Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow Review – A Brilliantly Weird JRPG

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow Review

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is a JRPG that’s a very unique amalgamation of a lot of incredible influences. For some players, this game is going to feel like a dream come true. It fills several voids that aren’t common in modern video games. For one, it’s a horror-themed JRPG, which are few and far between. It follows a rare pedigree of games like Shin Megami Tensei, Parasite Eve, and Shadow Hearts. It’s also a JRPG developed by Arc System Works, who are mainly known for its fighting games. The result is a counter-based combat system that many will compare to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. If this blend of influences appeals to you as much as it does to me, read on, and I’ll tell you more about it.

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow’s story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo that’s been overrun by monsters called anomalies. The game has two protagonists: Rena and Soma. Rena is a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Safety Bureau. The game begins when she finds Soma collapsed, and under attack by anomalies. Soma has a gap in his memory, and has been infected by a drug called Tiny True. The two of them team up to investigate the drug across the city. The narrative is good, but the true star of Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is its world. The grotesque horror anime cop world carries the story, and makes it something special.

Tactical Counter Timeline RPG

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow’s combat is described by Arc System Works as “Tactical Counter Timeline RPG”. It’s a combat system made for the sickos who live to play Devil May Cry’s Bloody Palace mode. I can’t imagine that Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow began development after Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s release last year, but its combat feels like an influence. Even though battles are technically turn-based, they center around a counter system that almost plays like a turn-based JRPG version of FromSoftware’s action combat.

The player has different attack skills assigned to the face buttons. When an enemy is about to attack, a colored shrinking ring appears over them. If a player presses the skill button that matches the color of the ring, with the right timing, the player will counterattack, instead of eating an enemy attack. The player can try to hit as many skill attacks as possible between enemy attacks, but this comes with the risk of being locked in an animation. Skills can also be queued, which eliminates delay, and creates combos. The player also has the option to dodge uncounterable enemy attacks with the left joystick.

Deep Combat Systems

Pressing R2 swaps the face buttons for a secondary set of skills that include actions like guarding and healing. Enemies have a “down” gauge, which is depleted by landing successful counterattacks. Once it’s depleted, the player can press L1 to deliver a powerful “Arcana” attack. Enemies have large health bars though, and even the most basic encounters will still take at least a couple minutes. Pressing R1 slows down combat, and pressing triangle completely pauses combat. This is a great way of creating fast-paced twitch combat, but allowing the player to breathe and strategize.

Players fight as Rena and Soma. They can be swapped by pressing L2. The player can also use the d-pad to queue a swapped-out partner’s skills. The player team has a rush gauge, which increases with landed attacks, but decreases over time. A full rush gauge adds damage multipliers, which encourages offensive play, and prevents players from purely counterattacking. A combat encounter can be restarted at any time by pressing the options button.

Stats and Scores

Characters gain research points in addition to normal experience points. Experience points lead to level gains and overall stat increases. Research points are spent on new abilities, which can be active combat skills, or passive buffs. Skills can be changed and equipped outside of combat. Every battle is timed and graded. Higher battle scores are determined by how quickly the battle is finished, the less damage the player takes, the more counters the player lands, and the higher the player’s combo counts are. Some battles have bonus objectives, which yield extra experience and research points.

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow’s combat is complex and unique. Because of this, the game has a steep learning curve. The systems and busy UI can feel overwhelming at first. To mitigate this, the game’s difficulty can be changed at any time. Higher difficulty yields greater rewards, but doesn’t affect the story. I loved the game’s combat, and it will be the main appeal for curious players.

Shin Megami Tensei Influence

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow’s exploration is mainly done through a Shin Megami Tensei-style map with a cursor. The player is guided towards objectives by different map markers. Sometimes multiple markers appear on the map, representing optional locations that need investigating. Some of these are side quests and bonus battles, while others are marked as progressing the main story.

Another of Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow’s selling points is its aesthetics. Anime horror is rare in JRPGs. There’s an obvious Persona influence on the game’s drip, especially in its music. There’s even a gorgeous anime cutscene right at the beginning. The game doesn’t have English voice work, but this wasn’t an issue for me because Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is so Japanese. I should note that the narrative is largely presented like a visual novel. There are a small number of cutscenes with traditional 3D models and camera work. But most of the story is told through static images and text. The images are gorgeously illustrated.

In Conclusion

Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is made for a very niche audience. It’s a horror JRPG with a combat system built to appeal to fighting game fans. The combat is deep and is going to be a dream come true for some. This might even be a great entry JRPG for Arc System Work’s usual fighting game audience. Normally I would be hesitant to widely recommend something this niche, but Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is most easily compared to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. There are a lot of people waiting for a game influenced by it, and this is the first great one.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***