Goldenheart

[h2]This is an old-school Dungeon Crawler through and through - for better or for worse[/h2] [i]Review after completion[/i] [u]Expected playtime:[/u] ~10-15 hours If you are looking for a traditional dungeon crawler experience, you are in the perfect place. Seeping with retro graphics and atmosphere, this world is ripe for discovery and adventure that will get more and more weird and surreal the more you progress. Interesting and crazy locations to explore, a few light environmental puzzles, weird enemies and characters, a mystery to uncover, a world to save from destruction. That being said, it has all the inevitable weak points of this genre. Often times the game is quite on-rails and tunnel-y (especially the early-game), but you will get a lot more freedom exploring branching pathways eventually. The combat is an afterthought at best in a hack-and-slash/kite/strafing fashion, it is not the main focus of the game. You have a sword, a shield and a bow, and that's pretty much it for the entire game. You will get quest-related upgrades to them with a bit of damage boost, but functionally, they will remain the same. The bosses have 1-2 gimmicks you have to learn in order to beat them. Some of my curiosity was turned to disappointment when I got to hidden/hard to reach places where I felt like [i]there should have been[/i] loot, but there was nothing... The loot in this game is not super complex. Health, ammo for the bow and the rare and quite well-hidden permanent HP increasing gems. You have 20 base HP+ 16 with gems, but don't worry too much about them, You can do perfectly fine in this game with just your base 20 HP. All I am saying here is that it is not a deep game mechanically, so if that's what you are looking for, you won't find it here. Also, the game is definitely overstaying its welcome. There was a point in the game which could have been the perfect ending ([spoiler]the wizard battle[/spoiler]), but it just kept going on and on for a few more hours. [spoiler]Tul Alorea[/spoiler] was still good, but it was REALLY dragging from [spoiler]Tul Enorye[/spoiler] and onward. Anyways, the game is still VERY good and its scope is impressive. If retro dungeon crawlers are your jam, definitely play this. Great bang for your buck.

I bought the game in an impulse, I had just finished Northern Journey and absolutely adored it and was searching for a similar game. This game was recommended in a reddit thread and it ticked all the boxes at the start, 2 man team, exploration, foreign land with mystery etc eetc. This is also quite clearly a passion project and there are many great things in it. But I think in the end I cannot recommended unless in specific cases, specially if you wnat a Northern Journey like experience like me. For streaming its an excelent game, as you are trying to theorize stuff with viewers and figure out quite random puzzles, but alone its quite a challenge in some of these aspects. Things I liked: - Interesting and creative setting, world and characters, although underexplained and underdeveloped - Great writing, characters dialogue is well written, thoughtful and intriguing - Different endings - Done with passion Things I did not like: - Save system was a bit punishing, specially in later areas - Extremely simple combat, you have a bow and arrow and a sword, weapons that you get progressing in the game are just stat boosts basically. What you get in the start of the game is what you will be fighting with for 10 hours or more. - Repetitive enemies, i fought so many of the same bosses as regular enemies, some enemy variety would be much appreciated - Puzzling design decisions that make playing frustrating or pointless, way too long corridors ( looking at you magic reflecting shield cave) for nothing. - Soundtrack devolves into madness and background noise, or progresses into weird chords that dont fit the setting of the game in my opinion, this makes sense in some parts of the game sure, but damn wouldnt it be great to have a more folk type soundtrack, maybe even central american folk inspired in it. For the developer what would make the experience better: - More varied weapons as you progress with different mechanics - More appropriate soundtrack - More enemy variety -World that feels more "alive" with more plants, settlements, sound design, interesting sights and etc. You two have great world building and have solid writing, please continue making games!

A great game overall! but personally not a big fan of the last half [spoiler](great plot twist but I'd have finished the game with the battle of Cazanseco)[/spoiler].

Para mi gusto, un muy buen juego de aventuras. Se podría decir que similar a Zelda: Ocarina of Time pero en primera persona y con gráficos de esos mismos años. Es un juego de desarrollo lineal pero con exploración en áreas abiertas. El combate se basa en tu habilidad de golpear, esquivar o bloquear en el momento justo, no hay subida de nivel ni mejora de estadísticas, salvo mejorar la salud. Hay puzles y son relativamente fáciles de resolver (pisar interruptores para abrir pasillos, lanzar flechas para activar plataformas o abrir puertas mediante códigos escritos en alguna parte). El movimiento del personaje está muy bien calibrado y en las secciones de plataformas responde muy bien. El juego está en inglés sin opción de subtítulos. El texto es relativamente simple. En mi opinión hay como 3 situaciones en donde se te explica mediante texto hacia donde ir, pero el juego es lineal y no permite avanzar si no obtienes los objetos necesarios. Solo tomaría tiempo deducirlo. En definitiva, un sorprendente juego, sencillo en mecánicas, pero con buena diversidad de escenarios y enemigos. A veces con tintes de Half Life, pero con espada y escudo. Joyita.

Been playing on Steamdeck with no issues. The game is best described as similar to Zelda but in first person. I think I'm half way through the game at the moment, there's a lot of interesting interactions that keep me wanting to finish this game to the end!

"Goldenheart" is an unique and uncompromising first person action-adventure with an undeniable oldschool-vibe and great atmopshere. You play an expeditioner in an arid fantasy world equipped with bow and sword trying to uncover the ancient forces that curse the land. Presentation is chunky, but earnest, the OST is quite weird, but very viby / moody (leans a little in classic dungeon-synth at times) Gameplaywise its pretty simple and straightforward, also in terms of progress and map transition, checkpoints can get a little scarce later on (there is no manual save). The second part of the game really adds up in weirdness and atmosphere (the final areas on hard difficulty really pack a punch though). Got me the similar unique feelings like playing "Northern Journey" for the first time. A nostalgic, dense and straightforward experience! Definetly deserves a broader audience and worth the price!

A little gem of a game, with a great setting.