Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream Hands-on

For this year’s Tokyo Game Show, one of Bandai Namco’s highlight titles is Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream as the game is about to launch next week.

At Bandai Namco’s booth, I got to try a short demo of the game. Specifically, my experience was with the game’s huge 20-player co-op raid, which I played alongside other TGS attendees. While the game has a single player mode, 20-player multiplayer is the game’s most notable mode, so it was the perfect hands-on to try to get a better idea of what to expect ahead of its launch.

As previously announced, Fractured Daydream is set in the virtual reality world called Alfheim Online where the Galaxia system is spiraling out of control which is causing various worlds and timelines to mix. As such, this game features lots of fan-favorite characters from the various SAO titles.

The 20-Player Co-op Experience

How the main multiplayer mode works is that 20 players must work together to defeat a boss with a huge health bar, alongside other mobs that can hinder them. Each player is put into a squad of four, with each match having five squads.

Even though all squads work together, the four members of each squad are incentivized to properly use their skills as each match will highlight the best-performing squad at the end.

For the basic moves, X and Y are your normal and heavy attacks, respectively. You also dash with B and jump with A. Dashing in particular is a key skill as the name of the game is to damage the boss as much as you can while avoiding enemy attacks.

Each character also has various abilities to choose from. Basic skills are activated by holding the X and Y buttons on an Xbox controller, while Advanced Skills are mapped to the RB + face buttons. Note that these advanced skills are unlocked as each match progresses.

The type of skills also vary depending on the character’s class. The game features six classes, with characters like Kirito and Asuna designated as Fighters. This class consists of well-balanced characters who are recommended as main attackers.

Other classes include the Tank which are frontliners including the likes of Agil and Alice. Then there’s the Rogue class composed of characters LLENN and they specialize in quick movement to distract enemies. There’s the Ranger class as well which is great at long-range attacks like Sinon.

Finally, there’s the Mage and the Support class which are great at supporting party members by disrupting enemies and buffing allies, respectively. Mage characters are Oberon and Eugeo, while Support classes include Leafa and Yuna.

During the fight, I picked Alice as I wanted to try a Tank that gets up close to the boss. In the TGS demo, our fight was against the huge Dorz’l the Chaos Drake, a boss that has lots of health bars, meaning it was quite a long fight.

In terms of the fight itself, players simply need to attack the boss as much as possible while using a mix of basic attacks and special abilities. There are also ultimate abilities that players should use at the right time.

When it comes to fighting, because the boss was so big, it wasn’t a particular challenge to land hits. In fact, I was worried that it would be a mindless mash fest. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case as the boss had lots of attacks which have big AoEs that you need to doge.

These attacks range in speed and AoE size, but what’s nice is that you can dodge through them. This means if you dodge right as the attack lands, you won’t get hit, meaning it’s quite rewarding to time your doges properly.

Aside from attacking on your own, there are also chain attacks that you can use with allies. These are also useful things to get the boss’s health down even faster. Still, you should expect the bosses to take a while before going down, so you will have to manage your health (given that there’s only a limited number of healing items per match.

It’s hard to judge personally based on just one match, but I can already see this game being engaging and fun, especially for fans of Sword Art Online. After all, many of the fan-favorites are in the game, complete with their signature weapons and skills.

Of course, the game’s appeal may not be strong for those who aren’t SAO fans as its core gameplay may be a bit too simple or chaotic. Plus, the game truly shines in these big fights, so hopefully the game’s multiplayer works well without much lag or other performance issues.

Shortly after beating the boss, I also got to play Kirito the Hero, a bonus mini-game that’s available as part of the game’s Premium Edition.

Bonus: Kirito the Hero is SAO Meets Vampire Survivors

Kirito the Hero is a mini-game that’s basically a Sword Art Online take on Vampire Survivors. Here, you play as Kirito, and your goal is to survive as long as possible while getting weapons and stat upgrades to defeat bigger and bigger waves.

Yes, it’s essentially Vampire Survivors, but it’s still a fun addition that SAO fans will love. After all, it still has plenty of addictive qualities, and it helps that the visuals are nice enough that fans of the franchise will appreciate it.

I’m not sure if it’s worth getting the Premium Edition just for this, but if you are planning to get it for the artbook and soundtrack, that version is an even better deal.

Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream Impressions

Again, I only played one round of Fractured Daydream, but I had an enjoyable time with the game as its large-scale fights are engaging and fun for SAO fans. While it might not be a game for those who haven’t watched SAO yet, fans should definitely check this out if they’re interested in a big multiplayer experience.

As we haven’t tried out the other modes, we can’t give a more definitive verdict. At least it won’t be long until the launch.

Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on October 3, 2024.