Isles of Etherion
- September 29, 2022
- Luna Orion
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"Isles of Etherion" is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in a vibrant and dynamic world. Players can explore diverse landscapes, complete quests, and engage in real-time combat as they uncover the mysteries of the isles. With a classless progression system and a variety of customization options, players have the freedom to shape their characters to fit their preferred playstyle.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has great open-world potential and interesting concepts, showcasing a unique spellcasting system and destructible environments.
- The developer is responsive to feedback and shows a commitment to improving the game, which gives hope for its future development.
- Despite its current state, the game offers fun moments and a sense of freedom in exploration, with a variety of spells and loot to discover.
- The game is in a very rough state, with numerous bugs, performance issues, and a lack of polish that makes it feel more like an alpha than an early access title.
- The quest system is broken and unclear, leading to confusion about objectives and gameplay mechanics.
- Many players find the combat and AI lacking depth, resulting in a repetitive and unengaging experience.
- graphics8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are a mixed bag; while the scenery is often described as stunning and visually appealing, there are significant concerns regarding optimization and quality, especially when adjusting settings. Players note that even at maximum settings, the graphics can fall short, with some comparing lower settings to outdated console graphics. Overall, the game shows potential with its unique art style, but it requires further refinement.
“The scenery is stunning; I never saw an ugly place in my hour and a half of gameplay, even with low graphics settings.”
“Graphically, the game looks pretty good.”
“Interesting and unique races, great graphics style, lots of potential for the future.”
“Need more graphics optimization.”
“Going from medium to low settings is like going from PS2 graphics to PS1.”
“Some of the concepts are nice, but there's something drastically wrong with the graphics.”
- optimization7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game is currently a significant issue, with players experiencing frame drops during magic casting and other graphical effects. Many users express that the game requires substantial improvements in performance and bug fixes before they can fully enjoy the experience. Overall, while the visual style shows promise, the current state of optimization hinders gameplay.
“The first thing I hope to see improvements on is optimization and the tutorial.”
“Performance is rough, and I've encountered and reported a few bugs, but once again the visual style of the game seems like it could be fantastic once everything has been smoothed out.”
“The particle effects are badly optimized; you get frame drops when you prepare or cast magic, and this also happens when the enemy casts magic.”
“Isles of Etherion still needs quite a bit of optimization to go.”
“In the game's current state, I'm not able to play it further to provide additional feedback until it's more optimized.”
- gameplay6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews highlight a need for refinement, particularly in the first two hours, to enhance mechanics like inventory management, which currently feels cumbersome and inefficient. Despite these issues, players appreciate the stunning visuals and find the moment-to-moment gameplay enjoyable. Overall, while the foundation is promising, significant improvements are necessary for a smoother experience.
“The scenery is stunning; I never saw an ugly place in my hour and a half of gameplay, even with low graphics settings.”
“Fun moment-to-moment gameplay.”
“Best advice is to polish the first 2 hours of gameplay to a mirror sheen, then expand from there.”
“Very raw mechanically, especially the inventory; you can't buy, sell, or store things quickly with a shift-click or something. There's no way yet to optimally split stacks or buy or sell in bulk, so right now, you still have to peck items here and there like a chicken pecking seeds on the ground.”
“[Gameplay impressions]”
- stability5 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game currently suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent glitches and high resource consumption, leading to a frustrating experience for players. While it shows potential as a passion project from a solo developer, many users advise against playing it in its current early and buggy state.
“The camera is a huge issue and glitches often when flying.”
“Don't bother right now... the game is a mess; it glitches my PC out and eats 16GB of RAM like it was nothing.”
“Stay away from this game - buggy mess!!”
- story4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is criticized for its ineffective quest system, which often leads players back to completed quests without providing useful guidance. This lack of direction can result in frustration, as players may feel compelled to resort to drastic measures to navigate the game world.
“However, the quest system doesn't seem to work.”
“More often than not, it just referred me to a quest that I'd already finished without telling me anything useful.”
“Even then, unless you've got an active quest pointing you back to a town, you might just choose to kill yourself as a faster way to get there.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is noted to be quite strong and entertaining, particularly for the first 20 minutes, providing players with a solid dose of laughs early on.
“What I will say is though, it's hilarious for a good 20 minutes.”
