This is a tale that's then bolstered no end by the game's superb cast of core characters.

There is, in short, a fair bit going on in terms of the narrative here, far more than we expected at the outset, and the game's consistently excellent writing frames and delivers all of these situations in fine style, making for a campaign that we were enthralled by for its entire running time. There's complexity too in the motivations of many of the bad guys you'll meet along the way, they're not all evil for the hell of it, and you'll find good guys gone bad, decent people who've lost their way and others whose fear has driven them to desperate measures. It's not all grimness either, there's real hope for humanity here - something we could all do with a good dose of right now - and so much positivity and drive to survive in the face of all-encompassing evil that it's hard not to get thoroughly caught up in it all and find yourself really rooting for your band of heroes, heroes who are willing to do the right thing, no matter how much it costs them. With a surprisingly dark and complex narrative that asks some tough existential questions what you'd choose to do if you had more than one chance at life, what you'd actually sacrifice for your convictions, and whether one should be happy with their lot or strike out and seize the future regardless of the consequences, there's certainly plenty to sink your teeth into with this one. There's an emotional depth here that sits alongside plenty of laughter - those returning regional UK accents delivering so much humour and warmth once again - surprises, twists, turns, heartbreak. Yes, there have been actual tears on multiple occasions, we're not ashamed to admit it, with a couple of scenes really not holding back on the pulling of heartstrings. We really don't want to give too much more of the story away here, it would be a shame to have even a second of it needlessly ruined before you get to experience it all for yourself, but needless to say that over the course of around 100 magical hours, we were put through the emotional wringer with this one to a surprising degree. They're thrust into an uneasy alliance with three Agnian troops who've been sent on the exact same mission and soon find themselves imbued with the power of Ouroboros, at the same time learning some uncomfortable truths about the nature of their reality and the real enemy working behind the scenes to keep them all chained to a never-ending war machine. Our soon-to-be heroes face off against an unusual troop of automatons controlled by a mystery man who fights for neither Keves nor Agnus. Of course, on the particular day that we meet them, the battle at hand plays out quite differently. Their short lives are measured in year-long 'terms', just ten in total, at which point they'll be rewarded with a homecoming ceremony that sees them returned to the Queen's embrace - should they get lucky enough to make it that far. They're almost entirely consumed by this belief system, never truly questioning their actions or the brutality of the existence they suffer through. We join this relentless action as Noah, Eunie and Lanz, three eager Keves warriors, march into battle once more, laying it all on the line for a Queen they believe they're born from and must therefore sacrifice everything for. The world of Aionios is a tortured and war-torn planet where two factions, Keves and Agnus, are embroiled in endless conflict, their soldiers condemned to live and die again and again in a perpetual cycle of violence. By now you'll no doubt know the gist of the story here.

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