Lords of Xulima

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 128 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 93 out of 128
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 128
  3. Negative: 14 out of 128

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  1. delusionnn
    Apr 8, 2015
    1
    This tedious, linear grindfest celebrates its flaws by hiding them with the tired "it's meant to be hard" and "it's meant to be old-school" clichés. Most of the positive reviews were written mere days after release, which is a red flag for a game as big as LoX.

    The game purports to have 100 or more hours of gameplay, but all of that gameplay lacks much nuance or variety. The first    This tedious, linear grindfest celebrates its flaws by hiding them with the tired "it's meant to be hard" and "it's meant to be old-school" clichés. Most of the positive reviews were written mere days after release, which is a red flag for a game as big as LoX.

    The game purports to have 100 or more hours of gameplay, but all of that gameplay lacks much nuance or variety. The first couple of hours are the only fun hours. It boasts an "open world", but in reality, where you can go and what you can do is strictly limited by what level you are and what you have already done. The quest and dialogue options are pointless, usually not even giving you the illusion of control.

    Poorly written quests and dialogue contain quest information that you have to piece together, so just breezing past all of it is not always an option. While monsters aren't level-ramped, the in-game economy is, so as your level goes up, your costs go up, too, even for what should be fixed costs, like food. Given how important food is in this game and how little of it you can carry, and how much pointless walking there is in this game, the game feels like it punishes you for success. Having the right mix of character types is critical, but this is hampered by having the main character loaded with essential support skills that if you don't pick will make the game pointlessly difficult. The tradeoff is that if you do choose these skills, the character is nearly useless in combat.

    The items boil down to a dozen or so basic items, the only difference being the amount of stat bonuses they give you. There are no weapons or armor which, for instance, will make you use a given character differently. The entire game feels very incremental, and there is never a satisfying feeling at getting a new item - it's just always a matter of trivial increase, over and over.

    The game is profoundly buggy, which sometimes results in over-paying the player for items, locking up fights before they start, or skipping key fights.

    The balance is completely out of whack, with the game being at once very linear in what it expects you to do next, but very arbitrary in where it has put the next place you need to do it. This often results in your party finding itself in an area where every fight is a 100% chance of losing until you find the area you're "supposed" to be in. This gives the lie to the claim that there is anything truly non-linear or open about the game.

    Skip this celebration of everything bad about the worst RPGs of the 1980s and 1990s. You can find better for your time and money.    … Expand
  2. Bybysraibas
    Dec 2, 2014
    0
    At first glance it may look ok but soon you realize, how boring and sometimes painful your time passes. This game fails to deliver. You can go "anywhere" but you will die unless you meet particular requirements or have finished particular game parts. After eighty- fourth or whatever fight it becomes huge frustration, because its slow, boring and repetitive. Nothing changes, only damageAt first glance it may look ok but soon you realize, how boring and sometimes painful your time passes. This game fails to deliver. You can go "anywhere" but you will die unless you meet particular requirements or have finished particular game parts. After eighty- fourth or whatever fight it becomes huge frustration, because its slow, boring and repetitive. Nothing changes, only damage and monster hp numbers increase.
    On paper there are lot of skills and character choices but due constant lack of skill points you cannot pick even half of them. You cannot experiment, you must strictly specialize or you will be punished. Do not waste your time on this.    … Expand
  3. Kordun
    Dec 10, 2014
    0
    Old school game with old school mechanics. The developer didn´t see the sign of time and put old play style elements in the game. Old play styles like endless grinding, slow motion fights because you have only a max acceleration speed for twice or unfair enemies (especially bosses) who have AOE attack + stun + wounds. Holy crap game.......
  4. Samvell
    Sep 1, 2023
    4
    The in-game isometric visuals are ok. Exploring and gathering mechanics are actually fine, if a little primitive. The writing is mediocre at best. Instead of creating something unique, the game just combines all of the most tired fantasy cliches. Also, it's one of those games that don't understand that creating a bunch of weird-sounding deity names and toponyms does not equal good fantasyThe in-game isometric visuals are ok. Exploring and gathering mechanics are actually fine, if a little primitive. The writing is mediocre at best. Instead of creating something unique, the game just combines all of the most tired fantasy cliches. Also, it's one of those games that don't understand that creating a bunch of weird-sounding deity names and toponyms does not equal good fantasy writing. The Lord Of The Rings, Dragon Age and Dark Crystal didn't become fantasy genre icons because they had weird-sounding names and titles, but because they all had some amazing stories and characters at the heart. And this game has neither the story, nor the characters to speak fondly of.
    There is no role-playing in this allegedly role-playing game. I understand that we play as a set character that comes with a history and a personality, but, damn, even small choices would make a difference. Consider Geralt of Rivia, also a set character, and how many options did he have during the Witcher trilogy. The writers didn't even bother to make a protagonist interesting, much less secondary and episodic characters.
    The quests are the most generic missions you could ever imagine. Kill X amount of rats, collect Y amount of herbs, etc.
    However, the biggest letdown is the combat. If the rest of the game was at least serviceable, the combat is frankly just embarrasing. This is some browser game level gameplay. Why couldn't they just keep the combat isometric, like the rest of the game? Were those cheap-a*s 3D models from 2002 really worth it? The combat itself is very primitive and makes something like King's Bounty Legend feel (and look) like a masterpiece in comparison.
    All in all, I wouldn't exactly call this game absolutely soulless, but it's so lacking in basically every aspect, from sounds and visuals to story and characters to actual gameplay and player engagement, I really don't understand why they even bothered with this 60+ hour open world RPG.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 27, 2015
    65
    Lords of Xulima is ugly, some of its elements are too simplistic and the story is poor but you rarely find an RPG that tests you intellect to such a degree, making you count every coin you spend, thoroughly examine every piece of equipment, keep track of food supply, endlessly tackle puzzles, carefully manage characters’ stats, look for alternate routes and find out how to beat different monsters. [08/2015, p.69]
  2. Eurogamer Poland
    Apr 24, 2015
    70
    Lords of Xulima is an addictive and huge RPG. Numantian Games' production provides hours of engaging gameplay, despite its poor graphic design.
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  3. Digitally Downloaded
    Feb 12, 2015
    70
    Lords of Xulima is strictly for the more masochistic of gamers. Its merciless difficulty that only exponentially spikes the further you play should come as a dream come true for fans who like the ultimate in ball-kicking.
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