VED from Karaclan Studios and Fulqrum Publishing is described on the Xbox Store page as “A story -driven RPG featuring stunning hand-drawn art and animation, combined with unique teleporting system, turn based combat mechanic and rogue-lite elements”.
I’m not sure there is a lot I can add to that, as it sets the scene for the game rather nicely. What it doesn’t mention is the finished article’s resemblance to a walking simulator, but I’ll come on to that. For now, let’s go to a strange new world and see what unfolds…
I’m sure you will agree that in any RPG the story is the thing that keeps you playing. It either grabs you and refuses to let go, as did Dragon Age: The Veilguard, or it just leaves you cold.
The story here is a bit of an odd one, as choices that you make as you go through the chapters affect the outcome of the narrative. We’re no strangers to a branching narrative, so this isn’t a surprise, but it does add a certain amount of replayability as you can go back and play things out in a different way if the current thread isn’t to your liking.
Without wanting to give away too much, in VED we play as Cyrus, a recently graduated student who is living with his aunt while looking for a job. One day, out of nowhere, a fire breaks out next door, and in the midst of the chaos Cyrus discovers that he can teleport. Nice talent to have in a tight spot! From there, he travels to a fantasy world where he has to not only survive, but make friends, build a town and so on and so forth. Obviously there is more to it, but broad brush strokes in a review and all that…
It’s probably best to then move on to the presentation of VED as we look at the much vaunted “hand-drawn art and animation”. To be fair, the art style is very nice, with detailed models of not only Cyrus and the friends he meets on his journey, but also of the enemies met along the way. One neat trick is that when Cyrus is in the real world, he is partially sighted, and this is reflected in the way the graphics are represented, being often a hazy screen with directions to follow based on things like smells and sensations. In the fantasy world, he has no such handicap, and so the graphics are crisp and clear.
The animation is a bit of an odd one to call though, as it isn’t animation as such. The various combat moves you can choose lead to almost static screens showing the result, be that a swipe with a sword or a magic attack, and the animation doesn’t flow. The effect is still pretty cool, but the animation is nothing to write home about.
Sound is also pretty good, with the voice overs being, for the most part, pretty good. There are some odd stilted conversations where I clearly remember thinking “No one would say that!”, but the rest of it is okay. Battle effects are up to par too, and while music doesn’t play a massive part in the story, what is there is up to snuff. All in all, VED tries to do something different, and largely manages to pull it off.
Now on to actual gameplay, and here the news is again somewhat mixed as VED plays as an odd combination of RPG, visual novel and a walking simulator, with all the excitement that blend promises. In the real world, the conversations that Cyrus has with people affects what they think of him, and so building relationships, both at work and in Cyrus’s leisure time, is a core component of the game.
Once we teleport to the fantasy world, things get a bit more exciting. You see, there are a lot of places to go and people to meet in this section as well, and when you find Dawn, there is some base building to do as well. This section is important, as building new structures unlocks additional abilities for Cyrus to use in the fighting sections ahead, and as the difficulty of these fights gets quite hard quite quickly, keeping on top of things is quite important. Placing the actions that you unlock in the grid of available moves also allows you to tweak the way that fights go.
Speaking of fighting, the system here is also quite interesting as every attack that you perform moves your character on the screen in relation to the enemy, so you can end up to the left, the right or in the middle of the screen depending on the attacks that you perform. Of course, where you are in relation to the enemy not only affects the way that the enemy can attack you, but also the way that you attack them. Most enemies you fight have more than one area to attack, so destroying an arm, for instance, can give you a safe area to stand while you chip away the main body. Attacks are done in a turn based style, with a certain number of AP to spend. Each attack takes AP to use, so do you use a lot of light attacks, or one powerful one? The choice is yours.
VED is an unconventional game that defies easy categorisation. While it might not immediately grab your attention, it gradually becomes more engaging as you delve deeper into its story and world. See it as a slow burn that rewards patience and exploration…
VED: A Hand-Drawn RPG 12 Years in the Making Arrives on Consoles and PC – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ved-a-hand-drawn-rpg-12-years-in-the-making-arrives-on-consoles-and-pc/
Buy VED on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/ved/9ntsktnq2q1m
