Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior Review

Hack-and-slash games have evolved quite a bit since the debut of the genre and have gradually become more and more complex with the introduction of role-playing game mechanics that allow for greater character customization. The formula itself, however, wasn’t looked at a whole lot, and very few titles introduced twists that changed it radically. Among them is Lysfanga the Time Shift Warrior, a peculiar game that sometimes feels more like a puzzle game than a pure hack-and-slash title.

Lysfanga the Time Shift Warrior is set in a world where the conflict between two rival factions brought forth the mysterious Raxes, powerful demons that ravaged the kingdom of Balara, leaving only the kingdom of Mayura to fend them off. In a desperate attempt to save the world, Queen Qhomera became a Goddess with the Ritual of Ascension, stopped time to save humanity, and then faded into the shadows.

The survivors of the Raxes invasion founded the New Kingdom and celebrate every generation the birth of a warrior known as the Lysfanga, the bringer of light. Things, however, changed drastically when twins were born with the power of the Lysfanga. Controlling one of these twins, Imë, players will travel to ancient cities in Old Mayura to investigate the possibility of the return of the demons, coming to learn how the other Lysfanga, Kehör, is somehow involved with the current crisis.

Despite not being the main focus of the experience, it is clear how developer Sand Door Studio put a lot of care into the creation of the Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior story. While the plot itself is a little predictable, the world is well-realized, requiring a glossary to explain some details that could be lost as players move from one combat arena to the other to destroy the demons using Imë’s unique time powers. Characters don’t receive much development, unsurprisingly, but they can be enjoyable enough if expectations are kept in check.

While the story doesn’t really attempt to go beyond the boundaries seen in video games, the Lysfanga: The Time Shift gameplay tries to do something different in the hack-and-slash genre, featuring a tactical approach that makes it more akin to a puzzle game, especially in the latter parts of the adventure.

At a glance, the game doesn’t look that different from any regular isometric hack-and-slash game. Controlling Imë, players travel through a variety of mostly linear locations and win battle encounters inside closed-off arenas to move on to the next. While having enemies secluded in specific arenas may feel off-putting, there’s a specific reason why things are like this in the game.

At the start of the adventure, Imë will be blessed by with time powers that allow the Lysfanga to revert back time, but with a twist: everything she did before reverting time will still happen, thanks to her Remnants. Learning how to manage these Remnants is extremely important, as each combat arena must be cleared of enemies before time runs out, and it is impossible to defeat all enemies without reverting time back. As such, careful planning is needed to win combat encounters, as somewhat highlighted by the ability to survey the battlefield before battle begins.

The first dozen or so combat encounters in Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior start easy enough, but a little past the first hour of the adventure, things become way more complicated, with the introduction of new enemy types and gimmicks, both well thought-out. Some enemies, for example, can only be defeated if their connected twin is defeated at the same time; others can guard with their massive shields, requiring one Remnant to keep it occupied while another, or Imë herself, can damage it from behind. Plenty of special powers and passive skills granted by Runes are unlocked gradually as the campaign proceeds, giving players more tools to overcome the challenges ahead. With multiple basic combo strings and different weapons thrown into the mix, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior manages to stay fresh for its entire duration of around 10 hours. As some of the later challenges are quite difficult, and without any real way to cheese through them, total playtime may be even higher.

Focused on combat and its unique flavor of puzzle solving, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior doesn’t feature much in terms of side content. Locations, as already mentioned, are mostly linear, and when they are not, players will only find some additional information on the lore or collectibles that unlock customization options for Imë and the main hub, with the Remnant Shards being the only collectible with some real use, as four of them unlock an additional Remnant. The lack of something else to do other than fighting enemies and attempting to improve the completion time of already cleared areas is probably one of the biggest issues of the game, as the experience, even with the new combat twists introduced over time, does get a little stale.

Having been developed with Unity, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior does not exactly feature cutting-edge visuals. Locations and characters are rendered in a stylized style that is moderately detailed, which makes sense with the game’s zoomed-out top-down isometric view. Such undemanding visual lead to solid performance, although with some minor stuttering caused by big fluctuations in frame rate. On the machine used for the test (i7-13700F CPU, RTX 4080, 32 GB RAM), the game ran with the highest framerate lock available in the game of 120 FPS, at an average of 116 frames per second, 56 FPS 1% low at 4K resolution during a 5-minute session set in the Temple of Mayu. Tweaking the many graphics settings available did not drastically improve the 1% low value, so there’s definitely something else behind these framerate drops, which, again, are minor.  Unlike most recent PC games, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior doesn’t support any upscaler, which isn’t surprising, considering how undemanding it is.

For being the very first game created by Sand Door Studio, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is a very strong debut. Despite its narrow focus, and its experience becoming a little stale towards the end due to its focus on combat, the game by The Sand Door is a solid title that fans of hack-and-slash games looking for a twist in the formula will surely appreciate.

Review code provided by the publisher.

Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior

Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior

With a unique twist that gives it a puzzle-game feel, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is a solid title that definitely stands out in the hack-and-slash genre. The emphasis on combat, the absence of RPG-like mechanics, and reliance on trial-and-error impact the experience slightly, making the game a worthwhile purchase only for die-hard fans of the genre who are tired of the constant grind for better loot.