Drova - Forsaken Kin from developer Just2D and publisher Deck13 was released recently, and if you love action RPGs it's one you need to check out. Note: key provided by Deck13.
A grim dark fantasy pixel-art action-RPG that has gameplay inspired by Gothic and Morrowind where it won't hold your hand, with visuals inspired by Baldur's Gate 2 (so the publisher tells me). Very much its own beast though, one you're going to need to slow down and spend a bit of time with to take it all in, so it's great that it has such a good atmosphere that you won't want to put it down. That intro section especially really suckered me right in, I just wanted to know more and more.
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With the combat, I have no doubt there will be a few soulslike comparisons to it. I would understand why if others said so, as the combat can be a little bit on the punishing side. There's a lot of game mechanics going on to understand too.
You have single and double-handed weapons (both melee and ranged), off-hand weapons, spells you get from scrolls, you have to dodge enemy attacks and watch for their tells to not get stomped, combo moves if you time things right and more. Weapons have to be drawn out to attack as well, or put away to actually inspect or interact with the world. I've been genuinely surprised by how good Drova is.
Enemies don't scale to your level either, so if you get lost (and you probably will) you're going to need to be careful. Walk off too far before you're ready, and something will probably make a meal out of you.
I like the exploration side of it too, where you go into a special inspect mode to be able to see a bit more, although you cannot attack while you're doing so. But, it enables you to often find certain items and enemies hidden away by trees, bushes and more. Speaking of exploration and its inspiration, prepare to get lost. The map system is deliberatly rubbish, with the map just being pretty basic and you need to manually place markers with ink purchased from vendors. So you need to stock up and pay attention while exploring, and remember to mark your map.
Since it's an RPG, it does have a level system too, however, you need to find certain NPCs to sort through your skills and abilities.
There's a few silly English grammar errors here and there in the writing but it doesn't really distract from the experience, not as much as some of the "hmms" and grunts from random NPCs while you're around them – that's quite annoying to hear repeated in the background.
Features:
- 30 - 40 hours of playtime.
- An interface which doesn’t tell you what to do.
- Flow based combat system with multiple weapon classes and magic.
- Tailored story based on your actions and dialogues.
- Join one of two factions to survive in this world.
- Unique pixel art style.
- Seamless open world with no loading times attached.
- Multiple possible endings.
It has Native Linux support and is playable on the Steam Deck although no rating from Valve yet. On Steam Deck it felt pretty good, and performed well in the sections I played. One problem was naming my character, with the keyboard needing to be manually pulled up and it didn't take the input correctly so hopefully they solve that.
Overall, a fantastic entry into the action-RPG genre worth exploring. Having a lot of fun with it and I think you will too.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I also did this to make it work fully in Wayland mode:
export SDL_DYNAMIC_API=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libSDL2-2.0.so.0
export SDL_AUDIODRIVER='pipewire'
export SDL_VIDEODRIVER='wayland'
While it does look fantastic overall, the combat system has me worried a bit. If it requires more than mashing buttons as quickly as possible (and it sounds like that), it's likely not for me.No it is not even remotely button mashing.
The devs are Gothic fans and have said that's big part of their inspiration, so I've got my eyes on this.Oh, that's not a bad sign at all! I'll need to get it sooner or later, I guess.
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