Archaelund Reviews

Great game that gives me Wizardry 8 vibes.

Really good cRPG. Love the quests, the lore, the playstyle, everything. 10/10 for what's out rn, you get your money worth imho. Can't wait to see the next. And the dev is good and won'T run with your money. But let me expend on that. It's a well made rpg of the old with a modern take. Graphic are decent but it's not a graphic game (meaning the graphics are not what's making the game). It will run on older pc on lower setting. You explore the world in pirst person view much like the old dungeon crawler such as Eye of the beholder or the firsts might and magic but you fight enemies on a isometric grid where you have more control on the camera. Presently there isn't much choice for each characters, some races have more than other and it's unclear if will ever really more choice but at least different gear changes your appearance (which you only see either on inventory page or while fighting). What this game has is foremost soul. Much as the old cRPG, the focus is on giving the player a real RPG experience. Quests are well thought of, and engaging. Some have more than one way to complete. The world is quite vast and it really compels me to explore it. You will need to take great care in choosing your party as about each skill is important and you cannot have jack of all trades, you need to focus each of your 4 characters on specific task to be sure to survive in this hostile place. You can have 2 followers with you (that you can change) and it will also be a choice you need to think of. Every resource will eventually be of use. Combat wise, strategy is the name of the game. Especially later on. If you don't want to always spend your time hauling back to a city to heal up and restore your magic, you will need to choose your fights and fight them wisely. Right now many (most) npc have no interaction whatsoever, some seem even static, I'm not sure if this will be advise later on. That would definitely be a problem on a 80$ AAA game but for a 25$ EA title by a one man dev, I can go with that. The story,lore and sense of adventure is already really addictive and I can't wait for more. Plus, dev plans are already laid out and we should expect a full version by next year. Next patch with a new region is due in the next weeks and we already have a good 40h+ worth of play. I will take smart and compelling story telling over flashy colorful graphic orgy with no soul everytime.

The game has 3 things done good: exploration, combat, loot&equip. The plot and game mechanics are quite simple and I come to appreciate this: many games try to do complex stuff, fail to do it properly and result is lacking. It is simple, it works, and I enjoy it, so thumbs up