Now that it is ready to be released in its final form, the time has come for Ravenbound to demonstrate how a mix of genres can create something different in the independent scene, that spark capable of standing out among many homogeneous works such as roguelikes.
The idea that permeates the work of Systemic Reaction, a team belonging to Avalanche Studios Group, managed to capture our attention, and that is why we immersed ourselves with great interest in the lands of Ávalt, a map characterized by five different regions inspired by Scandinavian folklore.
In our Ravenbound Review We will tell you about our journey as chosen by the Raven, an entity that guided us through battles and discoveries to free this once peaceful world from the Traitors and their followers.
The Scandinavian Mysteries of Ravenbound
Ravenbound tries to do something extremely creative to break out of the cauldron of independent works, mixing different genres to arrive at the perfect formula, or at least an original mix. It is quite rare to find roguelikes with a large movement area: Systemic Reaction decided to aim for something more, developing the entire game world on an open world map quite wide, which gives the option of facing the path towards the epilogue of the adventure.
Once we have passed the tutorial phase, the game world is at our complete disposal: we can choose to focus on the enemy camps or on the primary and secondary missions in the order we want. Obviously, in the early stages of the game it is highly recommended to follow the main path, the easiest way to familiarize yourself with the mechanics and structure on which Ravenbound is based.
Although the scenario is quite homogeneous, we must recognize that the map It offers a remarkable panorama, between mountains and mountainous areas inspired by fjords and the typical vegetation and biome narrated in Norse legends. Of course, many areas are similar and present the same architecture and even the same objects, but on a graphic level the creation is excellent: flying over the landscape dressed as a crow is undoubtedly pleasant and very useful for covering great distances. quickly.
A land of barbarians, elves and cursed creatures.
In the initial phases of Ravenbound, after an exhaustive tutorial and with complete control over the game map, we began to test the combat system against brutes and barbarians. What intimidated us a little during the explanation of basic commands came back with a vengeance once we freed ourselves from the chains of explanations on how to attack and defend ourselves. The model on which Ravenbound is based is quite outdated, far from current mechanics, even in smaller productions and this, unfortunately, has greatly affected the fluidity and progression of the game.
Our offensive moves are limited, especially in the early stages, to light attacks, strong attacks, and charged attacks. The defense, however, is based on a fairly fragile shield and dodging. The last two were our best allies to be able to gradually advance in the adventure, especially if done at the right time, since they allow us to stun or slow down the enemies. The biggest problem, however, is that In Ravenbound you will never be attacked by a single enemy but at least three at the same time.
Therefore, being able to manage group battles where opponents alternated fast and slow attacks was quite complicated, so much so that many times we received so much damage that we were forced to start over due to the little health we had left. We would like to be able to say that this lengthens the duration of the game or that it increases the difficulty, but in reality it is a matter of poorly calibrated enemy AI and "dirty" animations that leave us defenseless against an incessant barrage of gunfire.
In Ravenbound, once activated an animation cannot be stopped; For example, if an enemy is about to hit with a slow attack and we try to anticipate it with a light attack, this will not stop him, with the consequence that we will be hit hard. Therefore, to take the lead in combat, we had to arm ourselves with enormous patience, giving up the desire to fight head-on and limiting ourselves to waiting for safe attack windows so as not to receive damage.
So is it the right tactic to separate your opponents? Excellent thought, but unfortunately, in addition to being impossible because the AI will chase you without giving you a break, the enemies will leave their area of influence and return to their original position, completely restoring their health as if nothing had happened. Since most of the game focuses on confrontations with barbarians and creatures that populate Ávalt, not being able to offer even the slightest glimpse quickly became frustrating and boring.
Die and repeat
The unsatisfying combat system is closely related to the roguelike mechanics and this brings us to the greater importance of Ravenbound. Although we would like to praise the choice of applying this mechanic to a completely open scenario, perennial death, however, leads to starting everything again from scratch, even the initial missions, and The only thing we can keep will be the letters. It is unlocked with experience points acquired during matches. In fact, when our character dies, everything restarts and we will have to resume the adventure with another Corvo "ship", selectable from three options with random features.
On this screen it is also possible to unlock new traits that can define the character we choose, ranging from equipment such as swords or axes and upgrades to status effects. In order to take advantage of these permanent improvements, vital to continue the adventure for a long time, we will have to do an excellent job during the games unlocking as many objectives as possible, given that the request for points, in this version that we tested, is decidedly high. Therefore, in the early stages it is natural to invest time in fighting the easiest enemies, that is, the barbarians in the camps, the most numerous on the map.
Cursed creatures, such as skeletons or evil elves, are quite difficult enemies if you are at the beginning of the progression, and for this reason the first part of Ravenbound can feel quite repetitive. Added to this is the fact that you can only heal yourself by purchasing healing potions or with successful attacks, which fits perfectly with the punitive nature of the game with the final death of the character when the health bar is depleted.
Mana Need
Another gameplay mechanic in Ravenbound is cards, which can be obtained through fragments that can be found on the bodies of enemies or through chests scattered around the map. Each of these cards can be equipped in the Relic slot by spending mana, a resource obtained through the cards themselves, or by releasing artifacts from the curse that plagues the land of Ávalt. The drop is absolutely random and many times it is possible to find ourselves with cards that we could not equip due to a too low mana level.
Le paper The requirements for these resources are essentially modifiers of our abilities, such as increasing attack or defense, while weapons and armor do not require any requirements and once found can be freely equipped by discarding existing ones. In this aspect, luck plays a lot, the real parameter of the character, which can help us find armor capable of increasing our statistics to defeat the strongest opponents.
As you may have guessed, The game structure on which the Systemic Reaction title is based can seem quite complex., and the exhaustive combat tutorial, leave the player quite confused about the rest. Being a roguelike with permanent death, the possibilities of approach are multiple, and only at the cost of our character's life can we steal them to get the best out of each game.
Technical problems
Although our PC configuration was well above the required requirements, some technical problems It appeared more frequently than we would have expected. On the optimization front, there are some questions that we cannot ignore during the review phase, which were also highlighted in our tests, and which did not find a solution in the final version of Ravenbound. Beyond a sporadic delay in loading textures in the densest areas (which does not change even when lowering the game's resolution), it is easy to find yourself with a flickering and choppy image when chatting with NPCs, or even worse, in some cases With the disappearance of the latter, we find ourselves talking to an invisible interlocutor.
Most of the problems encountered during our adventure are known to the developers and will be fixed with a patch but we must recognize that, despite this, the game lacks important improvements that undermine the balance of the game. Beyond the graphical issues, the rewards offered in the version of the game we tested are quite scarce, forcing us to play many games quite repetitively to gain enough experience to unlock permanent traits. This forced farming, if you don't know how to properly master a combat system that leaves a lot to be desired in some aspects, can be quite boring and discourage players from the beginning.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Holygamerz.com 5.5 Readers (8) 8.0 your voteRavenbound represents a very creative product in its game mechanics, complex at first but, once mastered, appreciable for its originality, breaking with the usual roguelike. Although the creativity of the developers is undeniable, thanks to a well-crafted open world that does not aspire to challenge more recognized games, the title suffers from some shortcomings that significantly impact the overall experience. Apart from some optimization problems that create graphical errors that are not very pleasant to look at, the first phases of the game are quite unbalanced due to the few rewards that force the player to repeat not too exciting activities. The idea behind it is certainly brilliant, but the dated combat system and stuck-on animations unfortunately fail to make Systemic Reaction's title shine.
PRO
- One of the few roguelikes with an open setting
- Large game area with different regions.
AGAINST
- Linear and boring plot.
- The animations and AI are not up to par with a modern title.
- Pretty obvious graphics and optimization issues.
