Northwall (v1.0.1)

At first, after checking out this game's page I didn't have high expectations for Northwall. I didn't see anything that could pick my interest, however I decided to give it a try. How did it turn out?

Story
Northwall - a fort in the north of the continent created by a cleric Galarand. It's purpose is to keep watch on a lair of monsters. The monsters however seemed dormant for a long time, except for some stray small groups. But the peaceful days eventually came to an end. Monsters swarmed Northwall and only a small group of it's citizens survived. Among them is our main character Suven. Along with Ben, Rick and Coravis they head to a nearby settlement to find shelter, but in order to survive they will need provisions. To get them Suven and two of aforementioned soldiers head south, but that's only the beginning of misfortunes awaiting them.
At first the story doesn't seem to be anything special, but it is presented in a very good way. It is quite dark and gory, there are many plottwists and characters undergo a lot of character development. Each character grows to have their own motivations and none of them is a typical goody two-shoes. There also some moral decisions to make that will impact the story in a certain way, however won't affect the conclusion.

Graphics and Music
Though Northwall uses mostly RTP graphical assets (with some edits and custom graphics) they are used quite well. Mapping isn't anything special but it's fine and each location is different so the player doesn't get bored with the same scenery.
As for the music there are no RTP tracks. The whole soundtrack is custom and it's quite good. There were some pieces that I didn't really like, but they were at least fine and suited the locations and situations in which they were used.

Gameplay
Gameplay is actually where Northwall shines the most. Zevia's creativity was a really positive surprise. Gameplay is really varied.
First we have battles. There are normal random encounters, however author introduced us to asystem name Encounter Bar. With every battle a portion of the bar disappears and once it is gone we can't encounter any enemies in that area anymore, so it means battles are limited (about 5 battles per major location). Each enemy is quite unique and just pressing attack won't get us anywhere. However random encounters are considered only a training before boss battles. Most boss battles are varied gameplay-wise. In one there are barricades that keep us from attacking, in others the bosses gather energy to transform in their stronger forms in order to kick our arses. Every battle is different and that's really cool. What makes battles more interesting is a wide array of skills our party possesses. And to top it off the skills are quite complex so every has it's pros and cons.
In the world of Northwall we will also encounter a lot of logical puzzles that are really tought trough. They aren't too hard but you still need to use your brain to complete them.
The game is linear so there aren't any side activities, but the main plot is interesting enough.

Summary
I spent about 6 hours in the world of Northwall and It was a really fun time. It is a game i would recommend to anyone who likes rpgs and dark, tragic stories. It is also quite hard so if you're looking for a fair challenge Northwall is for you.

Final score
4.5/5