Over the 3 years we`ve had the Xbox One, we`ve had some great Games with Gold titles that have been thrown to us for nothing. Ranging from top AAA titles such as Tomb Raider and Sunset Overdrive recently to brand new IPs such as Zheros, we`ve had a fair share of good and bad titles. And it`s a new one that we`re going to be looking at. Earthlock: Festival of Magic is a game that was released to the public at the beginning of September as part of the Program. Was it a game that was going to offer a good game and title to the program? Or would it be a game that would fall and suffer like a few of the other titles have?
Earthlock: Festival of Magic is a role-play game developed and published by Snowcastle Games. It follows the story of the adventurer Amon, in the world of Umbra, who is about to become enwrapped and warped into a story and fight against the much bigger and ruling Suvian empire. Development started for the game way back in 2011, but it`s now that we`re getting it released for Xbox One, and other current-gen consoles.
Now, before we go into the game, the graphics within Earthlock I really like. There`s something quite artistic and different about the game, and it`s one of the best assets Earthlock offer. It`s graphically quite artistically stunning. I know people play games for the content of the game and not how stunning a game looks, but it`s really different and the artistic feel within the game is something quite special.
The story within Earthlock is good, and isn’t something that`s going to offer you a complex story to get your head around. Amon, the protagonist, discovers a mysterious and unique object, and a few days later, his uncle goes missing, captured by the ruling and powerful Suvian Empire. It`s clear though that they want an exchange, of the object, for his uncle. You`re now going to begin the story and quest to recover and save your uncle, and along the way you`re going to need to utlilie fighting styles to either take out or sneak past opponents and enemies. Unique personalities and stances will be on offer throughout as you meet several other characters, all of which will be controllable and bring something else different to the table in terms of its personalities and traits so to speak of. One thing that`s really interestingly used in Earthlock is chemistry between characters. Building up the chemistry between a set of characters will result in increased power within your abilities, and that will prove to be very beneficial later on. It`s quite different to what we see on the market in terms of other ID games in terms of content, and that perhaps makes Earthlock quite unique and special.
Earthlock is a game that will offer you a good experience and something that`s perhaps a bit different on the market. It`s a game that offers a good story, and not too much in terms of anything that`s going to be awfully challenging or get frustrating after a while. Many ID games I`ve played those year have made them so challenging and difficult that you do find yourself getting frustrated after a while, but with Earthlock it isn’t like that. Earthlock is a game that`s going to give you a good gaming experience and something you`ve perhaps not played before. If you were lucky to remember that it was free last month you`ve got yourself a very good freebie, if not, the price may be a bit steep, but it`s fully worth it.
A huge thank you to XCN for supplying us with a review copy of Earthlock
Game: Earthlock: Festival of Magic
Developers: Snowcastle Games
Publishers: Snowcastle Games
Genre: Role-playing
Price: £23.99