A Genie’s Journey Hindered by Management Points
Cease! KEMCO Time! Do do do do… Sorry, I’m actually beginning to run out of concepts to introduce but one other KEMCO retro styled JRPG. In spite of everything, I’ve reviewed dozens of this stuff through the years.
However sure, there’s one other KEMCO recreation on the block, and this one comes within the type of Covenant of Solitude. Regardless of releasing on the cellular market again in 2023, it has solely simply appeared on the massive black field, and so the query I hope to reply on this assessment is whether or not we must always select this specific KEMCO JRPG over any of the others. Are you prepared to move off to a world of Genies?
Genies and Despots
In Covenant of Solitude, Genies should not individuals who stay in lamps distributing needs. No, Genies on the planet of Covenant of Solitude are those that are capable of summon and management monsters to do their bidding, combating alongside them.
We play as Fort, a younger boy dwelling within the village of Listy who simply occurs to be a Genie, and he has solely two associates on the planet: Legna, an older boy who is sweet at combating, and Elicia, a sort hearted younger woman. As is usually the best way in these video games, a despotic emperor, head of the imaginatively named “The Empire” decides that the time is ripe to broaden his lands, and so the village of Listy is destroyed. Fort’s energy manifests itself when he’s threatened by Imperial troopers, and the results should not what one would hope: his monsters run amok and kill Elicia. Is there any getting back from that? Nicely, on this (considerably lengthy winded) redemption story, you’ll be capable to discover out.
8-Bit Aesthetics
With the story all sorted, it’s now time to have a look at the best way the sport presents itself, and right here the information is affordable. The time period retro nearly doesn’t do Covenant of Solitude justice, as this can be a correct 8-bit wanting affair that might make any NES proud. It appears okay although, and whereas the characters and enemies are clearly not going to be wildly detailed or notably recognisable, for those who meet the sport on its phrases, it really works fairly properly. The world map appears such as you’d anticipate, and the dungeons are a blended bunch, so all in all, the sport behaves precisely the identical as any of the opposite KEMCO video games that you will have performed.
Sound additionally takes an analogous paint by numbers method, with solely the music within the (quite a few) fights that we have interaction in sticking within the thoughts. The remainder of the sounds actually solely happen within the combating display screen, with the assaults, be they by melee weapons or spells, all having their very own soundtrack. The story is introduced by way of static cutscenes, as common, so no voice performing to fret about. All issues thought-about, it’s one other KEMCO RPG!
Invisible Partitions and Frequent Fights
Now, gameplay is the place Covenant of Solitude has an opportunity to open up some area between itself and the remaining, and it actually does that. Maybe not, sadly, in a great way.
Each KEMCO recreation I’ve ever reviewed has points with strolling round, whether or not or not it’s your character’s incapacity to stroll by way of slender gaps, or the flexibility to get hung up on corners, controls are additionally a niggle. Nicely, Covenant of Solitude takes issues to an entire new stage, as it’s nearly inconceivable to get your man to go wherever with out him strolling into seemingly invisible partitions. It seems that on a telephone, diagonal motion doesn’t exist, and so it doesn’t exist right here. It’s unbelievably irritating to attempt to get by way of a slender space, like a cave dungeon, say, and this saps loads of the enjoyment from the sport.
One other factor that appears to occur is that the monster encounters are random. When you must take additional steps to only get round, this then results in much more fights than any sane particular person would ever wish to have.
Monster Administration
In fact, the flip facet of getting one million fights per metre (this can be an exaggeration) is that you simply stage up fairly rapidly, even given how tight the sport is when it awards EXP to your workforce. And also you’ll get to try this by visiting the outlets in cities, shopping for new gear, not just for our hero however for his workforce of monsters.
And talking of his monster workforce, the information right here isn’t fairly what chances are you’ll assume, both. I went into Covenant of Solitude anticipating it to be a bit like Pokemon, with Fort having the ability to add monsters to his workforce as he goes round. Nonetheless, all of the monsters that we are able to recruit inhabit Fort’s unconscious, for some cause.
There are 4 completely different species of monster to select from, Dragon, Pixie, Beast and Vampire, and the characters we recruit may be both male or feminine. On prime of the selection of species, every monster may be given a task, from fighter to healer, and clearly some are higher suited to sure roles. Getting the optimum workforce is definitely fairly fascinating. With gadgets turning into accessible as you undergo the sport that means that you can change the roles of the monsters, tweaking may be good enjoyable.
A Frustratingly Flawed KEMCO RPG
In conclusion, Covenant of Solitude is a good recreation, with fascinating workforce mechanics, that’s in the end hamstrung by the management system. There may be actually no approach round it – the controls have an effect on each a part of the sport negatively, and which means this can be very troublesome to advocate Covenant of Solitude, regardless of the potential.
Your Hyperlinks
Covenant of Solitude – Grasp Jobs, Recruit Monsters, Play Wherever! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/covenant-of-solitude-master-jobs-recruit-monsters-play-anywhere/
Purchase Covenant of Solitude on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/video games/retailer/covenant-of-solitude/9nwkp08mp1rd