Yeah...it stutters like crazy no matter my settings. Using a Radeon RX 6700XT so that shouldn't be the problem. I'll do some more research on how to solve this and if I don't get it fixed within the next hour I'll get a refund.
...but the game makes it hard.The three stars might actually be one too many. Assuming you play it in English: The nicely developed characters have no accents at all. Background of the character is Chinese and French? Fluent English without an accent. That kills the vibe somewhat (at least for me). I think often criticized is the combat and I agree. There is no proper feedback when hitting or getting hit. You just see the healthbar drop. The pause mechanic does rarely make sense and I just had a fight against a robot (or power armor to be precise). I got so frustrated! While the machine is much bigger than the avatar, it has the same speed so running away is quite the hassle. It also made no sound when moving which again kills the vibe. It is just floating and the only sound you hear is your gun firing. Then it does it's melee attack and hits you even if you are metres away. So I was moving away while shooting, he hit and I was surprised that his attack connected. Then after taking a certain amount of damage he spawned smaller enemies and they were incredibly fast so here I did need the pause mechanic but it limits the ability to flee from the robot. I stopped yesterday after the robot part because the next part will be several enemies swarming me and I have to manage a whole team while everything is so fast. This game would have been much better (in my opinion) if it was round based like XCOM or Jagged Alliance. Dear developers: I love what you tried to do and this is not meant as a bashing but the game lacks several good mechanics so maybe get more people to test it next time?
...but the game makes it hard. Assuming you play it in English: The nicely developed characters have no accents at all. Background of the character is Chinese and French? Fluent English without an accent. That kills the vibe somewhat (at least for me). I think often criticized is the combat and I agree. There is no proper feedback when hitting or getting hit. You just see the healthbar drop. The pause mechanic does rarely make sense and I just had a fight against a robot (or power armor to be precise). I got so frustrated! While the machine is much bigger than the avatar, it has the same speed so running away is quite the hassle. It also made no sound when moving which again kills the vibe. It is just floating and the only sound you hear is your gun firing. Then it does it's melee attack and hits you even if you are metres away. So I was moving away while shooting, he hit and I was surprised that his attack connected. Then after taking a certain amount of damage he spawned smaller enemies and they were incredibly fast so here I did need the pause mechanic but it limits the ability to flee from the robot. I stopped yesterday after the robot part because the next part will be several enemies swarming me and I have to manage a whole team while everything is so fast. This game would have been much better (in my opinion) if it was round based like XCOM or Jagged Alliance.
I like the game. It aged very well and the two protagonists have a great dynamic. I also like the fact that most dialogues are optional, you don't have to Elika. Not so good: The flying is a pain (in my opinion). Why is Elika flying such weird routes? Is she drunk? The fights: I appreciate that we cannot really die but fighting is so tedious: Block, counterblock, attack, block and so on. Lot's of quick time events in the fights as well. My poor mouse: In the last fight I had to trigger the attack button so fast that she is still in shock. The ending-ending was sort of a bummer. The prince should be smarter.
I am happy that I stumbled upon this game. The Templar setting is not used up in video games and actually felt refreshing. The fights are rather easy once you get the hang of it. Only bosses can be difficult. Ineeded several attempts for the final boss but it is definitely not unreasonobly hard. The bosses just don't seem in line with the general difficulty. Fight ten enemies at once? Not a problem. Fight a boss one on one? Different story. Now this game would have been better with a proper budget. I am quite certain that the graphic was outdated even back in 2011. The only thing within the game that actually upset me was the fact that I sometimes missed bonus objectives or collectables just because I walked a few steps into the main quest direction and suddenly a bridge or wall collpased behind me. I finished the game with excatly ONE(!!) gravestone missing.
I want to focus on the main pro and main con: I am around 5 hours into the first game but I don't think that I'll continue. Grim Dawn was my last ARPG. In van Helsing I played the assassin class and was immediately surprised about how slow he moved. I thought that might only be a startting thing but the movements in combat remain so slow. I also waited to get a circular attack to get rid of the most annoying part of the game: The swarms!! It is an ARPG so fighting many enemies can be expected but this is too much. Walk three steps and a weird tornado of different enemies smashes into you. I clicked randomely like a crazy person without aiming at a certain enemy. Just clicked and hoped that I was clicking on an enemy. My fights basically were: Activate skill buff -> activate skill that would affect exactly one enemy -> continue with normal attack while skill cooled down for over twenty seconds -> get swarmed -> drink healing potion (followed by a cooldown for it) -> run away to avoid getting killed. If the enemies swarm you, you better don't get stuck in a corner otherwise you die. The best thing so far is Katarina your companion. I really enjoyed the dialogue between the protagonist and her. This combined with the many references to fables, music, movies or MMORPGs ("Party searching for a healer") makes up for a nice atmosphere many ARPGs are lacking. For € 4.50 give it a go if you are looking for another ARPG for you to play but if it is your first: There are better ones to try out first. I hope this review helps with your decision.
I enjoyed playing this game all the way until the end. Fair difficulty (the first boss might challenge you though). BUT this is one of very few games I did not finish because - gameplay spoiler - you do not need your powdermaster skills throughout the whole game. Until the final boss. As far as I understand it, it is not possible to beat him without traps.
