REVIEW

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess Review

by Dominic Coles, July 20th, 2015

If there is something captivating about the Deception series it is that the games are pure fun. Nothing seems to feel more exciting than placing traps and looking at the chaos that ensues. Obviously the gameplay is normally coupled by a main character that either has a devious or somewhat tragic story behind them being the harbinger of death. Can all of these elements carry across and be improved upon in the newly released Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess?

The game itself is a revised version of successful entry into the series, Deception IV: Blood Ties. The story from the base game carries across into this one as you play as the named ‘Dark Side Princess’ Laegrinna. Her mission is to find tablets taken by the chosen ones who are slowly being attracted to her castle. If she can acquire all of these, she can resurrect her father the Devil. Laegrinna is also accompanied by her three assistants during the campaign to bring back her father. The Daemon of Elaborate Death Caelea, the Daemon of Sadistic Torment Veruza and Daemon of Humiliating Demise Lilia. These characters as well as the many mercenaries and soldiers that stumble into your playground are brilliant to interact with. Every one of them has their own personality which reflects in the way they are presented. For example, Caelea is a sophisticated woman whilst Veruza is passionate about killing and Lilia is constantly joking around. This makes for a more light hearted atmosphere at the right times or the complete opposite if things are getting dire and dark.

The gameplay of this storyline is simple to learn but yet hard to master. You must concentrate on the fundamentals of trapping your opponents. Luring them into traps using yourself as bait, planting them in right places to optimise the room you’re in and unleashing a combination of blows that can devastate your opponents. As you complete missions and deal with intruders, you are rewarded with Ark. This is used to obtain new devious contraptions, better known as Diabolica, to use the next time you face your foes. To maximise on the amount of Ark you can get in a mission, you can add a mixture of all three of the trap variants. These are Elaborate (Spring Boards, Arrow Spikes etc), Sadistic (Spiked Balls, Swinging Blades etc) and Humiliating (Delta Horse, Pumpkin Head etc). On top of using all of these you can also gain bonus Ark by fulfilling side objectives given by the three Daemons. These may require you to deal so much damage, use so many traps in a combo or even use a certain trap in amongst your combo. If you become a master at these elements you will be able to gain any traps you wish and create new and more elaborate spectacles that unsuspecting heroes will fall into.

As much as the old content is just as good to play, the main focus is on the new Nightmare Princess additions featuring new protagonist Velguirie. He mission is similar to Leagrinnas and takes place at roughly the same time during the events of Blood Ties. Her mission however is to bring the Devil back to the world by empowering him with peoples nightmares. This is where Velguirie resides, in a world between dimensions known as Darkside Heaven. Accompanied by an automaton by the name of Ephemera, they explore the depths of Darkside Heaven to spread Nightmares and strengthen up. As an added bonus to the story, you can also come across the heroines of the previous Deception Games going back to Deception II.

The gameplay stays pretty much the same from the Blood Ties story with the big difference being that instead of a fully fleshed out story you are doing challenge missions. These will take you to different locations both new and from the blood ties story line. Your missions differ per challenge and you also have a collection of side objectives which involve using more elaborate combos, using specific Diabolica or by completing the challenge unscathed. To add to the pressure of these missions, there is also a time limit which will reward you with more points depending on how fast you can complete the objectives. These missions vary from simple to very challenging, especially if you are someone who wishes to complete every one with an S rank upon completion. These can get very thrilling as you learn more about your environment and start using different combinations to fully utilise it.

Throughout both adventures you will have great time learning and mastering your craft. Even falling in love with the characters you meet up with along the way. Both storylines will keep you occupied for many hours and if you want to gain all the trophies the game has to offer you will be sticking with this title for even longer. The only part of the game that I can see that could make players veer away after a while is the voice acting and anime style presentation. Not everyone is into these two elements even if they are implemented really well as they are here. If the series is to continue with Deception V, It would be great to see if the game could get an optional English dub translation to come with it. Then gamers will be able to pick and choose what kind of experience that they would enjoy. As for the art style, fans of games such as Tales of Xillia will be entranced with how everything is drawn out. However with a lack of full motion cutscenes like that which is seen at the intro to the Blood Ties story, it does break immersion down the line and requires you to go through many walls of text with no option for the game to automatically scroll on when dialogue is finished.

Whilst playing through the Quest Mode with Velguirie you will also be able to unlock new parts to create your very own victim. You can kit them out to look as accurate or as hilarious as possible with a ton of possibilities to play with. You can also name your own custom character and add a full on backstory as to why they may stumble into a world of pain and torment. You can also customise their health on top of what they are strong and weak against. This is a fantastic little addition to the game as you can let your creative side run loose. The best thing to do with this mode is to create your closest friends and see if they can survive the amount of traps you have at your disposal.

There is not much to complain about here for both new and old comers alike. People who have played Blood Ties will be entertained with the new Nightmare Princess content. New players to the game or even the series will be entranced by the characters, themes, tones and even the soundtrack as they explore the many ways of trapping their foes. With colourful spectacles, maniacal devastation and hilarious trickery, Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess is definitely one game you should add to your PS4, PS3 or PS Vita library. Embrace your inner demon and get ready to unleash some hell.