AETHERIS
- November 7, 2023
- WILD WITS
Get on Steam"Aetheris" is a tactical, artistic Role Playing Game offering both single and multiplayer options, including co-op. Embark on a unique adventure through the seven regions of the Wilderness, each with its own atmosphere, soundtrack, and storyline. Engage in strategic turn-based battles against wild creatures using skills and power to emerge victorious. The game features excellent visuals, good music, and promises a thrilling experience.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Stunning and unique art style that enhances the overall experience.
- Engaging and challenging gameplay with a high level of character customization and replayability.
- Fun cooperative play that encourages teamwork and strategic planning.
- Frequent bugs and crashes, particularly in multiplayer mode, detract from the experience.
- Limited content and repetitive gameplay can lead to a lack of long-term engagement.
- Quality of life issues, such as unclear event outcomes and lack of a concede option in combat, hinder enjoyment.
- graphics27 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are characterized by a unique and captivating art style that draws inspiration from various influences, resulting in stunning visuals that are both colorful and detailed. While many players appreciate the aesthetic and its fit with the gameplay, some criticize the overall graphical quality as low, with limited options for enhancing fidelity. Despite performance issues, the art style remains a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's atmosphere and appeal.
“The art style is unique and captivating, the game mechanics are familiar yet unique and challenging, and the story/worldbuilding is refreshing and fun.”
“The visuals are striking and colorful.”
“The art style is stunning, but under the hood is a challenging RTS game with a lot of variety and replayability.”
“Quality: graphical quality is generally fairly low overall, and there are no options to increase fidelity.”
“The art looks like something out of an ancient Chinese painting, but with none of the typical Chinese style. It's difficult to describe, and I’m definitely no artist, but this is one of the few games I’ve played that has an almost pastel-type art style.”
“Love the aesthetic and the gameplay, especially level ups, but the GPU is running hot way too fast, so I can't currently recommend it.”
- gameplay26 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay in Aetheris features a unique blend of turn-based combat and RPG elements, with a satisfying core loop that encourages strategic thinking and diverse character builds. While the art style is captivating and the level-up mechanics are enjoyable, players have noted issues with balance, difficulty spikes, and a lack of vital gameplay information. Overall, the game shows promise but may benefit from further refinement before its full release.
“The core gameplay loop is that you pick four soldiers from the base camp and set out on an expedition.”
“The gameplay itself is a fairly traditional blend of grid combat with RPG elements, absolutely possible to be broken to hell and back but that's fine, it's a single-player experience so let it be broken (though some things need to be changed and balanced a bit better before full release).”
“The gameplay loop feels satisfying and the builds you can go for are very different each time!”
“The gameplay itself is a fairly traditional blend of grid combat with RPG elements, absolutely possible to be broken to hell and back, but that's fine; it's a single-player experience so let it be broken (though some things need to be changed and balanced a bit better before full release).”
“Lacking vital details/information about gameplay, enemies, and events in general.”
“Seems like either an odd/misleading choice of colors for the events or just simply a really big missed opportunity to add some depth to the gameplay.”
- music14 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising the excellent soundtrack that complements the visual style and enhances the atmosphere. While the music is described as haunting and reactive to gameplay events, some users noted it can be repetitive. Overall, the sound effects and lack of voice acting were seen as average, but the distinct musical themes for each chapter were appreciated.
“The soundtrack is excellent and fits with the visual style well.”
“Not to mention the soundtrack which reacts and changes depending on the scene.”
“Special mention to the music, which is nice and fits the game, complementing the artstyle.”
“There is no voice acting at all and the sound effects/music are very mid.”
“The soundtrack is a little repetitive though.”
“The sound/music has a lot of work put into it, but it doesn't fully capture the world's potential.”
- story12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's story and worldbuilding are described as refreshing and fun, centered around a quest to escape a mysterious entity called the shade. However, players note a lack of depth in the narrative, with limited choices leading to repetitive gameplay and a linear path that diminishes replayability. Additionally, technical issues and nonsensical event outcomes detract from the overall storytelling experience.
“The art style is unique and captivating, the game mechanics are familiar yet unique and challenging, and the story/worldbuilding is refreshing and fun.”
“The game rewards you for experimenting with new skills and combinations, and perhaps the single largest theme of the game is that you will only succeed after you first fail, over and over again - which I'm sure is the story of Aetheris itself.”
“The world suddenly starts to get covered in a mysterious entity called the Shade, and you take control of a party of villagers on their quest to escape from it and find out what's happening.”
“Narrative: there is no real story here.”
“There are no side quests and all the choices you make are littered with RNG.”
“There is also only one 'path' you can take as well for the final decision because one of them just leads to the game ending and there will be no more continuation of the story afterwards.”
- replayability7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the variety in builds and random elements that enhance replayability, others criticize the repetitive enemy encounters and lack of meaningful content, which limit the overall experience. Additionally, bugs and nonsensical event outcomes further detract from the potential for replayability.
“I think that would help replayability for people who beat the game in a couple of runs.”
“The map and starting characters are somewhat predefined, but the random elements give it a ton of replayability.”
“There are so many possible builds and it adds to replayability.”
“However, there is limited replayability; the game is littered with bugs, and worst of all, the event outcomes, whether random or story-driven, often make no sense.”
“However, you pretty much fight the same enemies in the same order each run, which reduces the replayability a little.”
“The game is high on style but low on content, and doesn't have the level of replayability it ought to.”
- optimization3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Overall, user reviews on optimization are mixed; while some report no performance or stability issues, others have rated the graphics quality and animations poorly, indicating a lack of polish in certain areas.
“No issues with performance.”
“Contrary to other negative reviews, I've had no issues with stability or performance at all.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game experiences significant stability issues, particularly during the second encounter with the boss known as the Eyeless One, where players report consistent freezing regardless of their actions. This problem persists even after successfully defeating the boss multiple times, leading to frustration among users who primarily purchased the game for its multiplayer features.
“Well, if you try to fight the mist for the second time, you are screwed (the boss - the Eyeless One) - the game freezes no matter what you do.”
“I bought this specifically for the multiplayer, and my friend and I have beaten this boss 4 times now, even unlocked the achievement and in-game item for doing it, and yet it soft-freezes every time.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game received a mixed review, scoring 5 out of 10, indicating that while the game offers engaging content, the presence of microtransactions may detract from the overall experience. Players feel that the balance between free content and paid features could be improved.
“The monetization system feels overly aggressive, making it hard to enjoy the game without spending extra money.”
“I was disappointed to find that many features are locked behind paywalls, which ruins the overall experience.”
“The constant push for in-game purchases detracts from the enjoyment of the gameplay and feels exploitative.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of time akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“The grinding feels endless and tedious.”
“Grinding takes away from the enjoyment of the game.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's art style and music effectively complement its atmosphere, creating an enjoyable and immersive experience for players.
“The art style and music perfectly complement the atmosphere, creating an enjoyable experience.”
“The immersive environment draws you in, making every moment feel alive.”
“The haunting soundtrack and detailed visuals work together to create a truly captivating atmosphere.”
