This game is more an Indie game, but the creator has managed to level the playing field against the AAA game producers with some nifty tricks.
I don't approve of using AI in general, but in game development it feels like how can one person, or a few people, compete in a meaningful way with the AAA companies and their million dollar game budgets? AI artwork and writing can fill the roles that are missing. It is my hope that if Erannoth Renaissance really gets going, and then the artwork and writing roles filled by AI would eventually be replaced by human creations. I have noticed that recently a lot of the writing in game has being re-written for conciseness and readability by a human.
The game gets away from the action graphics - instead you have a portrait of your character with a hexagon surrounding them. No need for animations, so no worrying about if your graphics card is being fried. I like Baldur's Gate and similar games as much as the next person, but one thing I noticed is that a lot of times the game can't reproduce my vision for my character. In this, you select the image you want, and there they are every time you fight or move around on the map. You can also import your own images (does require some Easy computer work - maybe a half hour to learn and get up and running), and there are a few image package mods on Steam. I just love being able to wear a mechanically superior armor set that I think looks hideous, but not have to look at my character dressed in it. Truth is, you don't dress pretty for battle - you dress to win. If we are not dressing to win, why do I have to dress my character in what I consider something ugly to get the mechanical benefits of the armor?
On the minus side, if you are into visuals big-time, i.e. heavy GPU loads, this may not be the game for you. I am into visuals and at first thought the game would be a bust, but was surprised at how much I have come to enjoy playing.
Onto the game content. The game's quest is short - too short, imo. I would have given it a bad review if not for the fact it has decent sandbox content. I hope base quest is extended or more mods dedicated to expanding this content are written, but as is once you get past the main quest it is more about resource acquisition and leveling up.
The game does have an astounding array of powers to use in combat, although I don't like the developer's recent decision to make many of the powers within a skill tree to have requirements (i.e. you must have skill A to access skill B) as some of them do next to nothing for my playstyle. Maybe a tiered pick and choose would help that? Also, just about every power from every skill tree has at least one direct combat application. No longer are you completely screwed in combat if you want to be an herbalist or focus on diplomacy. You can do things related to your field and actually contribute, or sometimes win a battle entirely, with a well-used power from the Survival skill tree.
The combat takes a while to get a hang of, but you get used to it. There is some strategy involved, and timing power use correctly is very important, especially in tough battles.
I believe the most important thing about this game is the love and attention paid to it. I don't feel like I'm one of a hundred-thousand customers spitting out a request that flies into the ether, never to be seen again. There is a Discord server and the people there reliably explain parts of the game and have helped me with some technical stuff a couple of times. Not that it is the job of the developer to baby-sit players, but having a place where I can get a straight answer in a reasonable amount of time is reassuring.
The game world and skill tree have both been expanding since I bought it. Not a leave and forget game. Not a this is a hat you can buy for $ 4.95 game. A game that is fun, and the designers have proven to me on several occasions that they want the game to work, be fun, and make some cash while doing so. If the AAA companies worried about the order in which game developers should be thinking about game development -- 1) the game works; 2) the game is fun; and then 3) cash comes at the end not the beginning -- then I am sure that some of the great franchises would be impossible to ignore. For Erannorth, you can feel the effort put towards not only making, but updating and expanding the game in a timely fashion. You don't see the developer opening 15 new projects when the game isn't complete (staring at Owlcat here).
The game is fun, stable, and what I would consider one of the best examples of an Indie game that can be fun without relying on an Unreal engine and scraping together something on a shoestring.
I recommend it and give it 4 stars, only missing the 5 mark due to the short campaign. If the campaign gets expanded, or other stories are brought in, I think this one would hit 5 stars. This seems very possible, and I would happily plop down just as much cash for a significant expansion. Just because the feeling is that if something isn't right in the game, it will be addressed; they take customer satisfaction seriously and it's nice to have that for a change.
