Developer: Tangrin Entertainment
Publisher: Versus Evil
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Kyn – Review
Magic is always something that developers are keen to use in games. The combination of Vikings and magic isn’t something that seem to compile, but Kyn has made a fusion of these two elements. We’re going to sail into a lot of problems that need to be fixed, so get ready for a rough ride.
Story
The narrative of Kyn takes us to a world filled with Vikings. You start the story with Alrik and Bram, two men from the Vinborg tribe who were locked up in a cave. This might seem quite brutal but it was for the greater good, as the two warriors had received the power of the Magni. This means that they enhance magical powers and that they can use several spells like reviving fallen members for example.
On the way back to their village, it seems that something is amiss with the ‘Aeshir’. This peaceful tribe of gremlin lookalikes normally mind their own business, making music and reviving corpses as zombie slaves. Nothing wrong with that right? It seems that the diplomatic goblins turned violent and are attacking several towns, making new undead soldiers. Reasoning with them isn’t possible since they speak some kind of gibberish nonsense, so fighting is the only thing you can do.
When you’ve slain your way through the several groups of evil undead warriors, it seems that your village has had some losses as well. On your arrival, you’re immediately send on the quest to find out why the Aeshir have turned violent, but are they the real culprits?
The storyline is something you might expect from an adventure RPG, as something is going wrong and you seem to be the only one that can stop the evil force. It would have been nice if there was more to it than the available narrative. Even more, the dialogues feel childish at times and don’t really fit the story Tangrin Entertainment wants to bring.
Graphics
Your missions take you to several places which means you will have the opportunity to venture through a variety of environments. You will have to roam on several snowy mountaintops, while you have a stroll at the shore at other times. The overall quality of the graphics is decent when you’re zoomed out but when you take a closer look, you’ll notice that everything isn’t that detailed. Some of the trees are just copy pastes of the same textures and give a sloppy look.
The characters aren’t that detailed as well and don’t really stand out in the surroundings. In combination with the 2D images, that are a totally different style than the rest of the game, it seems that there could be done more to make the character section more ‘fitting’.
Tangrin Entertainment did their best to make the interface appealing and they succeeded magnificently. It is a real improvement in comparison with the beta version. Another great addition is the possibility to change the color scheme of your armor. This makes Kyn a bit more customizable and adds some extra fun for the fashionistas.
Sound
Kyn has some superb music to offer. You will notice the sweet tones of classical music in the background which gives a soothing effect. Don’t worry though, you will get a ‘warning’ when enemies detect you due to the dramatic undertone that you’ll hear. Though the soundtrack is amazing, but sadly it is quite repetitive. There are some tunes, but they get repeated over and over in certain areas. Since most of the missions are quite lengthy, it might get on your nerves sooner or later.
When taking a look at the sound effects, it is clear that the developers did their best to present you with a variety of sounds. Some of them seem quite quiet while others might blow your brains out, so be cautious. It would have been nice to have voice acting as it would really boost the overall quality of the game sound wise.
Gameplay
Kyn is a real-time strategic RPG, in which you need to uncover the secrets the Aeshir have hidden. To do this, you need to go on several missions. Each quest has its own goal you need to accomplish before you can go back to your village. There are also some side-quests during these missions and they are called ‘pacts’ and it is a good idea to fulfill the requirements of these pacts, as you will receive a lot of nice loot.
Even though Alrik and Bram don’t like bloodshed, it is necessary to kill enemies so they can discover the truth. This is done with live action battles, while you command several warriors into the fight with the baddies. You can decide how to attack, though it is not a good idea to run into packs of enemies without any strategy. Do you want everyone in the front line, or have two in the back to intercept surprise attacks? The choice is yours and your decisions will be the decisive factor in the outcome of the battle. It can be a bit difficult to lead everyone and use their abilities but there is a nifty solution for that. You can slow time with the space bar, giving you the possibility to select everything you want to do for a small amount of time.
You’re in control of some Magni warriors with quite some amazing abilities. Every member of your group can use two special skills during fights and one cool feed ability. The latter is received by equipping feedstones. There are several possibilities and the outcome is different per stone. Using these special skills will require you to fill a meter, depening on the feedstone that is equipped.
Since you only have room for three abilities, it is important that you choose the best options. You can pick skills from three different trees, namely ‘Mind’, ‘Body’ and ‘Control’. Every section has its own particular effect: Mind is attached to the Spirit stat for example. You can increase every tree and at several levels you will receive new abilities. The points to raise these trees are gained after every mission and can be distributed however you wish. You will need to assign these marks to the stats of the character. If you want Alrik to have all of its points in the Mind tree, then you will have access to the higher level abilities, but you won’t be able to use any of the other sections. Distributing points has another effect as well. Some weapons or armor require you to have a minimum amount of Mind, Body or Control before you can actually equip it. You can alter the stats par character whenever you want, so you don’t have to worry.
Every warrior can equip three different armor pieces and a one- or two-handed weapon. Every item has its improvements, but also its downsides. For example, it could be that a chest piece has 20 armor but it is heavier than other armor, giving you a negative speed bonus, forcing you to move slower. It is important to keep this in mind when equipping items as you might end up with a slowpoke warrior that can’t even lift his sword.
Armor, weapons and other crafting components can be found in treasure chests during missions, lying around on the ground or when uncovering the sweet loot you receive after killing an enemy. As you might have noticed, there aren’t any consumables mentioned in the list. You can’t use items so it is important that you have at least one healing spell at your disposal and yes, you will need it… a lot. Next to finding items during missions, your village will have an armorer or you can make your own equipment with the expertise of Olrak the Blacksmith, money and your precious crafting items of course.
Although the original idea of the game was great, the actual outcome of the game could have been better as there are some things that get quite annoying or lacking in quality. For example, when you enter your village after an exhausting mission, you want to run around and see if anything has changed on the map. It would be nice if the mini map would not be cleared every time you return, making you run around and trying to find your way again. There isn’t a bigger overview map available as well, which makes it dreadful to try to find that specific person standing at one of the nooks and crannies the village has.
Another bad point is if you change sound or graphic settings in the main menu and then start your game, the settings will be replaced by the previous set-up. This was fixed by adding the possibility to change your options in-game.
There are also some visual bugs and at certain points, your characters can get stuck and it might take a while before you can actually solve the problem. This isn’t the only thing that is wrong with movement or attacking. Sometimes when you want to attack an enemy, you will run towards him rather than executing the attack. Even more so, when one of your characters is getting beaten up, the rest won’t do anything unless you actually order them to. Combine the last two problems, and you’ll have yourself one chaotic battleground.
Conclusion
The initial idea of Kyn was good but it could have been executed better. The story is the biggest asset of the game but doesn’t bring anything refreshing to the equation. The ‘ok’ graphics and repetitive soundtrack do not add that much value either and the gameplay is something to get used to and might get a bit frustrating at times. Nonetheless, if you like vikings wrapped up in a strategical RPG with some flaws, this one might bring a bit of enjoyment.
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