Hello and welcome to the review of Flesh, a game that was sitting on my hard disk untouched since too long time!
Flesh is a game made by kainworks and it shows in his trademark visual style, even if this time the game is separated from Heroic Value and its sequel. This game was an entry for the 2018’s “A Game By Its Cover” inspired by the Flesh cover you can see on the main page.

But let's start with the prologue: the world of Alma was destroyed by a war between mages and demons and now the land is decaying. Arid deserts and swamps of poisoned water, desperate survivors living in huts and hungry demons roaming the wastes are a common sight, but there is hope: Neux, a necromancer has risen among the ranks of the sorcerers and was chosen for a mission that will change the destiny of Alma.


Some advices from the demons are actually useful and will prevent you from wasting time and die in a hopeless fight!

Neux not only is capable of magic, but he can summon undead versions of the enemies defeated to help him in battle and he cannot be destroyed, since every time he is killed he will be revived by his fellow necromancers! (you can still save anytime but be aware that you do not need to... except for the bug I will mention later... wait for it!). Yes, there is no way to get a game over in this game, death is only temporary for Neux.

Ok, but this does not mean that it will be an easy quest. First, do you think you can grind until you are strong enough to kill anyone? WRONG! First because there are is NO esperience and winning combat encounters is useful only to earn money for consumables and sand to summon creatures. Second because many opponents, especially bosses, need some precise item or ability to be defeated (because some will heal themselves, others will flee if in danger, and some can even paralyze their opponents!).
So how do you get strong? Well there are some permanent upgrades that can be found in the land of Alma that will increase Neux life and energy, but also completing tasks (that means finding the four artifacts you need to complete the quest) will award not only some permanent upgrades but also restore both life and energy.


Ok boy, but will the Duke be kind to me??? Uh-uh I really hope so!

Life and energy are extremely important, Neux is a mage and he cannot attack physically, so remember to have some tonics (that can be used in combat unlike water that restore energy but only on the map!) otherwise you cannot harm the opponent and you will have to rely on the summoned creatures. Unfortunately the sand used for summons isn't infinite so you will need to replace it after some uses, the good thing is that it can be used to restored the creature during combat, but this means also that you may have just one creature for each kind. Anyway do not worry, there are many of them and with different skills, that will be necessary to complete the game. Yes, Neux alone would not be able to survive (despite the fact that each combat encounter is always against ONE single opponent! But yes, demons are powerful) since not even his magical attacks are not that powerful (even if he can buy and learn some other useful spells during the adventure).

The game is really old style: in the beginning you are zero guidance, and the dialogues with some npcs demons and human survivors will provide some insight about what you are supposed to do. BUT you can and should probably avoid any encounter until you find the Mirror, and it's not difficult because enemies are all visible and move following precise patterns (so they will not chase you). With the Mirror you can take on the first boss, then you will have the necessary to fight the second and so on! Nice, it's almost like a puzzle or an adventure game!

Ok, what else? Music is from Ocean Dream‘s Nostalgia Pack and fits the dark fantasy setting extremely well, graphics are custom and the game seems a sort of Dragon Warrior game set in a bleak world, Dark Sun style! Portraits and monster pics are all perfectly fitting the genre and style. That's nothing to say except that this is what attracted me at first! I also found the interface really pretty.


The Fomorian isn't a terrible opponent but he is a coward that will flee if in danger. But we've an ace up our sleeve here...


Final Verdict
Flesh is a unique game: the concept reminds to me of the Geneforge videogame series (an old series of rpgs set in a weird fantasy setting in which you played as a sort of lone wizard that could summon creatures and explore a decadent world).

I just found one bug but a game breaking one: if you are fighting the second boss and lose (it may happen especially in the beginning when you are not aware of what you are supposed to do) you can lock the first boss making impossible to start combat, and its sprite will prevent you to take an artifact you will need later (to finish the game), so there is no way to progress the game no matter what. Ok, that's the only part when you will be forced to reload a previous game, otherwise no problems at all!

The game will be probably be really difficult in the beginning, when the player has no idea of how the things work and he doesn't know the map and what he is supposed to do... but later once mastered the few skills and learned how to survive (I admit that I never fought and killed those demons that regenerate healing themselves, but there is no need to do that!), after the first half, game becomes quite easier and the objectives are clear. Even the final combat isn't that difficult if you come prepared, and for prepared I don't mean that you need lots of potions (I had zero!), just that you possess a good number of strong summonable allies. I also loved the ending even if it's a bit short, anyway here's also the ending of the review!

This is a cool game, despite the nasty bug I mentioned before and the old style gaming features that may discourage some players (for example the fact that Neux has no physical attack may be annoying, and when he will learn the ability to drain energy from enemies it will be too late! Because you probably won't even need to use it). This is not a game that holds your hand, it's harsh and unforgiving until you master it, and it's perfectly understandable due to the dark and grim adventure that Neux will undertake.

A short but epic dark fantasy adventure in a bleak world, 4/5!