Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is a unique investigative experience
Out today, if you like the idea of a game that combines visual novel style storytelling along with investigation and combat, you might enjoy Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow. Set in a fallen Tokyo, this is a game that will have you cracking cases to grow your characters, and you’ll also need to get your head around a unique battle system focused around countering your opponents.
Take a chance on Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow and you’ll find that the story at the heart of it revolves around two characters. One of them, Rena, is an investigator from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police’s Public Safety Department. The other, Soma, is a simple delivery boy until he has a run in with a monster, leaving him in a half-human, half-monster state.
You’ll spend much of your time on Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow watching story scenes and reading text – like I said, this is very much a visual novel in some regards. You do have cases to crack, though, and so you’ll be visiting locations via a map trying to get the information you need and pushing the story forward.
What’s more, by completing cases you’ll obtain research points, which can then be used to unlock new skills for Rena and Soma. Some of these are passive skills, which you can equip to boost your stats and skills in various ways. Others are battle skills, which you can equip and then activate in combat to give you the upper hand.
It’s the combat system here that’s perhaps the most unique and interesting thing about Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow. It’s not quite real-time, with time moving very slowly when you’re not doing anything, but when you dodge, attack or perform another type of action, time progresses normally.
The trick to success here is to keep an eye on the battle timeline and try to counter enemy attacks where possible. To do this you need to perform an action of the same colour of that of your opponent’s just at the right time. You need to be mindful of the actions you perform and not just button bash, then, though many actions can be cancelled by performing an evade.
Factor in having two characters to take control of, and often having multiple enemies to deal with, and things can get quite complicated. Time pretty much standing still when you dont perform an action doesn’t help, either. Needless to say, Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow might take you some time to adjust to, but for those willing to learn its intricacies, there’s a rather interesting experience to be had.
Qliphah in Providence’s Shadow is available on PS5, Switch and PC.
