Zen Studios & # 39; Operencia: Stolen Sun it doesn't quite go to the bright start on Nintendo Switch. Opening with a presentation that sees you taking control of King Attila and his wife Rebekah as they attempt to shut down the port between their land and the underworld, things start here with a 10-minute introduction that highlights a few of the port's technical problems. , namely poor image quality with regard to enemies during combat and a lack of motion controls that can make some images more sensitive to contact. Insist on this very short sequence, however, make peace with the aforementioned things, and you'll get a good reward for the rich and satisfying brutality that blurs the fine line between engagement, warfare, treasure hunting and insightful puzzle.
Once you have managed to get some fun background in such a way that you will be whisked away by the character's creation and then quickly thrown into the ruins of a sun-drenched castle with some crazy fashion sense. Gameplay here will be familiar to fans of Tard of the Bard series, in particular Bard & # 39; s Tale 4 which has made the classic mechanics of the old school franchise by introducing the most free style of pedestrian controls and cameras you'll find here.
Operencia: Stolen Sun you and your team roam the valleys and all other areas of the game world as one unit from a first-person perspective. Traversal takes place on a grid-based system with four navigation guides but with full control of the interactive game camera and slimming. You'll make your way around the magnificent pits, uncover its slightly more complex maps as you move along, avoid various environmental obstacles, solve puzzles and fight against many obstacles you will encounter. Instead of random encounters, the enemy's involvement here can be avoided or overpowered – for the most part – during your selection and exposure to your enemies you will see that you have put up with them, giving you a welcome boost to the next major battle.
That battle is best for genre testing, a turn based action that sees your four-person attacking enemy with a variety of melee attacks, range, magic and AOE attacks, carefully managing health and power barriers and using buffs and treatments where necessary to see you pass. Arenas are three deep layers, identified here with colored lines on the floor, and the attack will work best if you match the range where your target is placed. Each character in your team has a wide opening puzzle that varies depending on the stage and XP is gained by fighting monsters, finding secrets and treasures, solving a puzzle and completing various other tasks. After the wars you will rest in battlefields to heal, ascend, create power – itself a very satisfying little minigame – and buy weapons and weapons from a dealer.
If it sounds like everything is going well for the mill, well, on a basic level, nothing in the moment game here will surprise any fan of this genre. However, when Operencia: Stolen Sun prides itself on the story embedded in Hungarian animation, the thrilling characters of characters who keep running back and forth as they continue their business with a series of well-crafted and amazing atmospheric design pits strike a good balance in how they mix their fight, confusing and the pursuit of wealth.
Indeed, it is in the small details that Operencia: Stolen Sun really shines. The vocal performance here, for example, may be a mixed bag but saved in large part by the fun writing that sees your friends constantly cracking, spinning circles and laughing at the expense of others as they roam around corals and fight against the bad guys. In combat, enemies are magnified with a ton of detail on how to move, fight and react when punished by your attacks – we love how bones can occasionally lose and lose their weapons during battle – your various magic and AOE attacks all come with lots of screen-filled explosions and environmental effects. The battle here is satisfying enough and, although at times, may be bad against ordinary enemies, it has great tactics and offers many times when you will have to stop and consider your options if you are going to pass them, especially when it comes to the many excellent bus battles that have been put in place throughout the confines.
Confusingly, it's pretty much the same with a good dose of the many challenges set before you as you make your way to Operencia. You will need to put together a huge list of tools you collect on your trip to work to unlock magical doors, booby-trunk locked rooms or broken bridges and activate all kinds of mechanical devices that block your path. On more than one occasion we had to chase a booklet and write to help us solve some brain processes and, overall, the game did a wonderful job of making sure that it challenged you right without getting into a frustrating situation. The pits are also built to reach a hard-to-reach climax each time with boss battles that will force you to use all of your latest attacks and skills that are usually done before some puzzles and / or miniboss to keep you on your toes.
Here is a nearly thirty-hour campaign here, as it strives to save Western king Napkiraly by returning King Attila's famous sword, will engage with dozens of characters drawn from both pages of history and the Hungarian Folklore in a story that is intriguing to the genre and, though it starts to fade a bit in the second half, it's a fun ride. which does a good job of fencing all the beautiful wooden pits you can get up to look for.
One thing we can advise you as you play with Operencia: The Stolen Sun is that you take your time at every level, explore your surroundings more fully and leverage every secret and piece of treasure you can find. There are a wealth of weapons, costumes, and important recipes available for reward – you can quickly check your game map to see how much of each place you fill in – and in doing so you will see yourself getting up and avoiding things that are missing or running to a brick wall – as we did – too early against an employer or someone you are not ready to deal with. The game also features a fast-paced system that can open up to four chapters in it and is brilliant for going back to the previous holes where you have unlocked new entryways that allow you to enter areas beyond the borders – yes, there is even a slight touch of Metroidanians here. It's also a good idea to do a lot of saves in case you get totally stuck or find that you've made the wrong choice somewhere – we're talking about a bitter experience here. This is a game that rewards the full exploration of its good levels and can punish you in major battles once you've got things done at once – Queen Reka, we're watching for you.
Depending on the switch port, as we mentioned there there is a few of the ironic problems with the solution for detecting occasional blurring between complex encounters and, in fact, we wish that motion controls could be a way to help stabilize our movement when trying to place small objects or interact with a specific natural governing body. Screen controls there is included here but we found them more of a hassle to use than sticking with a controller.
Aside from this little inconvenience, however, this is a nice port. In both the most interesting and loaded modes are short, framerate never stutters, we didn't encounter any bugs during our play and the game looks and sounds great for the most part as you make your way through its many holes. It would look like indeed it is not as sharp as the Xbox One version but we reckon that's a bit more commercial than making the game available to play in portable mode where we can get in and out of its labyrinthian levels in our hobby.
Conclusion
Operencia: The Stolen Sun is an excellent first person, a rider using a brilliantly drawn dungeon made of interactive story, fantastic characters and some well-formed and blue holes. The combat here is satisfying and wonderful, for the most part, the world on the right of the challenge. If you are looking for a meaty old school trick with a bunch of secrets and treasures to discover as you make your way around the world, this one comes in a great surprise and is highly recommended.
