Steven Universe: Unleash the Light [Xbox]
Previously an Apple Arcade exclusive, Steven Universe: Unleash the Light follows on from SU: Save the Light; between the ending of the original series and Steven Universe Future beginning. Two new Light Prisms, Demantoid and Pyrope, are totally against the Era 3 freedoms that Steven and the gang have introduced, and are doing everything in their power to stop it.
After meeting up with Pyrope and Demantoid in the Palace of Light, they rush away, looking to avoid Steven and put an end to his plans. The whole Palace goes into lockdown, with large doors formed by the Prisms to prevent you from getting further and further in. Thankfully, Steven and the gang have a Prism on their side, George - Hessonite’s Prism in a cute, cuddly, new form. You must travel to different colonies to gain information and Prism Keys in order to gain deeper access to the Palace, whilst solving all manner of problems and puzzles on your way. The game does well to further the story of Steven Universe in a tangible way, and keeping that fine balance between giving context to things without rehashing the whole story of the series over again.
The minimalistic art style is gorgeous, with everything feeling true to the source material even without the series-typical line work. Battles look great, with turn-based combat that allows you to utilise a wide selection of moves across the different characters of the show, with fully-animated attacks and defensive moves that even Pokémon should be jealous of. The menu system, consisting of the world map (and galaxy map over and above that!), Party Swap, and character screens are all visually appealing too, with a cute hand-drawn aesthetic for the maps and journal look for changing up your characters. You can also equip new costumes as you unlock their schematics, by giving George collected Chroma to craft outfits for characters that not only give you different looks from the show, but serve to unlock various upgrades such as more backpack space for Steven or an extra formation swap for Pearl. This is great if you have a preferred look for your team - and whilst there are only three outfits each, this still offers plenty of choice as can all be changed individually as you unlock them. Each character also has Item Slots for you to equip various stat-boosting items such as pizza, cassette tapes and jackets, as well as Badge Slots to give other boosts. Sadly none of the items change the physical appearance of characters despite some being weapons or clothing, but are nevertheless effective for improving your team. The one that does have an impact however is the most pointless seeming one in the game, a Badge that makes the wearer sparkle, and it was nice to come across a reason for it existing whilst I was exploring.
Voice acting is superb as always, and really adds to the authenticity of the game - which creator Rebecca Sugar has confirmed, as with the other Light titles, is canon. There’s plenty of dialogue with full voice acting lining up with it, albeit not absolutely everything - but this helps to set the tone for certain moments in the game. Similarly, the soundtrack is just perfectly suited, with tracks fitting each area, and getting you amped up during battles. My only minor gripe about the look/feel of the game is the sliding between screens style of movement. Sure, it makes getting through large areas pretty quick, as you can easily nudge from one screen to the next (providing you don’t run into any enemies in between), but I’d really have liked the freedom of just roaming around from area to area. Admittedly, being a previously mobile title, this is an understandable design choice - so as I say, it’s just a teeny tiny gripe for me. Allan doesn’t mind this movement, so it’s definitely just personal preference here.
Combat feels and looks great, with the aforementioned turn-based attacks being fully animated. Each turn you’ll get a set amount of move points that can be used across your characters, and this will have you learning your best moves fast. Using items you’ve collected on your travels, stored in Steven’s backpack, during battles can do anything from restoring team health to increasing move points and giving temporary damage boosts. There’s a good bit of strategy to fights, as some enemies will wind up for stronger attacks, often showing their planned target(s) which allows you to prioritise to deal either focused damage to them such as with Garnet’s punch, or wide attacks that will hit multiple enemies, like with Amethyst’s whip. Timing your attacks perfectly (done by pressing right when the target suggests) allows you to deal higher damage, and you can even pull off lucky shots at times which are increased in likelihood by having certain items equipped. Utilising the different fusions you have available to you whenever your Teamwork Meter (which increases with perfectly timed attacks, etc.) is maxed out will allow you to absolutely wipe the floor with your enemies, and it feels really satisfying to do. The difficulty curve is quite mild, and never feels too easy nor too difficult, although jumping straight into the first boss as soon as I could took me a little by surprise due to just how long the fight went on. Switching out your team regularly allows you to continue levelling everyone up whilst learning new abilities, getting to grips with who works well together, and of course, testing out new characters once you’ve unlocked them. Going back to the Palace of Light frequently is great too, as you’ll unlock more of this area the more keys you’ve found, and enemies here scale with your team which is helpful if you’re looking to level up.
Retailing at £20.99 on the Xbox Store, it’s definitely a little on the higher-end of pricing for a lot of mobile ports, particularly when you consider that on Apple Arcade, you get this plus a tonne of other games for £4.99 p/m, but as a one time purchase vs potentially paying for months (and losing access if you ever stop Apple Arcade) it’s a no-brainer. Plus, there’s plenty of enjoyment to be had here that offsets that pricing - especially if you prefer console to mobile gaming. There’s just so much to do and unlock throughout your course of playing, from all of the equippable items as well as costumes, and this really keeps you on the lookout for the many treasure chests and breakable objects. Levels have a banner that can be seen at warp points to show you your completion percentage - allowing you to make sure you’ve done everything necessary before you move on - and this is something that we both love as it removes the need for unnecessary backtracking. Overall we had a tonne of fun here, so we’d highly recommend you check this out, particularly if you’re a Steven Universe fan.
In the end, we decided to give Steven Universe: Unleash the Light the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.
Have you played SU:UtL yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Grumpyface Studios for the Steven Universe: Unleash the Light Xbox review code!
