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Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call - Review After 100% — Transcript

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0:06What's going on everybody? Mortem here.
0:08This time bringing you my review after
0:10100% for Foresaken Realms of Varin's
0:13Call. A fun sort of silly little RPG. If
0:16anything, that takes a lot from Fable
0:18and what it lacks in, I would say,
0:19graphical fidelity. It makes up with
0:21honestly just being fun these days. But
0:24before we get into all that, to get my
0:25usual stuff out of the way, I review
0:27games after 100% all the time to set me
0:29apart from other reviewers on the
0:31platform. And while that does include
0:32the achievements, it also includes a lot
0:34more than that. There's a link below
0:35covering everything I go over. And my
0:37Steam profile is public and linked down
0:39below as well. In the case of this
0:41particular game, I also need to inform
0:42you that I received a review key from
0:45the developer, Titan Rock, uh roughly 2
0:47weeks or so ago. And while I've already
0:49made a first impressions video for this
0:51because the embargo lifted a while ago,
0:53the game itself releases today. Now, as
0:56100% go, this one isn't too bad. It's a
0:59relatively small game. The whole thing
1:01took me about 25ish hours, with the
1:03thing that required like the most uh
1:05concentrated effort, if you will, being
1:07a collectible for these gnomes you can
1:09find around and destroy. But the cool
1:11thing is once you kill enough of those
1:13guys and you complete the side quest
1:14associated with it, you'll actually get
1:16an item called the Kickstarter, which
1:18while it is equipped, actually reveals
1:20the locations of all the collectibles
1:21and everything, which makes everything
1:23else a lot easier. And yet, I do also
1:25want to give a shout out to their
1:27community manager who pointed me in the
1:29right direction on some very specific
1:30questions, which allowed me to get the
1:32last couple things knocked out, which is
1:34why you're seeing this video today and
1:35not like a day or two later. But either
1:38way, thanks Robin. And now on with the
1:40rest of the review. So, as I mentioned,
1:42this game is uh silly. It's got a good
1:45bit of humor in there. It's fun to
1:47explore and mess around with the various
1:49combat options. And while it's not the
1:51most uh beautiful looking game, let's
1:52say, I think their stylized realism
1:55hearkens back to some RPGs like Fable,
1:57which it is clearly inspired by, which
2:00is interesting then because I've seen a
2:02lot of the way this game has been
2:03marketed about having a like grim dark
2:06fantasy world. And while that's not
2:08untrue by any means, it actually does
2:10have a wider bit of lore that is a bit
2:12depressing at times and the main story
2:14plays it pretty straight. The rest of
2:16the game has like a really fun bit of
2:18again humor and interactions and the
2:21combat on top of that, allowing you to
2:22approach it in multiple different ways,
2:24even if it's not entirely necessary
2:26thanks to the game's difficulty, but you
2:28can mess around with traps and throwing
2:30potions, cheesing enemies the
2:31oldfashioned way, etc. Uh, and overall
2:34the gameplay experience for this one is
2:36just fun, even if there are some
2:38problems, especially around like
2:39movement for me personally. But all in
2:41all, it was a pretty good experience
2:43that I mostly enjoyed with a few
2:44annoyances, even if it doesn't exactly
2:46hit the heights of the best of the
2:49genre. You can tell that the people
2:50making this cared about it, and I think
2:52that goes a long way these days. Now,
2:54from there, let's kick off with the
2:55technical state. Now, this one is a
2:57little bit interesting because when they
2:59first gave me the review key, honestly,
3:00it was crashing a good bit and then over
3:02the course of about two weeks, they were
3:04actively patching it and it got
3:06significantly better and I wasn't really
3:08dealing with any problems at all towards
3:10the end of it. And so, my hope is that
3:12that's how it will be for everybody else
3:14on release, but do know there is
3:16certainly that possibility in there. For
3:18me personally, it seems like they
3:19patched all the issues I was having in
3:21terms of like crashing and general
3:23performance issues. Now, another thing I
3:25do kind of want to squeeze in right here
3:27is that the movement system in
3:29particular can be a little awkward at
3:31times, especially around jumping in
3:33particular. The game seems to like
3:35calculate your uh momentum, if you will,
3:37as you are moving in any given direction
3:39and your jump is kind of based on that.
3:41But the exact geometry of the worlds you
3:43are messing around with and how sort of
3:45fiddly the controls around sprinting can
3:48be ultimately means that sometimes it's
3:50like weirdly hard to jump when I feel
3:52like it shouldn't be. and it gets a
3:53little annoying over the course of the
3:54entire game and I needed to mention that
3:56in here somewhere, but it's not big
3:58enough of a problem to like stop you
4:00from playing or anything. Next up, let's
4:02talk difficulty for this one. So, this
4:05is an interesting game to talk about
4:06difficulty with because it is not really
4:09trying to be a hardcore game by any
4:11means. There's a variety of different
4:12difficulty settings. On the lowest
4:14difficulty, you just straight up can't
4:16die. Like, enemies don't seem to be able
4:18to kill you. But the catch there is that
4:20well that might help you get through
4:22some bosses or something if you say have
4:24accessibility needs or anything like
4:25that. It's also uh not a game that it
4:28matters much if you die because it'll
4:30just kick you back to your last
4:31checkpoint with all of your progress
4:33saved. So you don't lose anything if you
4:36die. Not experience, not collectibles,
4:38anything like that. if you've picked it
4:40up and then die to a boss or an enemy or
4:42you fall off a ledge or something else,
4:44you just get kicked back to the last
4:45like checkpoint called a soul shrine and
4:48that's pretty much it. So, there are
4:49difficulty options if you're looking to
4:51mess around with exactly how tough
4:52individual enemies are, but with again
4:54how the game is, it's clearly not a game
4:56that's trying to be super challenging.
4:58So, keep that in mind. Next up, when you
5:01fire up a new game, we do have a
5:02cosmetic character creation. I'll be
5:05honest again, the visuals of this game
5:07outside of like general stylized realism
5:09in the environment and everything is
5:11fine. Uh the individual character models
5:14are where it probably looks the worst.
5:15And so the cosmetic character creation
5:17is really not exactly, I would say, a
5:20big selling point of this title, but you
5:22can make and adjust your character as
5:24you please. And if you go into the
5:26menus, there's your usual options about
5:28like hiding helmet and everything like
5:29that in case you actually want to see
5:30the character you make over the course
5:32of the game. But for me, uh, it's not
5:34something I cared too much about. Next
5:35up, let's talk story setup and my
5:37thoughts on it. So, whereas I mentioned
5:39the rest of this game is, uh, honestly
5:42kind of leaning into humor much more
5:44than I expected because of the marketing
5:45and everything, that's not really the
5:47case for the story. The story plays it
5:49pretty straight. And within that story,
5:50we play the role of a mercenary come to
5:53the city of Varin, looking for
5:55employment as a mercenary, of course, to
5:57help with the recent troubles here. Not
6:00all that long ago, the city of Varin was
6:02beset by these insectlike pests that
6:04they were effectively at war with. And
6:06while they ultimately pushed these
6:08things back, it came at great cost.
6:10Their king died, they're still reeling
6:12from the conflict itself. And this has
6:14become pretty fertile ground for other
6:16problems to pop up within, which is
6:18where the mercenary work comes in. In
6:20particular, there are bandits
6:22everywhere. They've just straight up
6:23taken over parts of the town that you'll
6:25have to fight off, things like that. And
6:27unsurprisingly, as you would probably
6:29expect, over the course of the main
6:30story, you get kind of roped into some
6:32conspiracies and some other goings on as
6:35you choose to apply your trade as a
6:37mercenary. Now, overall, I would say the
6:39main story is okay. It's not terrible or
6:42anything, but it's relatively short, and
6:45I think the best bits of this game
6:46personally are where it is funny,
6:48whether intentionally or not. And so,
6:51ultimately, I don't think people are
6:52going to remember this one for the story
6:54specifically. but it's hardly the worst
6:56thing I've ever seen or anything like
6:57that. Next up, let's talk progression
6:59system. So, this is where the game gets
7:01particularly interesting because the
7:03game uses a classless character leveling
7:06system comprised of levels, skills,
7:09techniques that you'll learn from those
7:11skills or potentially skill books and
7:13then gear, which has its own progression
7:15and upgrades alongside upgrading your
7:18magic and your potions, etc. based on
7:20your skill level. So, there's a good bit
7:22of progression to go over, but at a
7:24basic level, you will be leveling up up
7:26to a maximum of 80. It looks like I got
7:28to 80 and I just stopped leveling, so I
7:30assume that's the maximum. But outside
7:32of your main character level, when you
7:35level up, you gain skill points. You can
7:37spend those skill points on your skills,
7:39but the catch here is that the skills
7:41level up individually on their own as
7:44you use them. They level up to a maximum
7:46of 16, it appears. And while you will
7:49unlock uh skills and techniques to
7:51actually apply your points to within
7:53these individual bits of like weapon
7:55types, magic, etc., some of those are
7:57only available by finding skill books.
7:59You have to find the skill book which
8:01will then unlock it as a skill. And then
8:02provided you have the appropriate skill
8:04level, you can also then actually use
8:06it. Now, you can respspec at any time
8:08simply by deactivating these. And
8:10otherwise, it's just the skills you've
8:12actually made use of in order to max
8:14them out. Your skills themselves are
8:16basically your uh individual actual
8:19weapon types, be that dual wielding,
8:21sword and board, two-handed weapons, a
8:24bow, etc. Then you've got your four
8:26magic types, fire, ice, earth, and
8:28alteration. Each of these has five
8:31individual spells you can find out and
8:33about, letting you play a pure mage if
8:35you like. And then the rest of it is
8:36basically stuff like your defensive
8:38options, your armor, as well as traps
8:40and alchemy. Now, your magic, provided
8:42you've actually found the spells, if
8:44you've also got the skills to go with
8:46those spells you found, you can then
8:47upgrade the magic itself to make it
8:49stronger. And if you increase alchemy,
8:51you can also then upgrade your potions,
8:54essentially combining a bunch of effects
8:56based on materials you found out and
8:58about in order to mix a potion that does
8:59a bunch of unique stuff. So, you'll have
9:01some healing potions by default, but you
9:03could upgrade those via alchemy to heal
9:06you. Also, restore stamina, which is
9:07only really used for blocking to be
9:09honest, or uh cure different status
9:11effects that might get inflicted. There
9:13is one status effect called soul burning
9:15or something like that that uh removes
9:16your ability to heal, which is annoying.
9:18So, you might want a potion that cures
9:20that. You can also even get a potion
9:21that increases your experience gain for
9:24a little while if you so choose. So,
9:26there's a lot of fun stuff you can do
9:27with alchemy, but probably the thing I
9:29like the most about it is one of the
9:30upgrades actually allows you to throw
9:32potions as well. So, not only can you do
9:33a bunch of stuff for yourself, but you
9:35can also via this throw mechanic inflict
9:37debuffs on enemies as well. A similar
9:40situation for traps. So, there are a
9:43bunch of different traps you can pick up
9:44and learn how to make. And if you
9:46actually invest in the trap skill and
9:48learn about them, you can upgrade those
9:49traps as well. They have their own
9:51little progression path. And so the game
9:53really does do a lot to give you a bunch
9:54of different options in that regard. And
9:56that's before we even start talking
9:58about gear. So gear does have weight and
10:01depending on your armor stat determines
10:02how good you are at actually using it,
10:04which can affect things like your dodge.
10:06And you can upgrade all of this gear and
10:08weaponry and stuff you pick up as well,
10:10just through regular old forging to make
10:12it stronger. Though there are very
10:14obvious like tiers of progression to
10:15gear. And so I wouldn't invest too
10:18heavily in upgrading individual items
10:19unless you are just like really locked
10:22in on that particular piece of
10:23equipment. But that's kind of what we're
10:24looking at progressionwise. And so let's
10:26move on a little bit to the gameplay and
10:28world section. So Vin's Call here is
10:31made up of a series of interconnected
10:34zones or areas to explore. I wouldn't
10:37exactly go so far as to call them hubs
10:38as they aren't exactly that big. But if
10:40you've played something like the
10:41original Fable, I think you would
10:43actually get the gist of it here, even
10:44if they're a little bigger than that as
10:46well. Along these zones, you can also
10:48find fast travel points, which are
10:50basically like little road signs that
10:51you can walk up to and then fast travel
10:53to places you have been, which is how
10:55you can get back and forth between the
10:56larger distances as you move through an
10:59area. Some places will only become
11:00available by progressing the main plot
11:02or progressing individual side quests
11:04that give you access to just other areas
11:06to run around in and explore, but you
11:08can always go back to places even after
11:10the main story is over. The world
11:12remains completely explorable. I don't
11:14think anything is truly missable outside
11:16of a single achievement, but that is
11:18missable right at the very beginning of
11:20the game. So, it's super easy to start a
11:22new playthrough and just get that
11:23immediately. So, other than that, you
11:25can explore as your heart desires, I
11:28suppose. And to make that a little
11:29easier, your main collectibles, not like
11:31everything, you can pick up the main
11:33stuff, which is the treasure chest, the
11:35skill books, as well as the gnomes in a
11:37given area will be displayed on the map
11:39there. And that's if you want to even
11:41bother with some of that before you get
11:43the Kickstarter thing from getting all
11:45of the gnomes, which will show you where
11:47all of them are. Anyway, beyond that,
11:49the main thing you're going to do is uh
11:51side quests and of course fighting the
11:53various enemies, which is going to lead
11:54you to exploration and various boss
11:57fights, etc. Now, the main story part of
12:00it is relatively straightforward. You
12:02just kind of follow that. That will
12:03usually see you moving through the
12:04game's various dungeon-like areas that
12:06end in a boss. You kill that boss, get
12:09sent to the next area, etc. Where the
12:11game is at its best is exploration and
12:13side quests. In my opinion, this is
12:15because the world is actually pretty fun
12:16to explore. There's a lot of side quests
12:18to find and they have just littered loot
12:21everywhere and you're going to need that
12:22loot to upgrade all your stuff if you
12:24want to, which itself has a really good
12:26sort of gameplay feedback loop to it.
12:28And that combined with the game's really
12:30funny moments is uh again just where the
12:32game is at its best. Like there, just to
12:34give a few examples, was a quest where I
12:37got blackout drunk and had to fight a
12:39bunch of rats that I had been sent down
12:41to a basement to kill old school RPG
12:44style. That quest was hilarious. Uh
12:46there's a guy who gives you a bunch of
12:48hunt quests across the game who is
12:50looking for a fearless hunter who can
12:52actually take the fight to these
12:53ravenous beasts. And unfortunately, he
12:56can't find one, so he has to settle for
12:57you, which was funny. While shaking down
12:59a local butcher to pay their debts, you
13:01may well uncover some uh nastiness in
13:04terms of what they were actually selling
13:05for their meat. And the list goes on.
13:07There's just a ton of like really
13:08humorous moments that I think exploring
13:10the world and doing those side quests
13:12really puts a good spotlight on. and
13:15that is where this game was the most fun
13:16for me. But beyond that, it is
13:18relatively simple. I do also just want
13:20to point out that the game has basically
13:22one sort of hub area for you and that is
13:25the South Veil Hamlet. While we are in
13:27the city of Aren's Call because of all
13:29the troubles going on, and you will
13:30occasionally meet NPCs in other areas,
13:33the South Hamlet is the main area you're
13:36actually going to go to to do like all
13:38of your upgrades and just sort of in
13:39town business. So, don't expect a lot of
13:42settlements to run around and enjoy.
13:44just as a heads up. So that then brings
13:46us to combat. Combat is an interesting
13:49one in this sense because it is uh I
13:52would say fun for what it is, but it's
13:54also certainly not like the best in the
13:56genre or anything. A lot of it's a
13:58little clunky and weird at times, but
14:00thanks to the wide variety of both
14:02weapon types, magic, traps, alchemy, you
14:05can do some fun stuff with it if you
14:07lean into it because you can decide
14:09whether to go, you know, sword and
14:10board, which makes it easier to block,
14:12of course, or you could go with other
14:14one-handed weapons, hammers, axes, etc.
14:17You could dual wield if you wanted to.
14:19There is a ranged option, which is uh
14:21really easy to cheese some enemies with.
14:24There's also magic. So, uh, magic
14:26requires a bit more of an investment
14:28than I wanted to spend on it, but you
14:30can do some fun stuff. Fire, ice, and
14:32earth magic is pretty much what you
14:34would expect, but there's also an
14:35alteration bit of magic, which is things
14:37like healing or later on with a quest
14:40that is very missable, by the way. You
14:42can pick up a spell called transmogriphy
14:44and turn enemies into objects, that kind
14:46of thing. But there's also weapon spells
14:48that will add effects to like your
14:49weapon, etc. So, you can play it as more
14:51of like a support battle mage type of
14:53role if you please. And then, as I've
14:55already outlined, you can also drop
14:57traps and throw potions at enemies if
14:59you want to lean into that direction as
15:01well. And things like the stun trap can
15:03make your life a bit easier. But
15:04regardless of what route you choose or
15:06what weapon you are messing around with,
15:08you'll probably want to know about
15:10primary and secondary attacks. Primary
15:13are basically what you would expect.
15:14However, there is a secondary attack,
15:16which is usually where your weapon
15:18techniques are going to come in. As you
15:19advance in a weapon skill, you'll gain
15:21access to other techniques which are
15:23effectively combos you can unleash which
15:25can be useful in certain situations.
15:27Now, I will say the combat is so like
15:30relatively straightforward that much
15:31like all the other options, you don't
15:33really need to lean into these, but
15:35they're there if you want to. And I did
15:37actually find some of the uh techniques
15:39for like the ranged weapon in particular
15:41pretty helpful because it has like a
15:42bleed effect and it's very possible and
15:44relatively easy to use that bleed effect
15:47to say weaken an enemy and then kind of
15:49just run around while it bleeds to
15:51death. So there's that. But uh that's
15:53pretty much all I've got to say on
15:54combat. Not a terribly complicated
15:56system. And then that does in fact bring
15:58us to the Steam Deck portion. So the
16:01developers of this game are a sevenman
16:04team from what I understand. And it's
16:06probably because of that that they did
16:07not do any like testing specifically for
16:10the Steam Deck. But having played it on
16:11that platform for myself, I would say
16:13it's probably going to get a rating of
16:15playable as is unless it gets some
16:17updates. For starters, some of the UI
16:19menus etc have very very small text and
16:22Steam is a real stickler about that in
16:24particular. And on top of that, while it
16:26is playable in terms of how well it
16:28runs, the frame rate leaves a bit to be
16:30desired even with the settings pretty
16:32much entirely on low. And even then,
16:34you're still getting like some
16:35stuttering and stuff. So, if anything, I
16:37would say this game is in fact playable
16:39there. Like, you can definitely do it,
16:41but it's also not like the best
16:43experience either. Thankfully though, it
16:45does have controller support, which is
16:46never a given for a smaller game like
16:49this. So, that's nice to see. But from
16:51there, let's move on to positives,
16:53negatives, and then wrap this thing up.
16:54So, on the positive side of things,
16:57mainly the sense of humor, the fun I had
16:59running around, exploring, just messing
17:02around with all the different things,
17:03finding different options to complete
17:05quests, discovering little hidden areas
17:07tucked away, which usually has some form
17:09of loot, be that a treasure chest, a
17:12skill book, etc. And there's just like a
17:13really good gameplay feedback loop there
17:16of you running around, exploring, having
17:18a few laughs, going back to town,
17:20upgrading, and getting back out there
17:21and doing it again. Nonetheless, there
17:23were some negatives. As I mentioned, uh
17:26visually not the best game in the world,
17:28but in particular, the character models
17:30look very, very rough at times, like
17:32noticeably worse than the rest of it in
17:34my opinion, but not exactly a
17:35dealbreaker for me if you've seen the
17:37games I play. I will say though, the
17:40most frustrating thing was really the
17:42movement of this game. like there is
17:44just a sort of oddity to actually like
17:46moving around and jumping and there is a
17:48I would say almost platforming element
17:50to certain areas exploration and so it's
17:52not like this is easily avoided but that
17:55in particular really did just kind of
17:57feel bad compared to playing the rest of
17:59it which was unfortunate and if I'm
18:02being like super nitpicky I also think
18:04there's some adjustments on the timing
18:06in terms of attacks with two-handed
18:08weapons that could be made or stuff like
18:10the movement again just generally
18:11feeling off and it being hard to like
18:13turn directions, especially in combat
18:16sometimes. And then there are occasional
18:18frustrations with trying to like aim
18:20your cursor at a specific bit of loot
18:22that the game just doesn't want to
18:24register as something you can pick up,
18:25that kind of thing. So, a lot of little
18:27nitpicks if you want to go down that
18:29route. But ultimately, that brings me to
18:31my conclusion. While uh Forsaken Realms
18:34Vronin Call is hardly a pinnacle of the
18:36genre or anything, it is honestly more
18:39than anything else just kind of fun and
18:41funny at that, which was uh plenty
18:43enough for me in particular. And so if
18:46you want to beat your enemies to death
18:47with a frying pan, turn giant yetis into
18:50buckets, and then maybe after all that's
18:52done, see about this main quest
18:54nonsense, then Vin's Call might well be
18:56up your alley. And at that it is uh
18:58planning to release for $35 US, which is
19:01about where I would put it. Personally,
19:03I would have preferred it be at 30, but
19:05that's a nitpick at best. And I am okay
19:07for recommending it at that price. So,
19:09I'm going to give this game a buy. If
19:11you do wind up checking it out for
19:13yourself, I'd love to hear about it,
19:14which of course means to like, comment,
19:16subscribe, all that YouTube jazz. But
19:18regardless of any of that, truly, just
19:20thank you so much for watching. I really
19:22do appreciate it. May you wander in
19:24wisdom and have an amazing day. Okay.

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This page contains the full transcript of Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call - Review After 100% by Mortismal Gaming, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 4,148 words across 583 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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