ELDERBORN

A good, quick indie game. I completed it on Easy in about 5 hours, so if you want to just experience the game, it won't take you long. I've played first person slashers before, and they're often plagued with issues, but this one is masterfully done. It combined a wide field of view with simple, but effective controls, a good variety of weapons, and it deeply rewards skill-based play. It's sort of "souls-like" in that you have only specific "safe points" which reset the enemy and you can sort of mine it for XP, but it's better played as an iron-man challenge where you rely on pure skill to get you through the game. The level design is particularly noteworthy. After you reach the city proper, it opens up into a surprisingly large level that almost feels like a small "open world." Remarkable design, tight controls, great soundtrack, nice story. My only real complaint is that I wish there had been more of it.

The combat is fluid, weapons are unique and the level design reminds me of old doom games which great (clear enemies, find key, proceed to next zone). However, the game suffers from cheap difficulty tricks (i.e. one-shot abilities which can't blocked, being used consecutively thus leading to RNG-related deaths) which are magnified during boss fights, which is just bad gameplay design IMO. Having said that, I enjoyed (most of) my time in this game and kudos to the developers for creating a unique (albeit flawed) game.

TL;DR It sure is a one trick pony, but it's a metal AF* pony kicking butt and chewing all the bubblegum it can lay it hooves on! Wot I liked - Combat is the linchpin of the game. It is simple, brutal and fun. It is challenging, tough and fun. Let's be frank the game has very little apart from it, but I was really satisfied with the core; - There're different weapons for different situation - some parry, some block, some deal good damage, some control; - The weapons are pretty well balanced - some deal more damage, some offer more survivability, some give you better control over a certain mob or a situation; - The game has some rudimentary RPG system - ~9 skills that are kinda helpful, stats that kinda make you stronger; - You can play as a guy or a gal. It is a small but pleasant thing, and it's even tied with the cutscenes; - Kickass music, get your metal on and blade out! Wot I disliked - It could really use a hotkey for EACH weapon, not weapon categories - it is pretty disappoining to choose a wrong weapon in a melee. That equipment wheel is a useless dirty console crutch; - The game is quite short, there're basically 2 bosses; - You have to click and HOLD ot regain lost souls... WHY!? I lost most of my souls because I got interruped by enemies... - It could really use a run button; - Music, while really great, is repetetive! I just wish there're more similar tracks. If you mute music then you're disabling voiceover in cutscenes; - Either golden sword is bugged or it has a wrong description; - Not a fan of the final twist and overall plot. To sum it all up, the game's been a blast from start to finish. I've been punished and punished and punished oh so many times for failing a parry or a slow block but it has hardly been unfair - get better or die again. The only thing I want is an ELDERBORN sequel with more, much more of the same! * - AS F*CK

Game is really short (2 big levels + epilogue), platforming is wonky and story is nonexistent but it still delivers a really good frenetic gameplay with well made enemies and map design. You will encounter some odd textures and stretched polygons now and then but i cannot really complain. The quality is still high enough to make the game enjoyable. I would just like to see more of these games because there are never enough.

Barbaric! Savage! Metal! Rip and tear! So hard but sooo great! I think I've finally found the best barbarian game since Blade of Darkness. And now the Elderborn my favorite one. Hyperstrange, thank you for this game!