The long-awaited final chapter in Attack On Titan has finally begun, and fans will finally get to see how Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert and Co's story wraps up. With an anime as frenetic and intense as Attack On Titan, translating the action to the video game medium is no small feat, but developers Omega Force and Koei Tecmo have somehow pulled off the impossible. Attack on Titan Wings of Freedom brings fans of the series a game that perfectly captures the atmosphere of the show, while also providing some extremely tight gameplay.
A.O.T. Wings of Freedom released in 2016 for the PC, PS3/4, PS Vita, and Xbox One. While an Attack On Titan game released in 2013 for the 3DS, Wings of Freedom offers the best experience, with a fully voiced cast reprising their roles, some fairly intuitive controls, and large scale environments that matched the series' large scale enemies. However, it's Wings of Freedom's sequel that takes the cake for the best Attack On Titan game available right now.
A.O.T. 2's Fluid and Responsive Gameplay
The sequel to Wings of Freedom, simply titled A.O.T. 2, improved upon its predecessor in every single way. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in gameplay. While the first A.O.T. game had some fairly intuitive controls, the sequel takes the time to guide the player through each of its mechanical nuances with a dedicated tutorial, attached to the main story, fitting in narratively with Eren learning the ropes at Training Camp.
During the tutorial sequence, the player will learn how to swing using their ODM gear, boost with their gas cannisters, grapple onto a Titan, and descend upon them with enough speed and force to make a killing blow. This forms the core gameplay loop of A.O.T. 2, and once a player has gotten to grips with the extremely responsive controls, the gameplay becomes an exhilarating thrill ride of dashing between giant Titan targets, winching into one, delivering a visceral killing blow, then zipping to the next within mere seconds to repeat the process.
Some of the best scenes in the Attack on Titan anime see Levi or Mikasa frantically dashing between Titans, swiping their blades furiously, and watching the lumbering monsters drop to the ground with a thud. The fact that the game manages to capture this intense action, and put the player in the spot of Levi or Mikasa, is truly the work of some excellent game design.
A.O.T. 2 Perfectly Captures the Atmosphere of the Anime
A.O.T. 2's gameplay may be what gets players in the door, but it's the game's atmosphere that will keep fans hooked long after the 20-hour Story Mode rolls credits. Although the satisfying and intense combat of the game captures the essence of the anime perfectly, there's a range of other technical factors that make it such a treat for long-time fans of the series.
One of the most obvious ways in which A.O.T. 2 captures the feeling of the anime is through its art style. The game uses cell-shading masterfully to make the characters, enemies, and environments all look as though they've been ripped straight from the Attack on Titan anime. Each character's face resembles their anime counterpart, and each stone on a building looks as though it's been animated by hand. As this art style is present throughout the game, the player is likely to have an immediate inherent connection to the gameplay if they're a fan of the anime.
However, capturing the unique atmosphere of the show goes much further than simply painting the game to look like the anime. A.O.T. 2 manages to capture the Attack on Titan essence through every facet of its gameplay and objectives.
The standard structure of a mission will have the player darting between Titans, killing each one until there's none left of the field. While this core objective never really changes, the context behind each mission is key to making the player feel as though they are living out an episode of the anime.
A given mission will usually start with a simple escort mission or a "wipe out x number of Titans" objective. As the mission draws on, the intensity of the gameplay gradually ramps up. Side objectives will start to appear around the map, each one appearing with a green flare in the sky that indicates a teammate requires assistance. A timer will then begin, and the player has to balance their main objective with rescuing their teammates, who are all beloved main and side characters from the anime.
During the course of just one mission, the player will have to make multiple split second decisions on whether they focus on the key objective or they help out characters who they likely have an emotional connection to. Due to the limited resource system in the game, whereby the player will need to reload their gas and blades frequently, this already highly-intense gameplay is made even more intense, with the player also having to decide how they use their limited resources most effectively.
But along with capturing the high-intensity of the anime, A.O.T. 2 also manages to encapsulate the anime's feeling of fleeting triumph. When a side mission is completed, the teammate the player has rescued often joins their squad. The player can have up to four squad members at once, each with their own unique ability. Support characters like Armin offer resources like blades and health, while attack characters like Levi can dispatch Titans with a press of a button.
Once the player has had time to experiment with each member of the Survey Corps, they'll be able to combine their teammates' abilities with ease and precision. Zipping between Titans feels even more thrilling when the player can use iconic characters to assist them, and often gives the player that brief feeling of triumph that's present in the anime's team-up moments.
A.O.T. 2 Has a Great Expansion DLC
On its own, A.O.T. 2 is a near-perfect Attack On Titan experience that captures all the nuanced atmosphere that's present in the anime while also providing gameplay that rewards mastering its controls. But A.O.T. 2 has an expansion that makes it the definitive Attack On Titan video game.
Titled Final Battle, this DLC adds a slew of new content to the game. A substantial amount of story content is added to the game, bringing the events of the third season to the main Story Mode while also adding a range of missions that give alternate versions of missions throughout the story, this time from the perspective of another character with new objectives.
This DLC expansion also brings the anime's Thunder Spears and Anti-Personnel ODM gear to the game. These additions switch up the standard blade combat quite a bit, adding new ranged attack mechanics. New abilities are also added, giving characters that turn into Titans the ability to do so on the field, allowing the player to take control of Armored Titan, Attack Titan, Female Titan, Beast Titan, and even the Colossal Titan.
A.O.T. 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS Vita, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.