The game that could have been the best I played all year... but it wasn't.
Story: The story is captivating and interesting. It takes a lot of known genres, but combines it with finesse and creativity. It feels in a way like Telltale's The Waling Dead. Wandering with a group of low morale randoms through a world, waiting for the end, getting a lot of options along the way. Some of theseThe game that could have been the best I played all year... but it wasn't.
Story: The story is captivating and interesting. It takes a lot of known genres, but combines it with finesse and creativity. It feels in a way like Telltale's The Waling Dead. Wandering with a group of low morale randoms through a world, waiting for the end, getting a lot of options along the way. Some of these choices have obvious consequences, some not so much. Some consequennces don't even spring form a choice, but rather from items or the path you take on the road. It was refreshing to see a game utilize a choice-consequence system so well. It isn't as generic that you get to choose what happens all the time, yet it isn't random either. It was brilliantly done. The story itself holds to a baseline of saving the world from a plague, or rather, saving the humans from it. Although that sounds a little bit ''overused'' as a plot, it throws enough curveballs to make it interesting and the lore adds to the authenticity.
Setting: The scenario appears to be interesting and well thought out, however, i say again, appears to be. The real issue with the game is how it has been written. There are no cinematics to speak of and it isn't spoken, so all your information comes from reading. And it pains me to say, whoever wrote it, ruined the game. The setting is confusing and the game throws random lore at you in short, incomprehensible sentences that you're just supposed to get without ever hearing from it again. Even the story is damaged by the poor writing work, as half the people don't even understand the ending of the game, where lots of things happen in a short period of time. Everything kind of happens without context, and in hindsight you get one little answer that doens't really answer anything, that's the best i can describe the writing. I suppose this is done to emerge you into the character, that doens't know what is going himself, but when you see the credits rolling and you don't know what has happened, I think the game missed the mark.
Characters: The main characters are all decent. They don't show any real progression or change, but that is normal for an RPG game. After all, if you control the character, he can't just get up and decide he wants to be someone else. The side characters are promising, but they seem unfinished. Quite a few of them seem to have a personality and a story, but you don't ever hear it. I sided with some, angered others, but in the end, they are insignificant to everything. Thorn Brenin has a group of soldiers who are lost and crave a leader, Hopper has a royal escort and Lo Pheng is being followed by a bunch of freed slaves who need someone to protect them. They were on the right track, but it lead nowhere, which is a shame.
Gameplay: There isn't much to say about it. It looks and feels like The Banner Saga, but worse. It's boring, but not bad. It all works and makes sense, but it won't let you hold your breath for the next fight, rather the opposite. There are few different opponents, there are few abilities and there are no statistics to speak of. There is a health bar and the abilities either heal or do damage to this health bar. Some crowd control wouldn't be misplaced. It does have a magic card system, which is cool enough, but it doesn't make it interesting or fun. That being said, it does work very fluently and as you expect it to work.
The lats little bit of critique. It has a few choices which are frustrating and annoying. A bane to many players, among them myself. It is possible to kill your main character without any warning in advance whatsoever. So you reload, right? Yup, and then you can go ahead and replay the past four hours. Four hours! I guess it is a stylistic choice, so you won't know what is going to happen in the future and it catches you off-guard with a plot twist, but it is my duty to warn you, as not everyone will be amused. However, I have to give credit to the choice-consequence system again for solving all these roads to a finishing line. Even if one of your main character dies, the sotry picks up on that in a way that makes it feel like it was supposed to happen, allowing you to play further even though you made a wrong choice somewhere along the line. The many paths that lead to many outcomes is an absolute masterpiece, the ground work for an amazing game. The setting is rich and interesting, but it just fails in delivering its epicness to the gamer. If it were a book, it would have been good, but in a game, it is just confusing.
All things considered, I can recommend this game to anyone willing to play a, relatively, innovative plot. Just don't expect to much from the gameplay and be prepared for the uncomprehensible and the unexpected.… Expand
Ash of Gods: RedemptionYour Score0 out of 10User Score
