Warden: Melody of the Undergrowth

If it weren't for me launching the game several years ago and getting a few achievements, I probably would not have played this game. This game was quick and fairly easy to 100% in about 8 hours with the help of guides. I had to spread the 8 hours over several sessions because the game was rarely enjoyable to play. The visuals are nice although surprisingly demanding for my computer. The story leaves a lot to be desired with only a few lines of (not good) dialogue to provide the player with some form of objective and cohesion. Controls were fine once I got used to them. I would've preferred to be able to remap some actions. Also, there were many instances where it was hard to get the camera at the right angle even on the lowest sensitivity. The audio all around is not great. Within a couple of hours, I muted the music and played my own tracks and reduced the volume of the sound effects because the noises of the wardens were annoying. The combat mechanics are slow, clunky, unsatisfying, and buggy. I was thrown off a ledge multiple times because of enemies do a lot of knock back and the there are many precarious situations. Dodging is also awful and often doesn't work or will cause the character to be on top of your opponent's head. Weapon durability is incredibly annoying and does not add to the game whatsoever. Avoiding fights was the most enjoyable strategy. The world is mostly filled with open space, enemies, and pickups and is quite a pain to travel as the character plods along. I got stuck multiple times and had to exit the game. Enemies resetting whenever an area is reentered caused some frustration. It would've been much better if enemies reloaded only if the character exited a large area (pyramid, forest, etc.) rather than going to an adjacent area. A minimap would've been helpful at times where I felt turned around or lost. Most of the puzzles were a good level of complexity, but some involving the movable blocks were buggy and inconsistent with their ability to get onto and trigger pressure plates. The majority of lore logs and heart pieces were straightforward and a nice side objective, but there were a few that would've taken ages to find without a guide. Overall, this game is incredibly mid. It has some decent moments, but there are more things that detract from the experience than add to it. The game's saving grace is that it is relatively short and not too hard.