Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is a magnificent remaster of the Vanillaware PS2 classic. Sumptuous art direction, rich alchemy crafting system, five characters with intertwined stories. A video game masterpiece.
Your verdict
Category
Action RPG1 player12+
Description
HD remake of Vanillaware's Odin Sphere enriching the PS2 classic with new content and redesigned combat system. Published by Atlus, released in Europe in June 2016. Five playable characters with unique powers, redesigned real-time 2D combat, intertwined tale-style narrative, Vanillaware painterly art direction, and Classic mode preserving the original experience.
Odin Sphere - Leifthrasir review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
Hand-painted frescoes by Vanillaware, slender heroes and gigantic creatures: every scene looks like an illuminated tale in motion. The finesse of the 2D animation and the richness of the colours dazzle without respite. This pictorial splendour, dense and refined, remains a peak of 2D art.
From the pen of Hitoshi Sakimoto and Basiscape, the music unfurls a baroque orchestra of rare nobility and emotion. Each tale of the story rises with a fairy-tale grandeur, underlining the tragedy as much as the beauty. This symphonic breadth, sumptuous and refined, elevates this illustrated tale from end to end.
Told like a storybook in five voices, this tale weaves the crossed fates of heroes caught in a twilight war for power. A fairy-tale tragedy of Norse inspiration, it blends love, prophecy and the end of the world with rare theatrical scope. Its structure of interlaced chapters makes it a fresco of solemn beauty.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"Pleasant"
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Slicing, gathering ingredients to cook and growing your hit points blends nervy 2D action and fine management across a tragic, beautifully staged tale. Each chapter unveils a character and renews the urge to know what comes next. A few repetitive fights show, but the beauty of the line work and the richness of the system sustain a stubborn charm.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Following all five heroes of this interlocking tale means playing through five intertwined stories before the full tapestry comes into focus, each with its own combat style. The reworked Leifthrasir mode, the final chapters, alchemy recipes and the preserved Classic mode multiply reasons to extend the adventure. A Vanillaware work whose structural richness remains praised.
Technical info
💾2,7 GB📅07/06/2016
Published by Atlus
Odin Sphere - Leifthrasir (PS3) price, value & rarity
A remaster of Vanillaware's gem, a hand-drawn 2D action-RPG of rare beauty, sustained by a fervent niche audience. A confidential genre with a modest run, especially in the Japanese version, it is sought by fans of 2D art and the studio's signature. Its desirability lies in this cult aesthetic and the genre's relative scarcity rather than a mass run.
A cult cover
A hand-painted tale by Vanillaware: the valkyrie Gwendolyn stands out against goldsmith-like settings with Art Nouveau curves, spear and feathers spread like an animated illumination. The finesse of the drawing and the stained-glass colors convey the story's fairy-tragedy dimension. Delicate and precious, it asserts an art direction of rare elegance.
Is Odin Sphere - Leifthrasir still worth playing in 2026?
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is a magnificent remaster of Vanillaware's PS2 classic, sublimating a jewel of 2D action RPG. The art direction, made of hand-drawn characters and settings of fairy-tale beauty, has no equivalent and amazes at every moment. The story, split into five intertwined fates, unfolds a tragic and epic fresco of great richness. The combat system, deeply reworked from the original, gains fluidity, and the alchemy and cooking add addictive layers. For the fan of sumptuous 2D and ambitious storytelling, this masterpiece is quite simply essential.
