Yaga

The marketing is weak for what it has to offer. A finely crafted combination between elements of roguelike, choice based games and narrative. From the art, music and voice acting to the variety in crafting and replayability, where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you. A lot of love was placed into this one and I can't get enough of it! Fuck yes Romania, fuck yes!

I love the music, art style, story and atmosphere, but I think everything else holds it back from being great. Yaga has roguelike elements, but isn't really a roguelike; Yaga has dungeon crawler elements, but isn't really a dungeon crawler. I think that the game would have greatly benefited from being 100% roguelike or dungeon crawler, not the sorta in-between it currently is. Don't really like having a stamina bar either. The game is not hard, but the stamina bar just needlessly extends some encounters. I've seen people critique the hit detection, but I think that was either patched or they didn't get used to the game. I had no problems hitting enemies. The basic movement speed should also be increased regardless. You still move way too slow before getting some random skills or blessings (which you can also lose and never get back again). That's just not fun. Movement speed shouldn't be based on chance and definitely shouldn't be arbitrarily taken away forever. I'm looking forward to what the developer makes next. Think Yaga is very good for a first game.

This is a game that looks and sound beautiful. It tells the story of a one armed blacksmith who is on an impossible quest (like many heroes from the fairy tales). This story is well written and it is full of choices that impact the game. There’s a nice variety of items, weapons and equipment in the game. And they are weird and unique (for example you get to use a wheel as a shield, or you can equip talismans as the finger of a vampire, or a scalp). The action part of the game is good, simple, not to complicated, but good. You have two attacks, a special action, dodge, and you can use magical items. It’s easily to observe that the game is done with a lot of love and attention to details. I really hope to see more games from this team of developers.

It's a game that plays to its scope, balancing depth and simplicity. The art is very nice and the soundtrack is charming. There is humor and charm to the story and dialogue. Some of the mechanics could have been better explained and it takes a little learning at the beginning, but after that you get the hang of it. There is quite a bit of combat and while there is variety in weapons and special abilities, there are moments where I wished for 1 fewer battle until the next story bit. Despite some shortcomings here and there, the game is pretty polished for what it tries to be. There aren't any significant issues to warn about and for that price it's certainly worth it.