The Nineteen Nineties gave us a few of the most celebrated Japanese RPGs of all time, and though the Lunar video games are sometimes missed compared to their contemporaries, they nonetheless embody every part magical about that period.
The Lunar Remastered Assortment is a welcome revival, then. It bundles Lunar: The Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Everlasting Blue into one handy package deal, providing increased decision visuals, some (comparatively minor) high quality of life enhancements, and an all-new English dub.
By way of storytelling and characterisation, each video games nonetheless maintain up. Granted, the overarching plotlines aren’t something particular — chosen heroes, almighty dragons, a rising evil — however there’s an simple allure to the adventures themselves.
Absolutely animated cutscenes — full with that traditional 90s anime type — all the time helped Lunar resonate on a story stage. They continue to be a pleasure to behold at this time, however the remaster’s use of AI upscaling does take the sting off when you discover it. Most gamers most likely will not even catch on, however there are occasions when the AI does the standard AI factor, creating odd linework or patterns that are not speculated to be there.
And this leads right into a broader dialog concerning the Lunar video games deserving a greater return. Certainly, different features of this assortment really feel a bit half-arsed. For instance, now you can double and even triple the pace of turn-based fight, which is nice for the reason that first Lunar specifically is usually a gradual, grindy recreation.
Nonetheless, as a result of fight encounters aren’t random, and you may solely grind for ranges in set dungeons, the method of beefing up your occasion nonetheless seems like a chore. At this level, why not simply embrace extras like an non-obligatory expertise booster? The draw of those previous titles is not to relive their inherent tedium — it is to absorb the ambiance of a style’s bygone period.
Given what number of issue spikes these video games have — as in, you don’t have any actual alternative however to grind some ranges to even stand an opportunity in opposition to particular bosses — it is arduous to not really feel as if way more might have been carried out to enhance the general circulation.
It is a disgrace, as a result of as alluded, it is Lunar’s story and characters that reel you in. Once you’re not mindlessly battering the identical monsters in the identical dungeon again and again, these are rather well paced RPGs that funnel you throughout a reasonably memorable fantasy world.
And to be trustworthy, the battle system is fairly primary anyway. It is your commonplace turn-based affair that does little to excite right here in 2025 — though the spritework remains to be immaculate. Establishing your occasion’s formation is about as in-depth because it will get, and in each video games, it isn’t till in a while that fight calls for strategic nuance past therapeutic when your HP is low.
Having mentioned all of that, there’s nothing fairly just like the gradual satisfaction of seeing your occasion’s stats creep increased. Possibly that is the nostalgia speaking, however there is a straightforwardness to the stereotypical 90s JRPG that just about feels refreshing these days.
You already know what else is nostalgic? Lunar’s English localisation — a script so 90s that it even manages to reference cultural occasions of the time. From what we will inform, the dialogue is usually unchanged on this assortment, regardless of the utterly rerecorded voicework (which, we’re glad to report, is stable all through).
We perceive why JRPG purists might need wished a extra… correct translation for this revival, however there is no doubt that the previous script helps set up a real 90s anime aesthetic. The localisation group had enjoyable with this one, and that lighthearted, usually jokey tone bleeds into Lunar’s general identification.
Conclusion
The Lunar video games embody every part that is nostalgic about 90s JRPGs, from the enjoyable characters and vibrant fantasy worlds, to the fantastic spritework and catchy music. That mentioned, Lunar’s underlying grind could make it tough to abdomen right here in 2025 — particularly when the Lunar Remastered Assortment would not do sufficient to mitigate the collection’ most tedious features. It is nice to expertise these video games once more — a totally deserved revival — but it surely’s an actual disgrace that the gathering is not flush with extra useful options.
