Some of you may remember a video game trailer that went viral a couple of years ago for being made by a team of 4 people. The trailer teased a Final Fantasy-esque RPG game and eventually, the end product it showcased, Edge of Eternity, found itself on Kickstarter seeking funding. Fast forward to 2018 and the game has since been backed by 4045 people and an Early Access version has made its way to Steam.
Created by Midgar Studios, a team of the original 4 creators and 5 others, Edge of Eternity tells the tale of Daryon and Selene as they quest to find a cure for an illness that’s plaguing their land. The game is set in the fictional world of Heryon with humanity being subdued by an affliction known as the Corrosion and mysterious entities are known as the Archelites ruling over the world.
In the Early Access version on Steam, the backstory is explained and players will take on the role of Daryon. The opening sequence of the game sees Daryon and his sister Selene traversing a familiar location from their childhood as they travel outward into the world in search of a cure for the Corrosion.
Daryon and Selene’s mother has been infected with the Corrosion and this serves the basic plot device to push the story forward. Upon first taking control of Daryon, players will be able to run around a cave and fight some small monsters before taking on a Golem boss. The combat system used in Edge of Eternity is turn-based with a Final Fantasy-esque Active Time Battle system gauge in use. What this means is that players will issue commands to both Daryon and Selene and only when their ATB gauge is full will they be able to perform their next action. Casting spells takes more of the ATB gauge than simple melee attacks would and in addition to this, if Daryon or Selene are attacked while casting a spell, they get interrupted and will have to start over.
The game also features a sort of hexagon-shaped grid in battles. Players will be able to move their characters around in these Hexagons and this assists with casting spells from a safe distance or avoiding enemy attacks that have an area of effect. Strangely, the game also implements the battle system and these hexagons into the world map in order to unlock doors or complete puzzles to progress further. This is a bit unnecessary in my opinion and breaks some of the game’s flow when not in combat, although I do understand that there might be further elements thrown into the mix at a far later stage which justifies this decision.
Graphically, Edge of Eternity is built with Unreal Engine 4 and as such, the game looks absolutely breathtaking at times. A minor gripe I do have with the game is that the main characters and other NPCs look dead inside and are extremely stiff and rigid. While I understand that this is an indie game and things like motion capture and the like which are used to create fluidity in characters may not be available, the stiffness of the characters detracts from their personalities and hopefully, this can be addressed in the future.
The in-game user interface currently is fairly basic but easy to understand. The development team has mapped out some plans for this to be improved upon and the upgrade system used in the game seems to be fairly straightforward and easy enough to understand. Players will make use of gems and gem shards which are slotted into a skill tree of sorts and this unlocks new abilities or stat boost. Additionally, new equipment can also be obtained and equipped as is the standard for any self-respecting RPG. Players can also harvest resources from the world itself by gathering from trees or mining rocky outcrops.
The voice acting in Edge of Eternity is surprisingly pretty good and both Daryon and Selene seem believable in their conversations. This combined with a great soundtrack is good news for the game since its exceptionally good music will definitely keep players happy throughout the story – Much like how Final Fantasy titles are known for their great soundtracks.
Edge of Eternity is still in the Alpha stage of development and is in Early Access on Steam right now. This means that those that choose to purchase and play it will be inundated with updates over time. The game also features a “report bug” feature available via its pause menu so players will be able to provide valuable feedback to the development team to fix as time goes on. In the time we’ve played the game, there’s already been a range of notable bug fixes on an almost daily basis such as fixing some audio and camera issues etc.
So far Edge of Eternity is shaping up to be a great indie RPG and we can’t wait to see what improvements and final touches are brought to the game over time. It has the potential to be a seriously good RPG and the development team is committed to making it succeed which is always a plus. Keep your eye on this game. It’s going to be great.
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