Etheria: Restart – A Gacha for PvP Lovers

Gachas are a type of games that’s increasingly present in the lives of gamers. If before you only had a few games of the genre on your cell phone, while consoles and PCs had complete games, free of raffles or “odds” to get a character or equipment, the mobile platforms were full of free titles that were always trying to grab your wallet with cool, powerful, beautiful, sexy or trendy characters.

Nowadays, on the other hand, even the latest generation of consoles have their share of free games and many with “gift mechanics” (loot boxes) that give you a character, ability or piece of equipment based on chance and probability, such as Genshin Impact, Love and Deepspace and Etheria: Restart.

But what exactly is Etheria: Restart? In short, it’s a turn-based strategy game with a much greater focus on PvP than most titles in the gacha RPG genre, which tend to focus almost entirely on PvE content. The story takes place in Etheria, a digital ecosystem created by humanity as an escape from a collapsing real world, where human consciousnesses were uploaded to survive within this new reality.

For some time, life on Etheria remained peaceful. But gradually, ideological divisions began to emerge. To keep this world functioning, humans developed the Animus — sentient data beings that take on human form within the virtual universe.

Some factions advocated freeing the Animus, while others wanted to keep the system as it was. Among them, a terrorist group called Genesis is against the Animus and wants people to return to the real world. To protect the peace that had been achieved at the cost of much work, Hyperlinks emerged, those capable of fighting Genesis and protecting the Animus. The result was a conflict that bursted out, involving even civilians who just wanted to live in peace.

In theory, the premise has potential. Yes, it's predictable and features the same post-apocalyptic clichés we've seen in other games and movies, but that wouldn't even be a problem if the story was well-written and had good moments. Even a repetitive scenario can yield something interesting if it's presented carefully.

But that's not the case here. The sequence of events is rather dull, and even in the parts where there should be impact or urgency, the narrative fails to engage. In one of the chapters, for example, you’re thrown into a version of Etheria that functions as a blood sports arena. The idea seems like it’ll deliver a worthy boss and an epic battle.

But rapidly the scene is interrupted by a character who lost to you previously and appears out of nowhere to steal the spotlight. It's the kind of twist that only weakens the plot — and what's worse, it happens at the end of a chapter that’s already quite tiring to get through.

The gameplay linked to the campaign also leaves something to be desired. It seems like they added this mode just to fill in the gaps. It mixes light exploration with stealth and puzzle mechanics, but all in a very superficial way, with that kind of design style made for mobile phones. One example of this is the ambush system: you hide behind boxes or walls to jump on enemies.

In theory, it sounds interesting. In practice, it's just a disguised jump button. There's no tension, no reasoning required. Did you hide? That's it, you're invisible. And the worst part: the system doesn't always work. You ambush some enemies, others you don't — and you're forced to fight anyway. In the end, it turns into a confusing and poorly put together puzzle.

Fortunately, that's where the game's biggest issues end. The rest of the game ranges from polished to minor nitpicks. The gameplay, for example, isn't revolutionary, but it's well executed. You can tell the developers took the time to make sure all characters work in both PvE and PvP — at least to some degree.

And that's precisely what makes the team building system so cool. Since all the characters were designed with PvP in mind, the kits are full of interactions, counterplays and synergies. It works almost like a more elaborate version of rock-paper-scissors, but with dozens of variations.

Freya, for example, is a good answer against debuffers like Kloss, since she cleans negative effects passively. But if you use someone like Tsukiyo, who is strong against Freya, you can turn the situation around — even if she’s weak against debuffs or explosive damage that ignores defense.

In the end, what emerges is a dynamic system where several rock-paper-scissors matches happen at the same time within your composition. You try to fit your "scissors" into the opponent's "papers", while trying to avoid the "rocks" that hinder you. There's a lot to experiment with, plenty of traps to avoid, and that real pleasure of finding a combination that fits perfectly.

The game also adds another layer of complexity with Shells—something like pets, but much more active. Each character can equip one, and the effects are quite impactful. Some Shells have abilities so strong that they change the course of the battle. They work as a type of special equipment that activates on its own under certain conditions.

They can cause extra damage, speed up your next action, or even completely mess up the turn order. In addition, they increase stats and even link to combined bonuses to make your characters even more insane.

The synergy between Shells and characters allows for truly broken combos. You can create situations where two characters push each other on the timeline and practically "dance" through turns, ignoring the expected sequence.

Of course, in PvP the enemy can also set up these strategies — which keeps everything in a very unstable and fun balance, where anyone can pull off an unexpected W with a good combo.

Now, putting together the ideal combo isn't easy. Etheria: Restart's equipment system has an interesting mechanic. Instead of each piece giving a fixed point to activate a bonus, modules (the name given to the equipment here) come with varying values ​​— usually one or two points each. Shells, on the other hand, can give up to three points for two different set bonuses. This opens up a huge range of possibilities, but also complicates the process quite a bit.

In practice, you can stack up to three set bonuses on a single character — although two is already more than enough. But if you're the type who likes to maximize everything to the extreme, good luck. In addition to hunting for the right stats, you also need to get the perfect bonus combinations in the right modules.

The real nightmare begins when you start farming Shells. At high rarities, they can have up to eight different effects, each associated with different sets. Then, in addition to hunting for the right effects, you still have to hope that they come with enough strength to activate the set bonuses.

It's the kind of grind that mixes luck, repetition, and a dose of madness — especially if you want to max everything out. But for those who enjoy this kind of challenge, it might be exactly what you're looking for.

There is one concern: the special class characters, the so-called Disorder and Constant (representing the elements of light and darkness), have a more difficult and expensive acquisition system. They barely appear on the normal banner, and the special banners require three times as many resources. For now, none of them are completely broken.

But what about the future? It's no surprise that many gacha games use this type of imbalance as a way to make a profit, rewarding those who spend more. We've seen this in other titles like Genshin Impact and the constant “power creep”. And since Etheria: Restart is a game with a strong competitive appeal, the temptation to pay for an advantage is great. The system itself seems designed to push players in this direction.

Pros

+ Very well done teambuilding;

+ Well-built synergy between characters;

+ Equipment adds several layers to the game;

Cons

- Too much grinding;

- Weak story mode;

- Lack of balance;

Even though the balance is still a bit unstable, Etheria: Restart has a lot to offer. The competitive mode delivers a solid experience, with well-thought-out mechanics and characters that work both in practice and visually.

Does monetization reward those who spend? Yes. But it's not abusive… Yet! The rewards for spending are actually modest, and the game doesn't throw you straight into the endgame content just for swiping a card. It seems like the developers tried to keep the game fair enough to keep the competitiveness alive.

If you like turn-based strategy, tactical PvP, and team building with a thousand layers of possibilities, it's definitely worth giving it a try. Especially if you enjoy competing and racking your brains with synergies.