Operencia: The Stolen Sun

So the game is well done and brings the old-school dungeon crawl to a new modern level. Up until the last level I was really enjoying myself. But then some balancing issues struck hard, which was incredibly furstrating to me. The "challenge" of taking on the same enemies over and over again because of bad RNG just drained all the fun I had so far out of the game. So I'd recommend the devs to retweak that. Otherwise I can say the following: Good: - Nice graphics - Story integration (the group members talk a lot and that adds a real nice atmosphere, story itself is standard) - Interesting mechanics for skilling/combat (reskilling is always possible which is cool, but also takes away some responsibillity from the devs regarding balancing) - Well done riddles Bad: - THE ENDFIGHT (it sucks, I hate to play through 30 hours of a game only to dump another felt 30 hours to finish a stupid RNG and overly extensive end-fight. Its just bad design imho) - The balancing is off sometimes, not all chars are really viable (never used some of them after trying them out) So I really nejoyed the experience overall but the end really needs to be redone. I'm sure I could have done it, so its possible to finish it without problems. But it takes way too much time retweaking and replaying the same lame stuff over and over again, so I dropped it and am done without finishing it which makes my heart ache.

The one big negative first: The game opens with a prologue that doubles as a tutorial, but plays like an afterthought riddled with poor optimization. On a number of older systems with supposedly compatible AMD Radeon cards, the harbor region you start in has issues: flicker, massive frame rate drops and crashes to desktop basically every 3 steps you take. In short neigh unplayable. As frustrating as this is, once you get past that first region, there are no more such problems. Graphics are gorgeous and smooth as butter. It's a shame these issues exist at all, for they obviously could have been avoided. The rest of the game is fun and that's for a large part thanks to the storytelling and rare Slavic lore incorporated into the game. The graphics are functional, step-by-step movement is smoothly animated. Good voiceover. The soundtrack is decent enough that you won't turn it off too soon. The characters are engaging and likeable. Controls are intuitive enough. Minor downside: You may only save at camp sites and you need firewood to do it. Even though I never ran out of wood, this kind of pressure is not everybody's cup of tea. The puzzle are your usual mixed bag of items to use, buttons to press, and traps to avoid--with some optional secrets to find for good measure. The turn-based combat has some tactical elements, but for the most part is repetitive. Big plus IMHO: You are never married to a character build. Points can be refunded and redistributed at any time, so if you find yourself at a dead end, you can change your setup and try again. You'll get a big number of companions--some of which are less helpful. Unfortunately, your first one is a rogue whose initial build specializes in poison and the early foes you face are immune to it. On the other hand: At least it fits the story as it explains why he got stranded and needs your help in the first place--and you can change his build at the camp fire. A good game that will keep you busy for a week.

This game is an OK tile-based dungeon crawler with turn-based combat. Your party wanders around dungeons, fights monsters, puls levers, search for keys, solves puzzles. Puzzle solving actually forces you to use your brain, at least for a bit, so that is a big plus. Combat is also pretty well balanced, not too hard, not too easy, so it keeps you on your toes. Story is tolerable, nothing to write home about, but I haven't seen any "this-was-written-by-a-5-year-old" moments like I did in some other indie games. What really keeps this from getting more than 3 stars, however, is the overly simplistic design and annoying combat mechanics (not frustrating - just purely annoying). There isn't much to look for when it comes to leveling. Every character has a skill tree with 3 branches, and if you beeline down one branch, you can get the best skill for that branch by level 5 (after roughly 3-4 hours of playing). There is nothing else other than expanding into other branches. So, you know, replayability is poor, and character system is very simplistic. The game also lets you redistribute skill points *at will*, without any limit, or cost, and actively encourages you to min-max some more difficult fights this way. That is not a good design, as it takes away immersion. It also kills replayability, which was a big thing in classic dungeon crawlers. I suspect this was done because there some super annoying monsters (for example summoners who can summon other summoners without limits...). This is the developers' attempt at "countering" their own flawed enemy design. I can't say that I've been particularly charmed by party members, either. Those who are likeable (like Jóska) suck in combat, and those who are strong in combat (like Kela) are annoying. Buy only if you are a die-hard fan of dungeon crawlers, otherwise give this one a pass.

Few people here complained about your first companion being poison-focused yet the monsters of the first chapter are mostly resistant to it. Well, you can redistribute your skills any time, so just feel free to respec him right away (though down the poison line sits a nice skill that sets all enemies on fire - and all the forementioned monsters ARE sensitive to fire :) ). Requires some backtracking, but not too much (mostly to find the missed secrets). Has fast travel that is unlocked later. All in all, a solid game.

I won't go too much into details, but I think the biggest thing to understand about the game is that it's a puzzle game that looks like an RPG. Be sure to try the demo first -- if any part of the demo bothers you, it will only get much worse. There are only a set number of encounters in the game, so your party's growth is always precisely controlled -- if you are having trouble, you cannot level up to get stronger. Your characters can be freely re-specced, which seems like a nice quality-of-life feature for some, but it's nearly mandatory because the tactics that work in one dungeon often don't do well in the next. Even your main character's dialogue is all pre-determined; you are simply along for the ride, and your characters are narrative vehicles or puzzle pieces with which you solve the combat puzzles. In theory I don't think this is necessarily a bad design, but perhaps the devs don't really do a good job of explaining or reinforcing this fact. It's like I had a constant sense of cognitive dissonance, feeling like I was playing an RPG, constantly getting sucker-punched by what seemed like extremely cheap enemy tactics. I'm 36 hours in and I think I may give up... it's not worth the stress in my life. If the constant energy-draining enemies weren't enough, now I'm facing succubi who seem to be able to do around 70 AOE damage to my mages, who only have about 100 health... and there are multiple in each encounter. AOE damage bypasses my tank, and they are highly resistant to control skills, but love spamming control skills on my party. I'm a big fan of the DRPG genere, having played stuff since the Wizardry and Might and Magic days, and modern games like Sword City, Etrian Odyssey, Dungeon Travelers, and Grimrock. It's a shame since this game does have a lot going for it.