RWBY: Grimm Eclipse (PC) Preview

Taking the form of an action brawler similar to titles like the Samurai Warriors series, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse (the acronym is the team codename for main characters Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang), is fairly straightforward and honest to the source material. The show has already had both epic confrontations against super-strong foes as well as battles against large hordes of Grimm, so adapting it into a brawler seems as natural as making Yu-Gi-Oh! into a card-playing video game.

The game in its current form focuses on taking the members of the team through a single mission consisting of several parts, with many of the standard trappings for this sort of genre. Namely, a bunch of small guys who can be easily bested, a few guys with more HP or specialized attacks, and a few boss types. Each stage of the mission also has sequences in which a specific challenge is presented that must be overcome, such as protecting a particular object.

One thing of note is that, unlike others in this genre, the enemies can actually be durable and damaging, meaning messing up can really hurt! In the protection missions, this can make the action even more tense, since a team of four can still end up having their ward damaged simply because they couldn't kill a particularly powerful Grimm or one of the annoying burrowing Grimm before it hit the object. This is actually sort of a good thing, as it encourages both teamwork (having someone guard while another mops up weaklings and another focuses on the big guys) and keeps complacency down.

The best part about the game, however, is its graphics. RWBY has a very distinct visual style even for something that wouldn't normally be expected to be that strong visually. Not only do the characters look very much like their show counterparts, but even small details, like rose petals when Ruby dodges, are apparent and should be at least admired.

It isn't quite all roses, however, as some things still need work. For one, there is a distinct lack of team JNPR, along with other series characters like Penny. Hopefully this will be fixed in the final version, along with adding in RWBY's great soundtrack and other such things.