Arakion: Book One

Minigames, check. Puzzles, in full force. Crafting and hunger too. An immersive adventure of intoxicating fantasy elements with the respect and adoration of blobbers from gaming lore. Turnbased or real time grid movement and combat, this one man DEV has made quite a peculiar yet familiar little gem. While not complete, Arakion Book One is still playable and one can see the ambition and ideas behind all that is unfinished. But what is good about what is there STILL does not convey a project with direction, because it is difficult to estimate a serious connotation of execution from my perspective. Just hopping on the wagon now, I have seen earlier builds and read previous reviews and they don't appear to be congruent to what is the latest build now, which is all fine and alright, it being early access, but it is a trying time to determine what is under construction and what is permanent even with the cryptic content of certain puzzles or mechanics. It is a wonderful little world, so far, and many brilliant views of sentimental RPG qualities from yesteryear. The game is grid based although could very well improve by "freeing" the movement similar to Bards Tale IV has done, simply put, I am not quite sure how much the DEV is standing firmly on the current environment, as it's points of interest are sometimes not entirely centered to the players viewpoint ie. they fall between the center of 2 grids. It happens enough to notice. Due to the independent nature, the game is missing so much more of the finesse that usually punctuates the menus and text of similar games detailing such wondrous looking worlds. A contrivance to me personally, as the game deserves that added touch and I know and hope that the DEV has it within to make that special atmospheric flair that would embellish significantly, not looking for Disney quality but merely bells and whistles along the lines of on screen notifications, item descriptions, battle log, menu sounds, ease of access etc. Yes I want to see this game come to fruition and this would most likely come near the end of development. It is very cool and sophisticated , this pays homage to my favorite genre. This is one to watch and worth it as is now but know that it is a work in progress that could only improve and surprise!

Abandoned, don't bother.

Honestly I'm really enjoying the game, its difficult on legend/ironman mode. Loving the crafting, but the stamina in combat kinda irritates me, feels like I spend more time dancing so I dont get beaten to death, while i'm waiting for my stamina to regen. Then I lose out on the bonus xp for moving, at least im guessing thats what the multiplier bar is when you are in combat. The game is amazing in so many ways, but when I keep falling through the ground and either dying or getting stuck, then having to use Mr.Maker, and sac 30% of my shards. it's pissing me off. If you can get by falling and losing shards at random, or having the permanent debuff that you called upon Mr.Maker. Then buy this, you won't regret it. If not, wait till its out of early access.

Looking good thus far! Kickstarted the game ages ago as I really enjoyed the art direction and general idea. Lavidimus is a fine artist. He does however need more talents aboard for this great project, the game is still in its early stages. Holds lots of promise, so I do hope the dev will invest into it lots more and that it'd be the first of many great games he works on. Peace.

Abandoned.

Very little customization, forever in early access, very few updates. At least I got it on sale, I guess.

Пока поставлю лайк, так как задумка интересная, нас ожидает много контента, и вообще, я люблю игры такого жанра. К тому же, разработчик игру делает один, а это - огромный респект)

Seems an interesting combination of game types and has a different and pleasant graphics style. Needs a real tutorial and some indication of objects that can be manipulated. Right now I found fighting the interface and the errors in the current tutorial too frustrating to have fun. Probably will be a good game with a little more work.

Looks gorgeous with some fantastic music and game world to explore but the movement controls, user interface are incredibly clumsy making moving/manipulating things very frustrating to use killing any sense of natural movement and immersion.

[b][i]A diamond in the rough with a beta feel[/i][/b] (I have mainly played development builds of Arakion so my time played does not reflect my actual time played) [b]Short Form[/b] Likes? The foundation is great, the world feels alive, there is a good amount of content and there is a lot coming down the pipeline. I think this game will be amazing when finished. Dislikes? No turn based. This is my gripe, and it's a biggie. I want that Might and Magic feel that was promised. However, the developers have promised turn-based in August and there is a video on Discord showing it off so it's clearly working. [b]What to like?[/b] There is a lot to like about Arakion. Party based blobber? Check. New stuff like crafting and world building? Check. Smooth controls and gameplay? Check. It's all wrapped up in a pretty bow. I'm excited for future updates, especially the turn based mechanics coming soon! Honestly, there really is a lot of depth in Arakion. There is crafting, alchemy, town building, traits, unique races, unique world and more. Clearly, this was a craft of love but there is a lot of work left to be done and that will certainly turn off some potential players. [b]What to dislike?[/b] No turn based and combat. For me these are intertwined, I dislike the combat because I want turn based. As stated above Discord shows turn based working so it should be in playable soon. Also, there are areas in the world that feel incomplete, however this may be more due to it being Early Access than anything so I don't think you should shave points for that. Final first impression? Get this game on sale if you like the genre. Hold off on playing it while you wrap up everything else in your catalog then dive in once it's further along or out of early access. The reality is this game probably has another year of development left so there is no rush. It's a diamond in the rough with a beta feel.