Ludography
81/100
Players38 ratings
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
80/100
Player reviews
92% positive5,366 reviews
Steam Deck
Playable
Runs on
Windows
Price
Free

Where to get it

Reverse: 1999 cover

2023 · Card battle · Gacha

Reverse: 1999

Reverse: 1999 sets in the retro style world in the west. The story is interesting: on the last day of 1999, humanity was brought into a new age – the 1920s, by a strange storm. In the new world, surprisingly, some talented people have a kind of ability called Arcanum, and some of them become Arcanists. You will explore and try to discover the secrets in the new world.

Released
31 May 2023
Platforms
AndroidWindowsiOS
Genres
Card battleGachaRole-playingStrategyTurn-based strategy
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Country
People's Republic of China
Age ratings
ESRB T
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, Japanese, Korean
Time to beat
181hmain story182hcompletionist

About

Reverse: 1999 is a turn-based tactical role-playing video game developed and published by Bluepoch. The game has been available in Mainland China since May 2023 and was released globally on October 26, 2023.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Reverse: 1999 is a strategy role-playing video game with turn-based battles and combat designed around card-shuffling mechanics. Players select up to four Arcanists that they own to take into battle with them. The Arcanists each have unique passive skills, two Incantation cards, and one Ultimate card that they can use in battle. In addition, players can equip and build each Arcanist with a "Psychube" for additional benefits or upgrade their "Resonance" to improve certain statistics.

Once in battle, the player will start with a hand of 7–8 Incantation cards to choose from, and can play as many cards in a turn as there are active friendly Arcanists on the field. Once their turn is done and both sides have played their cards, the player gains extra cards at random from their Arcanists' combined deck. Each card ranges from one to three star-level, and players can upgrade incantations by merging the same cards together, increasing the damage they do, the amount of "Moxie" the respective Arcanist gains from their use, and sometimes unlocking extra effects. When a character gains enough Moxie, they will automatically be granted an opportunity to unleash their Ultimate skill. This applies to enemy units as well.

Story

The game takes place in an alternate history where humans exist alongside Arcanists, a race of individuals with magical abilities. On the last day of the year 1999, a mysterious phenomenon known as the "Storm" began to rewind time to eras across the 20th Century. The story depicts the conflict between two factions: the St. Pavlov Foundation, an organization of (mostly) Humans and Arcanists dedicated to serving humanity and attempting to end the Storm, and Manus Vindictae, an Arcanist-supremacist group that acts as the story's antagonist faction.

The protagonist is Vertin, an arcanist called the Timekeeper. She is a member of the St. Pavlov Foundation and the only person known to be naturally immune to the Storm's effects. Vertin is tasked with investigating the Storm to discover ways of stopping it.

Development

The game's first beta test began on January 7, 2022, and the second began on June 10, 2022. The game started a third beta test on April 14. The game was released in Mainland China on May 31, 2023.

The Official Global Reveal Trailer was released on July 21, 2023. The global version beta test ran from August 4 to 13, 2023, and was released globally on October 26, 2023.

Reception

Reverse: 1999 has received generally favorable reviews and has been praised for its voice acting, character design, and artstyle. The game's story has been criticized for being awkward and complicated; reviewing the game's beta, Pocket Tactics said "the way it presents its story is absolutely baffling".

On October 17, 2023, Reverse: 1999 surpassed 1 million pre-registrations prior to its global release. After release, it reached a global player count of 19.99 million players in 2026.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Android31 May 2023China · Worldwide 26 October 2023
iOS31 May 2023China · Worldwide 26 October 2023
Windows26 October 2023Worldwide

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Features

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