Kristala

I want to love and recommend this game but having finished it just now, I can't quite. As of 1.2.3 there are bugs that almost made me walk away for breaking my save, some early bosses are unfairly made (spider for legs blocking movement, Samwise for just being out of place and broken spawning). The big problems here are that perfect dodges rarely work since the hit boxes are too long in reach and duration so they hit you anyways, it's generally a bit unpolished, oh and half of the game is missing according to the narrative. Aside from that it's a pretty fun Sekiro lite game. Could certainly use more and better magic, more combat moves, more enemy diversity, and what's with the ONE illusory wall that needs to be rolled (and only rolled) through? It kind of forgets about the acrobatics at times which dilutes it's identity but the vibes are nice, the levels are well designed (except for the dog, that was not necessary or well implemented). If not for the big glitch I'd be happy to have bought and played almost 40hrs worth on sale. Maybe not the several hours on those two glitchy bosses.

[h1] Kristala is a particularly honest game. By that I mean it isn't afraid to show both its strengths and its shortcomings. [/h1] [h3] The game puts a tremendous amount of attention into its core mechanics and combat flow. It is polished where it matters most, delivering an experience that sits somewhere between a traditional Souls-like and something closer to Sekiro. [/h3] Comparisons aside, the game commits heavily to its worldbuilding. It introduces a large number of factions, locations, characters, lore terms, and side stories in an attempt to build a rich setting. Unfortunately, I didn't find the narrative engaging enough to keep track of many of those names, places, or even the equipment I collected. As a result, there wasn't much that made me want to revisit the story on subsequent playthroughs. To me, the narrative exists primarily to complement an enjoyable combat system that occasionally feels reminiscent of Demon's Souls, complete with quirky frame data, unusual hitboxes, and sometimes awkward attack timings. [h1] The Good [/h1] [list] [*]The game is remarkably consistent in how it expects you to engage with its systems. [*]The leveling and progression system is one of its strongest features. It encourages experimentation, and re- spec-ing your character is generous enough that you're never locked into a build you no longer enjoy. [*]This flexibility lets you adapt to different encounters instead of suffering through bosses that completely counter your build. Rather than being punished for specializing, you can rework your character to better suit the challenge ahead—and trust me, you'll probably need to (see The Bad). [*]Many of the enemy and environmental designs are genuinely interesting, and the world hints at something much larger than what is currently presented. There's a lot of untapped potential here that I'd love to see explored in future content or sequels. [/list] [h1] The Bad [/h1] [list] [*]Several item descriptions fail to clearly communicate their drawbacks, while others come with animations that actively put you at a disadvantage. Balance also becomes noticeably inconsistent during the middle portion of the game. Enemy health pools begin to feel excessive, making build experimentation feel less like an option and more like a necessity if you want boss fights to remain enjoyable rather than frustrating. [*]Some story-critical enemies completely invalidate certain build archetypes. If you've invested heavily into Bleed, for example, you're going to have a rough time. [*]The NPC cast is unfortunately quite forgettable, even the recurring characters. I found myself wishing some of their stories received more attention, especially the pregnant NPC, who felt like she had the foundation for a much more interesting subplot. Instead, most conversations simply exist to provide another person to talk to. [*]Level design can also become tedious. Unreal Engine environments tend to be visually busy, and Kristala often struggles to provide clear visual guidance. Dense foliage, environmental clutter, and decorative assets make distinguishing the intended path more difficult than it should be. [*]Enemy behavior is another mixed bag. While encounters remain engaging, enemies frequently feel almost too reactive, responding perfectly to your actions in ways that can seem unnatural. Bosses push this even further, often making fights feel less about learning patterns and more about wrestling with unpredictable AI. [*]Although quests are now tracked, several remain frustrating to complete. Combined with the lack of a map and the previously mentioned issues with environmental readability, finding quest items often becomes an exercise in tedious backtracking. The Crème Bread quest alone cost me nearly six hours of searching, and even after finishing the game, I still haven't located every shipment of bread required to complete that objective. [/list] [h1] Final Thoughts [/h1] [h2] Kristala is an enjoyable package for fans of the genre—especially those who have a soft spot for the rough edges, odd design decisions, and charming quirks of older Souls games. It has a distinctive identity, enjoyable combat, and enough interesting ideas to stand apart from many of its peers. That said, it's difficult for me to recommend it to newcomers because so many rough edges surround an otherwise compelling foundation. One of the game's biggest strengths outside the game itself is the development team. They are active, receptive to bug reports, and clearly willing to improve the experience. Many of the issues mentioned here could very well be addressed over time. After completing the game in roughly 30 hours while working toward the Platinum achievement, these are the impressions I was left with. [/h2]

[h1]Overall Impression[/h1] I cannot recommend the game, even for Dark Souls/Sekiro fans. Even if your only goal is to hone your parry/dodge skills and reaction time, you still have to deal with many frustrating aspects of the game that may ruin your initial expectations. Unfortunately, the game feels underdeveloped. There are too many frustrating moments that outweigh some genuinely good concepts. [hr][/hr] [h2]Presentation & UX[/h2] Menu background textures look very cheap and unpolished. The UX is awful. The game does not tell you which items you already have in your inventory while browsing merchants. I am pretty sure almost everyone gets confused about how to slot echoes into weapons/talismans. Those weird naming conventions that constantly try to reinvent the wheel only add to the overall confusion. The game does a terrible job of explaining its core mechanics. [hr][/hr] [h2]Progression & World Building[/h2] The game feels way too grindy, as obtaining gold is very difficult. The presence of a journal does not help solve the world-building and narrative issues. Somehow, this world and story are much more confusing and disjointed than any Dark Souls game with its huge interconnected maps. [hr][/hr] [h2]Combat & Technical Issues[/h2] I agree with many of the negative comments regarding hitboxes, especially on huge enemies. I understand that this is an indie game made by a small team, but it is hard to look at those animations, overlapping textures, weightless enemies, and punches without tears. The game industry has somehow been in a 10+ year stalemate. It feels like games, including this one, should learn to build living worlds instead of static, lifeless levels where you are the only character who does anything while everyone else remains stationary. I do not know if it is just me, but when I am the only moving character in a game or area, it immediately breaks my immersion. [hr][/hr] [h2]What the Game Does Well[/h2] IMO, there are only two solid (but still undercooked) features: • Combat and stealth. • The world's visual direction and overall universe (although I am neutral toward it).

If you're a casual player with life to live don't buy the game because at some point you'll have spent hours learning bosses or farming for stats. Dificulty will just spike and there is no progress without beating them. And also you'll have to memorize the whole game locations because map doesn't exist.

if there was ever a mixed button i would use it for this game, its just truly a "mixed" game, even tho i liked the movement and the world design, the enemies are sadly just not fun to fight their animations are unclear and sometimes borderline misleading as some of the attacks share the same animations or ones that have very similar looking animations, i wanted to like it but i just can't .

Après 12 heures de jeu et 43 succès sur 50, Kristala me laisse une impression assez mitigée. Le jeu possède une identité visuelle originale et son univers sombre fonctionne finalement plutôt bien malgré le choix d’incarner un félin. Certaines zones ont une ambiance réussie, et le mélange entre exploration, parkour, combat et magie apporte un peu de variété. La progression reste agréable grâce aux équipements, aux compétences, aux Échos et aux différentes améliorations à débloquer. Malheureusement, une fois la découverte passée, le jeu montre rapidement ses limites. Le système de combat est fonctionnel, mais manque de profondeur, d’impact et de sensations. Les patterns des ennemis et des boss sont généralement simples et faciles à lire, ce qui rend les affrontements assez peu exigeants. Une fois les mécaniques assimilées, il est rare de devoir réellement apprendre un boss ou modifier sa façon de jouer. L’exploration est également très simplifiée. Les zones sont faciles à parcourir et l’orientation reste claire, ce qui évite les labyrinthes inutilement complexes que l’on retrouve dans certains Souls-like même. En revanche, les niveaux manquent parfois de profondeur, de secrets marquants et de raccourcis réellement ingénieux. L’exploration reste correcte, mais procure rarement un véritable sentiment de découverte. La magie paraît intéressante sur le papier, avec plusieurs sorts et possibilités de builds. Dans les faits, elle ressemble davantage à un complément qu’à une mécanique essentielle. Il est tout à fait possible de terminer le jeu en l’utilisant très peu, voire presque pas. Même avec un personnage orienté magie, elle ne transforme pas suffisamment le gameplay pour donner l’impression d’adopter un style de jeu réellement différent. Le manque de finition est également difficile à ignorer. Les bugs liés aux environnements sont fréquents : ennemis bloqués dans les décors, IA qui freeze, perd sa cible ou semble ne plus savoir comment atteindre le joueur. Les phases de plateforme souffrent aussi de collisions parfois incompréhensibles. Certains sauts échouent sans raison évidente, le personnage accroche des éléments invisibles ou glisse sur des surfaces où il devrait normalement atterrir. Ces problèmes ne rendent pas le jeu injouable, mais ils cassent régulièrement l’immersion et rendent certains passages frustrants pour de mauvaises raisons. Plusieurs mécaniques sont aussi insuffisamment expliquées, tandis que certaines quêtes peuvent être échouées sans avertissement clair. Le jeu pousse parfois à chercher des informations ailleurs, non pas parce que son univers est volontairement mystérieux, mais simplement parce que certaines conditions ou certains systèmes manquent d’explications. Kristala n’est pas un mauvais jeu. Il possède quelques bonnes idées, une identité originale et peut offrir un moment agréable aux amateurs du genre. Cependant, ses combats trop simples, son exploration peu marquante, sa magie largement dispensable et ses nombreux problèmes techniques l’empêchent de réellement se démarquer. Note personnelle : 5/10

I wanted to like this game. And there were parts of it that were enjoyable. But as an overall package.. it's not good. - The 'intended difficulty' has you get 2-shot by basically any elite or boss unless you pump ALL your stats into health. Literally, I ended up beating the game with maxed out health stat and letting poison do most of my damage. - Very little guidance, which can work, except the level design has everything looking kinda same-y and paths just loop around making you run in circles. Probably half my play time is just figuring out where the heck I need to go. - Game does.. not feel finished. Various points of jank and bugs aside, the 'final boss' is just.. some dude in a cave. That's it. Like sure, I actually kinda liked that boss fight, but.. I had no clue that was it until I saw the credits rolling. I'm pretty sure the dev team must have just run out of money at this point, pushing a '1.0' release with an incomplete story. - Not a huge thing, but you can't change your clan (which determines what magic you can use).. even though there's a button prompt for it. Is it a bug? Is it something they forgot to remove? Beats me. But being locked into a spell type (ice in my case, which.. was bugged where the sound effect was super loud making me not want to use it..) isn't great. Game could be good with enough updates.. but right now? Not worth the money, not even on the 40% sale I got it on.