The Lost Legends of Redwall™: The Scout Act 1

As of 12-28-18 and after playing through this whole game, this doesn't feel like a proper full fledged game or even like an episodic one but an overpriced demo that this company is trying to push. After 5 years of waiting and we're left with this? This is just terrible. After playing this 2 times in a row, I cannot understand why there are so many people praising and giving instant positive reviews for this game. This game is a broken mess of a tech demo and NOBODY here will even explain WHY they think it's good asides from "It has the Redwall name slapped on so it must be good". I love the Redwall series, I really do. I've read each book around 7-8 times each by now and even reluctantly say the animated series is decent for what it does. But i'm sorry but blindly priasing this game is NOT going to help improve the turth behind how flawed this whole thing is, especially since they are charging $15 for this "episode" that you can beat in under 2 hours. The game is so unpolished and lacking in every department that i'm genuinely suprised that this even got past quality control. Did they even test the game fully before pushing this out? The game runs so poorly that you will average less then 30fps the entire time that running ARMA 3 on high grpahics will yield higher framerates. The game itself is more buggy and more broken then an EA Battlefield game or Bethesda game at launch day. Missions bug out constantly forcing you to restart the entire level again due to key items missing, objects not functioning properly so things are stuck and unmovable, moments where objects are just not allowing them to be used, or even just falling straight out of the map for who know's what reason. I have even fallen out of the map so many times in pretty much every single mission that in order to continue I would have to then re-fall back into the map by jumping at random walls and no-clip back in. And you'll be doing this a lot since it's easy to break the game by pure mistake and isn't a case of looking for ways to cheat the system. Or you may simply just have restart the entire level since checkpoints don't work half the time either and will even spawn you back out of the map as you endlessly fall or can't get back into the map. This is great i'm sure if you want each playthrough to play differently, which it will, but that's because the game keeps breaking and certain things won't trigger or preform properly each time. The graphics look terrible and cheap like somebody's first Unity project where the animation is so terrible that everything is literally ice skating across the ground when it moves. Movement is a train wreck since it feels stiff in all the ways as you will get stuck on literally anything that goes against your character's body. When climbing you'll be wondering if your character will actually climb the ladder or hover in front of it to get up something. Not to mention that sometimes after climbing all the way up your character will just randoml decided to start climbing down the second your reach the top for no reason. I should also mention that jumping around is faster then the running in this game. The ONLY other game I have seen that has jumping being faster then running is Devil May Cry 2 and you have to fail pretty badly if you can't even get the basic movement down in your game. The story itself is pointless and feels like it doesn't even know what it fully wants to do with characters it is trying to establish. Everybody shows up to spout exposition and then disappear leaving you confused and not really invested in what's happening. If you want to get REALLY literal with the story, you're essentially the equivalent of an Eagle Scout who needs to warn their town that it's under attack. But it was already attacked making the whole purpose of what you need to do pointless. To further add on how pointless everything is, the "attacking" rats don't even pose a threat that you need to run from or be worried about since the game is almost directing you to speedrun the game in a way as you are constantly being pressured to keep moving forward and never look around. They don't serve any purpose in the game and don't even deter you from doing whatever mission you're on. The stealth and scent sniffing mechanics they constantly promote and talk about in-game is useless. You can just run past everybody and there's no point in sniffing anything since it feels tacked on and all the constant Dead Space style waving lines flying across the screen serve no real point except providing screen clutter and making you wonder if there's graphical errors popping up on you. If you're a Redwall fan you will notice how nothing is consitent in this universe and the game fully acknowledges it and ♥♥♥♥♥ with it even more. Characters will run on all fours like feral creatures but then you'll have other creatures run normally on two legs as if they're human. There was a reason why after the first book this flip-flopping movement was scrapped and everybody ran on two legs like humans asides from the feral\beast-like creatures who had gone insane. (Examples being The Gloomer or Urgan Nagru's "pet" Ermines who had been tortured to insanity). At least the animated series made sure everybody moved on two legs and followed a consistent set of rules so i'm not sure why the devs can't do the same here since it looks REALLY out of place and awkward to be running on all fours like a dog or zombie. Overall, this game lacks any sort of direction and meaning behind what it wants to accomplish. There's nothing to make you care about the characters or want to keep going since it's too short to establish anything worthwhile to hold onto. The music itself is still unfitting as ever since I commented about it over a year ago so you're still stuck with slow dance country music that feels like it should be in Far Cry 5 or a Civil War game. Where's the medieval music?!?! It's sad to say that Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes or Gran Truismo 5 Prologue has more depth to them and they were blatant demos being sold for full price....kinda like this game. Do not buy this, DO NOT!!! Go spend your money on something better like "Ghost Of A Tale" since that at least has effort put into it and feels more of a Redwall game then this ever will be. But it was nice to see the small shrine dedicated to the author Brian Jaques. That was a nice detail I can give definite props to. Older "Early Acess" Review down below if you wish to see what the review used to be about before it became a full product. [spoiler] This has got to be the most cheeriest and worst representation of the Redwall universe I have ever seen. I know people give the animated series a lot of crap for what they were, but this resembles nothing close to the Redwall universe. This current demo resembles more of a random animal fantasy game then a Redwall IP. I hate giving this a negative review but this is just the worst possible way to represent the Redwall name by making it feel so alienated and disconnected from that universe. I love the book series and may even reluctantly say that the animated series was alright at times, but good lord this is not looking good. The demo is buggy right now, yes that's to be expected. Movement is still needing to be worked on, yes that's expected as well. But who honestly thought that creatures in the Redwall universe run on all fours like feral creatures? They didn't do that in the book, they didn't do that in the shows, so why the hell is it being done here? And what the **** is with the music? Why does this sound like slow country music from Indiana? It is so unfitting and distracting that I was laughing at how bad it was. I do hope they change the whole musical genre and a lot of this game later down the road since this is just awful all over for a demo showcasing what they want to do. Final verdict: Avoid and wait another 1-2 years for it to be finished and heavily altered.[/spoiler]

Don't bother buying this yet. I'm a huge Redwall fan and this game feels like a prototype. Amidst the spelling mistakes, extremely poor performance and terrible controls, there is an underlying feeling that this game needs an additional 3-6 months before it's even remotely playable. Wait another month at the very least. I'll probably check back in February. 7/18/19 Edit: It's been almost two years, and I haven't checked the game since I wrote this review. I will update this review eventually, but anyone reading this review should disregard it until I've updated it. Read the more recent reviews, as this one is no longer accurate.

Such a nightmare... There are a few aspects that this game does well. The voice acting plays 98% of the time, and the dialogue and the characters have a true Redwall feel to them. The illustrations, while not very high resolution, have a solid Redwall feel to them. I love the characters and genuinely want to know more about them. I appreciate the effort that they took to narrate everything. The scenting mechanic is fascinating and, when it works, it works really well. Reading the forums, the scent is apparently "dynamic," which seems to be causing some problems, but after playing the game and running through the same levels over and over again (not by choice), there isn't a reason that they need to be dynamic, because everything in the world feels static. You have a sling shot that doesn't break anything other than the random jar here and there. You can hit rats with it to get their attention, but if you hit something near them, they don't bother moving, they just say something ominous like, "I can see you," even though they don't move toward you. And if they really see you, they will move toward you. The game does its best to minimize loading time by fading you to the last checkpoint if you make a mistake. The problem is that these mistakes aren't always apparent. You could be walking the shore, and one random rock doesn't like how you stepped on it and you are automatically teleported to the checkpoint. During these teleports, things don't always reset properly, and you can have rats in the ground, rats with torches that hover inside their bodies, and their banter and paths can also be broken. This also occurs randomly if you try to jump along a wall the wrong way, or try to jump where you aren't allowed, but the collision boxes are properly keeping you from getting killed, until you just get killed anyway as you back off. There are items all over that you can climb, but if you jump off of many of them, you will hit an invisible wall that prevents you from going onto an easily accessible roof, fence, etc. In the first level, you can keep triggering quest events as many times as you want, which shouldn't be needed if this game ran properly. Since it doesn't, I was thankful that I could. I made the mistake of trying to redo challenges to get a better score, and had to go through so many hoops to get characters to trigger properly so that I could redo the challenges in a way that would count at the end. Instead of using the environment to your advantage, you have to avoid the enviroment at all costs, especially if water is involved. The water in the first level is very shallow and narrow, and yet if you dip one claw into it, dead. This makes sense in the second level where the rats have to swim because the water is deeper, but in the first level, it feels sloppy and uncontrolled. If this game was still in early access or beta, fine, but it's advertised as not. If you want to experience Redwall, you're better off playing the non-Redwall Ghost of a Tale. It has castles, rats (and they aren't all one-dimensional evil), you play a mouse, and the game is beautiful and it works. I'll keep this game installed for a few more months and change this review if things get better, but for now, don't bother with this game if it's any more than $5. It's likely you will not even get past the second level due to game breaking glitches years after this game's development first started. It should still be considered early access, so if you are into that kind of risk, go for it. You will probably like what you are able to accomplish. For everyone else, this game does have a lot of charming elements, there are just too many things that keep getting in the way.

Okay, have to say straight out that if you want a game then don't bother with this. If you want to help a game based in the world of Mossflower then please, buy this and provide feedback. I've read comments that say "this is nothing like Redwall" but at this point it is impossible to make that claim; similarly it is too easy to say the opposite. I do however really like what I have seen. Yes the controls are clunky and the camera acts like it's on speed, and yes there is a lot of polish to be done, but if I am to be honest then the worst part of this is that the feedback asks too specific questions. Yes, I'm giving feedback on giving feedback. Maybe they are only asking specific questions right now for a reason but there are a number of comments that I would have liked to have given and I have done my best to do so with what they provided. At this point in time, buying this game isn't about getting a gameplay experience for your money, it is about helping the developer to create a game based around a world that we loved as children and, even at 24 and playing in university accomodation, that I still love.

I've been a huge fan of Redwall since I was kid. Grew up with the books (all 20 something of them), so they we're a good aprt of my childhood. Excited to have a game (and future games) that finally is set in that universe. Overall the game is enjoyable so far and I'm happy with the purchase. They've got a good foundation to build upon. PROS: - Voiceacting and writing: given that this was based off books, I was expecting the writing to be solid. The game certainly delivers on that. Each voice is pretty distguishable and adds a good amount of value to game. The writing captures the spirit of the series well. - Art design: Love the look of the forest and the woodland creatures. They seemed to have used the illustrations from the books as source material and thats a good thing. The textures need a little work but they seem to be gradually being upgraded when the game is patched. - Plot: fans of Redwall will know the mouse vs. vermin storyline well, so I think using that as the foundation of theplot was a safe bet. -Episodic Format: Big fan of the walking dead and the wolf among us, and I think that short-form episodes are a good format for this game. If they can get the content out in a reasonable pace. CONS -Controls: the controls are a bit unintuitive at first, takes some time getting used to. Given the plaforming elements its a frustrating combo. Eventually you get the skills but there is definitely a learning curve. -Animations: some of the animations are a little stuttering, I think these can be patched out but it breaks immersion occasionally.

It's taken me a while to get around to writing this review, and for that I apologise. But I have been busy of late, and consequently rather more than a little time poor. With that being said, I believe it would be unfair of me to delay this well deserved review any longer. The Scout is just the first of six episodes in a series of games developed by a group known for their commitment to providing quality games, but more importantly, quality customer service. I have been testing The Scout since it first came out on early access, and have put over 100 hours into playing and replaying levels. I made a lot of recommendations and bug reports, and I am happy to say that they were all addressed very quickly, and in the meantime I managed to chat quite a lot with the Devs, who have always been more than happy to discuss different aspects of the game. As I have already stated, I've played this game for over 100 hours, and I intend to continue playing as often as I can due to the beautiful storytelling and graphics, as well as the somewhat addictive gameplay. I can't make up your minds for you, but if I could, you would definitely be playing this game by now. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

It's been 2.5 years since the game's release, and Soma have really turned things around from the undoubted frustration of a game what was its release build. Their latest patch on April 9, 2021 brought with it everything that Soma could do right for both the game and its fans. The tutorial level is vastly improved and, by far, less confusing, What was once a pit for new players to get lost in and give up on after 2 hours is no more, replaced by an easy-to-follow way point system, that still leaves room for the player to figure out puzzles. The characters have more life to them, with new voice lines and banter from the baddies, as well as more dialogue from the protagonists that deepen the lore. If you love the world of Redwall, and the puzzle platform games of old, this game will be worth your time.

This game is the absolute bees knees. The art work is phenomenal, I grew up with Redwall and they stuck to the story so well in regards to characters and Redwall Lore. The tribute to B. Jacques in the cemetery made me cry and tugged at my heart strings. The developers actually reached out to me after watching me stream it and corrected a bug that I was experincing and had an update out within a week! Soma has outdone themselves with Redwall Legend of the Scout and I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the Redwall games. Thank you for all your hard work and making my childhood come back to life.

As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the Redwall books when I was a kid, I was naturally interested in playing this game when I learnt of its existence. Played through it over on Youtube, so for anyone wanting to see a sample of gameplay before deciding whether to buy, here's a handy link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yrfcfzsmoU&list=PL05Yc3_TEBpPeXinXRdPCIZYhRjiRE7La Graphically, this game isn't amazing by today's standards - but it still looks pretty and is generally nice to look at (there are some beautifully artistic static images that do come up at certain points in the game, though). The sound design's fine in my eyes, and the voice acting has a certain charm to it. The Lost Legends of Redwall also has a story that could have come straight from one of Brian Jacques' books, so the devs have certainly done a good job of capturing elements of the 'Redwall feel', to put it that way. Granted, it's not a very long game, but I have to commend the devs for some of the ideas behind it. The scent mechanic really is an interesting idea, and I can't think of many other games that use something like it (certainly not as a core gameplay mechanic). In short, I'd be very interested in seeing where the devs take it from here. Given the title of the game, I'm guessing they intend to do more instalments and develop a series? If so, consider me interested.