Read our Aether Gazer review to find out if this new anime-action RPG's story, gameplay, and design are worth your time!
Aether Gazer Review and Score Explanation
Aether Gazer Review Video
Aether Gazer Score Explanation
| Overall | The controls are simple, the combat is intuitive, and the mechanics are familiar faces that people who aren't new to the genre can immediately recognize and enjoy. Overall, it's a solid game. But beyond a handful of gimmicks like Ultimate Skillchains, it's nothing players haven't seen before. |
|---|---|
| Story | It's a generic, mobile game story of a futuristic world where public security is somehow left to a superhuman group parading around as an investment firm. It's not good, but at the same time, it's not bad either. |
| Gameplay | It's a very polished hack-and-slash game with fast-paced combat and special skills. With the aid of your AI companions, battles can become quite hectic, which lends itself well to the game's elements of excitement and suspense. |
| Visuals | The developers can be proud that they've designed some very appealing visual effects in combat. The animations and models are very smooth, too, and the game doesn't even require top-of-the-line hardware to run well. They could use more dynamic camera angles, though. |
| Audio | The game, unfortunately, suffers from a lack of punchy sound effects that bring weight to your attacks. Additionally, the music, though quite fitting for the genre and the situations they are used in, isn't something that can make a player's knees pump in excitement. |
| Value for Money | It's free to play! But, similar to other games, it's riddled with microtransactions that seek to profit from the game's mediocre rates. On the bright side, the SR characters are, more often than not, almost as viable to use as the SSR ones. |
Aether Gazer Review: Bring Your Sword to the Gunfight
Aether Gazer is a wonderful new game to come into the mobile Action RPG market. It's polished gameplay that relies on tried and tested mechanics is something all players who have experience with the genre can comfortably step into. Yongshi once again proves that they can create a product that has the ability to catch people's attention.
However, the game isn't without its flaws. It's audio appeal isn't too strong, and beyond features such as their Ultimate Skillchains and AI-controlled companions, it's nothing experienced players haven't seen before. But for a game that just released, especially by a development team with a good reputation, its future looks bright.
Aether Gazer Review
Pros of Aether Gazer
| Things Aether Gazer Got Right |
|---|
 Solid hack-and-slash gameplay A cast of well-designed characters Encourages teambuilding with lower-rarity characters |
Solid hack-and-slash gameplay
What immediately struck me when I first saw gameplay footage of Aether Gazer was how you are limited to only being able to control one of your team members, the leader. Meanwhile, an AI controls both of your other companions. We've all had our fair share of AI companions being a constant source of ire in past games like Resident Evil 4. While not every AI companion is like that (such as Quiet from MGSV), I've become wary of such things and always try to approach the matter with due caution. After all, this is a hack-and-slash game. What's the worse they could do to me? Friendly fire?
Oh, right, Kanon Daiba from the God Eater series does that...
Anyway, imagine my surprise when the AI in Aether Gazer is competent and quite effective. They attack at will with little pause, use their skills efficiently in battle, and the healers top you up when you need it instead of spamming it even when you're at full health.
Combat itself is very fast-paced. Players must weave around or dodge attacks while they string together their combos to defeat enemies, standard hack-and-slash stuff. Enemies vary from robots to humanoids to monsters more than a few heads taller than you. Each character interacts with enemies differently, adding to the experience's spice. You'll often find yourself questioning your character choices when faced with a stage that requires a different strategy than the one you have planned. Or there would be times when you realize that the stage you're on is only possible to clear with a healer. Like a real hack-and-slash game, preparation matters as much as the player's skill, and failure is guaranteed to happen at least once or twice.
But that's what makes it fun.
A cast of well-designed characters
Nowadays, it's almost a requirement to have a lineup of appealing characters to survive the competition. After all, these characters are front and center of promotional material, and it would be pretty difficult to catch people's attention when the game's media features a bland-looking, low-effort cast. In this regard, Xiamen Yongshi, the developers behind the aesthetically-popular Azur Lane, certainly knew what they were doing.
In terms of personality, the characters aren't exactly exceptional. They're not talented in making jokes or teasing their peers. Though some of them have slightly exaggerated personalities, none of them are too over the top. What they are good at, however, is being relatable. While they have personalities that may seem strange in the context of real life, Yongshi designed the characters in such a way that made it seem like they were self-aware. Barely any of them make unnecessary remarks; whenever some do, there's always context behind it.
While juxtaposing their designs and personalities might throw some off, it is strangely appealing. It's like a quirky individual of the real world was suddenly thrown into a dystopian future and was forced to face all the troubles abruptly thrown towards them.
Encourages teambuilding with lower-rarity characters
Aether Gazer uses very familiar, tried-and-true mechanics. Most characters have their basic attacks, three skills, an ultimate, and a dodge skill. Some characters have charged basic attacks or even charged skills. Each of them has some gimmick they play around with, such as stacking marks on the enemy, collecting energy to use skills with, or having skills that refresh the cooldown of their other skills.
They all feel unique and allow players to choose a character based on how they like to play. In addition, they can tailor a team around their chosen character based on the game's "Ultimate Chainskill" mechanic. This is a feature in the game that, provided certain characters are present in the same team, allows ultimates to be combined with far stronger effects. It even has a unique animation.
The Ultimate Chainskill mechanic significantly incentivizes players to diversify their teams. This includes having to choose low-rarity characters to fulfill the Ultimate Chainskill conditions. Since even the low-rarity pulls can raise their rarities through enough investment, they can rise to the challenge of later content. The characters are also designed with a fair bit of balance, allowing players to invest in them without making them feel like a waste.
Cons of Aether Gazer
| Things That Aether Gazer Can Improve |
|---|
|
Audio lacks a lot of weight A gacha system with mediocre rates Downtime in combat due to ingame features |
Audio lacks a lot of weight
Quite a lot of the enjoyment from playing a hectic genre such as hack-and-slash games come from the audio. Sound effects give weight to the events that play out as your character slices flesh and rends metal with her weapon. Unfortunately, Aether Gazer suffers a lot in that regard. The noise of battle feels relatively muted. There's not enough punchiness, even if you pump the volume slider to it to the maximum.
The scores, on the other hand, are pretty decent. But they could be more memorable. They're standard pieces that anybody would expect to listen to for an action game set in a futuristic world. In effect, they are drowned out by the game's striking visuals. What's even stranger is that the in-combat voice acting is even more subdued than the BGM.
Lastly, the voice acting sounds quite forced and unnatural at times. This is especially noticeable when a character speaks a line in an urgent situation. But for more casual, everyday settings, the voice acting is quite acceptable, regardless of the language you use.
A gacha system with mediocre rates
According to the game, the chances to get an S-Grade (SSR) character is 1.60%, followed by 7.80% for A-Grades (SR) and 6.00% for B-Grades (R). For the rest of the time, you will only get a low-rarity Functor, which is a kind of material used to modify weapons (think Weapon Resonance from Punishing Gray Raven). Now, you might think, "Oh, 1.60%? That sounds quite generous." It isn't.
It may be almost three times better than Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail's 0.60%, but those games are at the lower end of the scale. At best, this can be called mediocre compared to other games like Limbus Company with their 4.20% total rate or NIKKE's 4.00%. On top of that, the Chinese version of the game was noted to be quite stingy with providing the in-game currency. Whether or not this will remain true with the global release remains to be seen.
Of course, there's a pity system in place, with A-Grades at every ten pulls and for S-Grades at every 70. But, almost as if there's a trend going on, when you pull an S-Grade from a Premium Scan (their equivalent of an event/featured banner), you still have to strike it lucky from a coin flip. In effect, this means that if you're targeting a rate-up character from a banner, the chances of you getting her from your first S-Grade pull is only 0.80% unless you've already failed the coin flip from a prior time.
Downtime in combat due to ingame features
If there's one thing that Aether Gazer has, whether inadvertently or not, made an oversight with in designing a fast-paced hack-and-slash game, it's the resulting downtimes in combat. It results from two features that work well individually but create dead periods in the game whenever the conditions are right. And it does, quite often.
The first feature is the use of cooldown-based skills. Most games use this mechanic, but having to wait for your cooldowns to finish in a game that needs quick responses to enemy actions can get quite annoying. Most games addressed this issue by allowing players to switch between characters on the fly, such as in Honkai Impact 3rd or Tower of Fantasy.
This isn't a possible solution to Aether Gazer due to its second unsuspecting culprit: AI companions. Without the ability to swap characters, skill rotations aren't possible anymore. This also has another demerit in only allowing you to combo your team's skills if you have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of an elephant. The only thing you can do while waiting for your skills to get off cooldown is to keep smashing the basic attack button, which can get repetitive after a while especially since your basic attacks lack that aforementioned weight to it.
Aether Gazer Story Plot
Aether Gazer puts you into the shoes of the Administrator, a high-ranking individual in charge of Gaea's Modifiers. Modifiers are sentient forms of Gaea's self-check programs tasked to eliminate bugs in the system. These programs are forced to take human forms because of Visbanes, major bugs that directly influence the virtual world.
The story is set in the distant future. The old world was destroyed in an event only referred to as "The Calamity". To ensure the survival of the human race, the survivors' souls were separated from their bodies and uploaded into an orbiting supercomputer called Gaea.
It is a generic theme used in many past and upcoming games where humanity faces a great crisis, complete with evil corporations, terrorists, complicated alliances, and a spreading, inhuman scourge. But at the same time, it has a lot of potential.
Who Should Play Aether Gazer?
Aether Gazer is Recommended if You Enjoy:
• Punishing Gray Raven
• Honkai Impact 3rd
• Tower of Fantasy
If you're a big fan of anime-style action RPGs, this game is worth trying. This game is a genuine contender for the genre's giants Punishing Gray Raven and Honkai Impact 3rd. Though it has flaws, there's always a chance that the devs will slowly build upon the game with the help of its community. The chance is relatively high, actually, as Yongshi is known to be entirely dedicated to keeping its fans happy.
Is Aether Gazer Worth It?
If You're a Fan of ARPGs, It Definitely is
First of all, the game is free to play. It's practically a gift. What you do have to pay for are the additional goodies that serve to either make your playthrough much easier or to expand your lineup of characters, both of which are entirely optional. So, from that fact alone, playing the game is worth it. Secondly, the gameplay is really good. And with more content to come in the future, this will be a gift that keeps giving.
However, if you like the game and want to support the developers, I highly suggest purchasing at least some of the items in their in-game shop.
How Aether Gazer Matches Up to Recently-Released Games
| Games That Came Out Recently | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
 Laya's Horizon |
Aether Gazer offers more of an action-packed challenge to satisfy players who prefer getting themselves in the middle of the conflict. | Laya's Horizon is a much more cinematic experience, a relaxing game that offers far less investment. |
 Torchlight: Infinite |
Aether Gazer is a much more immersive action game with flashier battles and dynamic fights. | Torchlight: Infinite is a dungeon crawler adventure filled with roads to travel and treasure to loot. It's far more paced than the hectic fights that can happen in short periods with Aether Gazer. |
 Outerplane |
As a real-time hack-and-slash game, Aether Gazer has much more engaging combat that tests players' skills. | Being a turn-based RPG, Outerplane offers gameplay with less interaction required, which may appeal to people looking for games to play while they do something else. |
How Aether Gazer Matches Up to Similar Games
| Games Similar to Aether Gazer | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
 Honkai Impact 3rd |
Aether Gazer fights are often more intense, given the use of AI companions that take to the field simultaneously as the player. | Honkai Impact 3rd's story is incredibly well-written. Additionally, it has more content and fleshed-out characters available overall due to being released over six years ago. |
 Punishing Gray Raven |
Aether Gazer is notably less demanding than Punishing Gray Raven due to the latter's orb-pinging system. How well a fight goes leans more toward skill than random chance. | Punishing Gray Raven's audio is unparalleled among its competitors, with extremely punchy sound effects and hair-raising BGMs. It also has a faster pace, and its gacha system is far kinder than Aether Gazer. |
 Tower of Fantasy |
Possessing much more polished gameplay, Aether Gazer trumps Tower of Fantasy in the fighting experience. Gacha rates are also better. | Tower of Fantasy offers world exploration aside from the usual hack-and-slash experience and far more developed social features. |
Aether Gazer Player Reviews
Players leaving their thoughts on Reddit are generally positive about the game. They cite how well the AI pilots your companions, the low hardware requirements, and the more casual experience between it and games like Punishing Gray Raven. They also warmed up quickly to the game's mechanics.
QooApp
The reviews from players who have played it praise its gameplay and graphics. As usual, comparisons are drawn between Aether Gazer, Honkai Impact 3rd, and Punishing Gray Raven, but users are quite open-minded regarding the difficulty difference. Some users mention that the AI companions are so good they could play the game alone.
Google Play
However, it's a bit different on Google Play's ratings and reviews. The game has collectively received a low score due to the bugs the players encounter, such as randomly disappearing audio or the game not loading. Some also remark about the game not being available in their region.
Aether Gazer Frequently Asked Questions
Who to Reroll For?
It is generally agreed upon that Shinri - Tsukuyomi is the best character to reroll for. She is a DPS character available in the game's first premium banner who deals absurd amounts of lightning damage if paired with her signature functor, Shikigami - Kyokotsu.
Other agreed-upon high-tier rolls are Okuninushi, Asura, and S-Poseidon.
How Do You Reroll?
Preparation: You need either a lot of email accounts or a single one provided that "salted emails" work. Salted emails are email accounts that have +N before the @domain part. For example, if your email is google@gmail.com, your salted email will be google+1@gmail.com, google+2@gmail.com, etc.
- Register a Google Account using a real or salted email.
- Verify the account using the verification code sent to your registered email. For salted emails, it will be sent to the original.
- Register the account using any username you want, provided it's available. Note that this username is different from the one you will use in-game.
- Play through the story and complete it until chapter 1-2, where the gacha system unlocks.
- Claim all your achievements, in-game mail, stage rewards, event rewards, and codes, if any.
- Spend your vouchers and Shifted Stars on the banner you want to pull in.
- If you fail to obtain the character(s) you want, head to your Profile, User Center, then choose Switch Account.
- Repeat the process with another account.
Does It Have a PC client?
At the moment, no. However, the developers have noted that they are considering other platforms to put the game in. Perhaps if the game meets with enough success, it will be a reality.
Does It Have PvP?
Not at the moment.
Does The Game Have Auto-Play?
No, it doesn't.
Aether Gazer Trailer
Game8 Reviews
Aether Gazer Product Information
 |
|
| Title | AETHER GAZER |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 23, 2023 |
| Developer | Xiamen Yongshi |
| Supported Platforms | Android |
| Genre | Action, Hack-and-slash |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Everyone |
| Official Website | https://aethergazer.com |
