Arboria is one of the games with a well-made trailer that promises a lot of action and looks smooth and interactive. But it’s only a promise so far, because the game is still in Early Access and is still missing some pieces. Take my impression with a grain of salt, wait for a full review, and then we will see if the developers can deliver on the promises of the trailer!
What is Arboria?
Strangeness and chaos of 3D rogue-lite, mixed in with great ideas of RPG, mechanics reminiscent of Dark Souls and unfamiliar world of Durnar infused with the story that will baffle you.
This piece of tribal content comes from Poland created by Dreamplant Studio. The Arboria will take you on a quest to become the chosen one. Who will get a burden of healing The Father Tree and saving the Yotunz tribe from disappearing in the lost chapters of Durnar history.
Yotun warrior?
You will not get a chance to be attached to your character, because Yotun warriors are entirely expendable. And you will die a lot. Although this was not a case in my first few hours of the game. I would not say that I am particularly skilled in the souls like games. You can watch my first impression in the let’s play video.
In Arboria, the manner of character creation is different in an exciting way. Dying is part of the character evolvement process, every time you fail. You will be able to spend Veri (crystals) you collected previously on characteristics and traits. That will allow you to get new talents and open new possibilities for all Yotun warriors you can choose from.
Gameplay
You wake up in an extraordinary place that somehow merges sci-fi looking technology with elements of tribal world. And that made me fill a bit confused was this magic, technology, or abilities that my character was using to fight the enemies. To make this a bit more confusing, you get Symbiotic Weapons and also able to mutate and become more potent that way. Arboria has lots of options in this department. Still, currently, they are presented a bit in confusing and in an overwhelming way. And I even did not mention the rock, paper, scissors version of the game. That helps you deal more damage to the enemies depending on the energy type you are harming them with.
From a short tutorial, you start your journey on exploring procedurally generated dungeons. While always fighting enemies and healing the corrupted roots of The Father Tree. Which is an event that send you waves of enemies that you must defeat until the roots get healed. The game features different events, also levels have various traps, reward chests, hidden equipment, and Very crystals you can smash to collect.
After completing a level you will get into a way station, where your fairy friend will vomit Veri crystals into the strange-looking machine. And then using another machine, you will get a chance to elevate one of the stats (Strength, Toughness, or Focus).
How good is the Arboria combat system? The current build looks really promising. You get a combination and aggression with heavy with blocks, parries, healing, and counter-attacks. Fights, particularly with the tougher enemies, go back-and-forth. While you are waiting for your powerful abilities to charge up while dodging and running. Of course, the combat system still requires some polish. Like the locking mechanism, which kept losing targets, so I completely ignored it in my playthrough.
Still, I enjoyed the fights, and offensive spells like the Shockwave gave a satisfying feeling of finishing of the larger enemies. But sometimes it felt like some control was lost and the game was lagging a bit behind in all the fighting.
Verdict
The different concepts and ideas of the game give me hope that the Early Access build is just a beginning. And the developers will continue improving the game. Will overcome all the significant hurdles (like, for example, remove dabbing, what’s up with that) and deliver a decent game.