Batora: Lost Haven is the new title created by Stormind Gamesan all-Italian software house, and published Team17. This game is very special because unites of the mechanics from Role playing game classic tohack and slash, all adorned with a plot that manages to capture the attention of the player in his first few bars. But without further ado, let’s find out about Batora in our review.
The stars will be with you
Batora: Lost Haven is an isometric top-down title, very similar to the one we see in Diablo, but with a fixed camera. The game focuses a lot on history, in fact, being a title with RPG elements, the plot takes on a very important role. We will not do spoilers of any kind, but we will only give an opening. The Earth is towards a point of no return, e only Avril will have a chance to save her: for this reason the young optimist will try to do the best she can, but she will not be alone, since she will have on her side the powers of the Sun and the Moonwhich will also be reflected in the gameplay.
A very important element that will have a bearing on the story is the way in which you decide to approach the plot. The protagonist will have two ways of interacting in the dialogues: with tenacity or with tranquilityand there are some consequences for the actions taken and the choices made, but as the developers also explain “there are no wrong choices”, So play Avril as you please. As for the Batora: Lost Haven dialogues, you will see them as if they were visual novels, without in-game cutscenes.
Double HP doesn’t mean invincibility
As we have already said, the protagonist of Batora: Lost Haven has a very particular duality. What are we talking about? During the fighting will be able to use the powers of the Sun and those of the Moonand if at the beginning it will be something based solely and exclusively on clashes, as we continue in the story, these powers will be necessary to complete some environmental puzzles.
The two styles are very different from each other and for this reason they should be used differently. The power of the Sun will be that melee: Avril will have a broadsword with which he will be able to take out the enemies, while the Moon will allow the protagonist to attack from a distance with some purple magic balls. The enemies will have the colors of the Sun and the Moon to make you understand what power you will have to use to make your wayand the opposite power will have no effect.
Something very interesting concerns the HP bar, or rather, the HP bars. Yes, because Avril will have access to two different types of HP, but that doesn’t mean that you will be very strong: when the enemies they will attack you we will start losing HP based on the state we are in, and if one of the two drops to zero, it will be game over and we will return to the checkpoint.
As we anticipated earlier, Avril will have to make choices during the adventure, which will affect a system of “karma”. Acting in a negative or positive way will allow you to get rewards, such as runes that can be embedded in weapons and that give bonuses and penalties to your weapons. For instance: you can get 25% more attack but lose 5% defense. So you can also create builds based on your play style.
Unreal Engine 4 still has something to tell
Batora: Lost Haven was developed using Epic Games’ graphic engine Unreal Engine 4, taking advantage of a very cartoonish style that manages to lighten – as much as possible – the plot created by the Italian team. Something that made us wrinkle our noses a bit is the fact that it almost feels like there’s no air inside the game. Yes why seems to be in a completely closed boxwhere the air does not pass, which breaks the harmony between game and graphics. The absence of small particles or the displacement of the wind is something that would have given “that extra touch” during exploration.
There soundtrack it is definitely apt for the game, and manages to accompany the player in the adventure that is Batora: Lost Haven. The only one bug that we found was during the fight, which blocked the character in one direction making it impossible to change it, a very annoying thing but that will probably be solved with a patch, perhaps right on Day One.
Review
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Batora: Lost Haven (Tested on XBX / S)
7.5Final vote
Batora: Lost Haven is a very good product. The Italian developers and Team17 have managed to create a good hack and slash with RPG elements that can keep glued to the screen for hours without ever weighing. Furthermore, from the graphic point of view, a cartoon style has been chosen that never gets boring, even if some elements are missing that would have made the world you will explore “more alive”. All in all it is a game that manages to entertain, especially if you like the genre.
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