping in on you.

Combat in Freedom Wars is your typical action RPG affair. You have access to two main weapons (which you can freely swap between during battle), a limited healing system, and plenty of stats to manage. There's also a special tool called the Thorn, which is essentially this game's version of the Slinger from Monster Hunter World.

The Thorn is used to close the distance between you and the Abductor or create opportunities for dealing damage to the enemy. There are special combos that can be performed using the Thorn, including ones that transform it into a Shield to deflect incoming damage. The Thorn is also used to heal, apply buffs, or drag airborne enemies to the ground.

Freedom Wars Remastered, much like the original on PlayStation Vita, also features PvP modes where you can test out your custom build against other online players, or your friends. However, due to the game's limited online features during the review period, I did not get the chance to test out its online aspects for myself.

Story and writing

A scene from the opening cutscene of Freedom Wars Remastered (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

The premise of Freedom Wars Remastered is also something that I found quite riveting. Essentially, the game is set in a futuristic earth where all natural resources have depleted, and being born is deemed a crime. People, simply by being born on the planet, are labeled Sinners and are sentenced to a million years in prison. The player takes control of one such "Sinner".

The only way to escape the sentence is by volunteering for dangerous missions to hunt otherworldly creatures and collect their bounty. As you complete missions, i.e., hunts, you're given the choice of donating the spoils of your quest towards reducing your sentence or keeping them for yourselves to craft better (and more powerful) gear.

The premise alone is genuinely intriguing and something that hooked me right out of the gate. The game's major story segments are presented in some really cool cinematics, which immediately gripped my attention. Furthermore, I also found the writing in the game's numerous character interactions and data logs to be quite good, albeit a bit campy.

The "monster hunter" genre isn't usually much bothered with delivering a riveting narrative experience, and that's perfectly fine since gameplay is the primary focus in those games. However, Freedom Wars does showcase how a monster-hunter experience can feature a well-written and intriguing story while also delivering stellar gameplay.

I won't go into too much detail about the story, but I should admit that it caught me off-guard. It's really well-written, and explores the depths of the human element in a world that's the least "humane". I think the story here alone makes this game worth giving a shot, even if you're not a fan of the monster hunter genre.

Few shortcomings

Freedom Wars Remastered does have a few issues on PC (Image via Bandai Namco Entertainment)

For the most part, Freedom Wars Remastered was a flawless and incredibly enjoyable experience for me, on PC. However, the game did have its fair share of technical woes that, at times, hindered my enjoyment and immersion. The most prominent issues I faced were related to the PC version's stability and the game's tendency to crash.

The game crashed at least once during every single 2-3 hour session, which, during the final stretches of the campaign, did get very annoying. Considering the game does not allow saving progress during missions, a crash often means restarting an already lengthy quest and losing out on precious resources that you might not have banked yet.

I played the game on a PC with the following specifications:

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
GPU: RTX 4070
Memory: 16 GB DDR4
Storage: 2TB m.2 SSD

Suffice it to say, the rig I was playing the game on more than surpasses the recommended specifications laid out by Bandai Namco and Dimps Corporation. However, despite the aforementioned specifications, I faced a myriad of stability-related issues with Freedom Wars Remastered.

Apart from the crashes, I also faced a bug where the game did not function properly with G-Sync, which then resulted in screen-tearing. However, I was able to remedy this by forcing V-Sync externally. I should mention that the build I was playing wasn't the final release version, and I do think the aforementioned issues will mostly get rectified by the time the game is released.

In conclusion

Freedom Wars Remastered is an excellent "monster hunter-like" and also, an RPG. While the game does have its fair few rough edges, like the MMORPG-like "grindy-ness", a somewhat campy storyline, and some technical hiccups on PC, it's mostly a solidly built game and one that offers more than what might initially meet your eye.