I am Setsuna

I Am Setsuna is a simple JRPG that tries to discuss themes such as death and alterity but fails to do these complex subjects justice, being dragged down by a shallow cast of characters, dull writing, and a painfully unexplored combat system.

The plot revolves around a tragic pilgrimage. Setsuna, a young girl who has just turned 18, is chosen to be a sacrifice: she must give her life to keep the monsters at bay and safeguard her people. However, we actually control the actions and choices of another character, a mercenary named Enrir, who is hired to assassinate Setsuna. But Enrir, understanding that she’s going to die anyway, decides to accompany her on the pilgrimage instead of murdering her, joining her personal guard to personally see that her mission is fulfilled.

This means that Setsuna’s quest is bound to end in death, no matter what happens: she either sacrifices herself or dies by Enrir’s hands. Setsuna means “a moment, an instant” in Japanese, representing the connection between life and the passage of time: even people who live long, happy lives can feel that it all went by too fast, and Setsuna’s life is being cut short too soon. Her name transforms her journey into her identity: she represents the transience of life, being marked by what awaits every one of us at the finish line. And to further remind us of this looming presence, her group is constantly chased by a mysterious man called “Reaper,” who wants to murder Setsuna before she has a chance to complete her task.

The game’s chapters mostly work around the same themes: it’s either discussing death and sacrifice or the “otherness” of monsters. One of the first chapters, for example, deals with the questionable nature of Setsuna’s mission, showing a leader who doesn’t hesitate before sacrificing people for the greater good. He is deemed “wrong” by our party, who nonetheless fail to notice the obvious parallels to their own quest.

The next big event introduces a character that brings another perspective to the matter of death, as he faces a difficult dilemma: he either lives a long, lasting life, but isolated from everyone, in hiding, or he shortens it by a considerable amount but lives it fully. Here, death is portrayed as a worthy price to pay for being able to truly live and enjoy our time in the world. There’s no point in life if we’re just toiling, working, suffering all alone, without friends, without love, without at least having fun: we must have time – and a good amount – to tend to ourselves, to our needs. And we must do things – occasionally, of course – that are not exactly healthy because they bring us joy. And that’s an integral part of life.

The other major theme in I Am Setstuna is the question of whether monsters are intrinsically bad or deemed so just because they look different, scary. There is a chapter where Setsuna’s group meets a monster pretending to be human, turning the barrier between them thinner. The monster in question has feelings and mourns the death of close ones the same way that we humans do, so they are understandably angry for being treated as an outcast, being unable to make friends because people eventually find out what they are and feel both betrayed and threatened by them. Setsuna, of course, sides with the monster, but when she defends the creature, refusing “to believe that ending someone’s future is ever the best choice,” she is doing so not only because she has a gentle soul, but because her own future is being cut short as well – and willingly. She believes that being a sacrifice is an honor, so she must value the lives of every other being in the world – she’s dying for them, after all.

But the narrative’s strength lies only in Setsuna. Our own character, Enrir, for example, is poorly developed. He’s basically our avatar in the world – we can change his name and pick most of his answers – but, at the same time, he has some defined traits. It’s difficult to balance these two approaches, and I Am Setsuna shows how schizophrenic a narrative can become when this is not done right: we may choose to pick only kind, empathetic answers, for example, and our party will still react surprised by them as if Enrir were often insensitive. If that is how Enrir “really” is, why give players the choice to act differently at every turn? After all, in the end, the character will either end up bipolar or a shallow brute.

The narrative doesn’t falter only with Enrir, though, with the writing being generally blunt to a fault. It’s too straightforward, too direct. When that “good” monster appears, they say, “We monsters are no different from humans.” When Setsuna’s guard, Aeterna, tries to justify the girl’s sacrifice, she says, “Is that the sacrifices keep the monsters at bay, and stop them becoming more ferocious.” It’s with this amount of eloquence, subtlety, and complexity that every character speaks. It’s not like everyone must sound like they come from Deadwood, but a bit of personality, color, and subtext is necessary to make the dialogue interesting.

Characters here all speak with the same voice. Any player will be hard-pressed to discover which character wishes this aloud at a certain point, for example: “If people can become just a little healthier… just a little happier…” Is it Setsuna, her friend Aeterna, or the knight Julienne? We can’t say based on the language alone. And the right answer is none of the above: this is a line from an NPC called Smiling Aide. When a random NPC says something that could have been uttered with the exact same words by the game’s protagonist, or any of her female companions, you’ve got a writing problem. The only character that stands out from the crowd is the warrior Nidr, due to his constant use of contractions and swearing: “Whadd’ya take me for, dammit?” he asks. Voice acting would have remedied this issue by giving a distinct tone to every character, but without it, this blunt and simple prose is anything but engaging.

It also doesn’t help that some narrative threads are basically dropped as the game progresses, while others appear out of nowhere. Enrir, for instance, is hired to murder Setsuna at the beginning, but even that quite important bit is soon forgotten: we eventually discover why he was hired, but just incidentally. There is no confrontation, no big twist; it leads to no climax, and not even complications arise from Enrir being quite freestyle with how he intends to complete his original mission. Meanwhile, at the very end, we’re suddenly bombarded with random plot points, such as the existence of clones/projections/who-cares, which were never discussed before.

The rest of our party doesn’t fare much better. Julienne’s plot is overstuffed with notions about “the necessary traits and mindset a good ruler must have” that quickly overstay their welcome and lead nowhere. Aeterna is just random. Nidr lacks a climactic moment about his identity. Kir, a boy from the forest, must face an interesting dilemma at the beginning, and that’s it: his narrative arc ends in the same chapter where it starts. And finally, there is a character who comes too late to have any impact on the story, feeling more like a throwback to Magus of Chrono Trigger than anything else.

Speaking of Chrono Trigger, I Am Setsuna borrows its combat system shamelessly. There are three characters we can control during battles, and they act only when their respective action gauge fills up. Each one also has a group of “techniques” to choose from, and they can create combos with their companions’ abilities. One such combo even deals damage by making an “X” on the battlefield, in another reference to Square’s masterpiece.

The only useful novelty comes from the fact that, once the gauge is full, we can wait more time so that it fills up again, allowing the attack/technique to gain more power if we press a button at the right time. There are other new systems and mechanics, but they are just there to make the game feel a bit different, having no great impact on the gameplay: our characters don’t gain techniques by leveling up, for example, but by equipping “Spritnites” obtained in shops by selling enemy drops. There is also a thing called “Flux” that activates in battle when certain conditions are met and helps the party by modifying their attributes. However, as with most elements in the game, we can safely forget that it exists.

That’s because I Am Setsuna is a fairly easy game, which wouldn’t be much of an issue if it didn’t render most of its mechanics useless. Take combos, for example. We can easily beat the game without using a single one. The good old tactic of “attack, attack, heal” works like a charm here, especially since we have three characters on the battlefield and can so designate each one of these actions to one of them: while two characters attack, the last one heals the party. Even bosses fail to push other strategies.

Consequently, mechanics such as the Flux and even the use of combos can be safely ignored, ending up like fluff that is only there to make the combat system appear to be complex. Yes, we can use them wisely to create devastating attacks, but that would only make an easy game feel even easier: the game fails to push us to engage with it properly. Only the endgame content – some belated side quests – require some thinking during their boss fights, but that’s too little too late, right?

Another baffling design decision is the fact that some attacks and enemies require positioning, but… we can’t move our characters in the field. There are enemies that explode when defeated, damaging their surroundings, but we can’t just move our characters away. In other words, the game makes unit placement relevant but blocks the player from easily managing it. It’s a decision that makes as much sense as a typical Nintendo business decision (and they’re crazy, man, totally bonkers company, you gotta love’em for that).

The only thing truly great in the game is its presentation. I Am Setsuna has a striking monotone aesthetic: all lands are engulfed in snow, and the whole soundtrack – which is great and deserves a better game – is played on the piano. This can result in a repetitive experience, no doubt, but it reinforces the melancholy one expects of a story about death and sacrifice.

Even though I Am Setsuna aims to be a simple JRPG inspired by such gems as Chrono Trigger, it still fails when it comes to the most important things of the genre: its writing is uninspired, and its combat system is never pushed beyond the basics.

October 04, 2025.