I have just passed 20 hours of playing this game so far, and I am having a blast. I wanted to write a detailed review as I almost gave up on it an hour or two in. Overall, I would give this game an 8 out of 10--as long as one goes in knowing that one has to actively select just two main abilities/spells per character to use at a time. They can be slotted in-and-out at will, as can items, even during combat. But it takes significantly more effort to play this way, just know that in advance. (More on that below.)
It is a reasonably straight forward grid-based very old school RPG. You start with one character, and gather up three more along the way in your adventure. It is real time, which some people may not prefer. For those, like me actually, who enjoy standing there just ‘tanking’ the fights out, you are better serviced by sliding in anticipation of the opponents blows, for example. But I’m finding that it’s not critical to one’s success; I can stand still enough and just use more potions or rest breaks (mana and hps naturally regen over time) and it’s not an issue thus far into the game at least.
The graphics and music are plenty good, but nothing amazing. I play on a UHD+ monitor with high-end graphics card, and I’ve still had to drop the resolution a full slot to get better frame-rates – so there’s room for optimization there. (There are a number of options for different levels of graphics and I'll confess that playing around with them more may have helped more too.) The automap function works well, and notes can be made on it. The screenshots on the store page are pretty representative of the game.
I am finding the story thus far quite good!! But though I’ve been an avid reader of fantasy/sci fi since the late 70s – and /very/ much appreciate a great story – I sometimes feel that reviewers are too hard on [especially the small] developers saying that the stories aren’t creative or good enough. (If you’re expected Steven Erikson, GRRM, Tolkien, Simmons, Sanderson or pick a dozen other authors here, then no it’s not close to that level haha! But it’s been more than good enough for me for the type of game this is; I’d give the story an 8.5 out of 10 at least to halfway through the game.
The game has really good balance and progression. Foes were neither too weak nor too hard; just the right amount of challenge. And going up levels does feel quite meaningful, both with the stat increases per level as well as a new path skill/spell every two levels. The puzzles and riddles are pretty good and stand their ground with others in this genre, and there is help on the Steam forums (including from the developer themselves) available. There are also a bunch of extra ‘secrets’ to also go after – but I don’t know how to tell how many you have at any time, which is an area for improvement for sure. (To my knowledge, you don’t find that out until you finish the game.) The good news is that there are people who’ve played through multiple times looking to get them all, so that does say something positive about the games replayability. That said, I expect for many of us it’s a one-time through type of game. And there is more than enough game to justify its full price.
A weakness is that though the items you do find (with slots for rings, amulets, weapons, armour, etc.) have tangible benefits and trade-offs for using, the game would benefit from having more items and choice available. (Opponents don’t drop items, just chests and items strewn about that you have to keep an eye out for.) Most of us who play grid-based RPGs are probably used to having to go carefully and not miss things; but here it is even more important as you can miss out on a really good item if you don’t go carefully.
The major caveat with this game is that it only allows each character to have two slots of abilities. And this includes weapons! So you have to select which two- including weapon(s), active abilities, and spells -- you want active at any time for each character. Each is hot-keyed to the keyboard, and can be tailored. (I play mouse and keyboard so I can’t comment on controllers etc.) For that reason, I would either give this game a 4 or 5 out of 10 for those strongly wanting a bunch of active abilities to choose at any given time. Normally that would be me--and it’s almost why I almost gave up on the game early. But I gave it a second chance after a post from the Dev clarified that the game is balanced for characters only having the two slots -- and am very glad that I did. (Note that you -can- slot in other weapons/spells/abilities on the fly. It means taking the time to open the inventory screen and so on: It’s not -that- bad to do on occasion, but it would be tedious imo on an ongoing basis in every fight.) Most of my focus is on passive abilities, which are limitless and stack--and really impact game-play in meaningful ways. Overall, going in with seeing this game as a more straight-forward RPG I am really enjoying it, and would give it an 8 out of 10.
A few tips for newer players – I recommend giving the weapon from the first other character you meet to your ‘main’ if you make any kind of warrior. It’s a very good weapon, and will have more ‘bang for your buck’ in their hands in the front row. (You party is a 2 by 2 formation, which you can change at any time.) I also recommend throwing a few points into constitution to get their hps up – I did this with my entire party and it made the early stages much easier. As well, pay very close attention to those passives. There are some really great ones in those Path lines that each character can choose from. You can select multiple paths, so don’t feel that you only have to limit yourself to one or two paths. Finally, Personality stat increases in particular add a bonus to -all- party member’s damage, which is pretty cool.
I hope this helps.
