Effie Reviews

This is not a game that explores complex morality situations or the struggles of war. This is a game for children or to turn your brain off to. It's similar to an old school action-adventure collect-a-thon. Collect all the shiny things because reasons. If you're looking for something dark and gritty, go elsewhere. This is a fun relaxation game.

While this game does have its flaws (combat feels very limited, only a small handful of enemy types that never change after the first hour of the game, a bit barren of an overworld for how big it is, and most especially the collectathon elements pushed into a game that really doesn't feel like it should have them considering any lack of backtracking in the main levels)... Well, for what the game actually is, I did find it pretty enjoyable. Especially like how diverse and unique the locations are - a castle built of windmills, a haunted logging mill city, a massive distillery - and the platforming, while not super diverse, generally felt satisfying. The game isn't very long, not very challenging either - only ever died due to instadeath traps and death is usually not very punishing either - and the hoverboard feels a bit underused compared to how big of a selling point it is - it's only for traversing the overworld, which is only as big as it is because you can hoverboard around it, really - but I dunno, I liked the scale of the world, the way the entire game world exists in one space, with big levels inside an even bigger overworld in real space, and there definitely is something thrilling about blasting through the overworld at top speed too. It's definitely a bit lacking in polish, the plot is very minimal, and it's not going to offer much of a challenge, but it was fun and charming for what it was regardless.

It's a really well made game. It's low on offense (not too many combat options), and it's more mechanic-heavy, but it's a light and fun 7-hour game play. It has subtle legend of Zelda vibes. Would definitely recommend!

This game is a hidden gem! I didn't expect much when I launched the game, but it blew me away. Yes, there is a few graphic glitches where you poke through a wall and yes, the camera angle goes a bit wonky sometimes, but this is very rare and not really disturbing enough to hold your attention for more than a sec or two. I've seen much way worse with "popular" games that cost a bunch more than this one. The surf feature is amazing and controls are on point! I had a blast surfing over the extremely pretty red landscape while searching for treasures. The game itself is super easy and I would even say kid-friendly. Its a casual, but very entertaining little game with straight forward puzzles. The combat system isn't outstanding, but I think it fits the game very well and you learn to control it a bit more throughout the game. My biggest complaint is the length of the game - I want more! This was so good, that I finished it 100% with all achievements in one sitting.

I usually don't write any reviews at all whatsoever, but I'm unable to understand why the majority reviewed this positive. I feel like this game needed much more polishing before it released, especially the combat. I know that this is a indie game and all but I feel like people are way too forgiving for what in the end feels like a very lazy made game. Platform Gameplay: Overall feels nice, nothing in this is new. You got your standard double jump and dash and that's pretty much it and it could be fun if it wasn't for the very uninspiring locations and lack of challenge. Puzzles: Braindead. Combat: Combat feels really chunky and unsatisfying, there are only 2 combos in total and the light attack combo is pretty much useless since the heavy one deals with the enemies quicker. Later on you unlock 2 skills which add no depth to the combat at all. There are 5 enemy types in total plus one boss that you have to fight 4 times. The enemy types are all pretty early revealed in the game so combat pretty much feels like a chore you don't wanna do. This all wouldn't be to much of a problem if the game wasn't that combat heavy, but it is, and it's fucking boring. Story: Allright I guess? The cutscenes don't have any other animations then Garland just walking around and a camera showing you the location, I think Garland the protagonist is the only one who has mouth animations when he talks but the Witch (Main Antagonist) doesn't for some reason. Quick sidenote: I think there are only 3 voice actors in this game but for some reason during the bossfights with the witch they only managed to have her record ONE WORD for all of her attacks, which was sooooo fucking annoying to listen to, it's like every 20 seconds a fucking HYAAAH. Is there literally no other sound she can make or say, do they have to pay the voice actors millions of dollars for one word? Visual/Graphics: It's quit nice... but it get's underwhelming quit quick cause the most colors you are gonna see is white, red and brown/grey tones. Although the vinyard was a nice change but idk it didn't really change much. Overall if you have a big love for platforming games you can get that game when it's on sale for 10 or 5 bucks or whatever cause 20 is way to much for a 5 to 7 hour long game with a result that is gonna leave you unsatisfied. Quit dissapointing but who knows maybe they do better games or a better sequel if this blows off.

8.8/10 ~ Effie is an adorable little game! It reminded me a LOT of Ratchet and Clank except free-roaming/open world-ish which felt great. The game design was beautiful & the concept of the story itself was lovely. I really, thoroughly enjoyed this game! However: I will say that for the price & only 5 hours, a little disappointed I was but nonetheless a good game to play and enjoy!

The game itself is quite fun with the standard "fight the boss" elements which require platforming and figuring out the "pattern" of the boss. I especially enjoyed being able to surf around on my shield and explore the main map and find items that increase your strength. Each level was of appropriate length and wasn't too difficult. But there is a bug which does not let you go back and try the race again after you exit without finishing. You have to play from the start again to get that achievement and the relic that comes with it to get the "all trophies" achievement. Since I was especially bad at the racing part, I don't really want to play the whole game over again just to get those three achievements. I would recommend it even though there are some flaws. But definitely wait for a good sale.

[h1] Information / Review English [/h1] Effie is an Action Adventure / Platformer developed by Inverge Studios. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2422505765 [h1] Gameplay / Story [/h1] The Story is told quickly: Effie sits in front of the Fireplace while her Grandfather tells a fairytale Story. It is about Galand - a young Knight who was cursed by the nasty witch Melira and turned into an old Man or rather you have been playing Galand and reliving the Memories. Looking for a way to avert the Curse, he comes across a mysterious Shield with magical Powers. With this Weapon he denies his Adventure and goes in search of the "Gems of Evil", which give him access to Melira's Fortress in order to face the witch there. Visually, the cute Adventure can definitely Score: Effie joins the Group of Games that get a lot out of their Polygonal and low-texture look, in a similar form, as is the case with The Witness or Rime. The simple neo-retro Aesthetic suits the Game perfectly. In addition, the Environment is varied and beautiful throughout. As you would expect, there are of course Collectibles: Rune stones are scattered around the World. If we have found enough of it, we go up a Level and from then on have more life Energy and Mana. Here and there there are golden Boxes with other Collectibles, but they serve no purpose, we only collect them for the sake of Collecting. But we don't feel really motivated to do so. to watch. In Addition, various Opponents stand in our Way on our Adventure. With our Shield we put them on their hats. The Boss fights are a bit more exciting: At the End of each Chapter we face the witch Melira. In order to put them in their Place, we have to complete various Skill passages. [h1] Pro [/h1] + fairytale Narrative style + charming 3D Platformer + winding Temples and Cities + good Magic skills + Acrobatics, Fighting, Puzzles, Collecting + easy-to-learn Controls + open outside World with Mini-Games and Surf inserts + Successes [h1] Contra [/h1] - Opponent's AI is terrible at Times - The Game world looks partially empty - superfluous experience Points and Promotions [h1] Conclusion [/h1] Effie offers you a magical Adventure which is told with a lot of Charm and Humor. If you like Yooka-Laylee and whatever her Name is, you should definitely Access it here. [h1] Informationen / Review Deutsch [/h1] Effie ist ein Action- Abenteuer/Plattformer, welcher von Inverge Studios entwickelt wurde. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2422505765 [h1] Gameplay/ Geschichte [/h1] Die Geschichte schnell erzählt: Effie sitzt vor dem Kaminfeuer, während ihr Großvater eine märchenhafte Geschichte erzählt. Sie handelt von Galand – einem jungen Ritter, der von der fiesen Hexe Melira verflucht und in einen alten Mann verwandelt wurde oder besser gesagt ihr seit und spielt Galand und durchlebt die Erinnerungen. Auf der Suche nach einem Weg, den Fluch abzuwenden, stößt er auf einen geheimnisvollen Schild mit magischen Kräften. Mit dieser Waffe bestreitet er sein Abenteuer und macht sich auf die Suche nach den „Gems of Evil“, die ihm Zugang zu Meliras Festung verschaffen, um der Hexe dort entgegenzutreten. Visuell kann das knuffige Adventure durchaus punkten: Effie reiht sich in die Gruppe von Spielen ein, die aus ihrer polygon und texturarmen Optik viel herausholen, in ähnlicher Form, wie es auch bei The Witness oder Rime der Fall ist. Die simple Neo-Retro-Ästhetik steht dem Spiel hervorragend zu Gesicht. Außerdem ist die Umgebung abwechslungsreich und durchgehend hübsch Wie zu erwarten, gibt es natürlich Sammelgegenstände: Überall in der Welt sind Runensteine verteilt. Haben wir genug davon gefunden, steigen wir einen Level auf und haben fortan mehr Lebensenergie und Mana. Hier und da gibt‘s noch goldene Kisten mit anderen Sammelobjekten, die allerdings keinen Zweck erfüllen – wir sammeln sie also nur, um des Sammelns willen. So richtig motiviert fühlen wir uns dazu aber nicht. anzusehen. uf unserem Abenteuer stellen sich uns außerdem verschiedene Gegner in den Weg. Mit unserem Schild geben wir ihnen auf die Mütze. Etwas spannender fallen dafür die Bosskämpfe aus: Am Ende jedes Kapitels treten wir der Hexe Melira gegenüber. Um sie in die Schranken zu weisen, müssen wir verschiedene Geschicklichkeitspassagen absolvieren. [h1] Pro [/h1] + märchenhafter Erzählstil + charmanter 3D-Plattformer + verwinkelte Tempel und Städte + gute magische Fähigkeiten + Akrobatik, Kampf, Rätsel, Sammelei + leicht zu erlernende Steuerung + offene Außenwelt mit Minispielen und Surfeinlagen + Erfolge [h1] Kontra [/h1] - KI des Gegners ist manchmal schrecklich - Spielwelt wirkt teilweise leer - überflüssige Erfahrungspunkte und Aufstiege [h1] Fazit [/h1] Effie bietet dir eine magisches Abenteuer welches mit viel Charme und Humor erzählt wird. Wer Yooka-Laylee und wie sie alle heißen mag, unbedingt hier zugreifen.

Permanently closing off a section when no indication of which way is "main" way is just shitty. Nothing stands out to motivate me past that annoyance.

TL;DR at the end. When you start the game, right off the bat, first thing I noticed is how unpolished the game is, the animations for opening chests for example seem half-assed, the combat basically consists of just mashing heavy attack and later on when you unlock the boomerang move (which for some reason is even stronger than the heavy attack while also being a huge AoE) and you spam that instead you have to watch that animation in slow-motion [b]EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.[/b] On the narrative side, the story is very basic but that's not why I'm here for, and the voice acting is pretty lame and you'd keep hearing the same voice lines over and over again for example every time you open a blue chest you get one of two voice lines, and you open quite a lot of them. Talking about blue chests, they are sometimes hidden or presented as rewards for challenges but basically all they do is give you experience points which you also get from killing enemies, breakable objects and runes scattered around which all seem to respawn. I like to run around, discover and collect everything but a lot of the times I just felt like I'm wasting my time getting all those runes and fighting all those monsters when all they give me is just a sliver of exp. Besides all that, what you're left to do in this game is to collect relics, this was the part I was excited about, I wanted to 100% this game but as I progressed I realized this game often blocks the path behind you when you enter rooms, locking you off some content so if you missed something tough luck, you can't get it. That part was a real problem, once I reached the windmill's outer walls I saw some runes and blue chests below and what seems to be a shortcut lift, so I jumped down but the shortcut didn't trigger so I was stuck and when trying to retrace my steps back up doors were locked, fortunately reloading my last save point solved this. This was really my biggest gripe with the game, I can deal with all the stuff I said about polish, narrative and combat, the game is still fun and I was looking for something casual to just pass my time while I collect everything, but why lock me out of an area once I finish it? I feel like I missed some things and focused on the negative but those are the things I think the devs should be worked on since my experience was mostly clouded by all this, the game still has it's moments and I wish they'd continue to support and patch and game and maybe even add more content in the future, also I think having a Discord server and talking with the players would be a good idea. TL;DR: This game feels like an early access title but I believe there's still fun to be had [b]when it does works[/b], and I'm still on the fence about it, I was really frustrated at some points in the game so it's possible I got something wrong and you could actually backtrack and I just missed something or could find it later, I will give it another chance and try to complete it, but as of now I cannot fully recommend it.