Screenshot: Batora: Lost Haven
There are a lot of action role-playing games out there right now, with
Lost Ark the behemoth that is dominating the scene. It’s good, then, that games like
Batora: Lost Haven are around to take the action role-playing genre and mix it up a bit.
Batora: Lost Haven takes the more traditional action role-playing game formula, adds a story where choices are said to matter, and throws in some non genre-traditional mechanics.
Batora: Lost Haven is an action role-playing game with twin stick shooter mechanics. In it, you play as a young, reckless Avril as she uses her otherworldly powers to save the planet.
Batora bills itself as non-linear, and that means the choices you make as Avril will affect the world for good or for bad. That also means fighting through hordes of bad guys while using both mental and physical powers that you can switch between at will. You'll need to make the switch between mental and physical attacks to attack the appropriate enemy types. Mental attacks are colored purple, and work well against enemies with similar colors, while orange attacks are physical and work better against orange color enemies. Avril’s two types of attacks don’t just benefit her in combat, though, and will also need to be used to solve certain puzzles and bypass obstacles.
The blend of twin-stick shooter and action role-playing game works well in
Batora: The Lost Haven, especially when firing off ranged mental attacks. When you get into combat, you’re walled off into an arena, so much of my time in
Batora: Lost Haven was spent fighting from one arena setting to the next. The demo also shows off the choices you’ll have to make as Avril, when you have to decide to destroy or spare a creature whose energies were creating problems.
Screenshot: Batora: Lost Haven
If you’re interested in trying out
Batora: Lost Haven for yourself, you can check out the demo during the Steam Next Fest, with the full game scheduled for release later this year.
A Steam key was provided to us for this preview.
