Games Check: Batora Lost Haven – Action RPG with good approaches – News

The action RPG Batora – Lost Haven by the studio Stormind Games is currently planned for autumn. For this game check I was able to explore the first areas with my heroine Avril in a beta version.

The earth is destroyed, let’s save it…
Batora – Lost Haven takes place in a future where the earth is almost completely destroyed and only a few survivors remain. Two of them, Avril and her friend Mia, are the focus of this action RPG. While exploring the ruins of her homeland, Avril falls into an abyss and awakens in an alternate reality. In the she is received by the god-like beings sun and moon, equipped with powerful abilities and chosen to be the savior of the galaxy.

Orange enemies are vulnerable to physical damage, while purple enemies are vulnerable to magical attacks.

Cliche story with surprises

The story in Batora – Lost Haven does not seem innovative at first and uses well-known clichés. But it also deals with serious issues, such as dealing with loss and grief. Sun and moon play an important role here, because they follow opposite approaches: sun stands for the conqueror, moon for the protector in you. This means that you have to decide in many quests for an action, for or against a faction. Since every decision has a directly tangible consequence, I sometimes had deep doubts as to whether I was “right” with my choice – knowing that there is no such thing as the right decision, because one side always suffers. The developers also promise different endings for the release version.

In this section of the puzzle you have to maneuver the ball to the individual spots so that new paths open up for you.

Good combat and puzzle mechanics

While completing the orders of the sun and moon or the planetary inhabitants, you will regularly be involved in fights. Here, too, the sun and moon play a central role. Each side represents a combat stance. As the sun, you primarily deal physical damage in close combat, while the moon focuses on ranged combat and magical effects. You have to constantly switch between the stances in combat, since opponents are only particularly vulnerable to one type of damage.

In the game world you will occasionally encounter smaller logic puzzles, for example a bridge will only materialize if you play a melody on bells in the correct order. In addition, Batora – Lost Haven sends you into skill and puzzle sections, similar to the shrines in The Legend of Zelda – Breath of the Wild (to test) or Immortals-Fenyx Rising (to test). In the areas you also use the posture mechanics to solve platform or logic puzzles and reach the goal. So far, these areas have not reached the complexity of the aforementioned titles, but play well and varied.

You can improve your skills with runes, which you can buy from merchants or receive as quest rewards.

technology and presentation

Visually, I find Batora – Lost Haven quite pretty, although my expectations were higher – the quality of the screenshots on Steam does not conjure up the title on my monitor even with ultra settings. In addition, the areas are too lifeless and empty for my taste. The background music is well done and the (English) speakers do a good job.

The story is told with a mix of film cutscenes, the individual scenes look (mostly) of high quality, and comic-like dialogue sections with quest givers or NPCs. Luckily, Batora – Lost Haven doesn’t present itself dead serious, but keeps a charming, humorous approach.

Several phases with different attacks await you in the demanding boss fights.

Mixed first impression

I played the preview version of Batora – Lost Haven for 5 hours and left with mixed feelings. On the surface – and apart from the starting area – the title is already looking good. But as soon as I take a closer look, I notice the few details of the areas and many models. During my playing time, I found the action portion in Batora – Lost Haven too low: The story and dialogue sections as well as running passages are too present in relation to the fights and puzzle sections. I hope the developers will be able to better connect battles and puzzles and make the game world and hub areas livelier by the time the story is released.

I also struggle with the gameplay. I think the posture mechanics and the associated skills and their chic effects are great. However, apart from the boss fights, you trigger the fights on the way there and back from quests. The clashes are fun: You have to use your skill repertoire and pay attention to the attack patterns of the various opponents if you don’t want to bless your time quickly. But they are not integrated into the game world, but small, unavoidable arena bites on your paths that lack variety. What I definitely miss is an acoustic hit feedback. Because neither mine nor the hits of the opponents can be felt or heard, but can only be read on the life bars.

• Action RPG for PC, Playstation 4/5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• single player
• For beginners
• Price: Should be released in autumn 2022
• In one sentence: Action RPG with good beginnings, but the preview version still seems too unfinished to be able to rate it fairly.