Once relegated to the dustiest of basements and the back corners of hobby stores worldwide, Dungeons & Dragons has been enjoying something of a resurgence lately; even the cool kids want to join in on some sword swinging and spell slinging. Whether we've all just become more imaginative, or simply want to escape the swirling darkness that is the year 2018, it's clear that RPGs are still in vogue. So, naturally, we have a Switch title eager to turn the whole thing on its head, and play with the core mechanics in a distinctly silly style.
Previously available on Wii U, Unepic is ready to roll the dice all over again, taking its fantasy Metroidvania stylings to the Switch eShop. We rather enjoyed this challenging adventure last time around, but how does it fare as a portable, single-screen experience?
It's a game of two halves really, where a surprisingly hardcore RPG fights for priority over a lighthearted plot, iffy voice-acting and corny jokes. Playing as Daniel, a geeky stoner who thinks the entire adventure is just some kind of hallucination after one too many beers on game night, you're thrust into the dark depths of a labyrinthine castle, complete with devious traps, hordes of enemies and plenty of hidden secrets to discover. While the actual movement and combat mechanics are quite basic, there's a real depth to the numbers behind every attack you make, every bit of damage you take and every weapon you use. Unepic perhaps considers itself to be an old-school experience, but it's closer to a dungeon-crawler than a platformer, despite the 2D perspective.
You'll explore the winding pathways of the castle in large sections that are laid out across a handy map for keeping progress. There's no clear objective at first, our dopey hero is hardly taking this seriously after all, but along the way you'll find certain sections are locked off, handily guiding you towards where you should be headed first. This sense of exploration is a huge part of the game, driven by the darkness which shrouds each new room in mystery. Some areas are practically pitch black, so Daniel's trusty lighter becomes a vital resource for igniting lanterns and torches along the way, providing a comforting glow as well as a breadcrumb-trail of where you've been. It's a really clever mechanic we didn't expect, and really helps nail that sense of uncertainty as you poke your way around each dark corner.
It's certainly slow and steady going at first, but once you get to grips with the game's wealth of tutorials, you discover Unpeic can be one harsh dungeonmaster. There are a variety of difficulty settings available, with the lower end helping you with regenerating health and more forgiving enemies, while the higher peaks require manual saving, make monsters more aggressive and reward you with extra skill points upon levelling up. These skill points can be invested into your skill with the game's arsenal of weapons, ranging from spears and axes, to longbows and magic staffs. Attacking is extremely straightforward, but again it's your stats which affect the speed and power and the mix of weapon types and specialities, as well as crafting material and armour sets, which makes for a capable loot system overall.
With all of this gear to organise and stats to keep in mind, the menu system is thankfully very simple, and there are options to create hotkey combos for easy access to your favourite items. This is of course particularly useful given that the game doesn't actually pause when going through any of the menus, so you won't have time to think things over in the middle of a heated battle. For this release, the interface has also been slightly revamped in order to better suit the portable nature of Switch, with variations on how you'd like all this information to be displayed. Your basic view is a zoomed-out perspective on the entire area, with a detailed HUD around the borders of the screen, but there's also the option to toggle a suitably-named 'handheld mode', which removes this HUD in favour of giving a closer view on your character. The only real downside to this is that you'll need to memorise all of your hotkey shortcuts to different items, as they won't be displayed on-screen.
That being said, zooming in on the visuals does bring some of their shortcomings into sharper focus. The design of the game is decidedly basic, both graphically and musically, with some simple background tunes to set the mood and clunky animations pretty much across the board. It doesn't detract from the experience too much, but it certainly doesn't add to it either. The castle is well-designed in terms of trap placement and enemy variety, but after you have a few areas under your belt a little extra visual flair would have helped keep things fresh. As it stands, backtracking, grinding and searching for your next destination can get monotonous, even with a mix of side-quests along the way.
While on the subject of presentation, Unepic bombards you with reference after reference, joke after joke, and while comedy is of course subjective, we find this to be incredibly grating. Daniel is a dorky, unlikable protagonist who makes crude marks towards female characters, cracks wise about how great he is and generally parrots nearly every fantasy and gaming trope under the sun. Early in the story he is possessed by a vengeful spirit he names Zera, who is desperately trying to get Daniel killed so that he can be free again. Whether it was intentional or not, it can't be a good thing when we were rooting for the evil spirit's cause, not our plucky 'hero'. Both the voice acting and the dialogue itself is extremely hit or miss, and while it's all skippable, the flippant tone seems a little at odds with how seriously the game's system actually takes itself. It's a silly parody of hardcore, stats-based adventure games, while still being a hardcore, stats-based adventure game.
Whether you get a kick out of the referential humour, or simply tune it out, there are some fun little quirks to the experience that help Unepic stand out at the very least. Fireball attacks will leave Daniel ablaze, leeches must be physically removed from your inventory, and there's a lack of true hand-holding that harkens back to the obtuse RPGs of yesteryear. This, much like the game's script, can go one way or another depending on your preference. The repetitious exploration, sprawling map and lack of direction can absolutely frustrate at times. There's a network of shortcuts to unlock of course, but nothing really interesting to do on the way back and forth between areas. Combat lacks both the nuance of modern titles and the satisfying punchiness of something like Symphony Of The Night, so the game's lengthy campaign is marred by stale patches of wandering around aimlessly.
Conclusion
If you threw a party and invited all of the adventure/roleplaying games along, Unepic would be the one in the center of the room blurting out jokes, laughing too loudly and making sarcastic comments about all of the other guests. Take the time to look past that however and you might learn a little more about what's beneath the surface; a fairly rewarding RPG system and more than a few clever ideas that make for an enjoyable, old-school adventure title that just tries a little too hard. If you don't mind some divisive humour and some repetitious exploration, then having this sprawling adventure on a portable actually helps alleviate some of its limitations. Just try not to keep it away from an open bar.
Comments 32
Going to have to pass on this indefinitely.
A review without screenshots? Blasphemy! What am I supposed to do, read all that text without any pretty pictures to amuse me?!
I was going to buy this or Hammerwatch, I went with Hammerwatch.
Glad I did because it is a brilliant Gauntlet clone and 4 player local and online (incoming) is great for me and my family
I will still get this for myself eventually but me and my family are really enjoying Hammerwatch.
Eh, not good enough to sway me.
I tend to only buy the creme de la creme of indie titles. There's simply too many to buy otherwise. Heck, even only buying top shelf ones there's too many.
Nearly a month after release. Ridiculous.
this looks pretty unepic to me too
While I'm not really into UnEpic, I can't wait for Ghosth 2.0 to will finally be on the Switch.
With such a wealth of excellent titles on the Switch, I can't say this comes near enough to the top of the table to warrant a purchase. If I ever win the lottery I might come back for a dip.
Another game I already own on Wii U.
I won't double dip on this one. It was just ok. I did not like the inventory system that much. I did not beat it either. I got kind of bored, but it is not a bad game.
Oh, come on, the humor in this game is great! There's just something brilliantly meta about turning a hardcore game into a parody of itself. I also have no issue with the voice acting.
That being said, the Wii U version of this game is still the way to go, since it has a much better interface on the GamePad, while this version offers no advantages or extra features at all save the extra portability that all Switch games provide.
@BulbasaurusRex
Agreed, while there were a few points where the humor missed the mark in my opinion, I found it overall pretty fun.
I got the steam version of this, I think it's a solid game.
Protip: Back when I was playing through the PC demo, I found that the English translation was a lot better if you enable the profanity filter.
Enjoyed it on the WiiU, but sadly this is only single player, still. I asked the dev on Twitter and they stated the multiplayer would remain a PC-exclusive feature. No reason for me to double-dip on this one.
My problem (and maybe this is a me problem and not a game problem) is that I’d get horribly lost and have no idea where to go next. And then by the time I figured out where to go I’d move onto a different game. Then when I came back to Unepic, I’d again be horribly lost. Rinse, repeat, never beat it....decent game, though.
This game is legit, folks. And with the Switch currently being light on metroidvania games I'd say that this is especially hot on there. Get iiiiiiit.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE I have to say sometimes I think people here are too hard on you, but hear me out for a second: what does that comment accomplish, really? Well, yes, this is a port from a game that was already released on Wii U, which is a trend that happens in every single console released these days. Perhaps mildly annoying for people like us, who own that console, but nevertheless pretty cool as an additional option for those who don't. Do we really need a comment pointing out this fact on every single review, especialy when it adds zero else to the discussion? I mean, come on now.
I am not gonna lie. I am starting to doubt this site's rating. I feel like unless a game has major crippling flaws, or is a distinct cut above the rest, everything gets a 7/10.
@ricklongo, I agree with you. I used to have unepic on the wii u. Now I don't have a wii u any more. Since I have a switch, it was good to pick up unepic again. People that have a wii u do not have to double dip, but people that have a switch that do not have a wii u can experience this game, especially since wii u is almost dead, and you can take this game on the go.
@Heavyarms55 UnEpic is a really solid game though, tough as nails on the hardcore difficulty too. The review spends a lot of time talking about the game's (painful) story, but the game doesn't.
@Rubbercookie I wasn't saying that this game deserved a lower (or higher) rating, more of how so many games get the 7/10 from these guys.
@Heavyarms55 Fair deuce. Though it's tough to use say five as the median when score inflation is everywhere.
Finally beat the thing, and I agree with your score. If it goes on sale... heavy sale... it's a worthwhile purchase if you enjoy this type of game, though something like Steamworld Dig is much more polished and fun to play.
When it was first realeased 6 years ago on PCs and was one of the first indies in this vein, it was really cool. Now, 6 years later and market pretty saturated as is, this game does not hold as well on its own.
Really loved it on the Wii U. It's a solid recommandation for anyone who likes the genre.
I really enjoyed the game on the WiiU. Its humour and gameplay are great. I know that I didn't quite finish it either as my thumbs just weren't quick enough for that last batter...or at least I think it was the last battle.
I Have it on ps4/vita as a digital. I should play and finish it as I think it’s great. But I wont double dip. I have currently played it on vita as a portable game on trips.
If I had it on wii u, I might just get it on switch as I barely turn my wii u on these days..
The artistic execution of this game makes me want to slap the hands of people who use cheap photoshop filters and effects with a machete.
This is a truly fantastic game! I originally purchased this on the Wii U and it sat unplayed for a number of months. When I finally got around to playing it, i quickly could not put it down. When I got my switch, I kept wishing it would make its way to the Eshop and it finally did. I think it translates very well to the switch in both handheld and docked. I do wish it had the online multiplayer that the PC version had.
It is very replayable in my opinion. My first run through I focused on swords and bows. My second I really put most of my skill in casting fire and ice. I am now giving some of the other magic attention. The castle is considerable size especially the first few times you play it, but now wish it was even bigger or a sequel was made for it.
I know people have varying opinions on it, but trust me. Get it, but some time into it and you will not be let down.
It is currently on sale for the switch eshop too!
I wish the switch had other games like this one available. Not many (if any) Metroidvanoa roguish sidescrollong platformers for the switch to my knowledge. If I am wrong, please let me know.
I've just bought this and after about an hour's play I think it's great. The dialogue seems fine to me and I actually laughed out loud after killing the first snake. The loot drops are fantastic and with such a big inventory I'm expecting quite a bit of variety. The way you have to light the torches in the castle is a nice touch too. Highly recommend for £8.99.
I'm surprised with the hate this game's been getting. True it's just another port, but the game is fantastic imo. It seems Nintendolife's review ratings are pretty strict.
How quaint calling 2018 a year of swirling darkness… man if they knew what was coming
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