Meanwhile, over at Legatus Laendur’s camp, the tactician supreme is fuming. The land of Fenumia has branded him a traitor to Princess Cecile, so he’s on the run with intent on crushing the empire and possibly taking over the kingdom. This begins Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion, a game that expands the story from Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire on the PS4.

While the portable game has longer loading times and some slowdown to deal with, it controls and plays exactly the same. In other words, expect a challenging time indeed if you simply jam on the buttons thinking that’ll get the job done. Success here as in the other game demands precision and timing as well as learning who where and when to use your growing arsenal of moves on.

As your team improves and changes, you’ll need to enhance your skills accordingly and as with the PS4 game, wisely utilize cards to buff skills and advance story segments. Not all of your choices will lead to good outcomes, but again, the replay value here is such that if you like the game enough you’ll play it more than once. One thing the Vita version does require is a great deal more patience when dealing with multiple foes. As there’s no feedback from the Vita, you’ll need to pay closer attention to attacking and defending. Blocking is definitely a bit trickier as well, but nailing a few perfects is doable.

Overall, the game looks the same and save for those moments where things get a tad choppy, the performance is generally okay. As this is a game that relies heavily on action, it’s also one where the frame rate needs to be a bit more rock solid than it is. Still, the presentation is solid overall and here’s a case where you get another indie game that’s worth the money. You can score both Fallen Legion games for $30 in a bundle here, which is cheaper than buying them separately.

As the game swings the other side of the conflict your way, there are parts that overlap with the PS4 version while enhancing that story with a few new elements. Some you’ll see coming while others will be pretty surprising turns. Overall, Yummy Yummy Tummy and Mintsphere have created a fine and tricky game here that should please fans of the Valkyrie Profile series and classic VanillaWare games such as Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Hopefully, what’s here can spur development of a more fleshed-out follow up or other games that play around with this formula. I can almost see a more tactical, turn-based game in the future should the right cards be played.

Score: B- (80%)

-GW

Review code provided by the publisher