Metascore
54

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 21
  2. Negative: 5 out of 21
  1. Mar 30, 2023
    75
    Just don't forget to bring your patience, and your twitch combat skills, you'll need them when the going gets tough, and the tough get... Ravenbound.
  2. Mar 30, 2023
    75
    Despite the lack of meaningful and varied activities in its open-world biomes, Ravenbound proves it is possible to blend open-world and roguelite mechanics and create an engaging experience. Unfortunately, the major focus on combat detracts from the experience a bit, as, outside of fighting all sorts of enemies in a surprisingly solid yet a little limited combat system, there isn't a whole lot to do on the island of Ávalt.
User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. Jul 20, 2023
    3
    The game just doesn't do it for me. While it looks good, it lacks in more important areas, like the gameplay itself. All weapons and armorThe game just doesn't do it for me. While it looks good, it lacks in more important areas, like the gameplay itself. All weapons and armor degrade after each encounter. The mana-crystal-whatever system makes it so that you cannot use the loot you have just picked up, cause you need more of those crystals. Every time you open a chest, your debuf line fills up a little. And after it's filled, you start getting a mandatory permanent debuf after EVERY encounter. I'm not talking "minus 0.5% health", I'm talking "minus 1 equipment slot out of 3 you have in total". Somehow, the game punishes you for playing. Instead of getting stronger, after every encounter, my character kept getting weaker, which felt extremely unsatisfying and frustrating.
    As for the gameplay... well, it is just not there for the most part. There are 5 unique types of enemies, and you choose which combination of them to fight. The fight is dynamic and engaging, but, while it was fun for the first hour, I got bored of repeating the same stuff pretty fast.
    Cities are just a huge disappointment. They're empty, and serve no real purpose, except "heal for X gold".
    All in all, the game is a failure. I wish they would concentrate on making an actual game, instead of an empty shell with graphics. At this point, it is not even a game, just a demo, a "minimal working example" with the very smallest amount of content possible.
    Full Review »
  2. May 23, 2023
    5
    Good-
    Nice aesthetic. Combat can feel crunchy at times. Decent enemy variety. Vast world to explore. Guardians are unique enough to fight.
    Good-
    Nice aesthetic. Combat can feel crunchy at times. Decent enemy variety. Vast world to explore. Guardians are unique enough to fight.

    Bad-
    No in-game map, which makes revisiting some areas difficult. Points of interest are fairly repetitive with nothing but fighting. Towns are underdeveloped with little to no personality among NPCs. One-note side quests and gameplay loop. Hatred system limits freedom of exploration while unfairly increasing difficulty. Combat gets repetitive quickly, and some mechanics are spotty. Bugs and optimization issues.

    Thoughts-
    Ravenbound could still very well live up to its potential as a rogue-lite-hack-and-slash-meets-3D-open-world. However, its combat, world design, enemy variety, Hatred system, towns, NPCs, performance, environmental effects and more still need some serious work, and that’s before adding any new mechanics or variety to the gameplay.
    Full Review »