LifeisXbox’s EGGLIA: Rebirth review | Ah yes, another game making its way to the Nintendo Switch after serving as a mobile game first. Of course, I get skeptical in these situations because let’s face it: it’s not an easy task to successfully turn a mobile game into a PC, Xbox, Nintendo, or whatever other platform game. Today, I’ll be taking you through the wonderful world of Egglia. First released as a free mobile game with microtransactions under the name EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap, this game by Brownies Inc. has now made an entrance on the Nintendo Switch. EGGLIA: Rebirth is, luckily, completely free of microtransactions and ready to take you on a daily journey, because yes, this game is meant to be played for short periods of time. I’m getting Animal Crossing vibes here, anyone else? Let’s dig in!
Most Memorable Moment
I am an absolute sucker for decorating houses in games. I don’t know why but I always seem to enjoy it so much. Especially if you have to make your own furniture and decorations using materials you gather. I went into this game a bit unknowingly so discovering that this is one of the features that EGGLIA: Rebirth offers, I got so excited. Especially after I upgraded my house for the second time and I saw I was creating more and more space to really build something cool. I’m pretty sure I’m still going to spend hours decorating and expanding my house alongside playing everything else that this game has to offer, and I’m so excited for it!
ā¹ļø Reviewed on Nintendo Switch | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion from the writer.
What we Liked!
- Art style | Right from the start I was attracted to the art style of EGGLIA: Rebirth. Not only are the characters absolutely adorable, the majority of landscapes hidden in eggs is amazing. Let’s talk about the characters first. They each have a very strong personality which is often strengthened by the way they look. All of them have their own unique look, some quirkier than the other. From the cute-looking Alovara who struggles with all kinds of creatures wanting to eat her to Jazoo, a dog dressed in pyjamas but with his pants serving as some kind of hat. Then we have the different locations that you can discover. I had such a blast every time I got a new egg showing me a new land! Swamps, caves, floating gardens, bogs, locations filled with coral or purple trees,… you name it, EGGLIA: Rebirth has it. With 28 eggs to gather and open, the variety in landscapes is enormous. And I’m all for it!
- Story | Before everything went down the drain, there was a magical kingdom called Egglia in which all species lived peacefully with one another. A beautiful world filled with beautiful creatures. Unfortunately, the kingdom was taken by Ogres who destroyed everything in their paths. In order to avoid losing everything that was built, Egglia’s ruler Kuff sealed the different parts of his kingdom away in eggs in the hopes that one day all the lands could be set free and peace could return. Now is the time for a young girl to save the world. The game takes off with an encounter between said girl and a redcap boy, a globlin-like creature meant to destroy the world. However, something is off with this specific redcap, as his horns, which hold all anger and evil, seem to be gone. Our little redcap is one of the few creatures with the ability to free lands from eggs so this is where the story begins. It’s a cute story and throughout the game, you will meet a bunch of characters strenghtening this story and creating side-stories. It’s all wonderfully done, and if you don’t mind reading quite a bit, you’re in for a treat.
- Battle system | Every land you open continues the story and has you battling enemies and gathering resources. The battle system used in EGGLIA: Rebirth is really simple and straightforward. A land has multiple areas. Each area has two stages and each stage has a set number of floors, missions to complete and specific enemies (based on elements like water and wind). The battlegrounds themselves are hex grids. You move through these using a die. The number you role affects how many spaces you can move and how much damage you do to enemies. You can bring three Spirits on your journey as well. These can help you attack enemies, defend yourself, and boost your stats. You can also take two companions with you, so basically people that moved into town. They will explore the lands for you while you battle and gather extra items along the way. If that isn’t super handy! Each companion has specific skills like being a seeker, harvester or angler. Beware though, as the morale of these companions run out over time so they won’t be useful all the time! Unless you have an elixer to help keep them awake, of course!
- Town life | Of course, there is more to life in Egglia besides battling. On your adventures you meet all kinds of creatures looking for a home. Luckily, there is more than enough space on Egglia so soon your little town will fill up with inhabitants and their houses but also shop keepers and characters that will help you out in one way or another. As you progress, the people you brought into town will want to decorate their houses so they’ll ask you to build things like beds or decorations, but more on that later. When you’re not helping others, you can just talk to them or give them gifts. This will increase your friendship level with them. When you’re not busy helping others, socializing, battling or following the story, there is still plenty of time to decorate and expand your own home. Using the various items you find on your travels to strange lands, you can easily build all kinds of stuff in the workshop. The bigger the workshop gets, the more items are available. A claw-foot bathtub, a picnic table, various kinds of plants and flowers, books, lamps, furniture, rugs, fences… The list of options goes on and on. It’s truly wonderful to make your house your home! Then there are also the Shrine, Tao Xin and Tekko. The Shrine is used to gain spirits. You go to the Shrine, prepare a meal using items you find on your journey, leave it in a flower and try to catch a Spirit. Different meals get you different Spirits. Tao Xin allows you to grow potatoes (by planting seeds) which helps you upgrade your Spirits, and Tekko grows jewels that you need in order to evolve Spirits.
- Quests and requests | Naturally, we have to continue the story of EGGLIA: Rebirth. This is where quests come in. Opening new eggs, exploring new lands, the main storyline is found in the quests tab. Don’t expect any hard missions here as the gameplay is pretty casual. When completing a quest, you get experience, friendship points, coins, and items as rewards. Besides quests, you can also solve some requests if you want to. Villagers have all kinds of requests waiting for you. When you talk to them, you can select the request speech bubble and see if they have any requests waiting for you. Often these are decorations and furniture for the house, but other times, they require random materials. You can gather what you need, build it, or buy it. It doesn’t matter, as long as you fulfill their requests. It was honestly so amazing to build items for villager’s houses and then see those items in their house.
Mixed Feelings
- Real-world time | EGGLIA: Rebirth uses real-world time to pass the time. While this wasn’t a big obstacle for me, it does turn this into a game that you cannot play for hours a day. If you want to grow potatoes or jewels or attract new spirits, there is a waiting time that you have to adhere to. Whether it’s 10 minutes or 2 hours, it’s there. You can, however, use an item called Tick-tock to speed up the growth process of your harvest. As mentioned before, your companions also lose morale which has to be charged again over time.
- Loading screens | The loads and loads of loading screens are most likely a remnant of the original mobile port of EGGLIA: Rebirth and were one of the very few things that bothered me a little in this game. Everytime you go the world overview, enter a house, start a battle, etc… a loading screen appears. This bothered me quite a bit at first, but I admit that I got a little used to them after a while. You don’t get boring plain loading screens, luckily. Instead there is always some text you can read to pass the time. If you read crazy fast, that is. The loading never really takes long so you probably can’t even finish the first sentence on a loading screen which is a pity as they probably provide helpful tips. It’s a true ‘blessing and a curse’ situation.
What we Disliked
- Nothing to see here, you can continue to the verdict!
How long to beat the story | 20 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | No achievements on Nintendo Switch
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Head of PC team. PC, Switch, and Xbox game reviewer. Also a marketeer, concert and animal lover, and photographer in training š
Steam: Mauitje
Xbox: Mauitjexo
