Recent reviews by vMeezo

Video: https://youtu.be/fsWwVa77Xoc

Empyreal is one of the more frustrating games I've played lately. There's a good game here, hidden under a layer of weird decisions.

Combat is the core focus here, and I have mixed feelings about it. The trailer makes it looks pretty fancy, but in reality it's like reaching into a bag full of stale candy with only a few tasty morsels left. The mace and shield has one overhead attack and a charge attack, plus the added benefit of blocking/parrying. Ironically it's one of the least fun weapons in the game, but the one I used the most due to not requiring a lot of skill to utilize. A few more moves and it would have been a great weapon.

The glaive is the weapon I'd suggest for anyone really wanting to have fun. It's fast, and has some of the cooler attacks in the game. Having dodge and block tied to the same button makes things a bit awkward though, as you'll often dodge when you wanted to block - to include dodging into ranged attacks.

The cannon I used a total of one time. I found it to be an incredibly dull weapon of destruction, even with a lot of special moves unlocked for it.

And, after that brief overview of weapons... Combat in general is still a mix of good and bad. There's no locking onto enemies manually, the game seems to pick enemies at random. Entering combat with a group of enemies is a recipe for disaster. It often puts enemies out of sight, leaving you open for ridiculously overpowered attacks that leave you stunned or under the effects of some elemental attack. Heck, using a special attack can lock you into an animation that only ends upon completion or if hit by an enemy. The amount of times I was killed because I tried using a special attack is pretty high.

In short, combat has the vibe of a Dark Souls style game. A certain level of blocking, dodging, and attacking. It should work quite well, but I often found it to be incredibly frustrating.

For those of you that see "Action RPG," and start thinking about the story.. Woo boy.. It's as if a bunch of ideas, mostly good ones, were written down on cards and then tossed into the air. Then they let someone walk into the room and told them to pick things up and figure it out. It feels directionless. The story unlocks via completing quests that have very little guidance, and often leave you with a tease that more is coming.

And that lack of guidance was a huge issue for me. It ties directly into how gear works. You don't level up traditionally, and instead your level is tied to the average level of all equipped gear. You find gear during each run in the monolith, bringing it back to be identified by your blacksmith. That part is fine. But I found that most of the time, the gear I picked up had awful stats compared to what I already had. Sure it had a higher level, but the stats sucked. You can modify stats, but it's most often a replacement of stats more than an increase of stats. And some stats on a weapon don't increase. It was frustrating to find a weapon that had an amazing collection of stats and not be able to truly upgrade it so I could hold onto it. There were a lot of things that could have been done to make this better, and as a core part of gameplay I think it really hampers the experience.

Selling items - sell to the bartender. I spent 5 hours not realizing this is who I needed to talk to in order to do so, because the game doesn't do a very good job of pointing this out. When you first talk to the guy it feels like a mostly useless interaction - and there's a shop out in the hub. So I had reached a stopping point due to not having the needed credits to identify new stuff and equip gear that would allow me to try harder quadrants. Figuring it out made me feel kind of stupid, but mostly angry.

In the end I really tried to like it. But, I'm not a fan. Nearly 14 hours in and I'm stuck on this slow grind of collecting higher level gear so I could reach a level high enough to unlock cartograms with the imperitum bad guys I needed to kill. Those seem to unlock at gear level 30. I'm at gear 23 and I'll never get any higher. Too many of the frustrations come back for me to keep playing through the same areas over and over again in the hopes of finding something that will help me progress.

I think a lot of people are going to enjoy this. Ultimately I'd say it's a good game. It's one I really wanted to like, but that moment never really came for me.

Feels like the original, which might be a good thing if you're nostalgic for it. But... Maybe it is because I'm playing this years after release, and the memories of the original are long since gone. The writing isn't particularly great in the first half hour, and the gameplay itself feels very outdated at this point. It's not clicking for me.

Not bad, but just not my thing at this point.

I think there's a chance that people will like this. To be fair, I am not one of those people. I don't think the game is inherently bad. But here I am 11 years later playing it, and it feels like an out-dated Dark Souls wannabe. Which, maybe made sense back in 2014?

Combat feels awful by today's standards. Your stamina decreases so quickly that it's more about trying to ensure you don't run out of it than actually doing anything. Dodges and blocks use up about the same amount. Combat is slow and clunky. The roll is hilariously slow. I don't know man, I suppose if I had nothing else to play I'd keep going and see how I felt.

Long story short, I don't really like it. But I don't think it's a bad game, and think people can have fun with it.

Video: https://youtu.be/gKQqEHF_Ulo

Weird. Intriguing, but weird. Seems like it'll be a blast.

Video, full gameplay with commentary most of the time: https://youtu.be/IrYMIyZceN0

A nice creepy walking sim with the occasional spooky part. It's a good game with a nice setting, though the story doesn't exactly end with a conclusion that brings everything full circle. At the end of it I really wasn't sure what happened to be honest. What was going on? What happened? I guess the game does a good job of making you question the reality you're given, which I do think is a splendid idea.

Puzzles are pretty easy, it just takes some time to actually find the things you need or be in the right place. The hint system is vague, but I think I actually prefer it to be this way. Anyway, I don't really have a lot to say at this point. I played the game, more than once at this point. It only takes about 2 hours to finish, but I've given up on it a few times I think. Glad I finished it this time around.

Played it with controller, and while it isn't exactly a racing game I'll think of in the future - it feels like it holds up alright. As long as you're not looking for anything exciting I guess. It's kind've chill.

$20 for a game that hasn't been updated in 2 years? For a game that has barely changed from 2017? Man, what a disappointment this was. Kickstarter seemed pretty promising, but ultimately I'm just disappointed.

Seems dead at this point. But the nostalgia as nice.

It's alright.

It's alright, with some decent artwork.