A Review of Ravenbound: A Promising Roguelike Hindered by Bugs and Obscure Systems
Ravenbound is a roguelike game that initially impresses with its beautiful vistas and intricate monster designs. However, the game is soon hindered by obscure and regressive systems, frustratingly uncontrollable loot randomness, and numerous bugs that quickly ground any hopes for it.
Gameplay
In Ravenbound, players control a vessel, a randomly generated character with a different mix of traits, weapon specialties, and racial bonuses. The game's open-world comprises five beautiful regions where players drop into enemy camps, kill everyone in sight, and collect items as part of an aggravating car-based loot system until they are strong enough to slay the betrayer God.
Combat in Ravenbound is not complex but can be fun. Successful hacking and slashing with any of the five weapon types comes down to mastering the satisfying Dodge and Parry systems. The rewards for getting good at these techniques are well worth the risks and are essential for taking down late-game enemies and bosses.
Issues
However, many issues hinder the game. The game's systems that interface with combat feel obtuse, and keywords tied to Buffs, debuffs, and abilities can sometimes be less obvious and occasionally not even defined in the Codex. It took over 15 hours to get the first clear, and yet there was no idea what a multi-strike or Lux was. Enemies are plentiful and come in all shapes and sizes, with standard and Elite forms. However, the difference between them is not very clear, and discovering new mechanics and abilities for oneself is often frustratingly opaque.
The Warden boss at the end of every region is a tough test of item builds and endurance. These challenges can be fun when they are not suffering from some of Ravenbound's most pernicious bugs, like one that doesn't track boss health accurately, which makes having any idea of progress against them impossible. Additionally, the audio tracks overlap with each other or just cut out entirely, NPCs and shopkeepers occasionally vanish, and there have been about a half a dozen crashes, which are annoying.
Card System
Ravenbound uses collectible card game motifs to house otherwise familiar systems, but they are hit and miss. Everything players could potentially find or earn during a given run is a card in their deck, like the suit of armor that makes enemies believe when players parry them. Every time players would gain one of these things, they draw their choice of one of three cards from the larger deck to see what it'll be, and then it sits in their hand until they spend a resource called meta to activate or equip it.
While players can earn item draws mid-run by buying them from vendors or collecting fragments, they cannot influence what is on the wheel. The agent mechanic also hinders the game. Whenever players open a chest covered in a red Aura, a card on their next draw is replaced by one that automatically Buffs every Elite and boss monster in the region for the rest of their run.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Ravenbound is a promising game that falls short due to its obscure systems, bugs, and frustratingly uncontrollable loot randomness. The game is fun in parts, but it is often plagued by issues that make it less enjoyable than it should be. Players who are willing to overlook these issues might still find some fun in Ravenbound, but others might find it too frustrating to continue playing.
