Arelite Core – Review
Arelite Core from Dragon Slumber is a throwback to the old Turn-based RPGs from days long past where you, the hero, must save the world from an evil force while making new friends along the road. It is obvious the developer has respect for this genre and wants to live up to its legacy but after this review you will be able to decide for yourself if this is a journey you would enjoy partaking in.
Story
You are Karden, a master blacksmith who is content staying in his little village and not challenging himself until the day a rare and precious material named Arelite which was believed to be long lost is found in a mine near to your village. After you and your lifelong friend Baeme (the roguish archer) go to investigate this discovery, it becomes apparent an evil force is scouring the lands and gathering all the Arelite he and his minions can find to awaken an old evil named Talameq. It is at this point your mentor encourages you to leave your village, travel across the world searching for Arelite and improving your blacksmithing skills along the way. On your journey you will encounter many foes and make new friends, such as Lleana (the gifted healer) and Ibram (the brooding rogue).
If you have played any kind of RPG in your life, you will be able to predict most of the story and events as they unfold, which is a shame because you will never feel impressed by how the game is progressing. Never will you feel any real connection with the characters or feel the need to vanquish this evil force and restore peace in the world.
Graphics
If you look at Arelite Core from the perspective of an old themed RPG, it fits perfectly in that category. If you are a fan of making your GPU sweat and beg for mercy, you will not be a fan of the style. The graphics are very basic, everything is 2D with no special effects – the game has a very dated feel about it as you would expect these graphics in the early 1990’s and not in the present. The only change you can make graphics wise is swapping between full screen and windowed mode but neither of these have any impact on the graphics themselves.
Sound
The sound in Arelite Core will divide the player base: if you like hearing the same 16bit soundtrack on repeat such as the games from days long past, you have come to the right place. The exploration and battle tunes amazing and fit very well, however after hearing them on repeat for the x-th time you will start getting somewhat frustrated by them. None of the dialogue is voiced while the battle sounds are very basic and repetitive.
Gameplay
Arelite Core is a Turn-Based RPG which sends you on a quest to stop an evil force while improving Arelite Core is a Turn-Based RPG which sends you on a quest to stop an evil force while improving yourself and making friends along your path. All of this is played from a top down perspective in exploration mode and side-view in battle mode where you can move and interact either by keyboard or by mouse. The gameplay is quite repetitive as you will fight the same monsters repeatedly, doing the exact same attacks in the exact same order with no element of luck or chance. The RPG factor in Arelite Core is basic, as you can only change 3 equipment pieces (weapon, armor and garment) and upgrade 3 skills (Striking, Parrying and Blitz) for which you receive an additional point to place in these skills every 5 levels.
The party system has no added bonus, you are not able to discover more information about your characters, so you never truly develop a bond with them. The Bestiary gives you detailed information about the foes you discover yet you soon learn in battles how many attacks are required to take a specific monster down, so you will spend almost no time looking at the Bestiary.
As mentioned before, battles are very repetitive and get quite dull after a while. You progress through different environments and city hubs which try to lift the atmosphere, but everything feels very shallow. You will never feel surprised by finding something unexpected while exploring or seeing the enemies come toward you as you try to dodge battle encounters.
The game is fairly short as you are able to finish the game under 10 hours, for which you will receive an achievement. There are no side quests or no world to lose yourself in – you have one end goal and everything you do is pointed towards that goal.
Conclusion
If you grew up in the 90’s and have fond memories of games such as Zelda and Pokémon, you definitely will want to give this game a try. Dragon Slumber has done a great job at capturing the vibe and feeling from old-school RPG’s but unfortunately, they have blindly copied the format instead of taking this opportunity to improve some of the flaws. Dragon Slumber is a very small indie developer and they are actively working on new content but Arelite Core feels like an example of a game released at the wrong point in time.
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