Drova - Forsaken Kin
Dec 24, 2024Dec 24, 2024
Oct 15, 2024Mar 30, 2025Nov 2, 2024Oct 19, 2024Mar 23, 2025Oct 16, 2024Oct 20, 2024Nov 14, 2024Oct 21, 2024Oct 18, 2024Apr 1, 2025Mar 17, 2025
76561198027842955
Recommended37 hrs played (37 hrs at review)
Akin to Stygian and Iron Tower before them, Just2D have shown us that a CRPG can be made on a budget. This can't be overstated, for we almost lost my beloved genre to the AAA vulgarisation. It's about to bloom instead. Alas, Drova: Forsaken Kin is an unfortunate title. At least 3 people I know called it Foreskin. Well then, let's pull it back to see what's under the hood. A c#cking good CRPG with twin-stick combat and a hard emphasis on Zelda-esque exploration! Not a game to take the world by storm, yet the one whose little world you could take to heart. Much like Gothic that inspired it. Not being its bleak parody, Drova takes Gothic's unique features and capably integrates them on a deeper level.
Exploration
You begin by following a couple of druids from your village who decide to use a mysterious magic crystal for trans-dimensional travel. Things go awry, they die. Now, you're alone in Drova with the stone in one hand and your dong in another. Then the story gets lost in the shuffle for such a long ass time you'll forget the game had one. Let's do the same and talk presentation. Drova is a love child, evident through its polish, diligent animation, and spritework. The lively pastoral views of the countryside idyll make way for gloomy forests and bogs enveloped in thick fog. The leaves are in motion, bushes and canes sway when you move through as the raindrops ripple in the water, while extremely cute piglets skitter about to the sound of wistful ambience and fitting fantasy instrumentals. The world of Drova makes you wanna linger. There's always something off the beaten path. Tracks to follow, a treasure in the ruins, a sprawling cave system full of traps. After roaming about for a few minutes, you may find a stone that bestows learning points or a concealed dungeon. Then get ambushed by bandits and loot a powerful rare axe. The rewarding nature of exploration is almost overwhelming. The perks of being inquisitive and perceptive are evident right from the start, getting you excited for the rest of the game. Another great feature is what I'd call impractical interactivity. It isn't Ultima or even Gothic, but there's a drop of it here and there. Little things like being able to start a fight with almost anyone, sit in a chair, play a lyra, or dance at a tavern add a drop of flavour that pertains to immersion. I also loved how you have to examine some stuff for a sec before using it. It makes for detective hunts where you need to identify what happened to a person by the traces left or find a button on a wall. A fun mechanic that adds up to the overall superb map design. The world of Drova is full of prominent landmarks and you got a handy map with the ability to denote places of interest with stamps of your choice. You'll need it for the lack of objective markers or even fast travel. A diegetic form of it appears later, but it's limited and costly. I applaud, except backtracking can feel tedious. While map verticality adds depth and there are shortcuts, prepare for long detours around ledges, taking you to dead ends. You have the means to raise your running speed, however, it would be nice if bigger buffs applied for longer than a minute. See, Gothic was technologically advanced for its time, so running around the place had an element of spectacle to it. Here, not so much.Combat
There's no character creator, you create yours in the process of playing. Just like in you know where. Similarly, you get learning points upon level-up, then find instructors to raise attributes and master various combat or crafting skills. It's not that big a hassle. Stats have an incremental effect, albeit, improving your combat skills or obtaining new gear feels impactful. The gear typically isn't too interesting, though, usually only providing droves of said stats. To compensate, Drova has complementary systems at work. Expansive crafting makes it so even the lamest cave has something for you. I used the system to create super-potions and stack up on consumables, which would've bankrupted me otherwise. The economy is pretty harsh. It took me a long time to get rich. I consider it a merit in a genre where balance has always been an afterthought. In Drova, one has to be resourceful to stay alive. The enemy roster is diverse, from bears roaming across the flower fields to Dwarf-Huluds and swamp cronenbergs. Because enemies are tanky and hit hard, they force you to respect their patterns. Especially bosses who remain a reasonable challenge no matter how hard you munchkin. Save a few magic nukes for those. Speaking of magic, you don't get to have spells outside of finite scrolls until much later in the game. For the most part, you'll have to get down and dirty by engaging in snappy twin-stick combat. Drova is a proper Medieval hack-and-slash rather than your typical hit-or-miss. It isn't Dark Souls, in case you wondered, stamina only expends on dodge, block, or enemy stance strikes. It's a loose system where you can spam attacks. It starts off simple, then becomes more interesting as you build up your skillset, getting access to more options. It's pleasant to grow and see how yesterday's threats die in one hit. Some complain there's no level-scaling, so you're free to wander where you don't belong to do little damage and perish. Such fights are optional challenges for people who like getting ahead of the curve. To win a battle out of your league grants a sense of accomplishment like no other. It motivates players to get stronger and more inventive, to learn and appreciate all of the tools at their disposal. Use it as a chance to take another look at your loot. Sometimes it leads to a discovery of something like a scroll that does 750 damage in the area, collecting dust in your backpack. Set up traps or make enemies in-fight for your benefit. All to lay your hands on the treasures you "aren't supposed" to have! Even if you can't succeed now, you can always come back later with a satisfactory vengeance. Level-scaling would've taken it all away.Role-Play
I expected an ARPG, then got blindsided by the humorous branching dialogues that force you to take sides all the time. Sure, that stuff comes to binary choices and fetch quests, but there's more to it. Although you don't get to know anyone that well, you can talk to most NPCs, and they don't come off as caricatures. The snippets of their pasts provide insights into the kind of hard lives people live in Drova. Its world does its best to be sandboxy and reactive. A character may acknowledge your achievements, notice you're wearing a thing stolen from them, or give you a stat boost after a hearty exchange. When someone says they go somewhere, they really run all the way there! Coupled with couriers and bandits skulking about, it gives the world a lived-in feel. Instead of killing you, said bandits just knock you out and rob you. You can do the same to most people, preferably without witnesses. All of the above gives a reason to get invested in the world. There are several forces at play, but the choice between 2 camps, Remnants and Nemeton, is what propels the plot forward. Despite the hints, it's a blind choice that locks you up into following their leader's ambition. The consequences might upset you. As a cop-out, you can achieve a good ending anyway. On a smaller scale, the game gives you multiple ways to get favours with people or access places. Lots of extortion, blackmailing, swindling involved. Day and night cycles during which people follow their schedules help with your shady business. The freedom to be a jerk is the sign of a true CRPG. Here, being a greedy cheat pays while ethics usually cost you, which is a good lesson. What's in benevolence if you don't sacrifice for it? Drova places these petty things on your conscience while leaving the final word to you. My curator Big Bad Mutuh84 votes funny
76561198027842955
Recommended37 hrs played (37 hrs at review)
Akin to Stygian and Iron Tower before them, Just2D have shown us that a CRPG can be made on a budget. This can't be overstated, for we almost lost my beloved genre to the AAA vulgarisation. It's about to bloom instead. Alas, Drova: Forsaken Kin is an unfortunate title. At least 3 people I know called it Foreskin. Well then, let's pull it back to see what's under the hood. A c#cking good CRPG with twin-stick combat and a hard emphasis on Zelda-esque exploration! Not a game to take the world by storm, yet the one whose little world you could take to heart. Much like Gothic that inspired it. Not being its bleak parody, Drova takes Gothic's unique features and capably integrates them on a deeper level.
Exploration
You begin by following a couple of druids from your village who decide to use a mysterious magic crystal for trans-dimensional travel. Things go awry, they die. Now, you're alone in Drova with the stone in one hand and your dong in another. Then the story gets lost in the shuffle for such a long ass time you'll forget the game had one. Let's do the same and talk presentation. Drova is a love child, evident through its polish, diligent animation, and spritework. The lively pastoral views of the countryside idyll make way for gloomy forests and bogs enveloped in thick fog. The leaves are in motion, bushes and canes sway when you move through as the raindrops ripple in the water, while extremely cute piglets skitter about to the sound of wistful ambience and fitting fantasy instrumentals. The world of Drova makes you wanna linger. There's always something off the beaten path. Tracks to follow, a treasure in the ruins, a sprawling cave system full of traps. After roaming about for a few minutes, you may find a stone that bestows learning points or a concealed dungeon. Then get ambushed by bandits and loot a powerful rare axe. The rewarding nature of exploration is almost overwhelming. The perks of being inquisitive and perceptive are evident right from the start, getting you excited for the rest of the game. Another great feature is what I'd call impractical interactivity. It isn't Ultima or even Gothic, but there's a drop of it here and there. Little things like being able to start a fight with almost anyone, sit in a chair, play a lyra, or dance at a tavern add a drop of flavour that pertains to immersion. I also loved how you have to examine some stuff for a sec before using it. It makes for detective hunts where you need to identify what happened to a person by the traces left or find a button on a wall. A fun mechanic that adds up to the overall superb map design. The world of Drova is full of prominent landmarks and you got a handy map with the ability to denote places of interest with stamps of your choice. You'll need it for the lack of objective markers or even fast travel. A diegetic form of it appears later, but it's limited and costly. I applaud, except backtracking can feel tedious. While map verticality adds depth and there are shortcuts, prepare for long detours around ledges, taking you to dead ends. You have the means to raise your running speed, however, it would be nice if bigger buffs applied for longer than a minute. See, Gothic was technologically advanced for its time, so running around the place had an element of spectacle to it. Here, not so much.Combat
There's no character creator, you create yours in the process of playing. Just like in you know where. Similarly, you get learning points upon level-up, then find instructors to raise attributes and master various combat or crafting skills. It's not that big a hassle. Stats have an incremental effect, albeit, improving your combat skills or obtaining new gear feels impactful. The gear typically isn't too interesting, though, usually only providing droves of said stats. To compensate, Drova has complementary systems at work. Expansive crafting makes it so even the lamest cave has something for you. I used the system to create super-potions and stack up on consumables, which would've bankrupted me otherwise. The economy is pretty harsh. It took me a long time to get rich. I consider it a merit in a genre where balance has always been an afterthought. In Drova, one has to be resourceful to stay alive. The enemy roster is diverse, from bears roaming across the flower fields to Dwarf-Huluds and swamp cronenbergs. Because enemies are tanky and hit hard, they force you to respect their patterns. Especially bosses who remain a reasonable challenge no matter how hard you munchkin. Save a few magic nukes for those. Speaking of magic, you don't get to have spells outside of finite scrolls until much later in the game. For the most part, you'll have to get down and dirty by engaging in snappy twin-stick combat. Drova is a proper Medieval hack-and-slash rather than your typical hit-or-miss. It isn't Dark Souls, in case you wondered, stamina only expends on dodge, block, or enemy stance strikes. It's a loose system where you can spam attacks. It starts off simple, then becomes more interesting as you build up your skillset, getting access to more options. It's pleasant to grow and see how yesterday's threats die in one hit. Some complain there's no level-scaling, so you're free to wander where you don't belong to do little damage and perish. Such fights are optional challenges for people who like getting ahead of the curve. To win a battle out of your league grants a sense of accomplishment like no other. It motivates players to get stronger and more inventive, to learn and appreciate all of the tools at their disposal. Use it as a chance to take another look at your loot. Sometimes it leads to a discovery of something like a scroll that does 750 damage in the area, collecting dust in your backpack. Set up traps or make enemies in-fight for your benefit. All to lay your hands on the treasures you "aren't supposed" to have! Even if you can't succeed now, you can always come back later with a satisfactory vengeance. Level-scaling would've taken it all away.Role-Play
I expected an ARPG, then got blindsided by the humorous branching dialogues that force you to take sides all the time. Sure, that stuff comes to binary choices and fetch quests, but there's more to it. Although you don't get to know anyone that well, you can talk to most NPCs, and they don't come off as caricatures. The snippets of their pasts provide insights into the kind of hard lives people live in Drova. Its world does its best to be sandboxy and reactive. A character may acknowledge your achievements, notice you're wearing a thing stolen from them, or give you a stat boost after a hearty exchange. When someone says they go somewhere, they really run all the way there! Coupled with couriers and bandits skulking about, it gives the world a lived-in feel. Instead of killing you, said bandits just knock you out and rob you. You can do the same to most people, preferably without witnesses. All of the above gives a reason to get invested in the world. There are several forces at play, but the choice between 2 camps, Remnants and Nemeton, is what propels the plot forward. Despite the hints, it's a blind choice that locks you up into following their leader's ambition. The consequences might upset you. As a cop-out, you can achieve a good ending anyway. On a smaller scale, the game gives you multiple ways to get favours with people or access places. Lots of extortion, blackmailing, swindling involved. Day and night cycles during which people follow their schedules help with your shady business. The freedom to be a jerk is the sign of a true CRPG. Here, being a greedy cheat pays while ethics usually cost you, which is a good lesson. What's in benevolence if you don't sacrifice for it? Drova places these petty things on your conscience while leaving the final word to you. My curator Big Bad Mutuh84 votes funny
76561199790811385
Not Recommended0 hrs played
Another government funded bodytype 1/2 slop, you can imagine the political agenda throughout the game.
How come I and also the majority of gamers can't play as what we are: male? Even transgenders identify as either male or female. LESS THAN 1% of gamers even prefer this nonsense on the "Body type 1 or 2 vs Male or Female" poll of lefty gaming website NeaGAF. And you put this diarrhea into a game whose main audience are eastern europeans!? I just wanted to play this fucking RPG as a guy but you had to put DEI degeneracy into a ROLE playing game to exclude 99% of gamers that don't CONSOOM your leftist ideology
Ask yourselves: why MUST Bodytype wear a bra if it isn't a woman? You guys are hypocrites.
40 votes funny
76561198012084156
Recommended19 hrs played (19 hrs at review)
A lot of things to like about this game, but a few annoying ticks as well.
The Good:
- Very solid RPG. Dialogue is genuinely interesting, entertaining, and well-written. I was immersed the whole way through Chapter 1.
- Feels like Oblivion meets Hyperlight Drifter meets Dark Souls.
- Zero bugs and glitches. The game is seamless.
- There is replayability. The first map comes with two major factions, and joining one locks you out of the other. Likewise, there's no way you can cover all the weapon builds in just one playthrough.
- Mobs/bosses/etc are genuinely hard. I died 6x to the Bear boss alone. Felt like a kid playing Dark Souls again.
- Music is really solid.
- Aesthetic is fantastic.
The Great:
- You can beat up/attack most NPCs and loot them for their stuff. It's a very viable way to get gear, but they're tough as nails. You genuinely have to consider how to talk to people because 9/10ths of the NPCs in this game are built different. If you are rude to someone in a conversation, they might just beat your a** for it and take all your stuff.
The Funny:
- I slept in a gladiator's bed, so they woke me up, knocked me unconscious, stole all my money, and 9hrs later, I returned, kicked the sh** out of them and stole their hat.
The Not-so Great:
- Difficulty, at times, comes from the mobs and bosses simply not knowing when to stop.
- Unlike you, they have no stamina/focus bar.
- So if you fight a guy in the arena, he will spam special attacks over... and over... and over.
- There is no actual ebb and flow to some fights. You just get railed on with magic/shouts/special stuns, and that's... that. You just sort of have to roll with it.
The Annoying:
- Some of the NPCs you can fight have power levels that don't make sense.
- I was playing a new Hardcore playthrough and decided to beat up a kitchen wench because she denied me a quest reward. She hit me with iron daggers, at first, then got tired of that and changed to a high-level sling; which one shot me, totally breaking my immersion.
- This lets down an otherwise great mechanic, because you are never really sure who you can start on and who you can't.... despite it being an integral gameplay feature.
As far as a role-playing game goes, it is great. But you occasionally run into those awkward (?) moments that make you feel awkward and like your time isn't being respected. I feel like the developers should go back and tighten up a few screws on the NPCs. Non-fighters probably shouldn't hit like The Terminator.
Edit: I saw that this review blew up. I should add:
The Dev team for this game is beyond excellent. If you check out their Discord, you'll notice they're active with the community. Likewise, this game feels like one of those early PS1 titles that you grow up with. If you were to boot up this game, and it was one of your first ever games, you would get absolutely lost in it. I'm biased because I've played through 800+ titles in my life, which leads me to compare it to everything else (the shtick of old age). Despite my chagrin comments about some of the flaws with the game's combat system, I wholeheartedly recommend buying it and supporting this Dev team. They made something really magical here. It's a breath of fresh air -- I'm not sure how else to describe it.
32 votes funny
76561198046663378
Recommended31 hrs played (13 hrs at review)
Metaphor: ReFantazio, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard are gonna be fighting for best RPG of 2024, and sadly the actual best RPG released this year likely won't even be nominated.
29 votes funny
76561198060798540
Not Recommended13 hrs played (2 hrs at review)
I have been soft locked inside the Deep mine because I sold all my other mining picks because I thought the silver pick I bought would work, and now I can not progress because I have no mining pick and can't get back.
19 votes funny
76561197994075546
Recommended64 hrs played (24 hrs at review)
Secret of Evermore + Baldur's Gate 1&2. This game is INCREDIBLE. The storytelling, the combat, the music, the level design, the enemy design, EVERYTHING is peak.
This game is so good it's given me better DREAMS. 10/10
16 votes funny
76561198429438358
Not Recommended8 hrs played (3 hrs at review)
Unfortunately, the dev caved to gender politics (aka mental illness) on top of locking threads and banning anyone that calls them out. Definitely won't be supporting this dev in the future.
Edit: Now reviews are being deleted. 6 negatives cut down to 4.
14 votes funny
76561198272626786
Not Recommended0 hrs played
Ladies and gentlemen, it seems like the second coming of the black plague is upon Europe's shores and doors again, and instead of coming from the east, this time it comes from across the pond to the west; it isn't a bubonic plague like the first time, this time it's a nefarious mental illness that attacks the intellect of it's victims, so save your brain cells whilst you still can.
You ever get that feeling that you're the only sane one in an ever increasing insane world? These types of games are reminding me of that. So, let me describe why. I hear about this game, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm from Europe, the home of Celtic culture. So when I found out a game has in it's short summary, "Drova is an Action-RPG that marries the dark grim tones of its genre with the mysticism of Celtic mythology. Encounter a society where ancient restless spirits and divided factions battle for dominance. Uncover forgotten abilities and unravel the secrets of a past shrouded in mystery." I'm thinking... Wow. I love Grim Dark. I love Celtic mysticism, culture, spirituality, etc. I have a few books on the subject too. To name a few, The Celtic World by Barry Cunliffe, Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe, Historical Atlas of the Celtic World by Angus Konstam, The Celts by Nora Chadwick and so as you can imagine I know a thing or two and let me tell you, this game is nothing more than a modern dumbed-down butchery of facts so it can cater to an already dumbed-down society and in the process these developers will sadly use cultural appropriation to essentially falsely advertise and then blatantly mess with facts on purpose to support (sadly) modern day societal 'norms'. I don't need to go into detail on what these are, people are already used to it, but when developers are additionally trying to use/alter the word 'Physique' to gender to change your gender it starts to get really silly, don't you think? Don't even get me started on the colour situation, or the pronouns. Why must you developers make a good game at the core, then layer it with so much modern day BS? This is the sad reality of modern gaming, developers are following the modern day trend and losing touch with reality, and it's honestly sickening. If you told a person 50 years ago that you couldn't write 'boy/man' or 'girl/woman' in a book they'd think you're crazy... guess what? We live in that world; and guess what's even more sad? They're using the word 'physique' now because they're also trying to change the original meaning of words that have dictionary definitions (the word is gender you creeps). When a game gets to this level of creepy, I'm getting a refund.
Instead of the modern concept of the soul resting within the thoracic cage, Celtic people believed the head was the seat of the soul, and believed that it had the ability to turn aside evil and also bring fortune... well, it also seems that sadly the seat of the soul also can be manipulated if it's weak enough and can become corrupted beyond recognition.
That's the sad reality. This game is good at the core, I can see that easily, but to get to the core you will need a pickaxe yourself to mine through all of the modern day BS to get to the good stuff, and I honestly haven't got the time or energy for; I'll rather just give my money to developers who respect their cultures and think for themselves. Good riddance.
12 votes funny
76561198113837464
Not Recommended27 hrs played (22 hrs at review)
Spent 20-ish hours doing sidequests. Got robbed by 3 guys that each individually took 1/3rd of my total money and they just walked south a bit and stood idle.
When I tried to attack them to take my money back the game had disabled their hitboxes. Talking to them just led to me getting taunted.
10 votes funny
76561197987683892
Recommended31 hrs played (29 hrs at review)
I cracked the game, then I played for around 8 hours. I bought the game and now have another 14.
The game is hard, but if you learn the systems and use the tools available to you, it is SO DAMN SATISFYING.
One of the best RPGs I've played in a very long while. The devs understand what a RPG should be. There are are so many impactful choices (both rewards, story consequences and even character progression).
Can't wait to play much more and I hope there's more to come to the world of Drova.
Edit: The game also has quite a lot of content, especially if you enjoy puzzles and exploring. I recommend the game even more than I already did. I did not expect it to last over 28 hours (still not done).
10 votes funny
76561197991508017
Not Recommended0 hrs played
There is SO MUCH DIALOG in this game. It's pretty much a book with a side of gaming. That wouldn't be too bad if the text was actually interesting, but it's not. I spent a solid 5 minutes chopping wood with some guy, and all he did was throw names and places at me like it meant something.
There's something here, but it's being overshadowed by bad writing. Let the players PLAY the game. Don't ask them to read hundreds of lines of text just to progress.
10 votes funny
76561198045077926
Recommended48 hrs played
I pet a cat and it treated me like a cat does irl. 10/10
EDIT: A dog ate my food. Still 10/10 but a little sad about it.
9 votes funny
76561198127635783
Not Recommended42 hrs played (31 hrs at review)
9 votes funny
76561199087020303
Not Recommended35 hrs played (7 hrs at review)
I see what this game is going for. But it doesn't do a particularly good job on the details.
Combat:
Is just bad. Just. Really bad. Enemies ALL move faster than you. Human enemies can, and do, sprint in combat. You cannot. Your dodges, power attacks, and special abilities are limited via resources. Theirs are not. Non-human enemies are not quite as bad, but they tend to have at least one move that is basically a half-screen dash attack, making it difficult to keep pressure on.
Second. The writing is mediocre. Every. Single. Character. Is a sardonic asshole. Zero exceptions. Every single one of them has the exact same tongue-in-cheek one-eye looking at the camera wink and nod personality.
Combine these two things together and playing this game is like pulling teeth, but even slower and more painful.
This game is probably for some people, but i cannot honestly recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a massive amount of time on their hands and isn't totally okay fighting against just piss-poor combat.
9 votes funny
76561198070616040
Not Recommended59 hrs played (59 hrs at review)
Note 5: Regarding Body Type A or B. It's actually much worse than you think, because not only does it not specify the genders but it also allows you mix A and B with the voices you like so you can create a woman body with a man voice, essentially playing as a transexual person. Wich is great for DEI
Note 4: It seems it's the publisher that had to tick their diversity checkbox, sad times. It's really a woke DEI checklist game with modern dialogue. It uses the skeleton of Gothic as a puppet but it's really for the modern audience. If you don't want to support woke Dei games, buy it at 90% disscount because the game is good, don't fund further woke projects
Note 3: i was banned by the devs because i was talking how their dei politics made the story and quests worse. The reason for the ban was that i was derailing every topic i replied.
Wich is hilarious but today i commented on about 10 topics, 9 were quest or mechanic related.
The 1 topic i mentioned dei politics is when someone else said there is no such politics and i explained a few examples.
The hilarious part is that i said in that reply " we should be allowed to talk about it" and the devs dont want us to talk about it and censor it.
Point proven, never supporting these devs again. I will still make videos for the game because i can play a decent DEI game but the devs wont allow you to even mention in game facts because it exposes their agenda.
I was talking about a quest where our character is taken as a slave to work in a ruin
There is a comically evil white male guard that beats up the diverse cook but the comically compasionate female guard saves her and even indirectly helps us escape.
The developer said i have a racist agenda because i described a situation the developer made.
So i get called a racist, get banned for no reason and steam is fine with that.
Steam is too lenient with devs banning and insulting users who talk about a fictional situation in a fictional game.
Why aren't we allowed to report devs or moderators like we can with users?
He was 1 step away from calling me a f-ing manbaby😀👍(if you get the reference)
Note2: The game is heavy on puzzles and secrets wich might good or bad, depending on what you want. A lot of backtracking and the pixel map makes it worse but it's a much bigger world that the map seems. Could be a great game if worked on more.
Disapointed by the lack of immersion, the main quest is very much forced on the player and the choices are not good enough
Note: my review is mostly positive for the base game but the developers started closing threads that questioned the woke politics of the game so i cannot give a positive review officialy when devs embrace the wokeness so much and censor their customers.
If you remember Gothic, you will notice a lot of similar gameplay mechanics. You a character that gets thrown into a new dimension and have to learn how things work. It's very grounded in reality and it's all low fantasy medieval world. The playable area is pretty and you get to chose when and where to explore, you can go in the wrong area and die fast.
I played the first 40 minutes on Ironamn Classic(harder difficulty) and it was pretty good. You have a good UI for inventory management and you have a classic progression https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Mu9b85HdY
Pros: nice solid classic adventure, isometric works well here, pretty complex mechanics, freedom to explore and die, definetly made for hardcore fans of rpg games, game starts super slow to establish the world building and it's a nice change of pace. You will have some epic adventures later with big creatures and dangerous enemies.
Sound design is great and there is a weather system as well, good atmosphere and immersion.
You seem to have freedom to join what faction you like, can't say more since i am early in the game
Mixed: Since its lower quality pixel art you have to use an "observe" mechanic to see through fog/trees/grass and inspect items. Sometimes its hard to see a healing plant in the bushes for example, they only get highlighted if you are close or it's something obvious like a coin.
Cons:
Pixel art is not that great or detailed
Player will get lost or might not find secret areas because the enviroment is not very detailed wich is not ideal
Combat is a little floaty and has some jank to it
It uses a weird focus mechanic where you get focus by hiting enemies and then you can use spell scrolls wich are consumables. I don't like this since it's not magic but it's not normal combat either.
Might be woke, i saw a weird proportion of 50% women and 50% men along side weird character creation.
I disliked the character creation because it uses type 1 and 2. But since it's pixel art i tried to not use a woman hair style or accesories and i gave up. Why does it have in deepth customisation if you can't see anything and might end puting woman customisation on a man body. Same for voices.
I might be wrong but i will only find out after 3-4 hours BUT all woke things should be labeled as such and gamers should be informed about this.
9 votes funny
76561198032127602
Not Recommended0 hrs played
Hard no due to character creation. You get to play either as a man, or that same exact man that's now not comfortable showing his bare chest. The model doesn't change between the two, nor armor, nor even hair. So the best you get is a female voiced Gaston. Absolutely awful.
8 votes funny
76561197968647652
Not Recommended7 hrs played (7 hrs at review)
infuirating game, you can see there is potential but its pretends to be an exploration game but any attempt to go a path results in certain death. no idea how im meant to get better armour or survive when one hit from anything kills you
8 votes funny
76561198073370929
Recommended49 hrs played (13 hrs at review)
Almost 14 hours into the game and not a single hidden cave behind a waterfall. Literally unplayable!
8 votes funny
76561198284731206
Not Recommended5 hrs played (5 hrs at review)
Cons: #1. Your character doesn't dodge when the key is pressed. Instead of using a smooth and responsive dodge mechanic like you find in Shadow of Mordor, or the Arkham games, Drova has a less-responsive and more 'difficult' dodge system where you can only dodge if your character isn't locked into an attacking/blocking/etc. animation already. This is an inferior dodge system imo.
#2. No voice dialogue
#3. The tutorial pop-ups that happen can just randomly disappear, without you having read them, and there's no way to get them back, so you can very easily lose out on critical information during the tutorial section
#4. The game is missing tooltips in several places, like in the character creation screen for instance.
#5. You cannot pick up an item while scanning
#6. You cannot pick up an item while you have your weapon drawn
#7. Some keys cannot be rebound
#8. The difficulty options aren't explained at all and you aren't told how if affects your game.
#9. The game freezes when you alt+tab
#10. The game is for sale in countries that commit crimes against humanity, like Izrael and Ruzzia.
Something like No Rest for The Wicked is better imo... it's not much better, but it's still better. If the devs fixed #1 (or gave you an option to choose between 'responsive dodging' or 'animation-locked dodging') then that would bring this game to a point where I could give it a borderline recommendation, but until then, this game just isn't fun and the combat is painfully stiff.
Here's my first impressions review video: https://youtu.be/Jv1W-5uJu-k
For more reviews, visit my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7851637/
For my full recommended list of games: https://steamcommunity.com/id/lfpg/recommended/
8 votes funny
76561198120042218
Not Recommended6 hrs played (6 hrs at review)
A single player version of Ragnarok Online with story copied from Gothic. Zero game mechanics explanations and combat balance broken beyond repair.
7 votes funny
76561198018956046
Not Recommended2 hrs played (2 hrs at review)
i got robbed by dudes i did no damage at all to 3 times in a row in less that 15 mins
i got to this point directly following the quests from the woodcutters camp if this is apart of the design to send me directly in to get fucked city then it is poor design
7 votes funny
76561198032445298
Recommended33 hrs played (33 hrs at review)
Not quite the GOTY some people are claiming -- the writing is decent, if not amazing, and the content is good, if a spread a bit thin -- but it's a lot better than the room-temperature gruel AAA developers are showing off at the game awards, so sure. Better this than Starfield or some FF remake.
7 votes funny
76561198072195136
Not Recommended31 hrs played (31 hrs at review)
Short, linear game with a boring story. Finished it on Iron-man and was kind of relived I could finally put it aside.
If I should describe the game in one word it would have to be "meh..."
7 votes funny
76561198066952071
Not Recommended3 hrs played (3 hrs at review)
This game looks and plays really good... until you get into a fight.
stupid hitboxes. fighting more than one enemy is a nightmare. and every enemy is a fricking damage sponge that will take you 5 minutes to kill because they take no damage and jump around so you cant hit them with the stupid hitboxes while they hit you when youre outside of their visual hibox range
7 votes funny
76561197973653544
Recommended39 hrs played (16 hrs at review)
Drova treats its Players like they have a Brain. I really like that. Its rare these days.
It reminds me of the good old Gothic 1 and 2 days.
No Checklists, no Markers all over the place, no Character that talks to themself where to go and what to do.
No Enemies that level with you.
Just a really enjoyable Game.
7 votes funny
Drova - Forsaken Kin
Dec 24, 2024Dec 24, 2024Oct 15, 2024Mar 30, 2025Nov 2, 2024Oct 19, 2024Mar 23, 2025Oct 16, 2024Oct 20, 2024Nov 14, 2024Oct 21, 2024Oct 18, 2024Apr 1, 2025Mar 17, 2025
76561198027842955
Recommended37 hrs played (37 hrs at review)
Akin to Stygian and Iron Tower before them, Just2D have shown us that a CRPG can be made on a budget. This can't be overstated, for we almost lost my beloved genre to the AAA vulgarisation. It's about to bloom instead. Alas, Drova: Forsaken Kin is an unfortunate title. At least 3 people I know called it Foreskin. Well then, let's pull it back to see what's under the hood. A c#cking good CRPG with twin-stick combat and a hard emphasis on Zelda-esque exploration! Not a game to take the world by storm, yet the one whose little world you could take to heart. Much like Gothic that inspired it. Not being its bleak parody, Drova takes Gothic's unique features and capably integrates them on a deeper level.
Exploration
You begin by following a couple of druids from your village who decide to use a mysterious magic crystal for trans-dimensional travel. Things go awry, they die. Now, you're alone in Drova with the stone in one hand and your dong in another. Then the story gets lost in the shuffle for such a long ass time you'll forget the game had one. Let's do the same and talk presentation. Drova is a love child, evident through its polish, diligent animation, and spritework. The lively pastoral views of the countryside idyll make way for gloomy forests and bogs enveloped in thick fog. The leaves are in motion, bushes and canes sway when you move through as the raindrops ripple in the water, while extremely cute piglets skitter about to the sound of wistful ambience and fitting fantasy instrumentals. The world of Drova makes you wanna linger. There's always something off the beaten path. Tracks to follow, a treasure in the ruins, a sprawling cave system full of traps. After roaming about for a few minutes, you may find a stone that bestows learning points or a concealed dungeon. Then get ambushed by bandits and loot a powerful rare axe. The rewarding nature of exploration is almost overwhelming. The perks of being inquisitive and perceptive are evident right from the start, getting you excited for the rest of the game. Another great feature is what I'd call impractical interactivity. It isn't Ultima or even Gothic, but there's a drop of it here and there. Little things like being able to start a fight with almost anyone, sit in a chair, play a lyra, or dance at a tavern add a drop of flavour that pertains to immersion. I also loved how you have to examine some stuff for a sec before using it. It makes for detective hunts where you need to identify what happened to a person by the traces left or find a button on a wall. A fun mechanic that adds up to the overall superb map design. The world of Drova is full of prominent landmarks and you got a handy map with the ability to denote places of interest with stamps of your choice. You'll need it for the lack of objective markers or even fast travel. A diegetic form of it appears later, but it's limited and costly. I applaud, except backtracking can feel tedious. While map verticality adds depth and there are shortcuts, prepare for long detours around ledges, taking you to dead ends. You have the means to raise your running speed, however, it would be nice if bigger buffs applied for longer than a minute. See, Gothic was technologically advanced for its time, so running around the place had an element of spectacle to it. Here, not so much.Combat
There's no character creator, you create yours in the process of playing. Just like in you know where. Similarly, you get learning points upon level-up, then find instructors to raise attributes and master various combat or crafting skills. It's not that big a hassle. Stats have an incremental effect, albeit, improving your combat skills or obtaining new gear feels impactful. The gear typically isn't too interesting, though, usually only providing droves of said stats. To compensate, Drova has complementary systems at work. Expansive crafting makes it so even the lamest cave has something for you. I used the system to create super-potions and stack up on consumables, which would've bankrupted me otherwise. The economy is pretty harsh. It took me a long time to get rich. I consider it a merit in a genre where balance has always been an afterthought. In Drova, one has to be resourceful to stay alive. The enemy roster is diverse, from bears roaming across the flower fields to Dwarf-Huluds and swamp cronenbergs. Because enemies are tanky and hit hard, they force you to respect their patterns. Especially bosses who remain a reasonable challenge no matter how hard you munchkin. Save a few magic nukes for those. Speaking of magic, you don't get to have spells outside of finite scrolls until much later in the game. For the most part, you'll have to get down and dirty by engaging in snappy twin-stick combat. Drova is a proper Medieval hack-and-slash rather than your typical hit-or-miss. It isn't Dark Souls, in case you wondered, stamina only expends on dodge, block, or enemy stance strikes. It's a loose system where you can spam attacks. It starts off simple, then becomes more interesting as you build up your skillset, getting access to more options. It's pleasant to grow and see how yesterday's threats die in one hit. Some complain there's no level-scaling, so you're free to wander where you don't belong to do little damage and perish. Such fights are optional challenges for people who like getting ahead of the curve. To win a battle out of your league grants a sense of accomplishment like no other. It motivates players to get stronger and more inventive, to learn and appreciate all of the tools at their disposal. Use it as a chance to take another look at your loot. Sometimes it leads to a discovery of something like a scroll that does 750 damage in the area, collecting dust in your backpack. Set up traps or make enemies in-fight for your benefit. All to lay your hands on the treasures you "aren't supposed" to have! Even if you can't succeed now, you can always come back later with a satisfactory vengeance. Level-scaling would've taken it all away.Role-Play
I expected an ARPG, then got blindsided by the humorous branching dialogues that force you to take sides all the time. Sure, that stuff comes to binary choices and fetch quests, but there's more to it. Although you don't get to know anyone that well, you can talk to most NPCs, and they don't come off as caricatures. The snippets of their pasts provide insights into the kind of hard lives people live in Drova. Its world does its best to be sandboxy and reactive. A character may acknowledge your achievements, notice you're wearing a thing stolen from them, or give you a stat boost after a hearty exchange. When someone says they go somewhere, they really run all the way there! Coupled with couriers and bandits skulking about, it gives the world a lived-in feel. Instead of killing you, said bandits just knock you out and rob you. You can do the same to most people, preferably without witnesses. All of the above gives a reason to get invested in the world. There are several forces at play, but the choice between 2 camps, Remnants and Nemeton, is what propels the plot forward. Despite the hints, it's a blind choice that locks you up into following their leader's ambition. The consequences might upset you. As a cop-out, you can achieve a good ending anyway. On a smaller scale, the game gives you multiple ways to get favours with people or access places. Lots of extortion, blackmailing, swindling involved. Day and night cycles during which people follow their schedules help with your shady business. The freedom to be a jerk is the sign of a true CRPG. Here, being a greedy cheat pays while ethics usually cost you, which is a good lesson. What's in benevolence if you don't sacrifice for it? Drova places these petty things on your conscience while leaving the final word to you. My curator Big Bad Mutuh84 votes funny
76561198027842955
Recommended37 hrs played (37 hrs at review)
Akin to Stygian and Iron Tower before them, Just2D have shown us that a CRPG can be made on a budget. This can't be overstated, for we almost lost my beloved genre to the AAA vulgarisation. It's about to bloom instead. Alas, Drova: Forsaken Kin is an unfortunate title. At least 3 people I know called it Foreskin. Well then, let's pull it back to see what's under the hood. A c#cking good CRPG with twin-stick combat and a hard emphasis on Zelda-esque exploration! Not a game to take the world by storm, yet the one whose little world you could take to heart. Much like Gothic that inspired it. Not being its bleak parody, Drova takes Gothic's unique features and capably integrates them on a deeper level.
Exploration
You begin by following a couple of druids from your village who decide to use a mysterious magic crystal for trans-dimensional travel. Things go awry, they die. Now, you're alone in Drova with the stone in one hand and your dong in another. Then the story gets lost in the shuffle for such a long ass time you'll forget the game had one. Let's do the same and talk presentation. Drova is a love child, evident through its polish, diligent animation, and spritework. The lively pastoral views of the countryside idyll make way for gloomy forests and bogs enveloped in thick fog. The leaves are in motion, bushes and canes sway when you move through as the raindrops ripple in the water, while extremely cute piglets skitter about to the sound of wistful ambience and fitting fantasy instrumentals. The world of Drova makes you wanna linger. There's always something off the beaten path. Tracks to follow, a treasure in the ruins, a sprawling cave system full of traps. After roaming about for a few minutes, you may find a stone that bestows learning points or a concealed dungeon. Then get ambushed by bandits and loot a powerful rare axe. The rewarding nature of exploration is almost overwhelming. The perks of being inquisitive and perceptive are evident right from the start, getting you excited for the rest of the game. Another great feature is what I'd call impractical interactivity. It isn't Ultima or even Gothic, but there's a drop of it here and there. Little things like being able to start a fight with almost anyone, sit in a chair, play a lyra, or dance at a tavern add a drop of flavour that pertains to immersion. I also loved how you have to examine some stuff for a sec before using it. It makes for detective hunts where you need to identify what happened to a person by the traces left or find a button on a wall. A fun mechanic that adds up to the overall superb map design. The world of Drova is full of prominent landmarks and you got a handy map with the ability to denote places of interest with stamps of your choice. You'll need it for the lack of objective markers or even fast travel. A diegetic form of it appears later, but it's limited and costly. I applaud, except backtracking can feel tedious. While map verticality adds depth and there are shortcuts, prepare for long detours around ledges, taking you to dead ends. You have the means to raise your running speed, however, it would be nice if bigger buffs applied for longer than a minute. See, Gothic was technologically advanced for its time, so running around the place had an element of spectacle to it. Here, not so much.Combat
There's no character creator, you create yours in the process of playing. Just like in you know where. Similarly, you get learning points upon level-up, then find instructors to raise attributes and master various combat or crafting skills. It's not that big a hassle. Stats have an incremental effect, albeit, improving your combat skills or obtaining new gear feels impactful. The gear typically isn't too interesting, though, usually only providing droves of said stats. To compensate, Drova has complementary systems at work. Expansive crafting makes it so even the lamest cave has something for you. I used the system to create super-potions and stack up on consumables, which would've bankrupted me otherwise. The economy is pretty harsh. It took me a long time to get rich. I consider it a merit in a genre where balance has always been an afterthought. In Drova, one has to be resourceful to stay alive. The enemy roster is diverse, from bears roaming across the flower fields to Dwarf-Huluds and swamp cronenbergs. Because enemies are tanky and hit hard, they force you to respect their patterns. Especially bosses who remain a reasonable challenge no matter how hard you munchkin. Save a few magic nukes for those. Speaking of magic, you don't get to have spells outside of finite scrolls until much later in the game. For the most part, you'll have to get down and dirty by engaging in snappy twin-stick combat. Drova is a proper Medieval hack-and-slash rather than your typical hit-or-miss. It isn't Dark Souls, in case you wondered, stamina only expends on dodge, block, or enemy stance strikes. It's a loose system where you can spam attacks. It starts off simple, then becomes more interesting as you build up your skillset, getting access to more options. It's pleasant to grow and see how yesterday's threats die in one hit. Some complain there's no level-scaling, so you're free to wander where you don't belong to do little damage and perish. Such fights are optional challenges for people who like getting ahead of the curve. To win a battle out of your league grants a sense of accomplishment like no other. It motivates players to get stronger and more inventive, to learn and appreciate all of the tools at their disposal. Use it as a chance to take another look at your loot. Sometimes it leads to a discovery of something like a scroll that does 750 damage in the area, collecting dust in your backpack. Set up traps or make enemies in-fight for your benefit. All to lay your hands on the treasures you "aren't supposed" to have! Even if you can't succeed now, you can always come back later with a satisfactory vengeance. Level-scaling would've taken it all away.Role-Play
I expected an ARPG, then got blindsided by the humorous branching dialogues that force you to take sides all the time. Sure, that stuff comes to binary choices and fetch quests, but there's more to it. Although you don't get to know anyone that well, you can talk to most NPCs, and they don't come off as caricatures. The snippets of their pasts provide insights into the kind of hard lives people live in Drova. Its world does its best to be sandboxy and reactive. A character may acknowledge your achievements, notice you're wearing a thing stolen from them, or give you a stat boost after a hearty exchange. When someone says they go somewhere, they really run all the way there! Coupled with couriers and bandits skulking about, it gives the world a lived-in feel. Instead of killing you, said bandits just knock you out and rob you. You can do the same to most people, preferably without witnesses. All of the above gives a reason to get invested in the world. There are several forces at play, but the choice between 2 camps, Remnants and Nemeton, is what propels the plot forward. Despite the hints, it's a blind choice that locks you up into following their leader's ambition. The consequences might upset you. As a cop-out, you can achieve a good ending anyway. On a smaller scale, the game gives you multiple ways to get favours with people or access places. Lots of extortion, blackmailing, swindling involved. Day and night cycles during which people follow their schedules help with your shady business. The freedom to be a jerk is the sign of a true CRPG. Here, being a greedy cheat pays while ethics usually cost you, which is a good lesson. What's in benevolence if you don't sacrifice for it? Drova places these petty things on your conscience while leaving the final word to you. My curator Big Bad Mutuh84 votes funny
76561199790811385
Not Recommended0 hrs played
Another government funded bodytype 1/2 slop, you can imagine the political agenda throughout the game.
How come I and also the majority of gamers can't play as what we are: male? Even transgenders identify as either male or female. LESS THAN 1% of gamers even prefer this nonsense on the "Body type 1 or 2 vs Male or Female" poll of lefty gaming website NeaGAF. And you put this diarrhea into a game whose main audience are eastern europeans!? I just wanted to play this fucking RPG as a guy but you had to put DEI degeneracy into a ROLE playing game to exclude 99% of gamers that don't CONSOOM your leftist ideology
Ask yourselves: why MUST Bodytype wear a bra if it isn't a woman? You guys are hypocrites.
40 votes funny
76561198012084156
Recommended19 hrs played (19 hrs at review)
A lot of things to like about this game, but a few annoying ticks as well.
The Good:
- Very solid RPG. Dialogue is genuinely interesting, entertaining, and well-written. I was immersed the whole way through Chapter 1.
- Feels like Oblivion meets Hyperlight Drifter meets Dark Souls.
- Zero bugs and glitches. The game is seamless.
- There is replayability. The first map comes with two major factions, and joining one locks you out of the other. Likewise, there's no way you can cover all the weapon builds in just one playthrough.
- Mobs/bosses/etc are genuinely hard. I died 6x to the Bear boss alone. Felt like a kid playing Dark Souls again.
- Music is really solid.
- Aesthetic is fantastic.
The Great:
- You can beat up/attack most NPCs and loot them for their stuff. It's a very viable way to get gear, but they're tough as nails. You genuinely have to consider how to talk to people because 9/10ths of the NPCs in this game are built different. If you are rude to someone in a conversation, they might just beat your a** for it and take all your stuff.
The Funny:
- I slept in a gladiator's bed, so they woke me up, knocked me unconscious, stole all my money, and 9hrs later, I returned, kicked the sh** out of them and stole their hat.
The Not-so Great:
- Difficulty, at times, comes from the mobs and bosses simply not knowing when to stop.
- Unlike you, they have no stamina/focus bar.
- So if you fight a guy in the arena, he will spam special attacks over... and over... and over.
- There is no actual ebb and flow to some fights. You just get railed on with magic/shouts/special stuns, and that's... that. You just sort of have to roll with it.
The Annoying:
- Some of the NPCs you can fight have power levels that don't make sense.
- I was playing a new Hardcore playthrough and decided to beat up a kitchen wench because she denied me a quest reward. She hit me with iron daggers, at first, then got tired of that and changed to a high-level sling; which one shot me, totally breaking my immersion.
- This lets down an otherwise great mechanic, because you are never really sure who you can start on and who you can't.... despite it being an integral gameplay feature.
As far as a role-playing game goes, it is great. But you occasionally run into those awkward (?) moments that make you feel awkward and like your time isn't being respected. I feel like the developers should go back and tighten up a few screws on the NPCs. Non-fighters probably shouldn't hit like The Terminator.
Edit: I saw that this review blew up. I should add:
The Dev team for this game is beyond excellent. If you check out their Discord, you'll notice they're active with the community. Likewise, this game feels like one of those early PS1 titles that you grow up with. If you were to boot up this game, and it was one of your first ever games, you would get absolutely lost in it. I'm biased because I've played through 800+ titles in my life, which leads me to compare it to everything else (the shtick of old age). Despite my chagrin comments about some of the flaws with the game's combat system, I wholeheartedly recommend buying it and supporting this Dev team. They made something really magical here. It's a breath of fresh air -- I'm not sure how else to describe it.
32 votes funny
76561198046663378
Recommended31 hrs played (13 hrs at review)
Metaphor: ReFantazio, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard are gonna be fighting for best RPG of 2024, and sadly the actual best RPG released this year likely won't even be nominated.
29 votes funny
76561198060798540
Not Recommended13 hrs played (2 hrs at review)
I have been soft locked inside the Deep mine because I sold all my other mining picks because I thought the silver pick I bought would work, and now I can not progress because I have no mining pick and can't get back.
19 votes funny
76561197994075546
Recommended64 hrs played (24 hrs at review)
Secret of Evermore + Baldur's Gate 1&2. This game is INCREDIBLE. The storytelling, the combat, the music, the level design, the enemy design, EVERYTHING is peak.
This game is so good it's given me better DREAMS. 10/10
16 votes funny
76561198429438358
Not Recommended8 hrs played (3 hrs at review)
Unfortunately, the dev caved to gender politics (aka mental illness) on top of locking threads and banning anyone that calls them out. Definitely won't be supporting this dev in the future.
Edit: Now reviews are being deleted. 6 negatives cut down to 4.
14 votes funny
76561198272626786
Not Recommended0 hrs played
Ladies and gentlemen, it seems like the second coming of the black plague is upon Europe's shores and doors again, and instead of coming from the east, this time it comes from across the pond to the west; it isn't a bubonic plague like the first time, this time it's a nefarious mental illness that attacks the intellect of it's victims, so save your brain cells whilst you still can.
You ever get that feeling that you're the only sane one in an ever increasing insane world? These types of games are reminding me of that. So, let me describe why. I hear about this game, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm from Europe, the home of Celtic culture. So when I found out a game has in it's short summary, "Drova is an Action-RPG that marries the dark grim tones of its genre with the mysticism of Celtic mythology. Encounter a society where ancient restless spirits and divided factions battle for dominance. Uncover forgotten abilities and unravel the secrets of a past shrouded in mystery." I'm thinking... Wow. I love Grim Dark. I love Celtic mysticism, culture, spirituality, etc. I have a few books on the subject too. To name a few, The Celtic World by Barry Cunliffe, Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe, Historical Atlas of the Celtic World by Angus Konstam, The Celts by Nora Chadwick and so as you can imagine I know a thing or two and let me tell you, this game is nothing more than a modern dumbed-down butchery of facts so it can cater to an already dumbed-down society and in the process these developers will sadly use cultural appropriation to essentially falsely advertise and then blatantly mess with facts on purpose to support (sadly) modern day societal 'norms'. I don't need to go into detail on what these are, people are already used to it, but when developers are additionally trying to use/alter the word 'Physique' to gender to change your gender it starts to get really silly, don't you think? Don't even get me started on the colour situation, or the pronouns. Why must you developers make a good game at the core, then layer it with so much modern day BS? This is the sad reality of modern gaming, developers are following the modern day trend and losing touch with reality, and it's honestly sickening. If you told a person 50 years ago that you couldn't write 'boy/man' or 'girl/woman' in a book they'd think you're crazy... guess what? We live in that world; and guess what's even more sad? They're using the word 'physique' now because they're also trying to change the original meaning of words that have dictionary definitions (the word is gender you creeps). When a game gets to this level of creepy, I'm getting a refund.
Instead of the modern concept of the soul resting within the thoracic cage, Celtic people believed the head was the seat of the soul, and believed that it had the ability to turn aside evil and also bring fortune... well, it also seems that sadly the seat of the soul also can be manipulated if it's weak enough and can become corrupted beyond recognition.
That's the sad reality. This game is good at the core, I can see that easily, but to get to the core you will need a pickaxe yourself to mine through all of the modern day BS to get to the good stuff, and I honestly haven't got the time or energy for; I'll rather just give my money to developers who respect their cultures and think for themselves. Good riddance.
12 votes funny
76561198113837464
Not Recommended27 hrs played (22 hrs at review)
Spent 20-ish hours doing sidequests. Got robbed by 3 guys that each individually took 1/3rd of my total money and they just walked south a bit and stood idle.
When I tried to attack them to take my money back the game had disabled their hitboxes. Talking to them just led to me getting taunted.
10 votes funny
76561197987683892
Recommended31 hrs played (29 hrs at review)
I cracked the game, then I played for around 8 hours. I bought the game and now have another 14.
The game is hard, but if you learn the systems and use the tools available to you, it is SO DAMN SATISFYING.
One of the best RPGs I've played in a very long while. The devs understand what a RPG should be. There are are so many impactful choices (both rewards, story consequences and even character progression).
Can't wait to play much more and I hope there's more to come to the world of Drova.
Edit: The game also has quite a lot of content, especially if you enjoy puzzles and exploring. I recommend the game even more than I already did. I did not expect it to last over 28 hours (still not done).
10 votes funny
76561197991508017
Not Recommended0 hrs played
There is SO MUCH DIALOG in this game. It's pretty much a book with a side of gaming. That wouldn't be too bad if the text was actually interesting, but it's not. I spent a solid 5 minutes chopping wood with some guy, and all he did was throw names and places at me like it meant something.
There's something here, but it's being overshadowed by bad writing. Let the players PLAY the game. Don't ask them to read hundreds of lines of text just to progress.
10 votes funny
76561198045077926
Recommended48 hrs played
I pet a cat and it treated me like a cat does irl. 10/10
EDIT: A dog ate my food. Still 10/10 but a little sad about it.
9 votes funny
76561198127635783
Not Recommended42 hrs played (31 hrs at review)
9 votes funny
76561199087020303
Not Recommended35 hrs played (7 hrs at review)
I see what this game is going for. But it doesn't do a particularly good job on the details.
Combat:
Is just bad. Just. Really bad. Enemies ALL move faster than you. Human enemies can, and do, sprint in combat. You cannot. Your dodges, power attacks, and special abilities are limited via resources. Theirs are not. Non-human enemies are not quite as bad, but they tend to have at least one move that is basically a half-screen dash attack, making it difficult to keep pressure on.
Second. The writing is mediocre. Every. Single. Character. Is a sardonic asshole. Zero exceptions. Every single one of them has the exact same tongue-in-cheek one-eye looking at the camera wink and nod personality.
Combine these two things together and playing this game is like pulling teeth, but even slower and more painful.
This game is probably for some people, but i cannot honestly recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a massive amount of time on their hands and isn't totally okay fighting against just piss-poor combat.
9 votes funny
76561198070616040
Not Recommended59 hrs played (59 hrs at review)
Note 5: Regarding Body Type A or B. It's actually much worse than you think, because not only does it not specify the genders but it also allows you mix A and B with the voices you like so you can create a woman body with a man voice, essentially playing as a transexual person. Wich is great for DEI
Note 4: It seems it's the publisher that had to tick their diversity checkbox, sad times. It's really a woke DEI checklist game with modern dialogue. It uses the skeleton of Gothic as a puppet but it's really for the modern audience. If you don't want to support woke Dei games, buy it at 90% disscount because the game is good, don't fund further woke projects
Note 3: i was banned by the devs because i was talking how their dei politics made the story and quests worse. The reason for the ban was that i was derailing every topic i replied.
Wich is hilarious but today i commented on about 10 topics, 9 were quest or mechanic related.
The 1 topic i mentioned dei politics is when someone else said there is no such politics and i explained a few examples.
The hilarious part is that i said in that reply " we should be allowed to talk about it" and the devs dont want us to talk about it and censor it.
Point proven, never supporting these devs again. I will still make videos for the game because i can play a decent DEI game but the devs wont allow you to even mention in game facts because it exposes their agenda.
I was talking about a quest where our character is taken as a slave to work in a ruin
There is a comically evil white male guard that beats up the diverse cook but the comically compasionate female guard saves her and even indirectly helps us escape.
The developer said i have a racist agenda because i described a situation the developer made.
So i get called a racist, get banned for no reason and steam is fine with that.
Steam is too lenient with devs banning and insulting users who talk about a fictional situation in a fictional game.
Why aren't we allowed to report devs or moderators like we can with users?
He was 1 step away from calling me a f-ing manbaby😀👍(if you get the reference)
Note2: The game is heavy on puzzles and secrets wich might good or bad, depending on what you want. A lot of backtracking and the pixel map makes it worse but it's a much bigger world that the map seems. Could be a great game if worked on more.
Disapointed by the lack of immersion, the main quest is very much forced on the player and the choices are not good enough
Note: my review is mostly positive for the base game but the developers started closing threads that questioned the woke politics of the game so i cannot give a positive review officialy when devs embrace the wokeness so much and censor their customers.
If you remember Gothic, you will notice a lot of similar gameplay mechanics. You a character that gets thrown into a new dimension and have to learn how things work. It's very grounded in reality and it's all low fantasy medieval world. The playable area is pretty and you get to chose when and where to explore, you can go in the wrong area and die fast.
I played the first 40 minutes on Ironamn Classic(harder difficulty) and it was pretty good. You have a good UI for inventory management and you have a classic progression https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Mu9b85HdY
Pros: nice solid classic adventure, isometric works well here, pretty complex mechanics, freedom to explore and die, definetly made for hardcore fans of rpg games, game starts super slow to establish the world building and it's a nice change of pace. You will have some epic adventures later with big creatures and dangerous enemies.
Sound design is great and there is a weather system as well, good atmosphere and immersion.
You seem to have freedom to join what faction you like, can't say more since i am early in the game
Mixed: Since its lower quality pixel art you have to use an "observe" mechanic to see through fog/trees/grass and inspect items. Sometimes its hard to see a healing plant in the bushes for example, they only get highlighted if you are close or it's something obvious like a coin.
Cons:
Pixel art is not that great or detailed
Player will get lost or might not find secret areas because the enviroment is not very detailed wich is not ideal
Combat is a little floaty and has some jank to it
It uses a weird focus mechanic where you get focus by hiting enemies and then you can use spell scrolls wich are consumables. I don't like this since it's not magic but it's not normal combat either.
Might be woke, i saw a weird proportion of 50% women and 50% men along side weird character creation.
I disliked the character creation because it uses type 1 and 2. But since it's pixel art i tried to not use a woman hair style or accesories and i gave up. Why does it have in deepth customisation if you can't see anything and might end puting woman customisation on a man body. Same for voices.
I might be wrong but i will only find out after 3-4 hours BUT all woke things should be labeled as such and gamers should be informed about this.
9 votes funny
76561198032127602
Not Recommended0 hrs played
Hard no due to character creation. You get to play either as a man, or that same exact man that's now not comfortable showing his bare chest. The model doesn't change between the two, nor armor, nor even hair. So the best you get is a female voiced Gaston. Absolutely awful.
8 votes funny
76561197968647652
Not Recommended7 hrs played (7 hrs at review)
infuirating game, you can see there is potential but its pretends to be an exploration game but any attempt to go a path results in certain death. no idea how im meant to get better armour or survive when one hit from anything kills you
8 votes funny
76561198073370929
Recommended49 hrs played (13 hrs at review)
Almost 14 hours into the game and not a single hidden cave behind a waterfall. Literally unplayable!
8 votes funny
76561198284731206
Not Recommended5 hrs played (5 hrs at review)
Cons: #1. Your character doesn't dodge when the key is pressed. Instead of using a smooth and responsive dodge mechanic like you find in Shadow of Mordor, or the Arkham games, Drova has a less-responsive and more 'difficult' dodge system where you can only dodge if your character isn't locked into an attacking/blocking/etc. animation already. This is an inferior dodge system imo.
#2. No voice dialogue
#3. The tutorial pop-ups that happen can just randomly disappear, without you having read them, and there's no way to get them back, so you can very easily lose out on critical information during the tutorial section
#4. The game is missing tooltips in several places, like in the character creation screen for instance.
#5. You cannot pick up an item while scanning
#6. You cannot pick up an item while you have your weapon drawn
#7. Some keys cannot be rebound
#8. The difficulty options aren't explained at all and you aren't told how if affects your game.
#9. The game freezes when you alt+tab
#10. The game is for sale in countries that commit crimes against humanity, like Izrael and Ruzzia.
Something like No Rest for The Wicked is better imo... it's not much better, but it's still better. If the devs fixed #1 (or gave you an option to choose between 'responsive dodging' or 'animation-locked dodging') then that would bring this game to a point where I could give it a borderline recommendation, but until then, this game just isn't fun and the combat is painfully stiff.
Here's my first impressions review video: https://youtu.be/Jv1W-5uJu-k
For more reviews, visit my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7851637/
For my full recommended list of games: https://steamcommunity.com/id/lfpg/recommended/
8 votes funny
76561198120042218
Not Recommended6 hrs played (6 hrs at review)
A single player version of Ragnarok Online with story copied from Gothic. Zero game mechanics explanations and combat balance broken beyond repair.
7 votes funny
76561198018956046
Not Recommended2 hrs played (2 hrs at review)
i got robbed by dudes i did no damage at all to 3 times in a row in less that 15 mins
i got to this point directly following the quests from the woodcutters camp if this is apart of the design to send me directly in to get fucked city then it is poor design
7 votes funny
76561198032445298
Recommended33 hrs played (33 hrs at review)
Not quite the GOTY some people are claiming -- the writing is decent, if not amazing, and the content is good, if a spread a bit thin -- but it's a lot better than the room-temperature gruel AAA developers are showing off at the game awards, so sure. Better this than Starfield or some FF remake.
7 votes funny
76561198072195136
Not Recommended31 hrs played (31 hrs at review)
Short, linear game with a boring story. Finished it on Iron-man and was kind of relived I could finally put it aside.
If I should describe the game in one word it would have to be "meh..."
7 votes funny
76561198066952071
Not Recommended3 hrs played (3 hrs at review)
This game looks and plays really good... until you get into a fight.
stupid hitboxes. fighting more than one enemy is a nightmare. and every enemy is a fricking damage sponge that will take you 5 minutes to kill because they take no damage and jump around so you cant hit them with the stupid hitboxes while they hit you when youre outside of their visual hibox range
7 votes funny
76561197973653544
Recommended39 hrs played (16 hrs at review)
Drova treats its Players like they have a Brain. I really like that. Its rare these days.
It reminds me of the good old Gothic 1 and 2 days.
No Checklists, no Markers all over the place, no Character that talks to themself where to go and what to do.
No Enemies that level with you.
Just a really enjoyable Game.
7 votes funny
