Did you ever said or though that modern games are too handhold-y? Did you wished for puzzles that treat you like an adult and not a toddler? If so, you're legally complied to play this game.
If I were to be fully objective about it, the game's around 4 stars, but it gets full marks from me for having such a strong design and sticking to their guns. It's an old-school dungeon crawler/RPG with "outdated" controls (which are still fun if I'm being honest) and an amazing level design.
I mean, let me just end this review with an personal anecdote so that you understand what kind of game this is, and why I love it so much:
I was walking around a dungeon and spotted a small button hidden among the stones. It opened up an ambush and a large subsection of the dungeon. At its end I found some loot and a scroll. The scroll is a cypher with things like AR UHU LAM written alonside some symbols. I went back to a part of the dungeon where I remembered using these words. Spent a while theorycrafting and put my guess to work. The gate opened! Inside there were... Three letters. Telling a story. Out of order. After putting these in chronological order and deciphering the sentences into directions, I remembered one place in another biome entirely where this might've been pointing at. I went there, tried the combination, nothing. Then I remembered I needed an additional item to further give context to the instruction and then, BAM. Solved.
Know what was my reward for it?
I got to continue the story.
That wasn't a secret, the game expects you to do all that just to finish it.
I absolutely love this "ur problem, make it work" design. The game isn't afraid to have you stumped. It's not interested in having you LOOK badass, it actively challenges you to beat it. People praise From Software for this kind of design and I kinda agree. But this here? This is the real, unfiltered thing. Because this game isn't just intentionally cryptic in directions, it's also hard as fuck.
This is a gem in the rough, and I wish more games were made with this design in mind. It doesn't need to be AAA 6 billion USD budget titles, but it wish it wasn't something once every 10 years...
If I were to be fully objective about it, the game's around 4 stars, but it gets full marks from me for having such a strong design and sticking to their guns. It's an old-school dungeon crawler/RPG with "outdated" controls (which are still fun if I'm being honest) and an amazing level design.
I mean, let me just end this review with an personal anecdote so that you understand what kind of game this is, and why I love it so much:
I was walking around a dungeon and spotted a small button hidden among the stones. It opened up an ambush and a large subsection of the dungeon. At its end I found some loot and a scroll. The scroll is a cypher with things like AR UHU LAM written alonside some symbols. I went back to a part of the dungeon where I remembered using these words. Spent a while theorycrafting and put my guess to work. The gate opened! Inside there were... Three letters. Telling a story. Out of order. After putting these in chronological order and deciphering the sentences into directions, I remembered one place in another biome entirely where this might've been pointing at. I went there, tried the combination, nothing. Then I remembered I needed an additional item to further give context to the instruction and then, BAM. Solved.
Know what was my reward for it?
I got to continue the story.
That wasn't a secret, the game expects you to do all that just to finish it.
I absolutely love this "ur problem, make it work" design. The game isn't afraid to have you stumped. It's not interested in having you LOOK badass, it actively challenges you to beat it. People praise From Software for this kind of design and I kinda agree. But this here? This is the real, unfiltered thing. Because this game isn't just intentionally cryptic in directions, it's also hard as fuck.
This is a gem in the rough, and I wish more games were made with this design in mind. It doesn't need to be AAA 6 billion USD budget titles, but it wish it wasn't something once every 10 years...