That clunkiness did get better as I became more comfortable with the controls, but never went away completely. Not being able to jump without holding Run and having those two buttons mapped under the same finger, for example, made fluid exploration tricky, and having to open a radial-menu to before using one of Hilda’s unique skill powers causes the flow of combat to stutter. While not inherently awful, there were definitely some choices that made guiding Hilda around the world a bit unwieldy. The biggest hurdle to get over during the roughly half-hour span it took to search every nook and cranny of the demo’s two regions were its controls. My go-to combo for most of my demo was the sword/shield combined with the extended reach of a spear - though I discovered too late how useful Hilda’s bracers were, which not only allow for both close and mid-range magic attacks but also let you drop arcane land mines, which were especially useful for dealing with primarily melee-centric monsters that inhabited these regions. The sword and shield, for instance - which counts as one weapon - lets you parry incoming attacks, leaving your opponent momentarily open to a counter, while the twin daggers allow you to make a long dash past (or sometimes through) nearby enemies. That’s not a bad thing, of course as someone who barely made it out of Limgrave in Elden Ring, I’m the last person to say a game needs to be difficult to be enjoyable.Īs such, Asterigos’ combat system is relatively simple, but enjoyable: you can equip two magic-infused weapons, each of which has a unique ability in addition to its basic attack combo. The higher difficulty mode did feel notably different, with basic enemies introducing new tactics, and boss creatures definitely hit a lot harder-though even here, defeat was rare. Yes, dodge-rolling is important and taking enemies on one at a time seemed to be the best strategy to avoid losing any health, but aside from the last boss I ran into, I was hard-pressed to find myself being sent back to the last checkpoint-though that seemed to be demo-specific when a “this guy killed you - thanks for playing!” card showed up and the demo ended. However, that’s about as far as the KidSouls gimmick runs, it seems. Even on the hardest difficulty, defeat was rare You’ll also respawn there (for the cost of some collected Stardust) if your HP drops to zero-an “emergency teleportation” they call it, making sure to be very clear that you have not died. You collect “Startdust” from every enemy you defeat, and once the initial movement tutorials faded offscreen the next big teaching point was about how you can rest at a Conduit (basically a “magic fountain”) to create a checkpoint and refill your HP and mana reserve-but that doing so would respawn any enemies you’d defeated since your last rest. I initially thought Asterigos was presenting itself as a family-friendly FromSoft homage. I didn’t run into anything as captivating as some of what’s been shown in trailers, though the Pixar-esque design aesthetic (reminiscent of Blizzard's cinematic style or recent mythical adventures like Immortals: Fenyx Rising and Kena: Bridge of Spirits) made even what boiled down to “big alligator” or “giant boar” interesting creatures to square up against. The city is said to have been cursed by the gods for its careless overuse of the world’s magic–which Hilda herself seems to be able to harness, though whether this is common for her people or she’s just Extra Special™ is unclear– and the once-great ruin is now filled with dangerous beasts and monsters. I was recently sent a demo build of an early segment, and while it may not be as polished as it could be at this stage, I definitely put down my controller curious to see how this fantastical adventure inspired by a combination of Greek and Roman mythology will come together.Īsterigos casts you as Hilda, a warrior of the Northwind Legion as she investigates the ancient city of Aphes in search of her missing father and its long-buried secrets. As someone who loves the melding of classical myth and epic fantasy, plus keeps having Netflix recommend him “shows with a strong female lead,” Asterigos: Curse of the Stars easily caught my eye when it was announced last fall.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |