Lost Eidolons is a turn-based strategy RPG that thrusts players into the world of Artemisia.
Lost Eidolons is a game developed by Ocean Drive Studio that is built upon ambition. It is a turn-based strategy RPG that has players take control of the mercenary captain Eden as he gallivants across the world of Artemisia. The game feels a great deal like those in the Fire Emblem series and seems to take great inspiration from these very famous titles.
In Lost Eidolons, you play as Eden, a charismatic young mercenary captain who is flung into the world of political intrigue and chaos when a heroic act goes wrong, and they are forced into a rebellion against a horrifically tyrannical empire. Eden is about as bland of a character as players can expect. The protagonist is intended to be witty, but instead, many of his lines are more cringeworthy than funny, and his general attitude makes him almost ‘too perfect’ and uninteresting.
The game, on the whole, is mixed, with some aspects being brilliant and others being an absolute mess. The gameplay of Lost Eidolons is like that of many turn-based strategy RPG titles from the past decade. Oddly enough, it could be argued that considering the complexity of systems, it could be compared with a title like Divinity Original Sin II or, of course, as mentioned before, Fire Emblem. The gameplay is, unfortunately, rather hit-and-miss, usually depending on the enemies that you are facing.
One thing that the game should be praised for is its sense of freedom and intensity. Characters can swap weapons on the fly, which allows for a great deal of variety and tactical adaptability. The classes present players with a massive set of abilities and skills that can make every character feel interesting and unique. It must be said that the mage class is the most fun and unique in the game. The use of grimoires and the spells themselves make the mages an absolute joy to use in this game.
This is all mixed in with the incredible ‘on the ground’- style animations, which make the battles feel larger. This should be as massive as fantastic. Unfortunately, the gameplay does suffer from a few setbacks.
For one, the game is unforgiving and, in some cases, almost feels unfair. Intelligent AI is one thing, but there are plenty of cases where the game feels like it is betraying you. Enemies spawn later in fights, but they end up spawning directly behind your characters, so close that they can kill you in a turn and stuff like that. Some may enjoy the grueling, harsh, and difficult battles, but others will find this game challenging.
In addition to this, the battles can become tediously long, particularly against human enemies. The battle maps are sometimes too large, and enemies will just stand still, waiting for your characters to get close. This means it can take 2 – 4 turns before your characters and the enemy even engage, particularly if new enemies spawn in mid-combat.
One compliment that should be given to Lost Eidolons is the game’s approach to monster combat. The use of monster weaknesses to particular damage types is an inspired decision that forces players to completely change up their playstyle. These weaknesses can lead to very satisfying chain attacks that can result in the monster’s health simply melting away.
However, these weaknesses do run out and change periodically throughout the fight. While this makes sense as if the weaknesses didn’t change, then players would simply destroy the monsters, it does make the fight way more tedious. This is obviously dependent on what monster you are facing, as packs are far more tedious than singular monsters.
The final aspect of combat that should be mentioned is its dynamism. While many critiques can be leveled at this game, Lost Eidolons allows players to think creatively, including the fact that players can set fires to certain areas of the world map depending on the terrain. In fact, the terrain itself can be tactical, as muddy terrain can impact both your characters and enemies alike.
Another aspect of Lost Eidolons that should be mentioned is the game’s inventory system. For an RPG, the game is very light on the looting side and disappointingly lacks any form of unique weapons or armor. Instead, players are resigned to having weapons based on their rarity.
Visually, Lost Eidolons can be a very beautiful game. The character models, in particular, stand out as the best-looking parts of the game. The monsters also have some incredible designs, which enhance the encounters that players will experience with them, not to mention the sound design, which again enhances what, on occasion, can be a tedious experience.
However, in opposition to this, some of the environments in this game can look downright awful. Muddy textures on buildings, visual clipping, and more detract from what can, on many occasions, be a visually stunning title.
Despite how great the characters look, one of the biggest problems with Lost Eidolons is the cast of characters themselves. Poor voice acting coupled with some awful dialogue and character motivations makes every character feel like they have as much depth as a puddle. No character is endearing in any sense of the word, except perhaps Robere, who actually seems to have a personality buried beneath layers and layers of brooding.
Francisco is a lovable moron, with more of an emphasis on the latter rather than the former. At first, this is quite funny, but the more he speaks, the less endearing and more irritating it becomes. This all becomes more apparent when the game attempts to broach more serious topics. The bland characters and poor dialogue detract from what could have been powerful moments, and because of this, the motivation to play has been soured. Sadly, the story and characters are the worst aspects of Lost Eidolons.
Despite this, Lost Eidolons is not a failure. Instead, it is an ambitious game that overreaches. The game suffers from its poor characters, watered-down story, and awful dialogue. But Lost Eidolons does still have some fantastic moments. The gameplay, while unfair on occasion, is still the most consistently fun part of the title and is intense enough to leave players wanting more.
That, in conjunction with the game’s audio design and decent graphics overall, makes Lost Eidolons a serviceable RPG, one that only hardcore fans of the genre should really pick up.
Lost Eidolons is available right now on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Here at GamesCreed, we cover everything gaming. From the latest news to stellar reviews, GamesCreed has you covered.
