VisualNoveler announced that their 3D JRPG, Eternal Radiance, will enter into Early Access on the Steam store starting April 14th. The game reminds me of old-school classics like Wild Arms and Tales of Symphonia fused with new-school classics like Valkyria Chronicles.

Players take on the role of a young squire named Celeste who dreams of one day becoming a knight in the king’s guard. Her greatest challenge to date is tracking down a thief across the continent, but what seems like a simple matter of pursuing justice turns into a grand quest to save the kingdom.

Players will have to help Celeste gather a party and travel across the expansive world with her companions Valana and Ruby.

You can get a glimpse of what the gameplay and character interactions are like with the trailer below.

The combat reminds me of a 3D version of Secret of Mana.

If I did have a gripe with the game, though, it’s that Celeste fights kind of stiff, and the enemy hit-detection isn’t very reactive. So she’s doing her moves and combos and the bad guys are just soaking numerical damage until they die.

It’s standard fare JRPG stuff, but it is distracting.

On the plus side, the story elements told via the visual novel CG images looks really good. The art-style is quite refined, and they made sure that all the main heroines are prime waifu bait.

The game features not only the main quest but also additional side-quests and optional activities as well.

You can build up the friendship between the three heroines with optional dialogue and banter, along with having the option to upgrade your gear along the way, too.

You can wishlist Eternal Radiance right now or visit the Steam store page to learn more about the game’s Early Access run, which gets underway April 14th.