Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms

It's hard for me to recommend the game in its current state. On one hand, the idea of slow methodical ARPGs feels vastly unexplored and a good niche for the genre. On the other, it's completely ignorable in the game as it stands. Between Pull of the Void and Ice Cage, with some spell/talent cooldown gear, grandmaster talents, and consumables, you can permalock every enemy in the game. I didn't even use the block or parry once in my first complete playthrough, and while I still haven't visited every POI on the map or complete every quest just yet, I can say that the only really challenging parts of the games were the dragons, and even then, the challenge was just more chuff or a really really random boss mechanic whereas 98% of the bosses I've faced thus far have been incredibly simple. On the other hand, having burst windows and then running until I can hit another Ice Cage just feels bad. And the problem is, I don't really have a solution to fixing it. If you nerf the spell talents and traits, the only thing you're effectively doing is hampering people who want to play as mages, like, the magic system and the level progression ARE really cool. It's effectively like milestone leveling in a DND campaign, and it makes the reward for completing fighting areas feel great. So what I'd recommend is giving players more benefits to use block/parry/dodge beyond the talent that gives just the smallest cooldown reduction on block, or the Evasive buff. I don't even know if I noticed the block trait being triggered on parries either, which feels like either a bug or a huge oversight on the part of the devs. I'm sure the ranged slot can be useful to pull aggro, but in reality it's piss poor damage and even worse that it has a cooldown at all. Perhaps making the skills associated with bows or knives have a higher chance of applying bleed/poison/stun? Didn't explore these too much, so take this one with a grain of salt. Between crafting and enchanting, I don't know if there's enough of an incentive to use those mechanics when purple and orange loot will always be better than what you could make on your own. All in all, I think there's something really special here, but it needs tuning in a way that doesn't take away from other playstyles, and the auxiliary mechanics that incentivize you for exploring and collecting materials has to be more rewarding. 6.5/10.

The game is still early access. There should be mention that the voice acting is AI, as it only states that they have used it for localizations, not which ones. The game's devs are Italian, so I imagine that the writing largely only makes sense in Italian. They do not state that their native language is Italian, and the first segment of voice acting is done in slow and slurred but I think at least human English. In fact, the only voice acting in the entire game according to the store page is in English, so I'm not positive why I would have expected Italian. After that it immediately devolves into barely coherent AI translations and AI dubbing, which the dubbing is also not mentioned in the AI Content Disclosure. Mentioning that disclosure, here it is in full as I write this review. [i]We do not use generative AI in the game. For community-requested languages that are not officially supported, we use DeepL to assist with localization, with the help of community members who review and improve the translations[/i] Do they not think that generating a voice is generative AI? There should be at least one mention on the steam page that controller is the designed way to play, as "full controller support" being listed on the side and there being not even that new pop up thing is kind of misleading. The keyboard controls are a travesty, deeply clunky and clearly an afterthought. The controller feeling for me was still a little stiff but otherwise it was fine, but I did not play a significant enough of the game to judge how the game plays or how the balance and everything is. I'm almost certain their 2.0 update will change the balance of things, add some quests and whatnot, but it will not likely address the issues I have here. I have no reason to think they will be addressing controls, localization (they're actually just adding more work on that front), or even the store page to address the lack of warnings/information. This game feels like it's in a late beta rather than full release. i wAS GOnNa wRiTe a DEtaIleD rEplY, bUt... *Proceeds to write a detailed reply* Also it's generally indicative of a poorly designed store page if I need to go onto a discord or rooting through steam updates for any of the mentioned information. Admit exactly how much AI is in the game on the AI Content Disclosure like is required by store policies. I understand you're "proud" of m+kb, but you really shouldn't be. Put the splash screen back.

Lifeless world, inane quests, mouse and keyboard while technically "useable" is so poorly implemented it's not possible to use without losing your sanity, english translation is dreadful - borderline non-sensical.. I gave this game a good bash, even waiting till I had a controller, and I just can't get into it. I like the over-all concept but its just too poorly implemented. Also many concepts are imersion breaking such as "fighting areas" and "quest givers". Lore and codex are just tedious. UI is dreadful. No way to parse your quest list properly. You just get a whole list of quests with random names and the only way to go through them is to scroll through 1 by 1. And let's say you want to get to the one at the bottom.. well you need to scroll through 1 by 1 just to get there - would make way more sense if you scroll up from the top to reach the bottom, but seems QoL just isn't a consideration here. I'm sure some people might be able to get into this but its just too mindnumbing, lacklustre and tediouus for me. I would generously give it a 3/10. Oh and the developer really needs to stop commenting on people's negative reviews. Really wish I could refund - only reason I couldn't was because I wanted to wait to get a controller which then put it out of the 2-week timeframe. Don't be a me. The fact the developer thinks their mouse & keyboard option is OK, should be a red flag to show what they are willing to accept for the rest of their game.

Game sounded nice on paper but I didn't like the game design and refunded after trying a difficulty "one-skull" starter (?) dungeon three times. It's a bit like any of the Diablo action RPGs, but with very boring generic story setup (find four parts of some item, then face boss) and huge sandbox with Diablo-like combat in dungeons, but enemies are way more difficult and tedious to fight. None of the systems felt rewarding and playing on PC but not even being allowed to click on menu items with mouse but need to use controller or horrible keyboard UI felt not like something I want to pay money for. Edit after developer response: Can't really respond to your comment any other way, but if you had read my review thoroughly: I criticized the generic setup. I didn't play the whole campaign after such a generic boring start, but yeah, maybe it gets better. Apart from that, I really don't care for your tone, but other reviewers have remarked the arrogant developer replies, so here we see it in action, too. All the best to you, take it easy, I didn't mean to insult your game, but it wasn't for me, and yes, writing a review stating that should be ok. And, technically, I never claimed I paid for it, but I said I felt not like wanting to pay, hence I refunded. ;)

I am sorry for the problems the devs faced. This is the first time i am hearing about AI localizations. Personally, i don't give a single f*ck even if you had made this game with ai from top to bottom. Which is NOT. Controls of this game is a little bit hard. Game is generally very hard. You can get lost in this game not knowing where to go on the map, not knowing what you are supposed to do. Learning curve is very steep in this game. I understand these are done by design. But if people are complaining about these problems (directions, controls etc) you can lower the difficulty by 10% or 15% via just showing "go this place because you have a quest there" note. Or you can lower the learning curve just a little bit so that players wouldn't feel frustrated. And devs' responses to the complaints are a bit ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Yes, dude, we get it; you designed this game not to hold our hands. But if people are complaining about this game but not with Morrowind should tell you something. All in all, game is good. Quite good but this steep learning curve, misunderstanding the concept of "not holding hands", combat controls making players drop the game after 1 or 2 dungeons. So, do not consider me as a bad review but more of a mix review. I shall give this game another run after a year or so soon and maybe i change this review. . . . . Edit: Okay, i played a bit more and progressed quite well. Yet, i still cannot change my review from mix to good for this game. All buttons are done by your left hand. Ctrl to run, shift to block, space to dodge, tab+1 or 2 or 3 to command your familiar, F1 to F4 to drink potions, 1 and 8 to use skills... Yet, you truly can get accustomed to the controls. And you can summon familiars and undeads and recruit heroes to help you in combat. But quest designs... Quests piles up after a while and there are very few markings. And some quests do not have any marks which is fine but there are no hints in the quest descriptions. Those hints were in the dialogue but if you miss, you miss the hint. Okay, don't put an exclamation mark for every quest but at least give me enough information so that i can find out where to go or what to do. And that wench quest... You drink with a woman and you go blank and get robbed. Okay. Very immersive. But why can't i chase them? Some citizens in a city literally defines the robbing and you can get robbed in another city but for some reason, you cannot chase them and bring them to justice. And we're supposed to be heroes? And worst of all, I found her in the same tavern, standing on the same space, doing nothing. Why? Well, i cannot say this game is bad. The feeling of the progress is quite good and when you get used to the controls, it's managable. And story is not bad. Side quests are well-written. But there is that feeling about devs doing an evil laugh for mechanics you cannot avoid because they think "hahaha getting **** is immersion! realism go baby!"

I've played a lot of games and I rarely leave a review but I am 100% certain these reviews are fake. This game horrible. Don't buy this trash. - The inventory management sucks ass - The combat is boring, slow and unresponsive. - overall straight dogwater. 1/10

Primal. No options. No chance to call out the scammer in an ARPG game. Nothing you can do to avoid it.

This game has a very well-developed fantasy setting and environment. But that's its only bright spot. The combat became boring after a few hours of play, the dialogue system lacked excitement ,the skill system wasn't really customizable or engaging. Not recommend

Looks nice but keyboard+mouse controls are horrible, an ARPG game made for computers, but you need a stupid controller. Refunded faster than the speed of sound. Also devs are arrogant. Byeee..

If you enjoy isometric arpgs and have a steam deck this is a fantastic game. The build variety and the unique setting is addictive and enjoyable. Don't sleep on this. It's challenging and very fun