You are the hero of prophecy that is destined to fight against the evil witch, Mormo, in an endless battle throughout time. Good and evil will clash time and time again. And, it must be you who rises up to vanquish her relentless conquest for world domination otherwise humanity falls into chaos.

Fans of action RPGs, roguelike games, exploration, and SNES Zelda-inspired designs and music will not want to miss this game. It's been such a long time since we've played a game that contains elements of so many excellent titles from the past while not taking itself too seriously. Swords of Ditto marks Onebitbeyond's first entry into the video game world. Their motto is short but concise: focused on creating unique gameplay experiences for consoles and PC. Even though this is their first title, they've managed to strike a perfect balance of engaging gameplay, unique experiences each time through, and a narrative that is self-aware and uses that to its advantage. This is game that classic action RPG fans needed but didn't know they were missing.

As soon as you jump into The Swords of Ditto you'll feel right at home. You're woken up by a guide who tries to remind you of who you were in a past life. You race to collect the legendary sword that marks the return of the Sword of Ditto (you). As soon as you touch it, your power returns to your body and your memories come flooding back. This is when you realize that you must strike down Mormo lest she takes the world and plunges it into eternal darkness and chaos.

You'll fight through underground layers, find ancient ruins, learn about the gods that inhabited the world, collect artifacts, level up your stats, and accumulate mini-quests all while preparing yourself for the final showdown against Mormo. It's a tale as old as time. The hero rises up to confront the ultimate darkness in the world. But, The Swords of Ditto uses roguelike elements to make this game fun and refreshing each time you play. Make no mistake, your character will die and cease to exist if your health points are completed depleted. However, you will be reincarnated and be born 100 years into the future. You'll see the ramifications of your absence from the world and Mormo's activities left uncheck. You'll have the chance to continue your journey with experience and levels remaining intact.

While you're on this adventure, you'll also have a time limit placed on your activities. You have four days until the destined battle against Mormo and her forces. You'll have to discover various ways to extend time if you hope to collect all of the items and experience that will ensure your victory over evil. Or, for the truly brave, you can skip all of the exploration and questing and head straight for Mormo's dungeon. You can confront her head on if you think you're ready for it. The choice is yours. You decide how the narrative unfolds and how deep you want to explore this game.

The other thing to keep in mind, and it's quite a big detail, is that you can tackle all of the game content with a partner. The Swords of Ditto offers local multiplayer functionality. You and a partner will control two characters who will be on screen at the same time defeating hordes of minions and solving puzzles throughout various dungeons and caverns. The game will create instances and fights accordingly. Puzzles and monsters will be generated for 1 or 2 players depending on how you choose to play the game. We always say, "the more the merrier", so grab a buddy and enjoy the wide range of content that this game has to offer.

The basic plot was mentioned up above, but let me flesh it out a little bit more. Mormo is, seemingly, an immortal witch that is resurrected every 100 years to plunge the world into darkness. But, at the same time, a prophesied hero emerges to fight her in an eternal struggle of good versus evil. This heralded warrior is known as The Sword of Ditto. Once the champion for justice emerges and retrieves his magical sword, he has four days to prepare himself for the encounter with Mormo. This is ostensibly a never-ending cycle. These two beings are destined to oppose one another for all eternity.

Besides this standard narrative, there are hints early on that the world used to be inhabited by an ancient race. They were known as the Arcadians. These beings had a peaceful empire that gave rise to incredible technology and spanned the entire world. But, eventually, a civil war broke out and almost resulted in the complete annihilation of the human race. A complex system of Trial Chambers was constructed by the Arcadians. They were used as a way to test themselves upon coming of age. These chambers house powerful artifacts known as the Toys of Legend. Thus, they are linked to the Sword of Ditto's unending quest to strike down Mormo.

Though there are archaic runes that give evidence of this ancient empire, there are even older stories of gods who used to live among men. Their connection to the Arcadians and to the Sword of Ditto is not currently known. But, learning about that forgotten period of history may be the key that leads to ending Mormo's reign of terror once and for all.

Now, of course, it's time for the juiciest part of any review, the gameplay. We were quite surprised when we came face to face with Mormo within the first five or so minutes of playing the game. We gained first-hand experience of just how powerful she is and how easily she can decimate us, the Sword of Ditto, if we don't take the necessary precautions. There's a surprising moment that takes place early on. We don't want to spoil it for you, though it's readily available if you've watched or read pre-release playthroughs and reviews.

Those "necessary precautions" are standard RPG elements such as accumulating experience, leveling up, increasing your stats with accessories, and finding powerful items. You gain experience as you hack through zombies, floating skulls, venomous plants, and a myriad of other enemies. Your stats are increased once you've gained enough experience to reach the next character level. At the same time, you'll gain access to sticker slots. Stickers are purchasable items that affect your stats as well. They can be as straightforward as increasing your attack and defense. Or they can be more specific, such as receiving less damage from certain elemental attacks or only buffing your character during certain times of the day. The powerful items in this game as known as Toys of Legend. You'll find those after completing dungeons and their corresponding bosses. Lucky for us gamers, all the enjoyable aspects of classic action RPG games are found in this one. There are even side quests that you can find by speaking to NPC's. They're not necessary, the game leaves the amount of investment you want to put in this game completely up to you, but we recommend you take care of these because the rewards are worth it.

Time plays an interesting role in this game. It's constrictive in nature, but not concrete. It can be extended and manipulated if you explore around enough and uncover some secrets. You'll need to accumulate as much time as possible because four days, in-game time, does not feel like very much at all. Time is also used as a means of wiping the slate clean if you happen to die during a playthrough. If your health score drops down to zero you die and start a game all over again. You are reincarnated as a new hero. Your newly reincarnated body keep the toys and experience that you accumulated in your previous playthrough. You will, however, have to unlock new waypoints that are traversable with the help of a magical kazoo so a bit of backtracking will take place. The game will fast-forward 100 years into the future with Mormo remaining unopposed throughout all of that time. The world will change in appearance, different dungeons and caverns will emerge, enemies can become stronger, and other things will have definitely changed since the last Sword of Ditto walked the earth. Starting over doesn't feel repetitive though because of how the game explains your absence and because some things will roll over to your new character once you retrieve the Sword.

The music and art directions are nostalgic and upbeat. You'll often hear melodies that will remind you of playing A Link to the Past for the SNES or other RPGs from around that era. The upbeat tracks are not the only ones we enjoyed. There are also tunes that sound mystical yet comforting. The synth instruments combined with the beats can be very relaxing and provide a sense of discovery and awe. We love how when the weather changes and gets darker the music change in mood drastically and I feels very eerie. Each area and scene of the game has music catered just for it that ties in so well with the overall aesthetic and atmosphere of the game. The artwork is simple and definitely cartoony, think of Adventure Time, but it doesn't feel overly childish or corny. It strikes a reasonable balance of classic RPG-inspired designs with a modern twist. Overall, the combination of music and art feels flawless and a joy to experience. Often times, games will have a certain character or stage design that just seems awkward or unfinished. Other times certain art styles can be explicitly jarring to induce a certain emotional effect. We can't think of a recent game where we felt as comfortably engaged and immersed in gameplay as we have with The Swords of Ditto.

Overall, we had a uniquely enjoyable experience with this game. The gameplay was solid with all of the essential RPG elements. Controls felt tight and responsive. (Not to mention we had absolutely no issues plugging in a PlayStation 4 controller.) The nostalgia factor was off the charts. Roguelike elements were present and handled masterfully. Comedic banter and one-liners were meta and surprisingly made us chuckle a few times. Just remember that this is a Roguelike game. So, don't expect to keep your single character and all of your items for the entire playthrough (at least not your first playthrough). If you do that, you'll have a great time with this one.

If we had to pick something that disliked about this game, it would have to be that hit detection felt a little off at times. One enemy type, in particular, gave us a hard time. There's floating trio of ghost heads that are enveloped in energy that injures you if they make contact with your body. Most times, it would take several slices of our sword to deplete their life points. But, a few times our sword just whiffed through the heads and they ended up chunking out our health instead. It was a little bit annoying. Besides that, there's not really much to complain about.

If you it isn't perfectly clear by now, though it probably is, we had a blast playing this game. It's one of the best games we've had the privilege to review so far this year. We recommend it to our readers here and to anyone who is a fan of Roguelikes, RPGs, and adventures games. You won't want to miss this one! Thanks again for taking to the time to read our review. Hopefully, you'll let us know what you think of this game in the comments below or by tweeting at us. Have a wonderful day and we'll see you in the next one!