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Twin Saga

Twin Saga (Astral Realm) is a 3D fantasy MMORPG with two warring factions, each worshiping their own goddess deity. Players switch between the game's nine available classes on one character and travel a charming anime-inspired world. Twin Saga has since been renamed 'Astral Tales' and has relaunched on Steam.

Publisher: Aeria Games
Playerbase: Medium
Type: Anime MMORPG
PvP: Duels
Release Date: September 1, 2016 (NA/EU)
Shut Down Date: April 29, 2021
Relaunch Date: January 7, 2024 (as Astral Tale)
Pros: +Class Switching. +Mobile player housing. +Bright, attractive, anime-inspired visuals. +Great translations.
Cons: -Grindy gameplay. -Casual focus. -Feels too simple.

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Overview

Twin Saga Overview

Help a fallen goddess save the world from her evil twin in Twin Saga, an anime-themed 3D MMORPG. Freely switch between nine different classes with just one character, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages in combat. Rack up energy and finish off enemies with flashy ultimate moves that change with different mobs. Travel the bright and colorful world of Aetherion aboard your very own Terracottage, mobile houses built on the backs of giant walking machines. Upgrade your dwelling to craft, cook, grow plants, and experiment with alchemy in the comfort of your home. Recruit companions called Senshi to accompany you on your journey and assist you in battle. Experience a classic tale of good versus evil as you complete quests to save the world and humanity from utter destruction.

Twin Saga Key Features:

  • Multi-Class System – unlock and freely switch between all nine classes with a single character.
  • Ultimate Moves – collect energy to perform powerful finishing blows that vary with every mob type you attack.
  • Mobile Player Housing – travel the gameworld in style aboard your own custom-built Terracottage, multi-tiered houses constructed on the backs of large, mobile creatures.
  • Professions – take part in non-combat activities like fishing, sewing, plant gathering, farming, and others to earn helpful items.
  • Anime-Inspired Art – be charmed by the game's cute and bright anime-style artwork.

Twin Saga Screenshots

Twin Saga Featured Video

Full Review

Twin Saga Review

By, Marc Marasigan

Twin Saga is a free-to-play anime-themed 3D MMORPG set in the mythical world of Aetherion, where twin goddesses fight each other for control of the land: one is hell-bent on destroying humankind, and the other determined to save them. Players take on the role of knights tasked with helping the latter save humanity from destruction. The game features great-looking, detailed, and colorful chibi anime-inspired cel-shaded graphics. The game might not look as flashy as Blade and Soul, TERA, or other graphics-intensive MMORPG’s, but the Twin Saga's art style has a certain charm to it that will still look great a few years down the road. The game also features awesome orchestrated background music that you would expect to hear from a big title fantasy RPG like Final Fantasy, along with Japanese voice-overs to seal the deal. I like how the developers decided to stick with Japanese for the voice overs. It makes the game feel more authentic and sometimes feels as if you’re starring in your very own anime show.

Character Creation

Like most MMORPG’s, players start off by creating their characters. Players can initially choose from four classes: Swordmaster, Mage, Gunslinger, or Dragonknight. Additional classes can be unlocked by reaching specific levels and completing quests in-game. After choosing their class, players are then given the chance to customize their characters. There is no gender-locking so players can choose to play as either male of female for any of the classes.

Unfortunately, like most of X-Legend’s creations, customization is limited to a handful of options for your character’s hair, face, eyes, and skin tone. I understand that when it comes to customization there’s only so much you can do with the game’s cutesy anime theme but a few more hairstyles and a color palette for the eye and hair colors would have made a huge difference. But hey, at least I’m not stuck with pre-made avatars.

Meet The Evil Twin

All players, regardless of whether it’s their first character or they’re hundredth, start off with a quick unskippable prologue-style tutorial. The prologue walks players through the basics of movement and combat, and ends with a showdown with a crazy but well-endowed red-headed witch. To get around, players can either click to move or use the WASD keys. Combat, on the other hand, is similar to World of Warcraft and is predominantly tab-targetting with the ability to strafe and kite mobs to avoid damage.

The prologue can be completed in less than five minutes if you don’t bother reading through the text and skip the three or four cutscenes. Twin Saga is big on story so expect to watch a LOT of cinematic cutscenes and read through quite a bit of text. The translation itself was perfectly done and the story well-written in English, though a bit too wordy for an MMORPG.

Be All You Can Be

If you’ve played any of X-Legend’s and Aeria’s MMORPG’s in the past—such as Eden Eternal, Grand Fantasia, or Aura Kingdom—then you’ll feel right at home with Twin Saga. You might not even need to go through the prologue, if there was an option to skip it. Twin Saga plays just like any typical MMORPG: players complete quests for various NPC’s which lead them from one area to the next. Twin Saga also has most, if not all, of the features players look for in an MMORPG, including hidden quests, boss fights, mounts, crafting, professions, and PvP, along with a decent storyline.

What sets it apart from your run-of-the-mill MMORPG is its multi-class system similar to those used in Eden Eternal and FFXIV. Players can change classes on the fly and level up classes independent of each other. They can also use skills learned from other classes. This opens up nearly endless possibilities for combos and builds and allows players to tweak their characters exactly how they want them, and completionists can play every class in the game without having to create a new character. As far as leveling and progression is concerned, Twin Saga starts out fast and easy until players reach higher levels at which point the game becomes a grind-fest.

Walking Houses

Another of Twin Saga’s unique features is its mobile player housing, known as Terracottages, which players unlock upon reaching level 20. These Terracottages, which look like a cross between a house and a turtle, can walk swiftly across Twin Saga's world and can be upgraded and customized as players progress through the game. They can be equipped with areas dedicated to crafting and professions, such as an alchemy lab, a cooking station, and a greenhouse. Players can also invite their friends over to chill in their giant walking turtle house.

PvP

Like most MMORPG’s Twin Saga gives players several options to test their mettle against other players. They can challenge other players to duels at any time, or join more challenging arena battles. Players can join the All-Day Arena, a 3vs3 arena where players can test out their new builds; or the Arcadia Arena a 3vs3 event where two teams battle each other for control of a centrally-located crystal pillar. Participants receive Arena Coins based on the results of the arena and their performance during the event. Arena coins can be exchanged for gear from the Battlefield shop. Players can also join Class-Specific Arenas which follows the same rules as the Arcadia Arena but is fought only with players of the same class.

Cash Shop

Twin Saga gives players willing to spend real money the option to buy a host of items from the in-game item mall. These premium items range from cute costumes, that also give stat bonuses, to EXP boosts and convenience items like stack of HP potions. Nothing overpowered or game-breaking though, which is always a good thing. Hopefully it stays that way. The game is easy enough as it is without giving players access to overly powerful weapons and gear.

Final Verdict – Good

Twin Saga has all the makings of a great MMORPG: fun gameplay, a decent story, awesome anime-inspired artwork, great graphics, and background music that can easily have come from a Final Fantasy game. That being said, even without using the pathfinding system, the game feels a bit too easy and repetitive, which, combined with the ridiculous amount of reading required and the numerous cut scenes present in the game, makes it feel like I’m playing through a graphic novel. Albeit, a VERY interactive one. Personally, I like MMORPG’s with a strong focus on building up the story, but X-Legend may have gone overboard on this one. Overall, Twin Saga is a great choice if you’re looking for a cute, casual, and laid-back game but not something I’d recommend to hardcore players.

Screenshots

Twin Saga Screenshots

System Requirements

Twin Saga System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP SP3 / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
CPU: Intel Pentium4 2.8 GHz or higher / AMD K8 2600+ or higher
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8400 / Radeon X1600
RAM: 3 GB
Hard Disk Space: 6 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP SP3 / Vista / Win7 / Win8 / Win10
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo 2.66 GHz or higher / AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or higher
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9500 / Radeon HD4570 or better
RAM: 6 GB
Hard Disk Space: 6 GB

Music

Twin Saga Music & Soundtrack

Coming soon...

Additional Info

Twin Saga Additional Information

Developer: X-Legend
Publisher: Aeria Games

Game Engine: Gamebryo

Taiwan Closed Beta: May 7, 2015
Taiwan Open Beta: June 11, 2015
Hong Kong Announcement: May 8, 2015

NA/EU Announcement: April 28, 2016
Release Date: September 1, 2016 (Open Beta in NA/EU)

Shut Down Date: April 29, 2021

Relaunch Date: January 7, 2024 (As Astral Tale)

Development History / Background:

Twin Saga is the ninth major anime-themed MMORPG from Taiwanese studio X-Legend, and is known as Astral Realm in Taiwan. The game entered Open Beta in its home market on June 11, 2015. On April 28, 2016, Aeria Games announced that they would be publishing a Western version of Twin Saga sometime in 2016. The game went into open beta in North America and Europe on September 1, 2016.

Twin Saga shut down on April 29, 2021.

Twin Saga realunched as Astral Tale on January 7, 2024 through its developer X-Legend Entertainment. It's available on Steam.