[b]TL; DR[/b] a short but enjoyable title, it has a fun gimmick, some cool enemy designs, but is otherwise simply serviceable. If you are interested in run-based games with turn-based combat, then this might be for you.
[h1] Story [/h1]
Darkness is ascendant and it will consume the light.
There is little narrative to [i]Revelatio[/i], you get the premise and a couple of cutscenes to set up the chapters and the bosses. That is pretty much everything besides some short flavour texts.
There is so little of it that it is hardly worth talking about, I would not say that the writing is especially evocative or atmospheric it mostly feels serviceable and that is fine for a short game that does not focus on its narrative.
[h1] Presentation [/h1]
What first got me interested in [i]Revelatio[/i] was the visuals, it has some very inspired enemies, and a couple of great screens during dialogue, even the basic foot soldiers of the forces of light look good, albeit generic. However, you can convert them to your side, you see them consumed by darkness and their shapes twist and malform into one of your loyal servants, that looks cool, and the recognisable but corrupted designs make for a nice contrast, though they still look a bit generic.
On the other hand, we have the bosses, some of them are very much archetypical paladins, but the majority feel inspired, like King Phanuel or Appaim, and yes, you can convert them too, everyone can join your side, and they all get unique looks, it is really neat.
You can even get a closer look at the bosses during the cutscenes, which is always something I appreciate, they are simple but sweet, the faded colours make it seem like it was recorded on ancient parchments, or as if darkness had drained the world of its vibrancy, which is very appropriate.
Something that bothered me from early on was the UI, it mostly works fine enough but it is boring, and can be used in literally any game, there is no identity to it, which is really something they should have had when the game is so short and simple.
A good UI can do wonders for immersion and can help reinforce a title’s character, while a generic UI is, at best, forgettable.
It is also jarring when a game uses different words to describe the same thing in different menus.
‘Back’ and ‘quit’ are different words, they mean different things, and as you start playing you have no idea if they are different on purpose or just because, does ‘quitting’ mean I forgo my justly earned reward, or does it mean ‘go back’, who knows?
I do! It is neither, ‘quit’ is used when viewing a unit card from your roster!
It is objectively a minor issue, but it is also something a player will see numerous times during the course of their playthrough.
There is also music, fairly ominous, pretty generic, it is not bad, but it is what you would expect from a game where you play as the dark lord, however, it only takes up a small portion of the soundscape so it never gets grating.
[h1] Gameplay [/h1]
[i]Revelatio[/i] is a simple turn-based game with one gimmick, corruption, as you fight you can reduce a unit’s faith, and once it hits zero, they will switch sides and are put at your disposal.
This works both ways, if the forces of light redeem one of your powerful servants you will be put in a bad spot, and might outright lose the entire run, so you should be aware of your enemies and the situation that you find yourself in. Focusing on faith-reducing enemies is key, because it is difficult to recover faith once you have lost it, nothing sucks more than having a boss convert several units in a single attack just because that one archer seven battles ago happened to get a few good hits in.
Manage the faith of your roster and prioritize breaking your enemies’, snowball to victory!
They also draw some inspiration from rogue-like deckbuilders, [i]Revelatio[/i] does not have a card deck, but you do have a unit roster, and only three creatures will ever be selectable at a time. So, in a way, you do draw a “hand”, and new “cards” each time you play a monster.
This does encourage smaller rosters because it guarantees that you can start with something good every turn, this together with the fact that you can save one monster per run incrementally results in a strong start, but again, there is the faith concern, you do not want your most powerful servants to turn traitor, so filling out your “deck” with fodder is a good idea, and they can also be quite useful to drown enemies in bodies, as sacrifices or to buy time.
With all that said, most battles are quite easy and straightforward, and they start to get a bit repetitive after a couple of runs because they are never really all that different.
Enemies look different and have different attack ranges, but they do not have enough mannerisms to differentiate one from another, so, it gets repetitive, unless you are talking about the bosses.
[i]Revelatio[/i] has some really fun bosses, they typically get some adds, and each of them has a unique mechanic, so they all feel very distinct and fun to master.
The Saviour is one of my favourites, just a horde of adds swarming you to defend the last bastion of heaven, he demands map control, ceding a tile gives you less manoeuvrability and that makes it more likely for him to redeem your units and use them against you. He is not the most challenging fight, provided you can deal with the adds, but he is one of the coolest, and if you manage to convert him... all those mechanics are now on your side.
This is where the [i]real[/i] fun of [i]Revelatio[/i] comes in, using bosses, and their mechanics to crush unsuspecting enemies, it turns the repetitive encounters into something enjoyable and is not that wonderful?
