Riviera: The Promised Land

The gods of Asgard were overrun by demons from Utgard during the great Ragnarok war. The gods sacrificed their lives to create Grim Angels, black-winged warriors armed with sacred weapons known as “Diviners,” to save the rest of the world from demons. The Grim Angels defeated the demons and transformed Utgard into the lovely Riviera. A thousand years later, rumors of the demons’ return circulate. Hector, one of the seven Magi entrusted by the gods to guard Riviera, sends the Grim Angels Ein and Ledah there, instructing them to activate the “Retribution,” a power that would destroy Riviera but also eliminate the demons. Ein is defeated by Ursula, Riviera’s guardian, and awakens with amnesia, unaware of his past or the role he will play in the land’s future. Riviera: The Promised Land is a role-playing game in the Japanese style. Unlike most RPGs, it does not allow the player to navigate a character to explore the game world physically. Instead, by spending particular trigger points earned during battles, the player activates “triggers,” which are events that lead to cutscenes, combat, items, and so on. This is accomplished by moving from screen to screen and investigating areas. When a turn-based battle is triggered, the player chooses three active combatants from a pool of five, a formation for the party (attack or magic), and which four items to bring into the battle. The items train various characters’ skills; if a character has been introduced to that item, they can use powerful “OverSkills” by gradually filling the OverDrive gauge. Items can only be used so many times before they break. There are also dating gameplay elements in the game. The player can decide for Ein regarding his female companions, increasing or decreasing their trust level and eventually arriving at one of the endings determined by Ein’s relationships with the young women in his party.