Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Some immpressions(And oh am I immpressed!?)

I delayed this article for long time and in general had my doubts if I will write it at all as I wanted to finish the game before writing about it. But as I was getting more and more into the game I realized that it will be one of my GOTYs. But if I wanted to include it in the Top 10 for the end of the year I will have to write on the blog about it. And here it is. Eighty hours into the game - what I think about Divinity OS2. Wait, I already said that...then let's try what is this game about. Because the game is really huge and I can actually talk about it for few days probably, here I will try to talk briefly about core components of DOS2. If you want more, go watch some gameplay or even better - go and play the game! Here it comes...

What is this Divinity thing?

The Divinity saga starts really long ago and it will take few articles to talk about the old games, so I will cut to the last two games by Larian - Divinity Original Sin and Divinity Original Sin 2. 

In the first game you played as a duo of Source Hunters which had the heavy task to rid the land of the dangerous magic called Source. Now you will have the chance to see things from the other side. Yes, you are a Sourcerer. As such you are captured by the Divine Order and are send to Fort Joy to be "cured". And there...no, no, this is lore rich and complex story and relations between characters is half of the game so I will stop here with the story. Find it for yourself.

"Ok, it has awesome story, but what else?" - you ask. Divinity OS2 is massive CRPG where you will recruit companions, explore vast territories, solve mysteries and grow to be the next Divine. As I mentioned I am eighty hours into it and I am barely in the middle of the second zone. This should give you some clue for how big and rich the world is. But let us put some order into this preview. 

Characters and Battles

At the beginning you will create your character. The character customization includes class and race but also background and several skills and perks which will be important for your interaction with other characters and the world in general. For example you might be Scholar and be versatile in several languages and know foreign customs which will allow you to know how to talk to other races or even how to handle ancient temples and the right prayers for them. Or you can be outlaw and be streetwise and know how to talk to other bandits and such or even how to scare them. These skills and perks will not just give you more dialogue options, but will also define how you will go through the world and how will interact with it. Your race will give you few race characteristics and skills and your class will define your starting skills and spells. The cool part here is that you are not bound to your class. Skills in Divinity are learned through skillbooks which can be easily bought from merchants or found in the world. So at any point if you do not like your class you just need to learn the appropriate General skill and buy skillbooks and voa la you have a new class. Or two...there is no other restriction than the amount of skill points you get on level up. 

One of the new things in character creation is that now you can be a Origin Character. That is someone well known in the world of Revelion with built relationships, backstories and skills. There is also a new race - undead which comes with few benefits and some severe downsides like taking damage from healing spells and items for example.  

In general they have taken the previous game system and have built on top of it giving it some more depth.

After you create your character you are free to go(in your current zone), act and fight however you wish to. Only bear in mind that people you meet during your adventures will remember how you have treated them and this have consequences. A lot of the characters are also part of factions so mistreating one of them may ruin your reputation with all of them. The opposite is also true - you might be their friend if you help them with their problems. If you act right you can even find love and romance in the world of Rivelion and having the key to someones heart can open more than few doors for you. You can be a hero or you can be a villain.
You will make many important decisions in the course of the game, but one which will define your whole experience you should make from the beginning - you will travel alone(with one companion maximum) or you will go with whole merry band of misfits. Both ways of play are viable and possible and offer different experience of the game. There are even skills which give you bonuses while there are only two of you. And while at the start those bonuses seem quite huge and overpowered, there are some really tough battles up ahead and you will need all the overpowerness you can get.
Something which I will like to see is more non origin characters for the player to recruit for the party. True there are two in Fort Joy and there is a lizard selling mercenaries at some point of the game, but there are also a ton of other fighters you meet and some of them are cools guys. Speaking about cool guys... As I mentioned the origin characters have their stories and relationships already built so it is absolutely possible for you to enter a town and if a certain character is with you, to get jumped by the guards because of that guy. Which is cool...and not. But enough about the characters lets talk battles.

The battles continue the tradition of being turn-based, with each character having action points to spend on movement, attacks and skills. What I noticed is that here the battles are even more crowd control oriented or at least for me was easier to win when I knockdown, freeze, turn into chickens and stun my opponents constantly.  There are also few more types of "basic" surfaces which you can create by casting spells on the ground and a lot more "advanced" surfaces which you can create by casting spells of different elements on already created surfaces. The most notable being the cursed variant of everything which is more powerful often volatile and almost impossible to remove from both characters and from the ground and the blessed variants of some elements which heal and cure when you stand into them. Other examples for surfaces which will make both your life and the life of your enemies harder include steam, water, blood which can be electrocuted, frozen or in the case of blood absorbed to heal, oil which slows and burn, ice which forces a skill check and you might fall on your butt while trying to pass through it. But I derailed, the important thing is to experiment with surfaces they are useful and fun to play around with.
Big change is that to prevent dropping heavy objects on enemies and one hitting them now there are two new stats - magic and physical armor. Both are given by the equipment your characters wear. In general it can be said that equipment for intelligence characters give more magic armor and for strength characters give more physical. For characters which seek balance between the two like battlemages and some rogues there is balanced equipment too but is a bit harder to find. But these two stats does not just protect you from the their corresponding types of damage, but also resist effects from these types of damage. For example while you have physical armor you cannot be knocked down or while you have magical you cannot be poisoned or burned.  
The idea of "magical shield" given by your clothes is not new to the RPG genre, but here it has interesting twist which combines both armor and resistance in one stat. These two stats may also lead your characters builds as you may want to quickly destroy physical or magical or try to have balanced party able to shatter both.

With the new stats, surfaces, types of enemies and skills the battles have been brought to new height in Original sin 2, but they have also become longer and harder. Almost every battle will feel like a boss battle as all enemies after Fort Joy are strong and you will be often outnumbered. You will need to carefully plan each of your moves and take advantage of all weaknesses your enemies might have. Often you will even fail and replay battles until you learn the tricks of the constant flow of new monsters.
I have only one little complain related to the battles in the game(they can be reaaaally long and while this is annoying sometimes I do not really mind). There few occasions where AI controlled characters will fight on your side and they are really bad at prioritizing who to attack sometimes acting almost like they try kill themselves on purpose. This is especially true if the fight have some condition, for example protect someone for X number of turns. The AI does not care about the one you must protect and just attacks whoever they want.

Quests, Stories, World

As I already mentioned the world of DOS2 is separated zones. In which zone you will do part of your main quest. Аs usual despite the fact that everybody tries to convince you that your task is urgent have all the time in the world to explore the wondrous world surrounding you. And while it is not needed to see every corner of the map you will miss a lot of amazing places and characters. Whole parts of the map shattered bu usage of source, burning pigs pleading for help, silly cursed cows looking for your аssistance, demon ridden islands surrounded by deadly fog, undead looking for a way to kill herself(may be) a witch flying crucified on a burning cross and many more. The world of the game is grim with the danger of a apocalypse upon it, but at the same time is living breathing place filled with truly magical places and people each worth of visiting and meeting. To me there was pure joy in just exploring the world and seeing its wonders with the added benefit of a hundred side quest, each a fully fledged story. Mentioning quests here is the place to say that if you did not like the Log in the previous game you will not like here either as it is basically the same. Often it will even be of no use if you do not remember dialogues and such. As I said it is a Log, not a Questlog... 

Conclusion

How can I even begin this conclusion...Any explanation will fall short. Divinity is a game which creates not just experiences which is the point of most games, but it creates stories, memories. It is a world so vibrant and full of treasure, mystery and miracle that you want to see every corner of it, speak to every man, woman and animal just to hear their story and learn more about what surrounds you...
If you the time and like massive RPGs just go and play it. You will not finish it probably, but even 20-30 hours are worth it. Divinity OS 2 is like that place everyone need to see for themselves.  

And here I am not even talking about the modding which the game supports or the gamemaster mode where you create your own story campaign. Sadly I still have not tried neither of those...

Where to find:
GoG
Steam
Larian

Dead Cells - Pixel jewel of hardship

Disclaimer: Dead Cells is still in Early Access.

Dead Cells is a rougelite game by Motion Twin. In it you are a headless prisoner who is trying to escape the prison? Or should I say you are a head using a body? Why are you escaping? How you got there? Those are question not explained by the game - the mysteries of Early Access. 

Despite being in early access Dead Cells offers quite the finished product gameplay-wise and lacks only more levels, story and real end. What it offers? Read on.

As in every roguelike/lite you have only one life. When you die, you start from the beginning and you lose money, stat upgrades and any items you have found or bought during the run. But Dead Cells also has a progression system to make the grind easier. When you kill monsters, you will get souls and between every two levels you will meet The Collector and be able to permanently upgrade items. After that you will be able to fully heal and fill your life flask (in case you have unlocked it) and then next level. As you can see almost classical roguelite formula. 

Unlike many games of the genre Dead Cells is not turn based. Instead it is metroidvania action-platformer combined with souls-like combat. So be ready to do some dodging! Honestly while I am huge turn-based fan the action platforming is done really well in the game and makes the grind not so tedious as you zap through the first levels and get to the interesting part quicker. Not to mention that the platformer gives freedom for a lot more interesting boss fights. 

Conclusions

It is impossible for Dead Cells to not remind you of the Souls series as it shares a lot of similarities to the evillest game ever (which is not a roguelike). In each fight, you should be careful. Boss or not everything can kill you easily because of this there is a lot of dodging. The boss fights are hard, but epic. And probably the best, bearing in mind you will see the same zones again and again, you can skip big chunks of the levels just by running, ignoring the enemies and mini bosses. In the spirit of the recently ended GDC I predict that we will see Dead Cells there as soon as it is out. 

Dead Cells has only one downside and that is its Early Access state, because of which you do not get enough for the price (Right now you can beat it for hour or two, the end is obviously work in progress and if you are not a completionist you will have nothing to do once you reach the end.). My advice is to wait until it is released and then enjoy the great game it will be. 

Where to find:

Official site
Steam

Preview: Multiverse: Cosmic Conquest - Not Magic in Space

This is such well known fact on the blog that I do not know why I even bother to mention it, but I am big big CCG fan. When I hear CCG and I already want to try it. So imagine how I felt when from TokArts contacted me and asked if I am interested in checking their upcoming game Multiverse: Cosmic Conquest.


Multiverse is innovative card game where you and up to 5 more players will try to conquer the Galaxy or to take the home worlds of their opponents. The game heavily reminds me of Magic: The Gathering, but at the same time is so different that I am not sure how appropriate is this comparison.  But let me tell you more about the game and you will decide for yourself.

Factions  

In Multiverse you will be able to play with one of the six factions which are color based, each color with its own playstyle. This is one of the things which reminded me of MtG, some colors are even similar to the same colors in Magic. For example Red is aggressive, Green can swarm you, Blue is heavy control oriented etc. On the other hand the gameplay and the idea of the game is different enough to make it unique and worth it. Each faction produce resources from different types of planets(similar to Lands, again...). Unlike other CCG games in Multiverse the resource cards(Planets) are not part of your deck, instead the planets of all players are part of the board - the Galaxy. 

A Galaxy to Conquer

I keep saying that the game differs greatly from Magic, but let me prove it and tell you about the core gameplay of Multiverse. In this game there is a board and your units via ships move on the map, take new planets, build structures, fight, board enemy ships. This is already a whole new game.  On top of that you can build only on places where the necessary resources are present on the space itself, but you have cargo ships to make this easier. As you can see the game is a galaxy of possibilities on its own. Now that you know what you can do you can start working on a strategy how to win. I did not tell you how you win, did I? May bad. To win you should either conquer all your opponents home planets or conquer half the Galaxy. 

Conclusion

Multiverse: Cosmic Conquest mixes CCG with strategy 4X game, trying to make something very unique and truly interesting. In the game you will do everything you have ever dreamed for in a space strategy game. You will have battles between space armadas, you will board enemy ships, colonize planets and transport goods with cargo ships in order to expand your empire. 

The game is still under development and a lot is work in progress, but you can try it in OCTGN. You will have the stunning 225 cards to experiment with and over at TokArts you can see when testing sessions are happening and play with other people too. 

In case you have no experience with OCTGN you can find full tutorial here. 

When Multiverse is complete it will run on its own engine like every other digital CCG, so if you do not like it now, give it time, this game has huge potential and for I will follow it closely.

Where to find: 

Official site

Torment: Tides of Numenera - A World to behold

You are falling from the sky...You do not know who you are, where are you or why you are falling. Faint memories flutter through your mind.

This is how Torments starts and if you are wondering, yes you can die in the first forty or so seconds of the game. Or you can live and unveil the unbelievable world of Torment.

Few things I want to say before continuing with the game. This is more of a first impressions than a review as I have not finished the game, but I have played around twelve or so hours. Second I will try to go without any major spoilers, but if you want to experience the whole game without any knowledge better not read this. Here it comes!

Who am I?

You just fell from the sky. You have no idea who you are, where are you or what happened. When I played for the first two hours I felt so confused I barely knew what to do. The game overwhelmed me. And this is how it should be, this confusion you feel together with your character is obviously intended and greatly woven in the story. When you learn more about the world you will be faced with the choice to be who you want to be or try and pretend to be the one who everyone think you are, which is decisive choice and the world will react to it. While we are on the topic of the main character something which appears to confuse people is the character creation. While making your character you will make few choices which are vague and is not clear to what exactly they lead. Some people tend to not find such way of building character fun and to them I can say only...you can choose whatever you want at the end of the "Memories segment" (where you initially build your character) so do not fret. 

World and Exploration

 Sadly, the part of Torment's world you will see is not much. Actually it is just one city(well and the endless plains of your mind, but I will let you find this on your own). But if you want to learn more about the world, yourself and what has happened you can talk with the people of the city. No I will actually go further and say that you must talk to the people of the city. The least you will get from the conversations are items, skills and side quests, but what is more important you will get knowledge for the world, for yourself and for the man you are looking for. Each dialogue choice you make shifts the Tides which are the game mechanic determining how people react to your words and to you in general.  Speaking about this, probably here is the place to say that Torment is precisely targeted game. The developers had clear idea what audience they target and because of this it is a special piece of a game. You need to be one of these gamers who are genuinely interested in the world of the games they play. If you are not you will not only miss a lot of the game but it will probably be a bit of a boring slow experience. The driving force of the game(at least for me) is the will to know more.

And while we are on the topic of talking to people and before we continue to the world I want to mention something which annoyed me a little - people are too talkative. You will rarely be denied the opportunity to talk to someone about pretty much everything. This breaks more than few characters. True, later in the game you might be able to talk about more things with certain NPCs than when you met them for the first time, but this does not really neglects the will of everyone to talk with you about everything. BUT this also does not mean you should not choose your words wisely, as I said you will talk a lot and this is what will progress you in the game. One wrong word may cost a lot. One seemingly wrong word can bring you more fortune than you imagine.

Returning on the topic about knowledge and the world - it is a world worth knowing more about, but it is not only words. You are part of this world and while you are limited in only one city mainly it is a huge city. See it, explore it, watch it. Torment looks old, but the level of details is amazing, everything around you moves, shines, works. The city pulses with life. Dive in and be part of it.

How the world works

Knowing all this, let me tell you about some actual game mechanics. Torment is squad based RPG with (small in number) turn-based battles. Each dire situation being battle or not is called a crisis and each crisis can always be resolved without killing everyone or even without fighting at all. But if things go bad during battle your characters will have two types of actions - attack action and movement action. Each of these can be spend for what it is or it can be used to activate skills. Often in battle( and almost always out of one) you will need to invest your stats in different skill checks. Each point invested this way is lost effectively reducing the stat, until the character does not rest. This system brings very interesting resource management aspect into the game, because you do not know what you will need and when also you are not able to rest just anywhere, no you can rest only on specific places and while resting some quests may progress, situations may change. 

Conclusion

Torment: Tides of Numenera is squad based RPG with turn based battles, but you will almost never be pressured to fight as there are numerous ways to resolve a crisis. Torment is a game focused on talking and learning about the world in which you have fallen(you literally fall from the sky). It is a game targeted at people who like long dialogues, hard choices, intriguing world and exploration. Oh and have a lot of free time. Torment: Tides of Numenera as most games of the genre is between 25 and 30+ hours of gameplay. But every hour invested is worth it, even if you do not finish it play it if not for another thing then for the rich palette of characters you will meet. Torment is like a how-to to anyone who is in the business of creating characters.

Where to find: 

Official site

GoG

Steam

Preview: Tumbling Apart - It has huge potential

Disclaimer: I was contacted by the developer Goodnamehere_ to cover their title Tumbling Apart which is fighting for Greenlight right now. This may or may not have affected my opinion.


I always have adored games centered around their story. And no good story is empty of feelings.
Remember this...

You are playing Isaac who is riddled with guilt over the awful fate of his sister. In his sadness, guilt and anger he swears that he is ready to everything just to redeem himself and to save his sister. And as it happens often when strong feelings are involved mystical power grants Isaac's wish and he is given the power to re-experience his life and former tribulations. With this the game has the intention to touch on unusual subject as abusive relationships, alcoholism, drug use and abandonment. The developer compare it to titles like To The Moon and Life is Strange.

 The idea of Tumbling Apart is to suck you in relying more on your feelings and mystery, on the experience it will provide to the player than to any flashy graphics or complicated mechanics. It is set to show that good games can be made "without the need for flashy modern gaming systems" and stories can be told "through solid, simple gameplay, narration, dialogue and setting.". 
When the game is finished it will offer meaningful choices and challenging puzzles.  

This is what Goodnamehere_ promises the game to be. As I mentioned it is fighting for Greenlight right now and it has playable demo which you can try. The demo is also what I played and let me tell you my impressions from it.

From the very start the game is indeed touching heavily on sensitive topics like alcoholism and life hardship, not to mention with how much feelings it is filled. Also Tumbling Apart is probably one of the best looking(in every aspect) RPG-maker game I have seen with it's extra custom animations, backgrounds, intriguing story and effects. Those looks together with the great soundtrack definitely put you in the right mood to play heavy relying on experience game like this. Sadly the available demo does not offer any of the cool sounding aspects of the game, so I cannot really comment on them. The idea of the game is great, it would have been awesome to have my hands on version including some puzzles and future defining decisions. That said the short demo gives you enough for you to be able to decide is it a game for you or not. I am genuinely interested in the title despite the fact that I usually avoid RPG Maker games. Try it and if it is for you, you(like me) will feel strong need for more at the end of the demo.

Where to find:

Greenlight page
Official site
Download demo

Gwent Beta Preview - Lose today to win tommorow

THIS ARTICLE IS OUT OF DATE! AND WHILE IT CAN STILL SERVE AS INTRODUCTION MATERIAL FOR GWENT, MANY THINGS IN THE GAME HAVE CHANGED!

In 2015 under the skillful hands of the guys from CD Projekt RED came out the third installment of The Witcher. Among the many interesting things the game added both as mechanics and story, it also added a new mini-game - Gwent. The game became so popular among the fans that they demanded it to be made into standalone game. Strange enough CD Projekt listened and now you can enjoy Gwent on its own. 

Before I start this preview I must say that Gwent is in closed beta test and the only way to play it is to sign up for the beta and receive a key. There are a lot of things which are work in progress, but the base of the game is set and the main mechanics are there so I think I have a pretty clear opinion on Gwent as it is now. 

The base idea of Gwent is really simple. You have a deck of cards, in it there is a leading mechanic depending on the faction to which your deck belongs. There is no mana or any other resource necessary to play cards. Each card you play affect your or your opponents score. To win you must win two out of three rounds. You win a round when both players pass and you have more points. You will be surprised how many ways are there to achieve that. 
At the start of the next round you draw cards, the board is cleared, all cards from it discarded and you start from zero points again. 

Does not sound that hard, right? It does not, BUT in Gwent you draw cards only at the start of each round. Two at the start of second round and one at the start of the third. There are characters and other cards which let you draw too but they are not that many. 
In other words you need to know your deck perfectly and carefully plan how and when you will try to overcome your opponent. You can try to push the first two rounds or you can let him win one and take the other two etc. Often in the middle of the second round you will know can you make it or not. Sometimes even in the middle of the first you will realize that you have over committed and you do not have the cards to take second round. But most of the times you will be in situation where both players will try to trick each other in over committing so they then can trigger their decks and safely push to the victory.

  

May be here is the place to say that although taken from The Witcher there is no need for you to have played the RPGs if you want to enjoy the card game(I recommend you to do it though, the games are one of the best in the genre). If you have not played The Witcher you will miss the "A-ha" moments when you see familiar monsters or favorite characters, but that does not affect your gameplay or your enjoyment from the game in any way.

Of course as original as Gwent is, it cannot go without some things which all digital CCG games have. Here also you will find boosters to buy, PvP and friendly matches. There is no ladder mode for now, but I expect this soon also. Interesting mechanic which you do not see that often is essentially tipping the opponent at the end of the match. If you say GG ( Good Game) to him/her(or he/she to you) he(you) will receive small amount of bonus materials for crafting cards. I am still not positive is this a good mechanic as right now everyone are saying to everyone GG thinking that this increase their chance they themselves to get a GG. But this lead to very deep and dangerous waters so let us just say that it is an interesting mechanic.

Conclusion

Gwent for sure offers a fresh breeze to the genre. CD Projekt has come up with simple at first look, but actually original and highly strategic card game which despite its habit to throw you into thinking rounds ahead, does not continue for hours, it is actually no more than 20-30 minutes per game. I try to limit myself and not recommend every game which I like, but this one I am positive have something to offer to everyone who are fans but a bit tired of the genre.

For now the only way to play is to sign up for the closed beta test. CD Projekt are fairly generous and there will be few give away waves so you have a good chance to get into the game.

Where to find:

 Official site

Quick Opinion: Samorost 3, The Curious expedition, Everspace, Seasons After Fall

I do not have an excuse anymore other than the ridiculous amount of games which catch my attention and the opposite in amount time I have. So this will be fairly regular format for smaller games.

Today we will take a look at Samorost 3 ( old favorite series of mine ) a crazy adventure game, The Curious Expedition which is similar to Renowned Explorers International Society, Everspace a FTL like game with a twist and last Seasons after Fall a cute platformer  for which I had certain hopes which it may or may not have fulfilled. First is...

Everspace

Everspace is a sci-fi roguelike, similar to FTL, created by ROCKFISH Games. But here you control a small fighter and try to reach the center of the Universe(mhmm, familiar I know) for unknown even to you reason, but pushed by the AI of your ship. The other big and may be the main difference is that Everpsace is not turn-based, instead is a dogfight/exploration game where you mine, fight, collect money, find equipment for your ship and run when needed(often at the beginning) from bigger ships. In similar to FTL way you will jump from system to system when you are done with each one.
After each try(read after each death) you can modify your ship with the collected money trying to make it better. Strange fact storywise - your pilot remembers his previous attempts which rise some questions like is this real, are you revived somewhere after each dead? 

With your progress you will learn form the AI more and more about not only your mission but also about the few factions and the story of the game in general. The AI will also occasionally mock you or urge you to do this and that which brings strange humorous note to the otherwise kind of grim and lonely space around you.
Sadly as most roguelikes Everspace have the specific for the genre slow start and steep learning curve which may easily put you off from this otherwise great looking space dogfight/roguelike game.

Oh, oh the game is in early access so you might want to wait a little.

Where to find:

Official site

Steam

GoG

Seasons after Fall

I have great amount of love for Ori and The Blind Forest, a game which is not only great in very aspect but also a title which rekindled my attraction to platformers. So when I saw the first shots from Seasons after Fall I was immediately reminded of Ori and got excited...may be too much. In Seasons after Fall you are small "seed" which by a mysterious voice is given the task to gather the powers of the Seasons by meeting their Guardians. Seasons after Fall is very beautiful game with charming characters and interesting idea - solving puzzles by controlling the weather. BUT it is repetitive, there is a ton of backtracking and not in the sense of metroidvania, no, there is only one way. So when you acquire new power and need to return back you can go only the way you came. Which is boring to say the least... This together with the fact that you do the same over and over again, which is going, getting the power from the Guardian and going back makes for one not very interesting or exciting game. Which is sad as it does has potential and it does look great.

...or may be I expected too much of it...

Where to find:

Official site

Steam

The Curious Expedition

Because I have started with the disappointing games and I want to end this post in good spirit I will tell you about another title which sadly did not meet my expectations. May be, again, because I compared it to something else and expected more. The game is The Curious Expedition by  Maschinen-Mensch where you will take the role of a famous person( like Lovecraft, Tesla, Alister Crowley, Charles Darwin etc.) who, for some reason, has decided to explore what seems like the jungles of South America. During your adventures you will collect loot which you can sell for honor or money. At the beginning of this post I have stated the game to be similar to Renowned Explorers International Society and while both games share some similar mechanics like the honor cost of items, choose your own adventure aspects and the whole expedition theme Curious Expedition is a lot lighter, simpler and sadly repetitive game where you will always look for the Golden Pyramid. Granted Renowned Explorers had its repetitive moments and you always tried to beat the most famous explorer but it had unique battle system, genuine feeling for exploration and adventure and a lot more interaction between the different characters which all together managed to make you feel invested in the game. While CE I have the feeling is targeted more to the people who like to jump in a game, make a short session or two and be on their way. Which for exploration game like this one it does not really work for me.

Where to find:

Official site

Steam

Samorost 3

And last but by no means least an old favorite of mine with its third installment - Samorost. For those of you aware of the series I can only say more of the same which we so much loved in the previous games. Interesting puzzles, quirky characters, beautiful and very detailed environments. For those of you who have not heard of Samorost ( and I will not be surprised if there are such among you ) this is an adventure exploration puzzle game where you will have to solve some really original puzzles if you manage to undestand what is wanted from you only from the gestures and pictures provided by other characters as there is no speech in the game. Samorost is work of Amanita Design the creators of Machinarium and will easily charm you with its amazing aesthetic, music and bizarre characters. And the story is pretty decent too...if you manage to figure it out.

Where to find:

Official site

Steam

GoG

    

I am Setsuna - What sacrifices are made for this revival attempt

This is going to be one strange review...because the obvious thing to do with Setsuna is to compare it to other JRPGs. And if you do that it’s really easy from there. The problem is I almost haven not played any other JRPGs and those I have played - I did for very short time therefore comparison is not possible. But if you are not new to this blog I believe you are used to it as this is not the first such case. Anyway...

Created by Tokyo RPG Factory and published by Square Enix I am Setsuna is a game trying to revive the JRPGs while at the same time using modern technology to bring great experience to the player. This is what it tries to do...

In the game you...no, you are not playing as Setsuna...you are a mercenary - Endir (or any name you choose for him) who is hired by mysterious person to kill a girl which is about to be sacrificed. Why someone will want to kill someone else who is about to die anyway? Well that I leave to you to learn. The whole story is filled with a lot of feelings - past regrets, sorrow, happiness and new hope...may be even too much feelings. Despite that the story is rather good it has few interesting twists and puts some moral questions up. There is also a nice pallet of characters both the ones joining your party and NPCs you will meet around the world. There is also a good bit of character development. Sadly although you are present with dialogue options it almost does not matter what you will say especially in important situations. There is only one right answer and if your choice is "wrong" someone of the characters will literally correct you. This was the first disappointment for me. I can only imagine how much better the story would be if your choices mattered.

Another thing that impressed me from the start of the game is how cute it looks. Both characters and enemies are really cutsy and funny. At the same time the game looks great. With a lot of small details which add to the already beautifully drawn scenery. Together with this also goes great soundtrack which you will quickly find yourself humming while playing.

And before someone say that I am trying to distract you with the beauty of the game, because the gameplay is bad, let us take a look at the game mechanics. And oh my does this game have mechanics?!

As in every JRPG you will gather a party of characters, equip them with items, manage inventory etc. You know, RPG stuff. Usually here I will also include improving skills or something along those lines, but in Setsuna this is a bit more complex. Skills are called Tech and for Tech you need Spritnite which you will buy with the different materials you collect from enemies. When members of the party have certain Techs they can trigger combos and unleash devastating attacks. Additionally there is something called Flux which improves the Techs in various ways. But even if you do not have special combos with the skills of your party you can always use Momentum which also triggers bonus effects based on the skills with which you use it.

Something which I have not seen in other turn based games is how the characters behave during the fight. What I mean is for example the fact that enemies will randomly wander around the battlefield while their ATB fills up this way surrounding party members and ruining AoE attacks. The same goes for your party also. Sometimes after an attack someone may remain among the enemies also certain moves like backstabs will separate characters from the others. This together with the ATB bars brings very interesting dynamic to the fights. Setsuna is supposed to be inspired by Chrono Triger and to some of you this may be familiar but as I said I am not well versed in this genre.

Other than that the game offers some pretty standard things like cooking recipes, Overwolrd map, airship to travel around, hard bossfights and nasty save system. The game does not use auto-save and honestly as someone who gets caried away in games I am not sure which is worse - this or only auto saves. And because this is not enough you can save only on special places which thankfully are always close to important fights. You can also save in the Overworld map.

Mentioning the Overwolrd map there is almost nothing to explore on it. This was my second disappointment.

Conclusion

I am Setsuna is a JRPG with great looks, interesting story and polished mechanics which tries to revive a genre loved by many. To me this is the first JRPG which made me play it for so long.  And while I understand this might be because I do not compare it to others from the genre I think it is a good game on its own and its worth it if you are fan of the genre. Also it is not very long as people report it is around 20-25 hours. There were some things which I did not like - the meaningless dialogue options and the lack of places to explore. Which sadly give this feeling of a rushed game. Which is a contradiction to some degree as the game works well and looks like a finished product in every other area. 

Where to find:

Official Site

Steam Store

Spellweaver - Or how to successfuly make a CCG

Now that I have started talking about digital CCGs, let us continue? How about that? Today I will tell you about the Bulgarian CCG Spellweaver. The game is made by Dream Reactor and at its very start (closed beta) it quickly gathered quite a bunch of followers. Process that continues even now when the game is live.

I plan to miss the general talk about CCG as a genre and tell you more about what puts Spellweaver apart from the others. In other reviews you will read that it is a mix between MTG and Hearthstone and while it is not incorrect there is more precise description and that will be Hearthstone ( because of its lightness and quick games) and Might&Magic: Duel of Champions ( because of it two lane board ). From Duels is also taken the idea about the characters abilities, but here you can even upgrade them during play. Spellweaver is...how to say it...the Warcraft of CCGs. It is a mix of a lot of good things which complement each other and sum up to a good game. 

Another interesting mechanic which makes the matches short and quick is the ability to see the top 5 cards and if there is a Shrine ( the ones which give you mana ) take it and put it in your hand. That really helps with the mana problem a lot.  Mentioning mana is important to say that there are two requirements for playing cards - magic levels and mana. Both are given by the Shrines and you choose what to get when you play one. Special Shrines will also give new skills to your heroes.

Oh, oh! I almost forgot and it is important and different from other CCGs. The creatures in Spellweaver have one more stat - speed. You can even build your deck around it. Speed is important when you try to block because slow creatures cannot block faster ones. Forgetting it made me lose more games than I want to confess. I want to also mention something about I am not sure how I feel. That is the art style of the game. Spellweaver has this baroque theme going for it and while it is rather unique and fitting for the game it somehow annoys me it looks good but at the same time...enough of this you got it! Or not...anyway!

Now that we are done with what sets the game apart from the others let’s see what else it has to offer. First of all there are six factions each with its own playstyle and story. Dream Reactor has done a lot to flesh out a whole world with its own story and lore. Each faction has its own kingdom on the map and your faction will decide your starting deck. With time you will be able to buy other starting decks and with that unlock other kingdoms and more quests to do. There is competent vs AI mode and unraked against people. There are bossfights which will reward you with rare, powerful cards. Despite all those ways to play singleplayer Spellweaver is more PvP oriented and it is obvious from the fact that you get better rewards for winning PvP matches instead of PvE. There are also Tournaments organized regularly.

Spellweaver is well done, beautiful, infused with a lot of hard work and love CCG which is obviously done by people who know their games and their CCGs even more. The team is ambitious and motivated, they have clear idea what they want to do with the game and what they want to implement. If you have not found your CCG (everyone needs one) try Spellweaver, it might be what you are looking for!

Where to find: 

Official site

Steam