A game by Team Ladybug for PC, originally released in 2017.
KonoSuba God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Revival of Beldia, a.k.a. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! Fukatsu no Verdier (この素晴らしい世界に祝福を！復活のベルディア), is based on a light novel series entitled KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! Hepburn: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! written by Natsume Akatsuki, with characters originally illustrated by Kurone Mishima. The story centers around a boy named Kazuma Satō who dies and enters another reality based on role-playing games where he teams up with a party of three strange girls to fight monsters. The series has seen multiple iterations in the form of manga, a radio drama, an anime series, and pair of video games which were released as bonuses alongside volumes of the physical video releases of the anime series.
KonoSuba God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Revival of Beldia is a sidescrolling actioner heavily inspired by the Mega Man series. The game includes Mega Man’s iconic bent-leg jump, pause-scrolling screen transitions, and learning new abilities by defeating bosses. The game follows the story of Kazuma Satō, who has become an RPG adventurer in this new world. He has decent skills in combat and magic, although his greatest stat is apparently luck. His female companions are Aqua, a goddess who possesses power over water; Megumin, who uses explosion magic (which weakens her whenever she uses it and causes her to pass out); and Darkness, a young woman with powerful physical attacks.
The game’s main villain is Verdia (a.k.a. Beldia in the game’s title), who quickly casts a spell on the three heroines and turns them against Kazuma, and they then as the game’s primary boss characters. The game also features appearances by Luna, who works at the guild and offers information between levels, and the goddess Eris who resurrects Kazuma whenever he falls in battle. The game’s currency is also called Eris. While the characters and their behaviors – along with the accompanying silly dialogue – are meant to appeal to fans of the KonoSuba series, the game is ultimately a straightforward retro-style actioner that can be played without prior knowledge of the characters’ backstories or other narrative context. (Ed note: this article is based on a fan-translated version of the game.)
Kazuma has a 2x variable jump and can attack with a sword that sends out a short-range projectile. By holding the ATTACK button, Kazuma builds up power for a Level 2 strike that sends out a bigger projectile with slightly longer range, and holding the button even longer lets him reach Level 3 where he unleashes a large projectile that extends all the way across the screen, passing through solid objects along the way (weaker strikes do not penetrate objects) and hitting enemies multiple times for big damage.
Kazuma can also perform a dash maneuver but he still takes damage when hit, so its primary use is dodging out of the way of boss’ attacks, or the occasional falling chandelier (because video games). Advanced platforming techniques are occasionally required to avoid pits of spikes, leap between platforms, pass over pits of insta-death lava or bottomless pits, dash across conveyor belts, or seek out hidden HP and MP extensions. The game also features some platforms that crumble and disappear a couple of seconds after the player lands on them, and these do not always reappear, making the jump impossible and resulting in a stage restart or a suicide to return to the most recent save point.
In addition to his platforming and melee attacks, Kazuma also has a set of skills that he can cycle through and initiate with a button press, and each draws varying amounts of energy from a secondary MP meter that refills slowly over time. At the start of the game, Kazuma can unleash an icy blast that freezes most enemies in place for several seconds, allowing him to follow up with melee strikes… although strikes only do half damage to frozen enemies. He can also unleash a laser beam or perform a “steal” spell which sucks life energy, money, and MP out of enemies and transfers them to Kazuma. At the end of the first level, these skills are taken away from him, and he must re-purchase skills to make use of them in subsequent levels.
Once the first level has been completed, the player is free to select any of the next three, with each ending in a boss encounter against one of Kazuma’s friends. Selecting any of these levels initiates a Mega Man-style splash screen introducing the character, and when each of these characters is defeated, Kazuma is shown absorbing their powers, which he can then use in future levels. These abilities include a rain of lasers from the sky, a heavy explosive, and a shield that makes Kazuma invincible while halving his damage output but also giving him back a bit of health each time he is attacked.
The hub area allows the player to re-purchase his former skills – along with a sniper attack – and also upgrade these skills, as well as purchase HP or MP restorative potions. The player can stock up to nine of each potion, and while they’re not cheap, they do allow the player to slop his way through most any challenge, including boss encounters. Players can also take on quests, most of which involve returning to previous levels to defeat a certain number of each enemy type for a cash reward.
Players are encouraged to revisit previous levels to gain XP and level up to increase the strength of their attacks, as well as earn enough money to purchase skills. That said, the game is quite short, and completing even one quest requires revisiting levels multiple times. Saving up enough money to buy and upgrade all of Kazuma's skills would require dozens of replays.
Given the game's length and the fact that it was released as a free bonus, a bit of padding isn’t entirely unexpected. However, skilled players can complete the game without revisiting any of the levels if they so choose… at least on the lower difficulty settings. Players who repeat the previous levels can opt to upgrade all of their skills and/or spend their extra currency on XP to level up and cause more damage.
Once all three of the girls have been defeated, the player is free to take on the first of two more difficult levels to challenge the primary antagonist, and the final level requires the player to beat all three of the girls again in succession – per Mega Man boss rush standards – before facing off against the final boss in a lengthy multi-phase affair. These final two levels are quite challenging, but at this point, the player will have access to all of the girls’ skills, as well as any other skills he has purchased, and potentially some HP and MP extensions.
The developers’ previous works include Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue and Pharaoh Rebirth, both of which were powered by Krobon’s Mogura Engine, so the visual style and mechanics will be familiar to players who experienced those games. Action is fast-paced, environments are simple but colorful, and characters and enemies are done up in a cute anime style. The game offers a silly sense of humor, particularly when referencing its own gaming and RPG tropes, with a handful of absurd enemies, like flying cabbages, googley-eyed bunnies, and exploding rocks. There are plenty of big tough enemies to be found as well, each offering sharp designs with limited color palettes. By playing on the higher difficulty settings, players may unlock a boss rush mode and a cabbage mode.
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KonoSuba God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Revival of Beldia was developed by Team Ladybug in collaboration with Pepo Soft and Krobon Station, and the trio previously released Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue. The game was built using the Mogura Engine, which also powered Pharaoh Rebirth, developed by Krobon. Team Ladybug went on to develop the metroidvania Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth.
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