Hero's Journey's "Rules of Alchemy" is one of those games that has a lot of promise and a lot of possibilities, but just isn't there yet. G.Round's latest developers release to hit the scene, on paper, looks like it can very well be an enjoyable game, but you really won't be able to see it from this first alpha build. It doesn't make the game a bad game, don't get me wrong. Very rarely will I ever say a game is bad. Especially with it being still highly in development and as far as I know, no set release date. So the game will have it's usual growing pains.
I just want anyone who plays this alpha to not immediately go in and then stop playing, thinking that it's a bad game. That seems to be the biggest issue when it comes to reviewing content or reviewing new games. Folks will immediately throw in tons of negativity and it doesn't help the developers, nor help the communities. They fail to realize that reviewing games in, these developmental stages, means that we give our input that hopefully translates to the full potential of the titles. In my eyes, Rules of Alchemy is full of potential, there's just some things that need to be worked out.
First let's talk about the easy stuff to get out the way. Since it's alpha build, the first one at that, I don't expect the graphics to be improved or optimized. You want to get the skeleton, the mechanics fleshed out first and save graphics close to the end. This game gives a very Diablo 2 vibe to it. Which isn't bad, people still play Diablo 2 quite a bit. Especially with its recent upgrade. But I'm sure things will be updated prior to release. The sounds in the game weren't the best either. The music was very basic and the enemy sounds felt like place holders. This, again, I am attributing because it's an alpha build and they probably haven't gotten all of the sounds figured or fleshed out yet. I feel like the current stuff here was just to get the ball rolling to focus on the actual mechanics of the game, or to test out the mechanics of the game. The bread and butter. The part that will make this game different than the other over the top view RPG games, the alchemy itself.
So let's talk about the alchemy. When you start up the game and look at the runegate board, there are quite a bit of magic spells and combinations you can learn. I really do enjoy seeing things like this. Having the ability to customize how you want to play is the reason why I play Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. Having a board that has many possibilities gives you that feeling of new playstyle each time you play. My problem is, the controls of this game are not great. The keyboard controls are kind of all over the place. Even though I understand what the developers were trying to go with, "A" is for Air, "W" is for Water, "E" is for Earth and "F" is for Fire, using these controls, while trying to combat these running strider monsters was difficult and way too much micromanaging. The controls felt kind of like League of Legends, but without the straight line of using the "QWER" keys. The menus as well were pretty bulky, taking up quite a bit of room on the screen, with some varying delays on using potions in battle to heal. Quite many times I would die because I activate the potion, but it wouldn't heal me till maybe 3 seconds after the fact. But the current status of the alchemy system was disappointing because it really has the ability to be spectacular if the controls were just a tad bit more intuitive.
Now of course, this is completely just my point of view here. Maybe there are others out there who felt the controls were just fine, but for me, compared to many other games in the genre, they felt like more work than they should, to only deliver meager rewards. I felt like I was struggling with this mechanic, which deviated from my enjoyment to just mindlessly click and kill everything that was running after me. It made it hard for me to kite mobs, I was using the staff, and to blow them up with spells, so that I minimized the damage.
The final thing I really want to touch on is the tutorial of the game. The tutorial really isn't explaining things well. It took some time to read and figure out because it wasn't very in depth. Not really asking for a booklet, but having the tutorial explain how to use the alchemy system a little better would really help out. After my fourth death in the game, I finally figure out how to use it, but by that time, I was already getting flustered from the controls. One thing that is always appreciated, especially from games that have interesting mechanics, is the ability to explain those mechanics in a way that many folks, can understand them, and this really didn't have that.
With that being said, I think Rules of Alchemy can really do amazing things once it gets optimized and fleshed out. The hardest part will be the controls in my opinion. Finding that sweet point to get all of what it wants to achieve without making it too convoluted or confusing. Hero's Journey has a pretty uphill battle, but I honestly feel like they can do it. There is definite promise with this game and I hope the next couple of builds that they release shows how much hard work and effort the team over there is putting into it.
Comments