FIVE: Champions of Canaan
- September 27, 2016
- Kingdom Games
Get on SteamIn Five: Champions of Canaan, enter brutal gladiatorial arenas to battle enemies and claim powerful armaments. Forge your heroism and uphold your family's legacy while striving to prevent a disastrous war. Your combat skills and strategic use of the arena terrain are crucial in this quest for peace.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a unique arena-based combat experience reminiscent of classic ARPGs like Diablo, with satisfying weapon abilities and character customization options.
- For its price, the game provides hours of entertainment with a straightforward hack-and-slash gameplay loop that can be addictive.
- The graphics and sound design are decent, contributing to an enjoyable atmosphere, and the game has potential for future updates and improvements.
- Combat can become repetitive and grindy, leading to a lack of engagement with the story and overall gameplay experience.
- The game suffers from technical issues such as poor pathfinding, frame rate drops, and various bugs that detract from the overall experience.
- Many players found the gameplay to be boring and lacking depth, with a slow progression system that requires excessive grinding to unlock new content.
- story15 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The story is primarily delivered through an opening cinematic and subsequent quests, but progresses at a slow pace, often requiring players to engage in repetitive arena combat to unlock new content. While there are optional narrative elements, such as a storyteller sharing moral lessons through comic strips, the overall experience is marred by grindy gameplay that diminishes player investment in the story. The setting features gladiatorial combat in biblical-era locations, but lacks a strong biblical focus, leading to a somewhat uninspired narrative.
“The story features you having to fight your way through gladiator-style arenas in biblical era locations, though the story does not have a biblical focus like their first game in this series.”
“There are a few more things worth mentioning - a storyteller sits in the market teaching children morals and whatnot. This is shown via voiced comic strips, which is a welcome break during your play sessions, along with some upgrades to certain abilities by donating special currencies obtained during these arena runs.”
“The problem is that the game propels the story forward at a tremendously slow pace.”
“But after a while, the combat becomes so grindy that you inevitably lose all conviction to propel the story forward.”
“Most of the backstory is introduced via the opening cinematic.”
- gameplay13 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally described as familiar and solid for action-RPG fans, offering enjoyable mechanics despite some criticisms of boredom and lack of innovation. While the graphics and music enhance the experience, the game is seen as suitable for casual play rather than intense sessions, with a need for further polish in its mechanics. Overall, it provides a basic yet entertaining experience, particularly for short gameplay sessions.
“The gameplay and its mechanics will be familiar to most action-RPG players.”
“The gameplay is pretty solid.”
“In general, a very entertaining little game for short gameplay sessions.”
“Boring gameplay and story.”
“Very boring ARPG play instead of Path of Exile; it's free and has better gameplay.”
“Gameplay - well, the game certainly does not re-invent the wheel.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics are generally well-received, described as nice and fitting for the game's genre, though not ultra-perfect. While some may consider them old school, they effectively complement the gameplay, contributing to an enjoyable experience. Overall, the visuals are deemed good for a basic fun-and-click arena game.
“Graphics are very nice, and the music also adds to the gameplay.”
“Graphics: looks good for the genre.”
“Some people might call this an old school game because of the graphics, but you can't judge a book by its cover.”
- music5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally considered good and fitting for its style, enhancing the overall gameplay experience. While it may not be particularly memorable or inspiring, it complements the graphics and animations effectively.
“Graphics are very nice, and the music also adds to gameplay.”
“Good music, good animations, and nice design.”
“Nothing particularly noteworthy when it comes to the music.”
“The music is very fitting with the style of the game too; not exactly inspiring, but it's perfectly good.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game can become excessively tedious, leading to a loss of motivation to continue the story. While some acknowledge that grinding is a fundamental part of the arena gameplay, many feel it contributes to a bloated experience that raises questions about the game's purpose.
“But after a while, the combat becomes so grindy that you inevitably lose all conviction to propel the story forward.”
“Instead, I feel what we’ve gotten is a game that is needlessly bloated, grindy, and wholly deserving of the question: 'what's the point?'”
“And once you know the fundamentals, it can just be a case of grinding the enemies to progress further.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is generally well-received, with players noting that it effectively incorporates action RPG elements similar to Diablo, where loot and character attributes significantly influence performance.
“The game offers a deep optimization system that allows players to fine-tune their character builds, making every decision impactful.”
“I love how the optimization mechanics encourage experimentation with different loot combinations to maximize performance.”
“The balance between character attributes and loot is expertly designed, providing a satisfying sense of progression and optimization.”
“The game suffers from severe optimization issues, making it difficult to enjoy the gameplay experience.”
“Performance drops are frequent, and the frame rate can be inconsistent, which detracts from the overall immersion.”
“Despite the engaging mechanics, the lack of proper optimization leads to frustrating lag and stuttering during critical moments.”
