Illusions of Loyalty

Howdy
Do you know what is the "Shackles of Varn" universe? Well I don't so I tried this game, "Illusions of Loyalty", a game by Aegix Drakan,that is the first game set in this universe.
It's a short fantasy story, and this can be understood from the main menu that says "Start Mission". Oh yeah, not Story or Adventure, but just Mission!

The game begins with a lot of choices that lets you tailor your experience: there are three difficult levels from the easiest that lets players enjoy the story, to the hardest one for hardcore gamers. You also have the option to skip dialogues and to decide if you want enable saving anywhere and anytime or use save points (represented by purple will of the wisp that are also useful to understand when it's better saving, even if the game itself will sometimes warn before entering dangerous areas).

Ok, after the selection, we start the game from a prologue: Julius Logan is the main "hero", and like the other members of the party (the sniper Sarah Hawke. the hunter Eric Wilder and Lize Baroque, assassin and a gambler) he is not a typical jrpg hero, but just a professional soldier and a commander, one of the best. After this short prologue that will teach some basics and will introduce the setting and the situation, the real mission will begin. I won't spoil the adventure (but as you can guess from the title the game has a lot to do with loyalties) since it's pretty short (just three dungeons) and entertaining to play blind. What you can clearly expect is combat. A lot!


Hey, what's that huge flying beast? Oo-oh!

But in this game combat is really well organized and complex: our four party members have six different skills (right from the beginning and are never increased levelling up) that requires both SP/mana (that is recharged of 10 points each round but it's sufficient just for basic skills) and Aggression (that enables more powerful attacks and abilities) that is charged by basic skills and regular attacks. It's hard to explain, but trust me, there are no useless skills, even if I found some attacks more useful than others (Lize Baroque's leech ability for example was not so useful unlike other abilities).
Enemies are often in mixed groups that at higher difficulty levels require careful planning and strategy, and besides regular opponent and bosses (that have different moves and attacks) there are also optional bosses, and some of them are really difficult, even at the lowest difficulty level (the Greater Painspawn) but they let you earn extra experience and find some unique loot!

So the combat system is simply brilliant and fun to use, ok there are no many pieces of equipments available, but most of them have some useful powers that will make it difficult to choose the best option. There are also many consumables that can help during combat, and I don't speak just of healing items! Another good thing is that enemies are all visible and avoidable, so no random encounters at all! Just pay attention to their movements and you can skip most combat encounters, even if last dungeon is a sort of stealth section where the enemies are really difficult to avoid (but I managed to do that in some cases).

Graphically the game uses a ot of Rtp but in a good way: mapping is pretty good and characters are immediately recognizable, and despite the generic look they have character and are so well characterized in broad strokes that you won't care of their "generic look". The musical selection is also pretty good too!
For the rest there isn't much else to say: it's a short and linear game, a prologue, three dungeons and three mandatory bossfights, optional bosses, no need to grind (but to use strategy!) and lots of fun.


I hate undeads! Let's shoot them all!

Final Verdict
Ok, so far everything seems positive: there are lots of options, a great story with lots of questionable but interesting characters (with different skills and personalities) and no boring stereotypical hero (this is something I loved of the story), many optional dialogues and interactions that are totally unnecessary but flesh out the story and setting (and in some cases they foreshadow the encounters with some particular characters).

What could have been made better? Well, few things, for example the last part is just a lot of walking in empty areas, and maybe just a cutscene would have been sufficient. Also I'd have liked an extended true ending, since the fate of the protagonists is so uncertain that's almost a cliffhanger. But I do not mind too much, the game is short and good, ok there are no puzzle, no original art, but what we have is almost perfect: original, entertaining and with many options that can tailor it to match the player's preferences!

so, my opinions are:

+ Great story and cast of characters
+ Lots of options about difficulty and preferences
+ Awesome combat system that makes you actually use strategy and not just spam the strongest move
+ No need to grind, no random encounters, avoidable enemies and optional bosses!

- RTPs(except for the will of the wisp, that look very pretty!), also a couple of identical characters like those in the Dariel City church
- No puzzles, side quest, activities or minigames
- It's a short linear story (except for the final choice that leads to the three short endings)

In few words, this is an excellent short fantasy scenario and a very polished game. 4.5/5, really one of my favourites!