Ludography
74/100
Players15 ratings
66/100
Critics7 reviews
More scores
Metacritic14 critic reviews
66/100
Metacritic usersuser score
69/100
GameFAQsJust Right-Tough
3/5
Player reviews
77% positive4,136 reviews
Steam Deck
Playable
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$19.99

Where to get it

Nine Parchments cover

2017 · Frozenbyte · Role-playing · Shoot 'em up

Nine Parchments

Nine Parchments is a co-operative blast'em up game of magic mayhem from Frozenbyte!

Released
2017
Platforms
Nintendo SwitchPlayStation 4WindowsXbox One
Genres
Role-playingShoot 'em up
Developers
Frozenbyte
Publishers
Frozenbyte
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
Action
Engine
GameMaker
Country
Finland
Age ratings
CLASS_IND 12USK 12PEGI 7ESRB E10+CERO B
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat
8.5hmain story44hcompletionist

About

Nine Parchments is a twin stick action role-playing game developed and published by Frozenbyte. The game was released for Nintendo Switch, Windows, and PlayStation 4 in 2017, and for Xbox One in 2018. The game's story revolves around students of the Astral Academy searching for the missing nine parchments.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Nine Parchments is a co-op action role-playing game utilizing twin stick controlled combat played in a 3D environment from an overhead view. The game can be played in single-player or with up to four players in local or online cooperative play. The game has two modes: adventure and arena. In adventure, players go through 32 levels, defeating waves of enemies and bosses along the way. Arena was added in a later update and has players survive more difficult enemy waves in small areas.

The game includes eight playable characters, with a ninth added in a free update. Each character has three different starting spells with different elements, and new spells are learned by collecting the missing parchments. As characters progress, they level up to unlock points to spend on their skill trees. Three additional variations with different color schemes and starting spells can be unlocked for each character through achievements. Equippable hats and staves can be obtained from quills and chests or by defeating certain enemies.

Story

Cornelius Crownsteed, a student of Astral Academy, and his friends Marvek the Torrid, Carabel the Glacial, Rudolfus the Strange, The Mechanical Owl, and Nim the Cleaner are reprimanded by Professor Butternut for their yet another failure in latest wizarding test when an explosion causes nine stored parchments each containing a powerful spell within to be blown away by the wind. In the ensuing chaos, Cornelius and his friends take this as the opportunity to sneak out and recover missing parchments, even if it means traveling around different corners of the world. Throughout their adventures, they also confront various flores and faunas mutated by magic emerging from portals seemingly to deter them.

The explosion at the academy is soon revealed to be masterminded by Anastasia the Lich, Astral Academy's former student who was expelled for conducting a dangerous arcane experiment leading to the very ongoing magical pollution which mutated flora and fauna Cornelius and co. encountered. By the time the students returned in hopes of their secured spell parchments to be stored in their spellbook via. Ritual of Sealing, Astral Academy is already overrun by Anastasia's minions.

Reception

Nine Parchments received "mixed or average" reviews from professional critics according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo Switch5 December 2017Europe · North America 5 December 2017 · Worldwide 5 December 2017
Windows5 December 2017Worldwide
PlayStation 412 December 2017North America
Xbox One7 March 2018North America · Worldwide 31 December 2018

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Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.