ET has been an experience that surprised me more than anything. It looks like your typical Super Nintendo RPG, but these are mostly optics. The gameplay is described as having some Diablo in it. I haven’t played a Diablo game to make that comparison but don’t expect anything hardcore with these claims. There is heavy emphasis on loot of varying rarities and equipments with durability. However, the fights are usually a breeze and durability is not much of a factor. Enemies drop tons of equipment that you’ll never really feel a threat and the longer you play the game, the more you’ll have a chance to find gold/legendary rarity equipment with permanent durability. Challenge can be increased or decreased with specific things in the options menu further. So you can play the game however you want in a sense and that’s a good thing!

What makes the game so good is mostly the secrets/exploration and the game’s charm. A lot of what you can do in the game is optional. You can think of recruiting party members, having a blacksmith in the game’s only town or even dungeons that you can completely miss. It’s so much fun trying to figure out how to find everything. The charm comes from the graphics, soundtrack and some of the writing. Like mentioned before, it feels like a Super Nintendo game in the best way possible with some extra modern technology added such as the heat effects when you’re in a fire dungeon or light shining more brightly in the forest. The soundtrack is also catchy and makes me nostalgic. When I think of the writing, I’m mostly talking about some character interactions or descriptions of the equipment/items. There isn’t a lot of story (some of it is optional too) which can be seen as a good thing. You go straight to the action with nothing getting in the way. I like how you can save anywhere and how you can decrease/increase random battles when you’re focused on something. The pacing is pretty excellent with no real filler and the game is not unnecessarily long. My first run might have taken between 12 and 16 hours. Most of the achievements are very fun and they also can help you figure out some of the secrets :)

I say mostly because 2 are excluded from the praise. One is for fighting an optional boss and the other is reaching level 50. With the optional boss, it’s only a problem if you want to find it without outside help. It involves coincidence instead of figuring out how to find it mostly. I had more issues with the level 50 achievement. Basically, the game becomes too grindy. My first run with default XP got me to level 36-37. New game plus with +50% XP (max possible) got me up to level 44 and that’s with around 70% complete. It was impossible to get level 50 even with new game plus fully complete and max XP. Luckily this got patched, a default first run should be between level 35 and 40 now. I advise turning max XP on with the first run if you’re only planning on playing the game once or with minimal grind in new game plus. Other flaws are the main story and battle system. Mind you, those are very minor. The little story there is seemed typical and unimpressive but you don’t really play ET for that. And the battle system is a bit simplified. There are few spells which means you’ll default to certain ones similar to spamming attack in certain RPG. The variety comes from taking one of the companions with you who all have 4 magic spells each and combining that with what you have. I didn’t mind though, the game is about the secrets, loot and atmosphere. It was relaxing and therapeutic not having a demanding game on default at least.

I had a great time playing ET. It reminds me of my childhood memories of feeling adventurous. Exploring the unknown and being happy with discovering things for the first time. I’m glad to have discovered ET through a bundle. The normal price of €12,49 also feels appropriate. The developer is wonderful btw. If you want to support an indie developer, then he belongs there on that list. We had many great conversations on discord and he pretty much fixed every single bug I threw at him. And I didn’t hold back! In fact, the Mask of Nour equipment got added in patch 1.50.7 is inspired by the many reports I made. It was a complete surprise and very sweet to use my name. I’m looking forward to Ephemeral Legend and whatever he comes up with really.

I’m not sure if Journey can really be seen as a game. It has its qualities. The art style is good, the music is fine, it has some cool collectibles/achievements and it has some special moments. But it’s also slow, cutscenes can’t be skipped unless you select a chapter, story is incredibly vague, movements are sluggish, you can’t pick a co-op partner and there isn’t enough gameplay to keep things interesting. I enjoyed the surfing and stealth sections for being more involved but they’re rare compared to the rest. With movements, they made jumps cost stamina without charging automatically. You have to interact with charge papers that are not always nearby to be able to jump/float again. Your co-op partner can also help you charge when you’re close to them. It makes platforming a chore until you unlock the white robe by collecting all symbols. This mechanic should have been the default way to play the game. As for co-op, I expected to play the game with my best friend. I made him buy a copy and we tried to find each other for at least an hour with no luck. Maybe this goes against the point of the game but it would have made the game 10 times better instead of being forced to play with randoms and not being able to do anything about it. You can’t even play the game alone unless you’re offline.

At the end of the day, paying around €2 during sale is not a lot. I got to experience it and I don’t have to be curious about it anymore. But I would have also been fine not playing it. I kept asking myself what I got out of it after spending 6.4 hours to 100% the game (aside from waiting for a week for one achievement). Not much really. Get it if you’re curious about the game too but don’t expect some real gameplay. It’s more about the feels and going through the motions. A game to play when you don’t have the energy to do anything else. Rime did it better imo.