The Forbidden Arts is an action adventure platformer game by Stingbot Games and is now available on Steam Early Access. I am lucky enough to lay my hands and eyes on this title and share my first impressions with you.
The Forbidden Arts tells the story of Phoenix who is suffering from visions which he can not make sense of. In order to get some answers, Phoenix confers with a druid. Turns out that he has the power of pyromancy within him and with the help of the druid, this power which was buried inside awakens. But, with great power comes great responsibility.
As so pyromancy is a great power, it is also a great burden and the reason we find ourselves at the beginning of a great adventure. You can not just go back home after you find out that you can control fire, eh? The Forbidden Arts’ main story tells the journey of Phoenix while he is learning how to control this power against his enemies and trying to save the world of Chora from the evil necromancer.
The druid who found out that you are a pyromancer also will tell you the basics of the game. She will tell you how to drain power from fire and will lead you to your first enemy which will give you some ideas about the combat mechanics of the game. Also, she will make you understand the ancient magic world you’ve just discovered by telling the history of Renassaince Magic and how Necromancer Voltaire became a powerful man who practices black magic. This could be the beginning of Harry Potter, but The Forbidden Arts tells a much more different story.
The world of The Forbidden Arts looks charming and colors are heartwarming. It surely reminded me The Legend of Zelda if we look from the viewpoint of visuals and the feeling it provides. I can easily say that it could be much more better and I would love more detailed graphics, but it is still a beautifully designed world and there is still time to make it more beautiful.
The real deal is the control and combat mechanisms of the game. Before long, you will encounter with your first enemy which is a wolf. The combat is unquestionable. The wolf is getting closer and closer, making intimidating sounds. There it comes, and there it stops. It sounds like it is fighting, biting, tearing your flesh, but the thing is that the wolf is not moving at all. It just stands there and may actually kill you with three bites. You can kill them easily, especially with your power of channeling flame, but it feels weird that it is not even moving while you are killing it.
It is not just the wolf I am talking about. You will face more and more powerful enemies while you are trying to fulfill your destiny of saving the world. Other creatures and enemies will also use the same combat tactic which is insanely disturbing.
The other thing is the control mechanism, especially jumping. I know that some of the other people who tried out the game have the same problem and it could be related to a frame rate issue, yet I did not have frame rate issues while I was playing The Forbidden Arts. Just the same, our protagonist is unable to jump properly. And believe me, you need to jump higher and higher while playing this game. It feels like you spent hours while trying to jump over unbelievably high walls in this land of unnecessary high walls.
The control mechanism and the character maneuver issue are the problems which can not be overlooked and with no doubt, they will hold you back from experiencing a smooth gameplay. Hopefully, they can be fixed in the future since the game still has a long time until the launch.
The Forbidden Arts just hit Steam Early Access and we all know what it means. The developers of the game will continue to work on it and try to provide us a better gameplay experience. Stingbot Games estimates The Forbidden Arts to be in Early Access for one year which means there is so much to change and fix.
According to the developers, the Early Access version includes roughly 35% of the total game’s content with two overworlds, six levels, and two boss fights of the 5 overworlds, 13 levels and 6 boss fights planned. According to the feedback, developers may change the existing content and the final product may differ from the one we are now playing in Early Access.
I would love to see The Forbidden Arts free from all the problems and evolved to its full potential since with these problems, it won’t be able to provide the joy it should be. The game promises a fun and epic gameplay set in a fantasy universe which can be really enjoyable in the future. The Forbidden Arts is still in early-access and available on Steam. You can go ahead and check the page by visiting here.
The Forbidden Arts was reviewed using a Steam key provided by the publisher.
