Gather resources to repair your airship, and maybe even learn more about your past! Was Little Noah: Scion of Paradise worth it?
Full disclosure: We received a review code for the Nintendo Switch version of this game. Rest assured that this will not affect the quality or candor of our review.
Table of Contents
Background
We’ve seen this same basic template before. Think of this as a cutesy take on Rogue Legacy, but with a monster-collecting gimmick. It’s pretty light on story, which is fine, since you’re here for the exploration. When you die, you cash in all the resources you’ve collected and return to your wrecked airship, where you can buy repairs that give you persistent bonuses for future runs.
Special notes: this game only has Japanese audio, and the Steam version only has controller support (no mouse/keyboard, oddly).
What does Little Noah: Scion of Paradise do well?
The game is pretty well polished and accessible. There are multiple difficulty options to make the game more accessible, and gameplay feels smooth. The dungeons are randomly generated but are never awkward to traverse, and being able to fast travel to any room you’ve already cleared is a great feature that I’d like to see more of.
Build/Player Choice
There are a variety of builds depending on how you want to play. Wind is very mobile and tends to involve a lot of rising uppercuts, and was my go-to for a lot of the game. The transition from land to air combat is very smooth, and I liked juggling enemies. In later dungeons, you may want to consider using Ice: it’s much safer, especially when later enemies start to do silly amounts of damage. The teddy bear enemies in particular were a big wakeup call for my melee builds.
There are some Lilliputs that are absolutely clutch pieces of a build, but I suggest that you prioritize whatever will complement your setup.
What could Little Noah: Scion of Paradise do better?
These are more nitpicks rather than actual critiques.
The characters (Lilliputs) that you take into dungeons were apparently referred to as Astrals at one point in development, and they didn’t change the script.
You can increase the friendship level of the Lilliputs/Astrals through gifts. These are permanent buffs to that Lilliput, but the bonuses are often meager – 3% skill cooldown? Disappointing.
Don’t confuse this with leveling up a Lilliput, as that only happens when you collect multiples during your run. When I got to the final boss, I had only maxed three Lilliputs. Maxing a Lilliput’s level generally has a pretty big effect, such as percentage damage reduction or damage buff, so I would have liked to be able to take advantage of these bonuses more often.
Was Little Noah: Scion of Paradise fun?
It’s an enjoyable game with a lot of QoL features that keep it from ever feeling frustrating. It’s the kind of game that you can zone out and play while listening to music or a YouTube video.
Is Little Noah: Scion of Paradise good value?
Your first successful run through the campaign will likely take about 8-10 hours. It’ll take much longer for completionists, especially when the mana costs for later upgrades ramp up. It’s at the 14.99 price point, which is a fair asking price.
Who is this game for?
Fans of similar platformers will enjoy this, but may find it to be on the easier side. You won’t come out of Little Noah ready for Cuphead, but it’s a good entry point into the genre. The mild content makes it appropriate for younger players.
Was Little Noah: Scion of Paradise worth it?
You can certainly do worse than Little Noah. The developer is continuing to support it with some planned DLC later this summer. Little Noah: Scion of Paradise is worth it.
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