Rise of the Village Hero – Early Access

• DEVELOPER: Ludus Pax Studios
• PUBLISHER: Ludus Pax Studios
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Action RPG
• RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2024
• STARTING PRICE: 11,79 €
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

I want to start by saying that my intention is not to be rude or criticize the game harshly. These are simply my honest feelings after spending the first three hours with it. Unfortunately, I decided to stop playing after finishing Chapter 2 because the experience became too frustrating. It feels like the game could benefit from more thorough playtesting. The concept and story are solid in Rise of the Village Hero, but numerous small issues make it a frustrating experience overall.

I have played a significant number of RPG games in my life, and while I didn’t have massive expectations for this one, I was curious to see what it offered. Knowing it was a solo developer’s first project, I approached it with an open mind. However, I didn’t find anything that set it apart from other games on the market. There was no unique mechanic that hooked me from the beginning. Ultimately, it felt like a very generic RPG.

Gameplay

Firstly, I’d like to address the gameplay, which I found to be lacking in several areas. The main protagonist doesn’t automatically attack nearby enemies, making constant clicking tiresome. Implementing WASD controls would be ideal. Using ranged weapons is difficult and lacks impact in combat. Melee combat is very basic, relying on simple slash and stab mechanics. The gameplay focuses too much on spamming potions rather than properly utilizing upgradable skills. Additionally, the skills lack clear descriptions; all I understood was that strength and agility allowed the use of certain weapons. When you use potions, the character stops their current action, forcing you to repeat the same actions repeatedly.

Fortunately, enemies drop loot at a reasonable pace, allowing you to sell or buy items from shopkeepers, including weapons, armor, or potions. However, the inventory space is quite limited, and there aren’t many places to buy or sell items, so I ended up with 6k gold in the bank after the first two chapters. This is mainly because you get a lot of loot but not much good equipment in the shop. In fact, you have a better chance of finding better loot from enemies, making shop purchases less useful. As someone who enjoys collecting and looting, this mechanic works well for me. I would also prefer if the characters clothes change as you equip new armour or something simillar.

Healing in the game relies heavily on potions, which often feel inadequate. Both small and medium potions frequently fail to maintain an acceptable health level. I spent most of the time at around 50% health throughout an entire chapter because there is no health regeneration like the stamina regeneration, which becomes abundant after level 5, making mana potions less useful. There are no other options for evasion or defense in the game—no dodging, no magic, no jumping—just watching your protagonist fight.

The game was supposed to have a notable level of difficulty. However, the bosses were far too easy to defeat and posed no real challenge, with most enemies dying after three hits and feeling like dummies. Overall, the game was quite easy. As you defeat enemies, you level up, though the experience required for each level is not displayed in the UI. The game features standard RPG stats but lacks meaningful feedback on their effects. To conclude, I did not enjoy the combat; it felt tedious and frustrating, making it difficult to enjoy playing.

Graphics and overall experience

I can overlook the graphics in this game since visual perfection isn’t everything. However, the game utilizes the commonly seen Synty Polygon assets. While some might find this choice off-putting, it doesn’t significantly detract from the game’s overall quality. There are some nice-looking assets, but the level design is rather weak. The environments feel sparse, with more trees than proper buildings, and we move from one massive wall to another. Some areas are much darker than others, and there isn’t much detail in the world.

Additionally, each enemy has the same voice, regardless of being male or female, making the enemies feel generic and bringing nothing new to the combat. Archers and mages don’t pose any real threat. Aesthetically, the game is acceptable, but the sound design falls short. For instance, there’s the sound of rain but no visual animation, and birds chirping in a dark atmosphere, creating a disconnect. Also, each time you would move from one area to the other, there was apparently massive difference in the mood of the game.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the story and narrative. I appreciated the setting—a fantasy world with our protagonist trying to act like a hero. However, it feels unrealistic that he has to do everything by himself. Despite the presence of many knights, our protagonist is the only one fighting 100 orcs. He’s trying to be the perfect hero, but is that really necessary?

The storyline fluctuated in quality, sometimes being good and other times not. It was unclear whether the intention was to be humorous. For example, a goblin suddenly wants to help us read Shaman scripts, and some orcs attack while others don’t until the dialogue continues. This inconsistency made much of the dialogue feel useless. I didn’t feel like I was playing in Romania, it felt I was stuck somewhere in Robin Hood movie, where the protagonist can’t say NO to anyone and tries to help everyone.

Oh well, let me tell this orc to shut up. Just a second, the husband and wife ghosts are arguing, let me say something funny. Ah damn, the knight is injured, so I have to make myself look super amazing. Some characters felt really out of place, and some dialogues were just cringeworthy and didn’t contribute to the story. It’s hard to discern if the informal tone is intentional, reflecting the way villagers and orcs communicate. Most of the time, I found myself wondering, why are they even talking to me?

The quest bar was excellent—easy to access and detailed, which made things simpler. However, the dialogue didn’t help as much. It would consistently repeat the same text, so it was hard to tell if a quest was properly completed or not. Additionally, items should be more highlighted, as they were difficult to notice. On the positive side, the UI was good, easy to use, and the animations and images were well integrated. However, the camera angle could use some improvement. I didn’t feel like I was THE protagonist, and adjusting the camera could be tedious at times. Despite these issues, they didn’t significantly affect the overall gameplay.

There were also lots of side quests, but although they were giving proper loot, they didn’t really feel meaningful, and skipping them resulting in nothing, it doesn’t really add up to the gameplay itself. Knowing this is Early Access, things I’d add: companion system, implement automatic attacks for nearby enemies to reduce the need for constant clicking, provide clear and detailed descriptions of each skill and its effects to help players understand their impact (potential of adding magic), introduce health regeneration similar to stamina regeneration, make items more visually distinct and easier to spot in the environment and so on.

The game also felt quite empty. Yes, there are people, NPCs to talk to, and interesting things to see, but the world felt too vast to feel truly alive. There are witches, dwarves, humans, and orcs, but I needed something more compelling to evoke a sense of wonder and curiosity about what I might encounter next. Additionally, I would prefer if the damage display were slightly bigger, as the camera can zoom out quite far. It would also be great if navigating through doors were easier. The character often struggles to find the best path to enter unless you’re very close to the entrance. You need to click precisely on the ground to go through the door without getting stuck at the entrance.

Ending thoughts

Knowing that this is an Early Access game and that the developer actively takes feedback to improve it, I can see this title becoming something more refined as it approaches full release. As mentioned, this isn’t meant to be a rant but rather constructive feedback for the developer to consider for improvements and fixes. The game is playable without a doubt, it’s just small things making it frustrating than it should be.

I don’t mind if the graphics aren’t perfect, but if the gameplay doesn’t impress me after three hours, it’s unlikely others will keep playing as well. I always believe that if the gameplay is good enough, other aspects don’t matter as much. I may have missed a few things here and there, and I’ll continue to update my review as more updates and content are released. In fact, I hope to be able to finish the final chapter someday.

Review copy provided by the publisher

2.6