Summary

Vivid World is a dungeon-crawling roguelite that puts you into the shoes of a high schooler, Lemuria, who fell asleep during class only to wake up and find herself trapped in the underworld while still being very much alive. The same, unfortunately, couldn’t be said for her classmates, whose souls wander the dungeons in the underworld. Help her figure out what actually happened by assembling a powerful team of heroes, venturing beyond the limbo, and restoring the souls of her friends!

Plotline

The game begins with the main character, a high school student named Lemuria, who falls asleep during class only to wake up in a classroom full of ghosts and otherworldly creatures.

Terrified, she ran out of the school into a nearby forest to find it littered with weird, colorful gems. Apparently, these gems can somehow summon powerful heroes to fight for her whenever she’s attacked by creatures from the underworld. Perhaps because she’s a living being in a world filled with the dead, she’s the only one who can use these gems.

Thankfully, she’s not alone in the underworld. Underworld guides like Anansi are ready to help her learn about the rules of the place and lead her safely to Lymbos, the hub in between the danger-filled underworld dungeons. It also helps that, unlike the other souls in the place, she can actually communicate with the guides.

Once she’s at Lymbos, she learned that her classmates’ souls are somehow scattered around the underworld’s many dungeons. To learn what actually happened while she was asleep in class, she will need to collect and assemble the souls of her friends just so they can tell her, in their own fragmented way, what caused all of this.

Now, the game actually has some really fun and solid gameplay, which you’ll find out soon enough, but some parts of the story really seem forced here. It often feels like the game tried to explain elements in its game mechanics in the context of the story, failed to do so in a meaningful way, and then tried to brush it off (and the main character just goes along with it). Personally, I’d say the story isn’t one of this game’s strong points.

Gameplay

Unlike the story, the gameplay, however, is very fun and enjoyable, featuring a gameplay loop where you’ll venture into a dungeon, fight your way out with the team you’ve built, and earn rewards that contribute to both story and meta progression, allowing you to head into the next dungeon just a bit stronger than before.

The gameplay is similar to a deckbuilding roguelite ,but, obviously, instead of building a deck, you assemble a strong team of heroes using gems (I guess they work like cards in a way). This system is built around the premise that there are “units” (though you can probably call them “heroes” as well) trapped inside these gems that will spawn whenever enemies are around. Note that the entire team will spawn when combat is triggered. You can’t edit your team while combat is in progress, but you can swap out your units with the ones in your reserve at specific points in the dungeon, namely, the rest stops and at the vendor.

As you might expect, the main focus of the game is for you to assemble the best possible team you can based on whatever gems you get as rewards. You’ll start every dungeon with a single Unit, chosen out of the three random ones given, and you’ll gather more as you progress. You can have up to six Units in your team, with six more in reserve, but you do need to unlock the five empty slots on your team using coins earned from fights before you can add your Units to those slots. Note that placement order can be really important here as wel,l since the first Unit in the team (the first one from the right, I mean) will likely be taking the brunt of the damage from the enemies.

These Units can – and should – also be upgraded as long as you have two other exactly the same gems, ala match-3 style, to rank up that Unit so it’ll have better stats overall. Now, every Unit comes with two specific traits that will only be activated if you have other Units with similar traits in your team. Some traits require just two Units to activate, while others may require three or more. This may sound a bit restrictive since you can only field so many Units in your team, but this is where upgrading your Units really matters. Whenever a Unit is upgraded, whatever traits they have will be permanently affixed to your team. This means that if you end up removing them from the team, the traits they contribute to the team will remain.

Units even have abilities, and the abilities, oftentimes, make it obvious which role the Unit plays – or at least, should play – in the team, such as tank, DPS, or healer. Some abilities are only active if the conditions they need are met. This may include placing the Unit in the correct spot on your team.

You can further bolster your team by obtaining accessories like necklaces and rings that will grant additional boosts. In a way, these work like perks and will persist throughout the dungeon run. You’ll also have access to ability gems that you can manually click on to activate their ability, be it providing a magic shield for your team or casting a bomb that can directly damage the enemies on the battlefield. Not all gems are reusable, though! Some are consumable and have limited charges. Once depleted, they will be removed from your gems arsenal.

You can have up to eight of these, including the basic attack gem, which you’ll be constantly using to get your Units to attack the enemy. Some of these gems can be really powerful, but the powerful ones also tend to have a much longer cooldown to prevent them from being too overpowered.

Now, as a roguelite, you’ll get to choose which path to take in the dungeon, and there are many different rooms you can find yourself in, aside from the usual combat ones. This includes vendors that trade Unit gems, chests that contain ability gems that you can open (as long as you have the currency it requires), goddess statues that grant you a freebie, and even rest stops so you can arrange your team or replenish your health at a price.

But there’s a catch – every move costs you mana, and you have a limited number of them to start. Admittedly, there are ways you can replenish the mana used, such as by having consumable gems, but these are pretty rare to come by. If you do end up depleting your mana, every subsequent move will then damage your Units, reducing their health.

I should point out that, unlike some other roguelites, it’s entirely possible to loop back and return to a previous room if you need to here, but that, in turn, might cause you to run out of mana before you can reach the exit. Not to mention, you’ll oftentimes need to first find a key before the exit will be unlocked, and that key can be dropped by any of the elites marked on the map. Each dungeon run also consists of several stages, and you’ll only get to return to Lymbos, where you can invest your gains into unlocking permanent perks and even new game features that might just make your next run that much easier, once you’ve defeated the final boss of that dungeon.

Graphics/ Sound

Vivid World features an art style that is colorful, stylized, and has a pop-up book aesthetic. The character designs are charming and expressive, with a distinct “chibi-gothic” look and pop-cartoonish flair that makes the game feel lighthearted even if it is set in the underworld.

In terms of sound, the game comes with a selection of JRPG-inspired tunes that change depending on what you are doing in the game, be it interacting with the vendor or engaging in combat. There is some voice acting here, but they tend to follow the style of JRPGs in which the characters only say a few words that describe the dialogue instead of just saying the dialogue.

Conclusion

All in all, Vivid World is a fun roguelite that blends charm with addictive and strategic gameplay into a distinctive package. While some parts of the story don’t really make much sense, its mechanics of jewel-based party building, merging, and auto-battler strategy offer both accessibility and depth. For players who enjoy strategic party-building, deck-style mechanics, and visually rich worlds that mix whimsy with darkness, Vivid World delivers a fresh and engaging experience, and is a game you’d definitely want to play.