Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered succesfully bridges the gap between its predecessor Monochrome Mobius and the celebrated Mask of Deception, but not through the storytelling the series is known for. The game expands Yamato and Arva Shulan’s history by investigating seemingly unrelated incidents that gradually reveal how Monochrome Mobius leads into the original trilogy. Along the way, the game fleshes out beloved characters and answers questions long-time fans never expected the series to revisit.
The game refines Monochrome Mobius’s combat system into something that not only challenges the player to engage in the full breadth of its mechanics, it also introduces Overzeal as a flexible gauge that can turn around a losing battle or accelerate an offensive. Where the game drops the ball, surprisingly for this series, is in its story; it spends so much of its first half on a wild goose chase and (re)introducing characters that the unfocused narrative struggles to build momentum, saving too many of its relevations for the very end. While the story has much heart, the game can only be recommended to fans with an insatiable hunger for more Utawarerumono who are willing to overlook its shortcomings. Utawarerumono: Past and Present Rediscovered succeeds in tying the series’ two sagas, but fails to do so with the expert storytelling that made the originals so memorable.