The Caligula Effect: Overdose Reviews
Subjectively speaking, I absolutely adore this game. Objectively, however, it’s far from perfect. All-in-all, The Caligula Effect: Overdose is a unique JRPG with a captivating story enveloped in the fragility of human psychology, but tends to fall a bit flat when it comes to actual gameplay. Its decision to move to the PS5 also still baffles me. Still, I’d recommend playing it if you’re interested. And, hey, I guess you can play it on the modern PlayStation platform of your choice, too!
An interesting story, an entertaining combat system, a sublime soundtrack and slightly outdated graphics; all this is what we will find in The Caligula Effect Overdose.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
It may have its appeal to the public who, as a neophyte, look for an unpretentious JRPG, but overall The Caligula Effect: Overdose fails to do enough to stand out and be remembered.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you can look past the many shortcomings of this imperfect game, then there's an experience here that contains some truly profound and meaningful messages. The unique take on traditional turn-based combat, the emotionally dark narrative, and the excellent musical soundtrack are the true rewards beneath poor dungeon design, an unimaginative causality link mechanic, and unclear objectives. The Caligula Effect: Overdose is a charming and worthwhile albeit niche JRPG as long as you go in with the correct expectations, given the game's low budget. Just know that this 2023 PS5 native port of the game adds absolutely nothing new to the 2019 PS4 version.
The Caligula Effect: Overdose is an okay RPG that will last you quite a while if you like the themes and concept presented. It certainly isn't the Persona-like game we were expecting so you may want to skip this if you were under the same impression as me.
While The Caligula Effect: Overdose seems like your typical JRPG, it tries to stick out with its unique features. Sadly, it failed to properly implement these features and there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Regardless, The Caligula Effect: Overdose was an incredibly enjoyable game for me and kept me invested for hours. The combat is fun and even though I didn’t make use of the unique features at all, I can still recommend it to anyone who is into the genre of JRPG as well.
When it comes to wrapping up a title like The Caligula Effect: Overdose, it’s hard not to be left with a sense of mixed feelings about the game. Many of the PlayStation Vita’s fundamental issues remain such as inconsistent storytelling elements, gameplay issues (repetition), and rather stiff character animations. A part of me wonders if it was the fact that it is a PlayStation Vita port, just using a brand new engine to bring it up to speed, or if this was in fact – an intentional design choice at the end of the day.
Overdose is certainly the strongest and most improved version of Caligula Effect out there, but I still have a hard time recommending it.
The Caligula Effect Overdose is a mixed bag, a Japanese RPG filled with potentially awesome ideas and concepts that don't quite work or need fleshing out more.
The Caligula Effect: Overdose has a great combat system and an entertaining story, but poor visuals, a lack of meaningful choices, repetitive music, and a lackluster social system means this is a high school reunion you probably want to skip.
This The Caligula Effect: Overdose is the videojueguil materialization of three shots followed by the post. Everything is about to fit in, but in the end, although there is no defeat, there is still the uneasiness that we were close to victory. We were close to Person 3.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
For the first few hours I've always wondered, "What am I actually playing here?", And now after about 40 hours, I still wonder somehow. Caligula Effect is a typical NIS game. Not really outstanding, but it really does not do anything wrong. The story is quite interesting in itself, but it is told very slowly. We fight each other from boss to boss, but the way there is laborious. The dungeons are huge and felt they are getting bigger and eventually comes the point where you have to visit old dungeons again. A dungeon is divided into several areas and you should of course initially explore everything, but eventually you just do not feel like. Each dungeon has its own design, but they are not very interesting. The same textures are used throughout and nothing new is coming. The fights are harmless or merciless, depending on the level of difficulty you play. Fortunately, on Normal I was able to put on car, so the party plays by itself (except our character, we always have to steer him), otherwise the fights would take longer. One should not be averse to the soundtrack, for a JRPG typical we also have corresponding fight music. We have an average JRPG here, otherwise I would not have spent more than 40 hours here.
Review in German | Read full review
The Caligula Effect: Overdose offers an RPG experience that pulls out a lot of great ideas but struggles to build upon dull storytelling and forgetful setpieces.
It personally resonated with me, as someone who struggles with facing their personal shortcomings, but tries their best to overcome them, even with adversity standing in their way, with strength, passion, and desire. It may start a little rough around the edges at first, but the title came through for me after getting through that first hurdle. It definitely has left a lasting impression, and still has me thinking after completing it.
The most irritating thing about Caligula Effect: Overdose is that in spite of me having been critical of it in my review, the fact that I did not enjoy it, or that I struggle to think of any positives, the game feels so middle-of-the-road that giving it any lower of a score would just feel unfair.
The only sentence that I can say about this game is: "Don't expect it to be a new Persona game"! The Caligula Effect Overdose is a remaster that's not very commendable but it's still worthy of being played. It can be a good starting point for newcomers of JRPG genre and a mediocre experience for veterans of this genre.
Review in Persian | Read full review
When everything's said and done, however, I think fans of the genre will find something to like in the game. That noted, those who tried the Vita version may be less inclined to give it another chance, but those coming in fresh may find a mostly enjoyable title.
The Caligula Effect : Overdose is a decent RPG, with a lot of social link and an original combat system, but the exploration is poor and the global design is pretty weak and generic.
Review in French | Read full review
In its entirety, The Caligula Effect: Overdose is an underwhelming and mediocre experience from beginning to end.
The Caligula Effect Overdose is plagued by strange design choices, poor performances and uninspired story and art direction, but is saved from a below-average mark by a good combat system.
Review in Italian | Read full review