I gotta say, I was excited that this game was finally finished! I was part of the Kickstarter and I saw alot of potential in the project. I couldn't wait to play after 3 years! However, this game was nothing but disappointing. I usually review a game under 5 points: Gameplay, Story, Characters, Art Style, Music. For me, a good game passes at least four.
[h1]Spoilers Ahead[/h1]
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
The gameplay would be pretty good, if not for its simplicity and repetitiveness. You only have two attacks, the Light-Blade, a slashing attack that you will using all the time. The other attack is the Dash Kill, which can only be charged by killing enemies and best used foor killing groups of enemies. You can also use a dash that allows for quick travel and dodging, but has a stamina gauge for limited use. It can be increased by leveling up. These are the only actions available to you and no variety or upgrades to make the gameplay more exciting.
Note: Dash Kills and sleeping on beds require the keyboard, even when using a controller. There is no option to bind these actions to the controller. Dash Kills are worse because you need the keyboard and the mouse to use. The game can be easily be beaten without it, making it somewhat useless.
[b]Enemies[/b]
Almost all the enemies are generic and only these enemies appear throughout the game, reskinned with the same attack patterns: slimes, humanoids that throws projectiles, spiders, and wolves. The only exception is the small rock brutes in the first level, which are never seen again afterwards.
The bosses are no exception and even less variety: giants and dragons. Giants are mid bosses that appear at least 3 times per level, have only one attack (a projectile that's easy to call out and dodge), and do nothing else. They are just obstacles that are reskinned throughout the first 3 levels. Dragons are always the final boss in each level, are stationary, and only have one attack(a string of projectiles aimed at you) and spawn generic enemies after their attack. The most grievous boss is the Final boss of the game and is the easiest boss! It does everything the other end bosses do except spawn enemies after it attacks, giving you more time to put in more damage without worrying about other enemies. The Giants and dragons do have small variations like the effect of their projectiles but they can be taken down the exact same way: dodge, attack, dodge, attack, etc.
[b]Levels[/b]
There are only four levels: a medieval forest with rivers, a snow covered forest with freezing rivers, a nuclear wasteland with red lava/blood rivers, and a wooded outpost with boiling purple rivers. Even most of the level designs are reskins of each other!
The levels are all straight lines; extremely linear. The level design is the same overall layout and comes in two varieties: outside and caves. Caves are just as linear except for them being darker and more maze-like. Few have new obstacles but only appear in two levels: spikes in the snow level and motion sensor bombs/flame traps in the nuclear wasteland. And they're all supposed to be on different planets but they mostly look like places on Earth!
Note: During gameplay, the Health, EXP, and Dash Kill bars will sometimes block your view on certain parts of levels. There are no options to remove or change the HUD.
[h1]Story[/h1]
The story is basic: a Knight, James, fights a war in medieval times. A dragon appears and he runs. He's saved by a time-traveler and sent to the future. He is recruited to fight an evil organization...that's it. There no subtle nuances, lessons learned, some deep philosophical question we should be answering, or moral dilemma to justify the short amount of gameplay. A game can be good without them if everything else (gameplay, characters, art style, music) about the game is good, but it isn't. And the twist at the end makes no sense because the game ends right there. The game took me an hour and a half to beat and they end it on a cliffhanger!
[h1]Characters[/h1]
Characterization is non-existant and sometimes used for exposition. James, the main character, is bare bones at best. Some things are confusing about him, like being taken to the future after just coming from a war and he takes it all in stride and almost questions none of it. Its like, “Ok this is my life now.”. There is no reason to emotionally invest in anyone in this game because there is no emotion shown at all by the characters.
[h1]Art Style[/h1]
Arguably the best part of this game...besides the part where almost everything is reskinned, but I already said that earlier. The 8-bit style is done wonderfully, and the cutscene where you go to the future city is pretty beautiful...too bad its the only good animated cutscene. The other is a spaceship flying in the black void of space...which isn't that interesting. In the levels trees sway in the wind, snow falls, lava bubbles, its all pretty good to look at.
[h1]Music[/h1]
Also arguably the best part of the game, the music. My favorite would have to be the boss music! I would comment on it more, but the first two levels have this SFX that drowns out the music and I realized that the levels actually had music when I reached the third level! Also the music doesn't loop until you move to a new area, so listening to the music is very limited. The music is good but there are alot of programming oversights and bugs they forgot to fix.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
[b]Gameplay[/b]: Simple, but extremely repetitive. Levels and enemies are reskins of each other with the same attack patterns with little variation. It's also short, I was able to beat it in hour and a half. [0]
[b]Story[/b]
A nearly nonexistant story with an unexplained/wierd twist ending cliffhanger. [0]
[b]Characters[/b]
Characters, that are not James, mainly exist for exposition. James is the only character with any emotional weight but we barely explore it and the story just passes it by. [0]
[b]Artstyle[/b]
A beautiful 8-bit game, its eye candy, but underutilized. [1]
[b]Music[/b]
A great soundtrack bogged down by programming issues. [1]
[h1]Score: 2/5[/h1]
Note: The Kickstarter had the stretch goal of a second ending, but there is no hint on how to achieve it in game. I would appreciate anyone who knows how.
Note 2: After beating the game, your save file deletes itself. Must be a bug.
