Operencia: The Stolen Sun

 Xbox One
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 34
  3. Negative: 7 out of 34

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  1. Xbox_Alive
    Apr 2, 2019
    8
    Zen studios provides us yet with another entertaining experience. The combat elements remain simple yet very effective and should satisfy any dungeon crawling lover. I never really became frustrated but I did take it in the face a few times battling some of the tougher enemies. When I first heard about Operencia: The Stolen Sun I was surprised to hear the game wasn't the fine pinball we'veZen studios provides us yet with another entertaining experience. The combat elements remain simple yet very effective and should satisfy any dungeon crawling lover. I never really became frustrated but I did take it in the face a few times battling some of the tougher enemies. When I first heard about Operencia: The Stolen Sun I was surprised to hear the game wasn't the fine pinball we've come to know and love from Zen Studios. This was a good decision to show that Zen can provide more than what we've seen over the year and it's always great to see a studio known for making great games to put it's talents to use in other genres. When beginning the game the graphics were nice and fluid despite taking me a few minutes to game the feel of the movement within the game. Thanks to the beautiful graphics and immersive sound design, the story pulls you in quickly. In regards to the combat I’m pleased to say that they’ve done a quality job here. The battles and puzzles present in the game had me quickly forget about the limited environment movement. Operencia: The Stolen Sun is a game that takes you on a fantastic journey and the overall mechanics in the game feel refined and I'm sure if your a fan of a good dungeon crawler, he's your chance to play a game they were nice enough to add to gamepads for many to enjoy for their small subscription fee. Keep up the good work Zen Studios!… Expand
  2. Luuthian
    Mar 30, 2019
    10
    Perfect dungeon crawler throwback!

    - The game has adjustable difficulty options and is far more accessible which, at least in my eyes, also makes it way more fun. - Zen's done a great job of making the game extremely controller friendly. - Character development's well thought out and there's a ton of combinations to explore. - Story's weak and character/enemy names are a mouthful.    Perfect dungeon crawler throwback!

    - The game has adjustable difficulty options and is far more accessible which, at least in my eyes, also makes it way more fun.
    - Zen's done a great job of making the game extremely controller friendly.
    - Character development's well thought out and there's a ton of combinations to explore.
    - Story's weak and character/enemy names are a mouthful. Dialog is all skippable though. But I appreciated the cheesy banter between your characters as you explored the dungeons all the same. There's no pause, you can keep exploring as they talk which is genius.
    - Combat's fun and straight forward. I appreciated that the combat was turn based, yet fast, and that there was no real time system where you constantly felt pressured as things attacked you

    Honestly this isn't what I was expecting. This is a serious, solid effort. There’s some warts like the weak story, some generic 2D art, etc. But it doesn’t detract from the core gameplay. Apparently there's more to Zen than just being "the pinball company." It's pretty clear they've got talent for this. Hopefully we'll see this game on other platforms down the road so everyone gets a chance to see it.    … Expand
  3. Broyax
    Mar 29, 2019
    1
    Voici un jeu indé qui veut surfer sur la vague nostalgique des vieux débris de jadis... tels que les Might and Magic si ma mémoire est bonne ! il s'agissait d'un bien malheureux mélange entre un FPS et... des combats au tour par tour, le tout mâtiné de jeu de rôle évidemment.

    Sauf qu'à l'époque, on avait choisi cette présentation par souci d'économie mais aussi pour des impératifs    Voici un jeu indé qui veut surfer sur la vague nostalgique des vieux débris de jadis... tels que les Might and Magic si ma mémoire est bonne ! il s'agissait d'un bien malheureux mélange entre un FPS et... des combats au tour par tour, le tout mâtiné de jeu de rôle évidemment.

    Sauf qu'à l'époque, on avait choisi cette présentation par souci d'économie mais aussi pour des impératifs techniques... et sans doute une fainéantise certaine. En effet, en vue subjective, on s'épargne bien du boulot en termes de modélisation et de graphismes puisque les personnages ne sont pas là mais simplement résumés à leurs portraits.

    Quoi qu'il en soit, du tour par tour en vue subjective, c'est aussi captivant que faire des réussites au Solitaire : c'est antinomique et complètement con. En dehors des combats, le chemin est bien balisé lorsqu'on se déplace sur les cases comme jadis, bien balisé et scripté. Les décors ne sont pas vilains même si l'aspect général reste trop lisse. Ce qui est très vilain par contre, c'est les "cinématiques", des petites animations flash en 2D et 3 couleurs au goût douteux.

    L'interface est globalement perfectible mais c'est surtout le déplacement qui pose problème : tout se fait par à-coups, car la manette est mal calibrée : la zone neutre est énorme et l'accélération trop élevée. C'est juste horrible !

    Enfin, dès le début du jeu, on vous casse les pieds (pour ne pas dire autre chose) avec des miroirs à aligner... putain mais avec une telle "maniabilité", c'est simplement insupportable ! et ça m'a soûlé direct.

    Cette daube est tombée directement dans le Game Pass et on comprend pourquoi... Normalement ça coûte 30 boules quand même. Encore un indé foiré, du classique en somme.    … Expand
  4. goodterling
    Apr 8, 2019
    6
    Operencia is a lot of fun exploration through a really creative world, but it sadly relegates itself to a "casual" game due to one broken mechanic--it's too easy to rest and recharge your characters. All you need to recharge all hit points and mana of your party is a piece of "firewood", and the game throws the stuff at you. Once you realize that, it kinda breaks the game. There's noOperencia is a lot of fun exploration through a really creative world, but it sadly relegates itself to a "casual" game due to one broken mechanic--it's too easy to rest and recharge your characters. All you need to recharge all hit points and mana of your party is a piece of "firewood", and the game throws the stuff at you. Once you realize that, it kinda breaks the game. There's no reason to not just spam your biggest spells in every fight, and even worse, there's no real reason to resort to melee combat at all, which does far less damage. This game was obviously aiming to be a friendlier version of Grimrock, but they went too far and drained it of all tension or sense of survival. What's left is nice scenery, and combat that feels like you're using a cheat code. I played on "normal" difficulty, and there was no way to switch mid-game, so maybe I missed the real challenge. But in any case, normal difficulty shouldn't feel like you've enabled a bunch of cheat codes.… Expand
  5. Shykaze
    Apr 11, 2019
    10
    Luuthian's review sums it up perfectly, the game is a fun yet midly hard dungeon crawler.

    I loved the secrets and key hunting as much as I loved everything you could do with each character. Each stat has a particular importance that you can't ignore, you have many possibilities of gameplay (be it counter-attack, double hit, tank, heavy hitter, bruiser, solo hitter, healer, buffer,    Luuthian's review sums it up perfectly, the game is a fun yet midly hard dungeon crawler.

    I loved the secrets and key hunting as much as I loved everything you could do with each character. Each stat has a particular importance that you can't ignore, you have many possibilities of gameplay (be it counter-attack, double hit, tank, heavy hitter, bruiser, solo hitter, healer, buffer, control or striker) with each of the playable characters.

    I spent over 150 hours in it, it never bored me as you have a lot to try out. The only bad parts may be the laggy maps like the Forest or Attila's tomb, the slow pace of the game and the annoyingly fast and heavy-hitting succubus on exploration parts. But every other part is purely based on the player taste    … Expand
  6. 3ofcups
    Apr 19, 2019
    10
    If you grew up playing dungeon crawlers classics like Wizardry, MIght and Magic World of Xeen and the like then you are in for a treat. They accomplished just what they set out to do a modernized experience of this type of game. Good combat mechanics and plenty of character customization. Your characters have interactions and backgorund stories which is something that early dungeonIf you grew up playing dungeon crawlers classics like Wizardry, MIght and Magic World of Xeen and the like then you are in for a treat. They accomplished just what they set out to do a modernized experience of this type of game. Good combat mechanics and plenty of character customization. Your characters have interactions and backgorund stories which is something that early dungeon crawlers were missing and it makes the experience way better. All in all Zen delivered a great throwback rpg and I hope it is a great success because I would love to see more like it.… Expand
  7. Souryu
    Aug 22, 2019
    9
    Very good rpg game. It has a great story / plot. Exploration process is cool. Very limited movement. On the downside: the graphics are very weak, could improve a lot!
  8. Tiltedsail
    Apr 8, 2020
    10
    Excellent old school RPG with great visual design. I played and bought it on Xbox first and then bought for Switch.. Looks and plays great on Xbox. Such an excellent title. On caveat: the beginning of the game for the first 20 min is not as good as the rest of the game. I realize it is hard to onboard people and provide a exciting tutorial, but once the player gets to the actualExcellent old school RPG with great visual design. I played and bought it on Xbox first and then bought for Switch.. Looks and plays great on Xbox. Such an excellent title. On caveat: the beginning of the game for the first 20 min is not as good as the rest of the game. I realize it is hard to onboard people and provide a exciting tutorial, but once the player gets to the actual dungeon the game shines. Reminds me of a 2020 version of Wizardry and Bards Tale in some ways and really hope Zen makes a sequel as we need more great DRPGs on Xbox.. Thank you for making this game!… Expand

Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Best Xbox One Game of 2019
74
#74 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2019
15
#15 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Cubed3
    May 28, 2019
    70
    Operencia: The Stolen Sun is an extremely solid dungeon-crawler. Each labyrinth runs the gamut of ferocious monsters and confounding puzzles that fans of the genre crave. Fights tend to be repetitious and suffer from rough pacing, but the battle system is clearly thought-out and enjoyable to master. The array of options, from party-building to difficulty customization, allows for someone to carve out their own identity. It's also nice that the cast is quirky and endearing. Even the avatar will commentate on the situation, rather than stew in silence like so many other blank slates. This makes for an adventure that's amusing in every respect.
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  2. XboxAddict
    Apr 29, 2019
    82
    Operencia: The Stolen Sun took me by surprise and I’m going to have to start thinking of Zen Studios as more than just a great Pinball developer. It packs a decent story, memorable characters, robust combat strategy and challenge, a huge world and plenty of playtime. Currently in Xbox Game Pass, you’re able to try it out right now if you’re a subscriber, but even if not, I wouldn’t feel any guilt recommending Operencia even at its full $38.99 CAD price tag if any of the above sounded appealing to you. While it won’t be for everyone and has its quirks, it’s a specific game meant for old school dungeon dwelling fans like myself that miss the genre.
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  3. Generación Xbox
    Apr 24, 2019
    85
    If you're a Dungeon Crawler fan, you'll love this game and it's available on Xbox Game Pass.
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