20250301:
Steam Game Time: 61 minutes
First Impressions:
Initially the game had Pokemon vibes (choosing a starter monster and capturing monsters). And while there likely is some inspiration taken from the Pokemon series, the game looks and feels a lot more like traditional party-based, turn-based RPGs (e.g., earlier Final Fantasy titles). However, unlike Pokemon and traditional party-based RPGs, monsters whose HP are taken to 0 are permanently lost.
While I liked the artwork and battle mechancis, I felt disoriented while exploring the overworld. I felt the overworld could have been a lot more straightforward - at least at the start of the game with elements such as surprise attacks and jumping between cliffs be made as puzzle elements later in the game. As an analogy, the Pokemon series made use of HM skills "cut," "surf," etc. as puzzle elements, and such elements come later in the game.
Overall, I personally would have loved the exact same game but with a simplified 2D overworld more similar to Pokemon. With that being said, using the map in the top right helped and the core game mechanics are enjoyable enough to overlook. As such, I'll give it a 4.0 out of 5.
Demo Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Aethermancer (PC) (Demo)
Relevant Links:
Aethermancer (Steam Store Page)
No comments:
Post a Comment