ActRaiser Renaissance (PC) review "I hope you like palisades"

There was once a game that combined simple hack 'n slash platforming with stripped-down city management elements. That game was called ActRaiser, and it filled my TV screen numerous times while plugged into my SNES or loaded up on Wii. It was neither a great platformer nor a stellar colony sim, but the two together somehow felt magical. It didn't need to be more than those two things.

Yet, that's what its remake, ActRaiser Renaissance, tries to be...

Here, you play a god who looks down at the world he created, notices the lack of humans, and then commences murdering life forms to make room for people. You accomplish this by engaging in a platformer segment and chopping up goblins and their giant centaur leader. Afterward, you create two grown adults and marvel at how skipping childhood had no ill effects on their social skills. They chat for a minute, then leave you to maneuver a cherub around their country. You fly freely about the land, shooting airborne enemies as they approach and occasionally use the angelic servant as a cursor for mapping out road construction. Humans construct buildings on their own, without any further oversight from you.

Now and then, they ask you to clear some land using miracles such as lightning, rain, intense sunshine, or an earthquake. Doing so provides more real estate to cultivate and brings the town closer to dealing with the monster dens, thus preventing them from respawning.

Eventually, your fan club finds the entrance to a dungeon, worries about some pesky demon contained within, and asks you to slay it. So you hop back into platformer mode, battle your way to a boss, and give it the beating of its life. Everyone celebrates, their culture advances, you sometimes get bored and destroy houses with a lightning bolt, then you move on to the next unpopulated region to start afresh.



Unsurprisingly, Renaissance advances in a similar pattern, except with updated visuals. Depending on your tastes, this one will either look better or worse than before. I'm of two minds about the remake's presentation because some of its environments and backgrounds look fantastic. However, many of the adversaries represent steps backward. A certain wyvern boss serves as the biggest blow, where the 16-bit version somehow looked cooler and more menacing despite being a huge sprite. The new version just doesn't hit quite the same because he appears much smaller and less terrifying.

For the most part, the platformer segments work as they should. Exploration becomes more of a priority because stages now hold hidden scrolls that permanently boost your hit and magic points.
However, I'm just going to point to the game's boss lineup yet again because they all feel like they've been nerfed big time. Mainly, their patterns come with lengthy moments where they sit still. They become super vulnerable at times like these, allowing you to find a safe place to sit and merely mash the attack button while their health bar drains. The worst offender is the second main boss, Zeppelin Wolf, who takes several opportunities to hold still and howl before striking.

Top-down segments also provide more of the same experience as before, albeit with an updated presentation and mechanics. For one thing, eliminating foes' hovels requires you to play a short side-scrolling level with a mini-boss called a “spawner” at its core. Plus, you'll notice farms and workshops providing restorative goodies and resources, including palisades.



Yes, palisades. As in something wooden barricades used to stymie invasions. Because—bear with me now—this version of the game now includes tower defense segments in addition to its previous offerings. Right now, you're either even more excited or you're rolling your eyes. I won't judge you either way because the heart wants what the heart wants. I can tell you that I'm part of the latter group, and that I've only enjoyed tower defense mechanics in a few titles. Plants vs. Zombies, for instance, is a fantastic game. However, not every other title needs to emulate that experience. Plants offers a quick and addictive version of the genre; Renaissance mere tacks the mechanics on to pad out its length, which works to its detriment.

Breeziness helped make the original outing work. It ended before it overstayed its welcome, lasting only several hours. Unfortunately, its remake adds more time to its campaign and ends up—wait for it—overstaying its welcome. You see, each area no longer consists of two quick platformer romps and an wanna-be SimCity section with an angel. Now, it's got more expansive subplots with actual characters, and storylines interrupted by invading monsters. Now and then, you'll watch a cutscene play out, then right as someone says something climactic or perfect for a cliffhanger hits, baddies march toward the town.

So now, in addition to your previous duties, you build and upgrade forts and place palisades to block troops. You can only build so many forts, and the number and possible locations of palisades are horribly limited. Some fortresses act as gates to prevent marching units, while others seek to blast flying critters out of the sky with arrows or magic. None of this matters because the key to success in almost every invasion is to upgrade as much as possible, make sure you have a full pack of palisades, and send your hero on the ground to the right places. Bear in mind that enemy AI routines lean towards dumb in most cases. Their main objective is to destroy your temple, and yet I've seen some creatures have full access to the place, only to turn away from it so they can destroy a nearby palisade that's not even blocking them.



And these segments occur frequently in each chapter or sometimes at random...

Repetitive TD sections wear you down, but thankfully the game's rewritten side stories stand as its best compliment. Some of these tales come with familiar tropes, but they're nonetheless terrific in their own right. Each yarn revolves around a central, folk hero-like character and their struggles. I have to admit that I actually felt something for Philotas, the subject of the first region, as he remembered his sense of duty, or for the second lead Daniella, whose sense of compassion lead to her fighting for the very people who sought to ostracize her. Others, too, face similar emotional setbacks, be it the need to euthanize a once-beloved creature who had turned evil or the realization they were leading people astray and into the hands of the main antagonist, Tanzra.

Unfortunately, these plots come with the aforementioned repeated, tedious RTS sections that detract more than add to the experience. It's a shame because excise those pesky portions and this game could have been a slight step up from its predecessor. Well, that and toughen up the bosses a little. And make the wyvern not look stupid. But I digress...

Part of me is glad ActRaiser received a remake because it means there are people who still love it. Hell, I'm not even mad that someone shoehorned tower defense elements or weakened its bosses. The former of these at least shows some initiative toward thinking outside the box, and that in itself is commendable. However, it didn't entirely add up to something great. Yes, I still had some fun playing through this one, but it's ironic that a modern update feels more like a downgrade.

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (April 08, 2026) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.