SaGa Emerald Beyond is the latest title in the SaGa franchise featuring six protagonists and their journey across worlds. Read our spoilerless review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Review Overview
What is SaGa Emerald Beyond?
SaGa Emerald Beyond is the latest standalone entry in the SaGa franchise. This turn-based game is reminiscent of Fire Emblem, having multiple endings and countless scenes to discover. The gameplay is a direct upgrade to the franchise’s previous title, Scarlet Grace, but with a lot of additional mechanics and improvements.
SaGa Emerald Beyond features:
⚫︎ Distinct Progression Routes Per World
⚫︎ Multiple Protagonists To Tell Their Tales
⚫︎ Complex, But Engaging Combat
⚫︎ Incredible Replayability
⚫︎ Awesome Voice Acting
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about SaGa Emerald Beyond's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Switch |
 PlayStation |
 Google Play |
 App Store |
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| Price | $49.99 | ||||||||
SaGa Emerald Beyond Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Deep Combat Absurd Replayability Rich Specialization Options Superb Voice Acting |
Poor Onboarding Erratic Story |
SaGa Emerald Beyond Overall Score - 80/100
SaGa Emerald Beyond is an incredible RPG that features rich storylines, engaging combat, wonderful voice acting, great music, and a cast of great characters. While it is somewhat pulled down by its need to be mobile-accessible and outdated storytelling medium, it is still worth every penny, and possibly even more.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Story - 7/10
SaGa Emerald Beyond features a rich lineup of stories that you can influence invariably due to your personal choices. It allows for multiple replays of even the same protagonist(s) to feel distinct, even if they feel somewhat similar. However, a lot of endings leave you either hanging or may just feel lacking overall.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Gameplay - 9/10
While SaGa Emerald Beyond’s combat may look like a simple turn-based system at first glance, it is actually a game in itself. Your performance relies heavily on manipulating the "timeline" of events that will play out when you lock in your moves. Story-wise, it emphasizes the weight of your choices that influence the world well, albeit not always immediately.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Visuals - 7/10
Both the character designs for your allies and enemies are tastefully aesthetic without much excess. Usually, at least. The level designs are also impressive to behold, especially the hub zones where the doors to new worlds become available. However, combat feels sluggish, despite the kind of hardware that the game is available on, and it still mostly use the rather outdated VN-style cutscenes.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Audio - 9/10
The game, unsurprisingly for those more familiar with the series, possesses incredible music. The voice acting is also wonderful, especially those with more pronounced accents and roles. There are even vocal tracks depending on the event or character. However, sometimes it is quite jarring to hear the vocals completely disappear in some scenarios, particularly on unimportant story scenes.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Value for Money - 8/10
A playthrough for one of the game’s protagonists can easily last for almost several hours, especially if it’s your first time playing the game. Combined with the replayability of their scenarios and the depth of the game’s combat, and you have yourself a game that can easily justify its $49.99 price tag.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Review: Beyond Just Good
As a casual SaGa enjoyer, the games were never at the top of my priority list for titles to purchase. However, after a few months, I would still end up buying them. It’s hard to refuse a good RPG, after all. This is especially true for someone so severely addicted to JRPGs like me.
I’m still waiting for a new Atelier title, Koei Tecmo. And I don’t mean a mobile one.
Many of the SaGa games were great titles. Though we only recently got one that’s actually new in Scarlet Grace, unless you’d count Re;univerSe, Emerald Beyond carries on the series’ relatively consistent high level of quality.
For the most part, Emerald Beyond is just a direct upgrade to Scarlet Grace. It retains many of the mechanics from the latter, such as United Attacks, the use of a combat "Timeline," etc. However, there are several additions and changes to the combat system that makes it wholly distinct from its predecessor, which we’ll touch upon briefly later. Meanwhile, the art style, UI, controls, and other aspects are all modernized as well, albeit with some exceptions.
For one, it still uses the outdated VN-like dialogue delivery that, for some reason, is being favored nowadays over animated sprites or models. Of course, it isn’t like there’s anything wrong with it. But, then again, there’s nothing wrong with expecting more when other mobile games such as Atelier Resleriana and Genshin Impact have done away with them.
It’s kind of like trying a new bakery’s chocolate cake, only to find that they don’t sell the slices with parchment paper underneath it so you have something to hold on to, unlike those being sold at your regular bakery. Get it? No? Well, okay. Regardless, SaGa Emerald Beyond is an amazing game that JRPG fans will surely enjoy. And even if it’s your potential entry point to the series, you’ll surely get your money’s worth diving into each of the protagonist’s stories.
Pros of SaGa Emerald Beyond
| Things SaGa Emerald Beyond Got Right |
|---|
|
Deep Combat Absurd Replayability Rich Specialization Options Superb Voice Acting |
Deep Combat
The one thing I enjoyed the most about Emerald Beyond is its combat. It’s incredibly deep and engaging, fueled almost entirely by the challenge of your enemies having access to most of the mechanics you can use against them.
Its combat revolves almost entirely around managing the combat timeline. It has two levels: the upper level that indicates turn order, and the lower level that indicates combo range. While each turn places your characters and enemies at mostly random spots across the timeline (influenced by formation and roles), the use of techs or spells allow you to move up or down on it when combat actually starts.
Not only that, but techs and spells also possess range, which manifests itself on the lower timeline. Connecting your character’s range with your allies’ grants you the opportunity to execute United Attacks, which increases the damage of your skills.
Managing the combat timeline grants you access to other mechanics, such as Showstoppers, which deal heavy burst damage to the opposing party if nobody else moves within two spaces of that character’s palace in the timeline, Overdrive, which allows characters to perform another United Attack based on their combo rate, etc.
Because of the relative difficulty of every fight, it’s essential to always be on your toes during combat. That makes each victory worth the expended brain power; a satisfying conclusion.
Absurd Replayability
Replayability, while not always important (Outer Wilds, for example), is something that’s ultimately nice to have. In terms of that, Emerald Beyond has it in spades, featuring multiple protagonists and their unique stories, and each with a branching progression that can easily turn each playthrough into a distinct experience.
Even the same characters won’t feel the same in every playthrough. Just like its predecessors, the way characters learn skills in Emerald Beyond depends on what skills or weapons they like to use, or which enemies they defeat. While you can somewhat influence the skills that they learn, you will ultimately learn different skills each time due to the volatility of combat timeline management.
Rich Specialization Options
While being able to equip weapons and allocate skills to a limited amount of slots is standard fare for most RPGs, SaGa Emerald Beyond carries over one of the series' traditional features that has made it rather unique, or at least uncommon amongst its peers. That is the characters' ability to "Glimmer" new skills depending on the techs, spells, equipment, and enemies that they defeat.
Spurred by the combat system's incentives to perform United Attacks, and the volatile nature of character placement on the timeline every turn, you'll inevitably develop your characters in wildly different ways regardless of how many times you've played the same protagonist's route. That makes each run quite distinct, in addition to the amount of choices you can take for every scenario.
Additionally, the more you delve into the game's scenarios, the more its story will start to click. It's a nice reward at the end of a very, very long tunnel.
Superb Voice Acting
Normally, I'm not a big fan of English voice acting in games from Asia. But that all changed the moment I heard the voice-overs. They are, in a word, exemplary. While not every character reflect this description, most of them qualify and really serve to breathe life into what was otherwise just images on my screen.
But I would still appreciate the option to switch to Japanese voice acting.
Cons of SaGa Emerald Beyond
| Things That SaGa Emerald Beyond Can Improve |
|---|
|
Poor Onboarding Erratic Story |
Poor Onboarding
Unlike other mobile games, such as Honkai: Star Rail, where much of their mechanics are familiar faces, much of Emerald Beyond’s gameplay look is novel, especially for those who haven’t played Scarlet Grace.
In fact, even those who have played Scarlet Grace won’t be able to immediately adapt to Emerald Beyond’s brand-spanking new combat system. That’s because the second, lower level of the combat timeline adds an incredible layer of depth to the original system. Now, instead of simply trying to position characters adjacent to each other in the combat timeline, you will have to also consider whether your moves will put you within range of other characters’ combos, or if you’ll inadvertently allow enemies to do so.
What’s more, conditional effects can screw up whatever genius plan you may have thought you had. For example, enemies that use Pursuit skills can isolate a character from the combo by having the enemy intrude on the space between them and your following unit. Of course, you have access to those skills as well. The issue is that these things aren’t introduced to you until you or the enemy make use of them.
And trust me, more often than not, it’s the enemy that will introduce you to the harsh reality that is Emerald Beyond’s amazing combat system. They can sometimes wipe your entire team doing so, too.
Erratic Story
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a story-driven game. However, that also means that any issues with its story is very noticeable. And, unfortunately, there's quite a bit of them around.
Certainly, several hours of story and combat isn't enough to fully develop an entire plotline. But that doesn't really excuse it from telling forgettable tales and creating open-ended or cliffhanger endings, especially considering the similarities between playthroughs of a particular protagonist. On top of that, it's pretty rattling to abruptly switch between lengthy, well-narrated section to entire stretches of almost inconsequential storytelling.
While it certainly is rewarding after multiple playthroughs, having a poor first impression doesn't do anybody any favors.
Is SaGa Emerald Beyond Worth It?
Worth Beyond Its Price
If you’re a fan of the SaGa games, then this is a no-brainer. You should definitely purchase a copy for yourself. Otherwise, SaGa Emerald Beyond is still an amazing game for any JRPG fan who likes strategic combat.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Switch |
PlayStation |
Google Play |
App Store |
|||||
| Price | $49.99 | ||||||||
SaGa Emerald Beyond FAQ
Question 1: Is SaGa Emerald Beyond's Demo Still Available?
Yes, SaGa Emerald Beyond's demo can still be downloaded from platforms such as Steam and Nintendo eShop.
Question 2: Does SaGa Emerald Beyond Have Multiplayer?
Unfortunately for those who want to play the game with their friends while on a train, SaGa Emerald Beyond is single player only.
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SaGa Emerald Beyond Product Information
 |
|
| Title | SAGA EMERALD BEYOND |
|---|---|
| Release Date | April 25, 2024 |
| Developer | Square Enix |
| Publisher | Square Enix |
| Supported Platforms | PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android |
| Genre | Roleplaying |
| Number of Players | Single Player |
| Rating | ESRB T |
| Official Website | SaGa Emerald Beyond Website |
