Review of Batora Lost Haven, an Italian action game that aims a little too high

It’s been a few months since we tried Lost Haven Batora, where we revealed our first impressions of the Italian game. Storm Gamesbest known for Remothered Tormented Fathers.

After the horror saga, the team changed direction and devoted themselves to a completely different project: an isometric action game inspired by a novel epic consisting of Batora The Awakening and Batora The Mark of Earth. But the title offers a standalone plot that doesn’t require you to read the books.

Batora Lost Haven from October 20, 2022 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | Available in S. There’s also a Nintendo Switch version that will arrive later, at an as yet unspecified date.

Now that we’ve tried the full version, we’re ready to tell you what we think. All you have to do is keep reading Batora Lost Haven review.

Sun and moon

Batora Lost Haven us avrilAn Earth girl who has gained the powers of the Sun and Moon. These are almost supernatural beings who serve as guardians of our planet. It’s a pity that they failed miserably and the Earth was destroyed by a mostly unspecified catastrophe.

Avril happens later Balance Guardian and with a friend by his side, he travels from planet to planet to purify his core and restore order to the entire Universe, while also saving Earth.

On this journey, we will have to traverse four different worlds, where we will encounter various alien races that are often at war with each other, make choices about how to continue the adventure and reach our goal. The plot isn’t particularly original, and the choices we make have little impact. real problem Batora’s Paradise Lost is rhythm.

Batora is a game that tries to do a lot in a short time. We have completed the adventure less than five hours and throughout the game your foot pressed on the accelerator, and the further you went, the faster everything happened. Stormind Games brought together four worlds, various alien races, names, cultures and social structures in one very short game. We barely have time to understand what we’re doing and who the creatures are, and we’re ready to go to the next world. The result is that nothing is assimilated and no character has room to explore.

Avril and her friend also spend time poking each other with jokes, which may not always be appropriate for two girls whose worlds have been destroyed and many loved ones have been lost. As the game progresses, he tries to make everything more dramatic by showing the pain of the protagonist, who is faced with increasingly difficult choices that define the life and death of the aliens. Too bad the second one was greeted literally twenty minutes ago and will be out of sight in a half hour. These jumps from comedy to drama they are very sudden: the mix may or may not like it, but objectively the narration would have deserved to direct everything more calmly.

There are a lot of small ideas in Batora Lost Haven, and we felt the team’s ambition to deliver a deep and interesting story, but it’s obvious. he lacked the opportunity to create a larger work. I’m also sorry because the various worlds offer visually pleasing and varied types of environments, even if they are technically very simple: nothing very original, but if we had the time or even a reason to spend a few extra minutes in each area, we would. I have been sorry.

Sword and magic

The truth is, Batora Lost Haven wouldn’t have been particularly interesting if it had been more full and had the narrative slowed down. The pace of the story means you don’t get bored from the point of view. enjoyable.

Batora is a mix of puzzle game battles and stages. The entire game is a collection of small dungeons – the same in structure no matter what planet you are on – always very linear and with very little change. You go from point A to point B by defeating all the enemies you come across, and you complete some of them when the time comes. crossword in an alternate dimension. Second, it ends up being a bit interesting at times and a bit boring at others: these are little mazes in which we have to perform actions such as moving a sphere on a path or pressing time switches or toggling between a move to activate push buttons. from platform to another. On average they are very easy.

Both puzzles and battles, Avril’s two naturesnamely the physical and mental corresponding to the Sun and the Moon. While the physical form fights with a broad sword, the mental form uses magical bullets.

Enemies are also characterized by one of two forms and take more damage if the same is used. Each shape, in addition to a basic combination, four skills It unlocks automatically as you progress. You can dodge, activate shields and use two types of special attacks: all moves have a cooldown after use. Additionally, using a form charges a token of contrast that can be consumed to heal and strengthen the character for a moment.

That’s why Batora’s idea is to go from physical to mental to keep charging and using the gauge. strengtheningTake turns taking the right kind of enemies. Even the bars of life are separated physically and mentally, so it is always recommended to alternate one and the other for healing.

this war it works especially in the second half when you have access to all the moves and know how to entertain as it is fast and dynamic with constant change of form but the battles quickly become repetitive. If the game had been longer, it could have been a problem. Bosses improve the situation as they have a dual nature and the two health bars need to be shortened evenly otherwise the enemy may be healed.

Avril can also be empowered with: runes, divided into three categories: Neutral, Defending, and Conqueror. Each rune has a cost, and the maximum points to equip them depend on our narrative choices: some decisions are from the Defender, others are from the Conqueror. The truth is, it doesn’t make much difference in which direction we go and what we equip, especially since the Neutrals are enough to give us a boost. Fights are never particularly difficult.

We will find merchants selling some runes in safe areas of each world, and the game offers a variety of materials to use as bargain chips. But in reality, all these systems are unnecessary and no real structures To create things for Avril, you just prioritize one stat over the other (between life, damage, and crit and healing power) without really making a big impact on them. Again, the game is too small and fast and does not allow the RPG to evolve and become relevant.

Finally, let’s say that the game is not dubbed. Italian, but with subtitles and menu in our language. The dubbing is discreet but overall the sound didn’t impress us either for the effects or the soundtrack.

For trophy hunters or more generally, complements, we point out that it is possible to take advantage of the autosave system to return to the various points Avril was asked to choose from. You can do this immediately, from world to world, or even right after the end of the game, by getting all the trophies without having to play a second game: we got Platinum in about 7 hours.