EPΘCH

Awesome game. Love the music, combat, customization, and the devolopers. The music was so awesome. During a fight with the boss the music made me play outta my mind because i thought i was the main character in an anime. :) The combat is smooth. The only thing i hate is that magic items or spells can only be used a certain number of times. So building a mage character will be harder especially since the spells also cost mana(I'm fine with mana). Your weapons can be enchanted to have special effects. Fire, water, wood..etc. I started a disscusion to ask about adding a camera that centers the character instead, not expecting them to put it in or anything but just ask if they planned on adding it and got an almost immediate answer saying that he would add it in with the patch the next day just for me. I was so surprised and thought he was joking but the next day the patch notes said it was added. So i went in game and there it was. Awesome developers. The game itself is really fun to play and having awesome developers behind it and always improving it for their players is a 10/10 in my book! Overall: The game is awesome and i would definitely reccomend this game!

It is intentionally bad. It's marketed as "dark souls-esque," but really, it's just a big ♥♥♥♥ you. Everything is wrong with this game. I didn't enjoy a minute, I muscled through thinking, "Oh, it will get good if I can only find _______" and it just never did. There are fights that are designed for you not to win. Not just like... "can't win now, come back later" kind of thing. The one that stands out to me is that there is a repeating rival you have. The first time, cake walk. Second time, not awful. The third time, he starts speaking while he's attacking, and your attack/roll buttons are in charge of the speech bubble. So you have to close out of the text box to attack him or run away. The next time, the room is barely big enough for the two of you, he speaks multiple speech boxes and you can't do anything until they are gone, so he will kick your ass over and over again. And that's not a fun challenge. There's no skill to be had there, there's no learning curve, you can't improve on your skipping speech skill. It's just mash the exit button and hope you don't get killed. And when you finally beat him, you don't feel accomplished, you feel like you wasted 30 minutes on a giant middle finger. And I found almost every fight to be some sort of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like this. Just over and over again, things designed to kill you, but that there is no sense of accomplishment in overcoming. At the end of each challenge, I would just say, "oh, well I'm glad that's over," and was never once excited to see what came next. Also, level up system, you can only level up a hand full of times, so good ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ luck if you level up the wrong thing, you won't get another chance. Also, the inventory management is SUCH trash. I have always thought that inventory management shows a developer really cares about the experience of the player. It shows how poorly this was slapped together. You can deposit your extra items in a chest that you can access anywhere in the world. But if you put more than 20 things in, they start filling over the other slots. Not deleting the items mind you, but overlapping. So lets say you put in 5 items, but there isn't any free spots. And then you realize "Dang, I need that ONE gem back." If you want to get a gem now you need to withdraw the sword, the hat, the staff, the other gem, that other gem, the money, the other sword, and THEN you can take out the gem you need. Then you have to put all that ♥♥♥♥ back in. Their inventory management system is basically, "♥♥♥♥ you, you deal with it." Also, there is not a fast travel option. So you have to run around this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ obnoxious world. You miss something in the north? Well looks like you will have to cross 2 different biomes to get there again. Oh, still not accessible? Better cross another 3 to find what unlocks it. It's work. I don't play videogames to work this hard for this little pay off. There are so many gameplay issues. I regret buying this.

Completely unoptimized and unready for release. I almost even think the developer spent more time recording the video for this than working on the game. -Options opens up in a separate window which is just stupid -Multiplayer doesn't work -No "return to main screen" button, just your normal exit button for the entire game -bad FPS on my 6gig RAM computer, even while the system requirements states is takes much less. Definitely not worth $15.00, but if you want to try out Steam's refund mechanic, buy it!

TL;DR Simple but satisfying gameplay that delivers on its promise of a Dark Souls style Legend of Zelda. Like Dark Souls, the game can be very challenging at first but then ultimately can seem quite easy once you master the mechanics. I finished the game twice and saw what I think are the only two endings, but I expect I will continue to play around as I experiment with different builds and perhaps try to achieve a deathless run (it tells you how many times you died upon completing the game). If you're a fan of this type of game in general, I encourage you to give it a try. Although it's not perfect, this game definitely exceeded my expectations.

https://youtu.be/i2Z1zV2VOFY [i]Game:[/i] EPΘCH [i]Genre:[/i] 2D ARPG Metroidvania [i]Developer:[/i] Nick Everlith [i]Publisher:[/i] Nick Everlith [i][u]Copy supplied by PCGN[/u][/i] [b]EPΘCH[/b] is a 2D action RPG developed and published by Nick Everlith. This game is inspired by the original [i]The Legend Of Zelda, Dark Souls[/i] and the [i]Metroidvania[/i] games. [h1]STORY[/h1] Similarly to [i]Dark Souls[/i], the story is told through very criptic dialogue spoken by some NPCs and through notes scattered throughout the areas, making it almost 100% optional. It isn't as interesting as its inspiration's, but there are some funny characters that deliver some good jokes. [h1]GRAPHICS[/h1] The 2D art style is polished but repetitive: most of the areas that you explore look the same, and there aren't many landmarks or memorable spots that help you navigating the map, forcing you to constantly look at the map. The animations are very simplistic, and the enemy variety is decent. [h1]GAMEPLAY[/h1] You have an health, armour and stamina bar. You are able to aim your weapon (be it sword, mace, shield, bow, or magic spell) in every direction, and you can also roll and sprint. When exploring the levels, you can find new skills that will grant you the ability to surpass certain obstacles. This is a pure and unadulterated mixture of the exploration of Zelda, the combat of Dark Souls, and the level design of Metroidvania. The only real issue is with the combat itself: the handling of weapons doesn't feel all that well, and hitting enemies is mostly unprecise. Nothing that can't be patched, but right now it can lead to a lot of frustration. [h1]CHALLENGE[/h1] The game is very damn hard, mostly because of its unpolished combat and high health of enemies. It requires a lot of focus during fights, and a bit of strategy beforehand by using potions and armour to improve your character. [h1]SOUND[/h1] Soundwise it feels 100% like a classic SNES game, from the nostalgic soundtrack to the 16-bit sound effects. [h1]REPLAYABILITY[/h1] Not only can you replay the game as a different race to find new secret areas and bosses, but you can also play online with other friends to share the fun and the pain. Overall, if you are a fan of action RPG games that feature good exploration and level design to play with friends, I recommend [b]EPΘCH[/b]. But beware its unrefined combat: it quickly leads to a lot of frustration. [h1]Story: 7 Graphics: 7.5 Gameplay: 8 Challenge: 9 Sound: 8 Replayability: 8 [b]ENJOYMENT: 7.5 FRUSTRATION: 8[/b][/h1] Follow me on Twitter: @nickygra97 [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_VuBkttXIrpbrxwfYL_B-w]Subscribe to my channel[/url] [url=http://www.facebook.com/EnjoyTheGaming]Like on Facebook[/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/EnjoyTheGaming]Join my Steam group[/url]

I purchased this game for two reasons. I missed SNES Games, and the souls genre is up my alley. This game, albeit it a little buggy at times as a result of the underdeveloped engine it uses, is an amazing time and worth every penny.

Firstly I wanted to state that this game was created in the Byond engine and all the art work was done in paint I believe which makes this game all the more impressive that it even exists seeing as the Byond engine is known for being ♥♥♥♥. Though I was a beta tester and I am a friend of the main developer and I have been following his byond Epic series since his first game I will try not to be too biased in this review: To begin with you are dumped in a dungeon for the tutorial level which is a straight rip from Dark Souls. Though this tutorial level is arguably one of the best tutorials I have ever seen and the pinnacle of what a tutorial should be I would have preferred something a little more original within this game. How ever unlike Dark Souls you can return to this area later with more skills and knowledge of the game to unlock more secrets with the Essence (Experience points) you have collected. After completing the tutorial level you will then be boated across to the main hub where you will meet some unique characters and get a feel for the story which is rather complex. There are a lot of references to his two previous Epic games hidden through out the wall and a lot of secrets to uncover. As you progress through the story you will see a lot of diverse levels and it suddenly stops being a Dark Souls clone and begins being its own game. My favorite level being the Fire Temple as the main boss offers some humorous lines of dialog along with the puzzle aspect it was an amazing level which was really well designed. There are multiple different weapons and armours in the game each with a unique design and the majority of them hidden away in secret areas. On top of all the weapons there are also some which can only be crafted by visiting an anvil and dragging one weapon onto another. You can find recipes also hidden away which will tell you what combining one weapon with another will create. As to the exact number of armours and weapons that I do not know. A major gripe I have with some of the secrets is that there is never any indication that there is a secret there but then again I guess it wouldn't be a secret if it wasn't hidden well. Some of the bosses I feel were rather underwhelming and really easy to defeat and would have liked to see them have different attacks to mix things up and make them more challenging. The game was fairly challenging over all how ever I felt that Bows were extremely broken and made the game become extremely easy once I started kiting around enemies and spraying arrows into them without getting touched. Multiplayer worked well once we managed to get it tested how ever it was glitchy when trying to connect to some one as it took a long time to load and there was no indication that it was loading up as you was simply greeted by a black screen and if the server was closed mid way through a game session it would kick you out and say 'Game Session is full' or something a long them lines. Over all I recommend getting this game just based on the fact it blows my mind this was created using something as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ as the Byond engine (most famous for producing NEStalgia and Space Station 13) along with the attention to detail, the secrets and the puzzle aspects. This game is an amazing bit of fun even if it was a fairly short game which I completed after around 12 hours or so.

It would help if there was a tutorial that shows us how to work multiplayer, its a good game, but i feel it would excel if only i could play with my friends