https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3073099283

Overall the writing, even if it uses some tiresome clichès such as the “advanced, forgotten civilization” one and the “you’re the chosen one” type of thing, still manages to involve the player enough between fairly-unique characters, their backstories, and events that aren’t always as plain as one might expect. While the choices you’ll make won’t always have the same impact, it’s good to have a say in the event, instead of a streamlined linear story, which wouldn’t do justice to a RPG after all. Don’t expect a heavy roleplay component dependent on skill-checks and such, though, as you won’t find it here.

The worldbuilding is adequate for its setting, however an excessive repetition of biomes, locations and structures can be noticed between dungeons and story areas. While there are some lore pieces in the form of notes or examinable environment objects, this game isn’t lore-heavy at all and doesn’t require a lot of reading - for the better or worse. Some more elaboration on the Ancient civilization would have been interesting and welcome, same for the various sub-cultures and factions encountered.

Each location on the world map, revealed in a linear way after specific events came to pass, is a self-contained area in the form of a dungeon filled with enemies, traps, secondary areas, and usually one or more objectives. Your party can explore dungeons freely, and even evade enemy encounters using a rudimentary stealth system – I wouldn’t recommend it, though, as you’ll need as much XP as you can get. Other than the main path, dungeons usually will have secondary areas with color-coded chests, with matching randomized loot and resources.

There won’t be any breathtaking secrets or Easter eggs in any dungeon; at most, you’ll find optional puzzles and relatively secluded areas containing extra resources or equipment, but overall everything is laid-out on the global map pretty easily, with a wide exploration radius. The level of interaction with the environment is minimal, with at most you having to find some keys to open locked doors. Still, the ‘unknown factor’ is strong enough to promote exploration without knowing what’s behind the next corner.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3076209870

Combat plays out in real-time, with the option to either slow it down or completely stop it, to better issue orders to your party members. On its own, the flow of battles is rather fast-paced, however it doesn’t really matter given the pause-anytime system. Fights can and will become chaotic soon, especially when involving a dozen or more enemies - you’ll have to frequently micro-manage your party’s positions, skill casts, active abilities and such, because even if there’s an “autonomous” AI mode that can do so for you, it just isn’t good enough.

With six active skills and four passives to choose for each hero depending on their class, and the possibility to respec anytime, there’s a lot of flexibility to adjust your party’s focus based on the fight ahead. Facing a boss soon? Swap to more single target abilities for that specific fight. Speaking of bosses, they’re very inconsistent, ranging from extreme difficulty spikes far overpowered for their level, to pushovers you won’t have a problem with even on the hardest setting. While they’re all unique and have multiple, evolving phases, they don’t all feel equally epic.

At each Xp-based level up, your characters will gain 3 attribute points (also respec-able at any time) and two abilities and, when unlocked, two specialization points. You can freely invest them to unlock new skills, or more powerful versions of existing ones. Each character can further choose a specialization from level 7, and an additional one later on - but these can’t be respec, so choose carefully. You’ll get the most XP from quests, and a little also from slain enemies, so it’s worth doing all side-missions and companion assignments. All characters are very much gear-dependent, as in DE, that will bestow massive attribute and stat bonuses depending on the type of armor or trinket, and is also further enchantable with passives for a cost in resources.

Speaking of crafting, you’ll be able to acquire blueprints from merchants and loot chests, that you’ll then forge using the materials at your disposal - the better the material quality and rarity levels, the better the stats of the crafted item. To unlock most enchants and crafting options, you’ll have to research them, using points found in dungeons or bought - at a high price and limited quantity - from traders. Merchants can also source powerful items without you having to dungeon raid for them, some may even be Unique in rarity, but they will cost a fortune.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3068075602

[h1]Sum-Up[/h1] [h3]In-depth analysis further down.[/h3] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 [b]Pros[/b][/th] [th]🟥 [b]Cons[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] • Solid variety of enemies, most of which with their unique abilities and quirks. All bosses have unique designs and prove interesting. • Great amount of possible builds, thanks to an extensive crafting system and large skill trees (with free respec) that allow fine-tuning of your characters. • Overall-interesting story that, despite being far from superbly-written, can engage the player enough for its duration, and doesn’t drag on too long. • Engaging combat system that uses the real-time with pause system in a smooth, intuitive way while still keeping a reasonably-brisk action pacing. It’s fun. [/td] [td] • Severe performance and optimization issues, alongside bugs of various severity, hinder the experience from start to end. • Evident balance issues between classes; some of them will just be better than others without downsides. • The numerous branching choices only seem impactful in certain cases, while in others they have little consequence at all. • Environmental hazards, e.g. explosive barrels, are only worth strategizing around in early game, but become completely redundant in later phases. • Power creep issues in mid to late game with most builds; even on higher difficulties, you’ll steamroll most enemies if your party is even just decently-built. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Issues[/b][/th] [th]🔧 [b]Specs[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] • Performance randomly degrades to < 30 FPS in some areas, and gets worse the longer you play in the same session. • Inventory items sometimes are displayed incorrectly. • Occasional crashes after loading a save or a new area. • In some cases, characters will say another character’s voice line when selected. [/td] [td] • i5 11400H • 16GB RAM DDR4 • 512 GB SSD • RTX 3060 6GB • 1080p [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]Content & Replay Value:[/b][/td] [td]It took me around 56 hours to complete Dark Envoy (DE) on Hard then later Insane difficulty, taking extra time to complete all side quests, optional locations and get the best gear. Since there are branching choices that alter the story and some dungeons, and diverse class options, the replay value is overall good.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]Is it worth buying?[/b][/td] [td]Yes, but with a caveat. The price of 28.99€ is fair for this amount of content and quality, however bugs and performance issues currently degrade the experience too much; wait some updates before purchasing. [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][h3]Verdict: Good[/h3] [url=https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548409603]Rating Chart Here[/url][/td] [td]Dark Envoy is a solid RPG that, however, doesn’t fully use its potential and is hindered by balance problems and bugs. It’s enjoyable, but could have been much better with more polish.[/td] [/tr] [/table] https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3073099283 [h1]In-Depth[/h1] [h3]Writing & Worldbuilding[/h3] Overall the writing, even if it uses some tiresome clichès such as the “advanced, forgotten civilization” one and the “you’re the chosen one” type of thing, still manages to involve the player enough between fairly-unique characters, their backstories, and events that aren’t always as plain as one might expect. While the choices you’ll make won’t always have the same impact, it’s good to have a say in the event, instead of a streamlined linear story, which wouldn’t do justice to a RPG after all. Don’t expect a heavy roleplay component dependent on skill-checks and such, though, as you won’t find it here. The worldbuilding is adequate for its setting, however an excessive repetition of biomes, locations and structures can be noticed between dungeons and story areas. While there are some lore pieces in the form of notes or examinable environment objects, this game isn’t lore-heavy at all and doesn’t require a lot of reading - for the better or worse. Some more elaboration on the Ancient civilization would have been interesting and welcome, same for the various sub-cultures and factions encountered. [h3]Exploration & Secrets[/h3] Each location on the world map, revealed in a linear way after specific events came to pass, is a self-contained area in the form of a dungeon filled with enemies, traps, secondary areas, and usually one or more objectives. Your party can explore dungeons freely, and even evade enemy encounters using a rudimentary stealth system – I wouldn’t recommend it, though, as you’ll need as much XP as you can get. Other than the main path, dungeons usually will have secondary areas with color-coded chests, with matching randomized loot and resources. There won’t be any breathtaking secrets or Easter eggs in any dungeon; at most, you’ll find optional puzzles and relatively secluded areas containing extra resources or equipment, but overall everything is laid-out on the global map pretty easily, with a wide exploration radius. The level of interaction with the environment is minimal, with at most you having to find some keys to open locked doors. Still, the ‘unknown factor’ is strong enough to promote exploration without knowing what’s behind the next corner. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3076209870 [h3]Combat System & Bosses[/h3] Combat plays out in real-time, with the option to either slow it down or completely stop it, to better issue orders to your party members. On its own, the flow of battles is rather fast-paced, however it doesn’t really matter given the pause-anytime system. Fights can and will become chaotic soon, especially when involving a dozen or more enemies - you’ll have to frequently micro-manage your party’s positions, skill casts, active abilities and such, because even if there’s an “autonomous” AI mode that can do so for you, it just isn’t good enough. With six active skills and four passives to choose for each hero depending on their class, and the possibility to respec anytime, there’s a lot of flexibility to adjust your party’s focus based on the fight ahead. Facing a boss soon? Swap to more single target abilities for that specific fight. Speaking of bosses, they’re very inconsistent, ranging from extreme difficulty spikes far overpowered for their level, to pushovers you won’t have a problem with even on the hardest setting. While they’re all unique and have multiple, evolving phases, they don’t all feel equally epic. [h3]Character Progression & Crafting[/h3] At each Xp-based level up, your characters will gain 3 attribute points (also respec-able at any time) and two abilities and, when unlocked, two specialization points. You can freely invest them to unlock new skills, or more powerful versions of existing ones. Each character can further choose a specialization from level 7, and an additional one later on - but these can’t be respec, so choose carefully. You’ll get the most XP from quests, and a little also from slain enemies, so it’s worth doing all side-missions and companion assignments. All characters are very much gear-dependent, as in DE, that will bestow massive attribute and stat bonuses depending on the type of armor or trinket, and is also further enchantable with passives for a cost in resources. Speaking of crafting, you’ll be able to acquire blueprints from merchants and loot chests, that you’ll then forge using the materials at your disposal - the better the material quality and rarity levels, the better the stats of the crafted item. To unlock most enchants and crafting options, you’ll have to research them, using points found in dungeons or bought - at a high price and limited quantity - from traders. Merchants can also source powerful items without you having to dungeon raid for them, some may even be Unique in rarity, but they will cost a fortune. https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3068075602