Are you an RPG fan, and do you like turn-based combat, that is also a dungeon crawler, whilst exploring multiple levels, with a deep story? Then buckle up because Zen Studios have released Operencia, the stolen sun, an amazing mix of a story with all the rest of the elements mentioned above. If you want more of an in-depth review of what this gorgeous game has to offer, I will be more than pleased to tell you about my experience!
What we liked!
- The general story: without going too in-depth about this, there is an amazing storyline behind the game. All throughout the different quests/levels, you experience your team telling you more about why they do certain things, and just generally interesting dialogues between them. This mixed together with other elements like narrators, makes it feel like a fairy tale you are experiencing first hand
- The music and sound effects: Zen studios have really gone out of their way to add the most complete sound design to an RPG game which I played in the last year. The music has a nice calm mood to it, that adds to the mythical experience all throughout, whilst certain basements/castle levels have a more mysterious vibe to them. Overall an experience to remember.
- The graphics and scaling: This game has amazing artwork packed into a complete overall package. Zen studio’s also nailed the fact that it supports the 21:9 aspect ratio for a more immersive experience! The characters are custom drawn, every level has more and more different artwork, and the scenes are overall gorgeous to view and stair upon.
- The combat: In this game during your turn-based fighting system, there is a surprising amount of dept that is linked to it. The game has a mana system that only allows you to cast certain spells for a certain amount of time, and if you want to regain mana during a fight, there is a tool, but that skips the combat for that character for that round, overall a good system!
- The difficulty options: this game allows you to choose how hard you want specific elements of the game to be, and all throughout the saving spots, it gives you the opportunity to modify those parameters in case you feel like it was too simple for you. A great touch that more developers should implement in my opinion!
Somewhere between
- Pc support: this game is a clear example of a super great game but that has been made to support a controller. On mouse and keyboard, the gameplay felt a little odd. For example, having to define multiple keys to turn your head, whilst also only being allowed to move left-right, and forward. But after about a level or so, I connected my controller, and it started to feel a lot more as it should, rather smooth and intuitive gameplay. The only remark I have about this is that I found myself making movements, and running against walls because I am used to the fact that I can move freely and diagonally, but after getting used to the tile movement system, this was not really an issue anymore.
What we disliked
- To be honest, nothing!
This game from Zen studios really shook up my perception of turn-based combat and dungeon crawlers in general. I was blown away by the gameplay, smoothness, and quest lines, all whilst being hooked to my pc screen to continue playing. For which I grant them a solid 95% score. As mentioned above, the only point I wish I had seen was that I could play it with mouse and keyboard, but then again, being able to lay on your bed whilst playing this gorgeous game is also just an experience to have!
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