Operencia: The Stolen Sun
- March 31, 2020
- Zen Studios
- 7h median play time
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Get on Epic Games Store"Operencia: The Stolen Sun" is a turn-based RPG that brings a modern twist to classic dungeon-crawlers, set in a mythological fantasy world inspired by Central European folklore. The game features an old-school battle system and an immersive VR mode, where players must rescue the Sun King and restore light to the kingdom of Operencia. Explore hidden tombs, cursed castles, and other unique locations to save the land from perpetual darkness.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Virtual Reality
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
Cloud
NVIDIA GeForce NOW
PlayStation
PlayStation VR
Xbox
Reviews
- The game features beautiful graphics and a charming art style, creating an immersive atmosphere.
- The character banter and voice acting are well done, adding depth to the story and making the characters feel engaging.
- The puzzles and exploration elements are enjoyable, providing a good mix of challenge without being overly frustrating.
- Combat can become tedious and unbalanced, especially in later stages where enemies can summon others and taunt, making battles feel drawn out.
- The game lacks depth in character customization and progression, with limited class options and a linear skill tree.
- Some puzzles are poorly designed or lack clear hints, leading to frustration and the need to rely on external guides.
- story116 mentions
- 34 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The story in this game is a significant highlight, drawing heavily from Hungarian folklore and featuring well-developed characters and engaging dialogue. While some players appreciate the depth and charm of the narrative, others find it linear and lacking in meaningful choices or side quests. Overall, the storytelling is described as immersive and entertaining, with a mix of humor and intriguing plot twists, though opinions vary on its execution and depth.
“The story has much more emphasis than I expected and is decently well-told.”
“It's also really nice to see a dungeon crawler with a heavy focus on story; it's been a while since we had one of those.”
“The story is fresh, the characters develop over time, and are well voiced.”
“The main story is loosely cobbled together from over a dozen different myths and fairy tales, so don't expect too much of it, or of the companion characters who spend most of the time bickering instead of developing their personality or backstory.”
“To say that the story/dialogue is lazy and poorly executed is being kind.”
“The story is okayish without much of a twist, and throwing some jokes here and there.”
- graphics62 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 34 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received generally positive feedback, with many players praising the unique art style, vibrant colors, and immersive visuals that enhance the overall atmosphere. While some users noted that the graphics may not be cutting-edge compared to modern standards, they still found them appealing and well-executed, contributing to a captivating dungeon-crawling experience. Overall, the combination of beautiful artwork, effective use of lighting, and coherent design elements has left a favorable impression on players.
“The world is amazing to say the least, unique art style accompanied by great music, lore accurate as well.”
“Graphically it may be the most impressive first-person dungeon crawler I have played so far, great lighting, imaginative locations, it's like a dark fairytale.”
“The graphics are beautiful and immersive.”
“I admit, the graphics are not the best.”
“Beware: this is not a VR game, it's a regular game with poorly implemented VR support; you can't even fully see the interface and the graphics look pretty awful up close.”
“Given how childish and idiotic it is, mixed with the awful aesthetic, I give this a 2/10.”
- gameplay59 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that while it features interesting puzzles and a solid visual design, the combat mechanics are often frustrating and unbalanced. Players appreciate the ability to re-specialize characters and the depth of skill play, but criticize the linearity and lack of grinding opportunities, which can lead to unwinnable fights. Overall, while the game has potential, it suffers from poorly executed mechanics that detract from the overall experience.
“Gameplay revolves around exploring, puzzle solving, and fighting with turn-based mechanics, allowing for nice combos from the skills of any of the four selected characters.”
“The game starts off in promising fashion with a well put together tutorial that has you playing a party of highly experienced characters through a short adventure to familiarize yourself with the controls and gameplay.”
“The artifact system, a puzzle-solving mechanic, is brilliant and flavorful.”
“The game is extremely linear, which wouldn't necessarily be a problem in itself, but since there is no way to grind and level up your character, certain fights can be unwinnable as there is no way to do quests or gain XP even if you re-spec your characters (which is a silly game mechanic anyway).”
“However, by the time you reach the third main area in the game (the Deva Fortress), the difficulty seems to take a tremendous spike with some ridiculously tough opponents, and you then start really noticing how bad this game's combat mechanics are.”
“It's just such a shame that the combat mechanics are so frustrating.”
- music28 mentions
- 68 % positive mentions
- 21 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its atmospheric quality and unique themes that enhance the immersive experience, drawing from Eastern European influences and rich folklore. While many players find the soundtrack memorable and well-composed, some note that it can become repetitive over time. Overall, the combination of music, ambient sounds, and visuals creates a captivating and enchanting atmosphere that complements the game's fantasy setting.
“The world is amazing to say the least, unique art style accompanied by great music, lore accurate as well.”
“The soundtrack helps to carry the mood of the game and the ambient work is phenomenal (from nature sounds in forests, to cracks and rumbles in caves and dungeons).”
“Its music and characters tell an enchanting story that captivated me for the longest time.”
“The soundtrack didn't catch me.”
“The music was bland and repetitive...”
“From the music, voice acting, combat, story, dialogue.”
- humor13 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for its cleverness and sarcasm, with many reviewers highlighting the engaging and funny dialogue between characters. Players appreciate the witty banter and teasing among party members, which adds depth to the storytelling and enhances the overall experience. The blend of humor with the game's fantasy elements and well-crafted narrative makes it a standout feature, contributing to its charm and replayability.
“The story is very unusual, but it feels alive and is fascinating... the graphics and music are great and let you dive into this world of fantasy... the humor is spot on... sarcastic, funny... a real blast!”
“And it is hilarious how party members comment on the actions of the protagonist.”
“Clever little dungeon crawler with some sarcastic British humor in the story.”
- atmosphere11 mentions
- 82 % positive mentions
- 18 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its captivating atmosphere, enhanced by a well-crafted story, engaging character interactions, and atmospheric music inspired by Eastern European themes. Reviewers highlight the impressive graphics and sound design, which together create an immersive experience reminiscent of classic RPGs and dungeon crawlers. Overall, the atmosphere is considered a standout feature that significantly enriches gameplay.
“This game has an incredible atmosphere and story, interesting characters with great speech... basically it shows you what Legend of Grimrock could have been with a full story like this game!”
“Music is derived from Eastern European themes and is well written and atmospheric.”
“The graphics and music are impressively coherent and create a great atmosphere.”
- grinding10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight a mixed experience with grinding in the game; while some players appreciate the absence of traditional grinding, they criticize the slow and tedious nature of battles, which can feel like a grind due to excessive enemy health and lengthy combat sequences. Others find the dungeon crawling inflexible and monotonous, leading to frustration during encounters. Overall, the combat is described as dull and time-consuming, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the game.
“No grinding whatsoever, so things to discover and monsters to kill must be done in precise succession.”
“No grinding, gonna figure out how to proceed if you can't beat the boss.”
“Everything has way too much HP and will grind you down through slow, tedious battles of attrition.”
“Just long, tedious grinds... absolutely boring, and it's gotten to a point where I'm on my 5th battle or so having to wade through golems.”
“You don't have to play this way, but combat is so tediously long otherwise; I really wouldn't recommend that you do anything else.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it boasts impressive graphics and solid performance, with users reporting high frame rates even on older hardware, there are criticisms regarding its lack of clarity in gameplay mechanics and the challenges posed by its hard mode. This has led some players to feel that the game's optimization issues are overstated.
“The game has great graphics, great performance, the story is nice and entertaining, the voice acting is awesome, characters are quite likable, and enemies are greatly designed.”
“Even using a GTX 1080, I got a solid 90 FPS with index resolution at 200%, so performance and image quality are really awesome.”
“The excuse of 'poor optimization' or teambuilding is invalid when the game does a terrible job of explaining anything and there is a hard mode for that type of optimization.”
- character development4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is perceived as lacking depth and meaningful engagement, particularly in comparison to more expansive titles like Skyrim. While there are some options for character growth, the fixed nature of battles and limited exploration detracts from the overall experience, leaving players wanting more substantial development opportunities.
“Lots of comments here and there, and a decent amount of character development.”
“But as it is, it has no meaningful exploration, no meaningful combat tactics, and no meaningful character development.”
“If you want a game with nearly limitless character development options and hundreds of hours of non-linear content to explore, then go play Skyrim for the 20th time.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for its poor stability, with numerous bugs and glitches that disrupt gameplay, such as enemies counter-attacking unexpectedly and multiple attacks occurring before the player can respond. This has led to frustration among users, who feel that the game's issues detract significantly from the overall experience.
“I played this for the first time, and it's a buggy mess.”
“There are glitches that allow enemies to counter-attack and nullify your team's normal attack, so even when you ambush enemies in a battle, there are times when they get to attack you 2 or 3 times in a row before you can attack again.”
“I'm not going to waste my time troubleshooting their issues when everything else works fine in other games.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from limited character creation options and a lack of build variety, which significantly diminishes its replayability. While it offers a compelling story and enjoyable gameplay for a single playthrough, the absence of depth in character progression prevents it from being a standout title for repeated play.
“If Operencia had more depth when it comes to build variety and character progression, it would definitely be an absolute highlight. As it stands, it's a very good first-person dungeon crawler that focuses on story and characters, providing a great playthrough, but it lacks in replayability.”
“The lack of variety in character creation eliminates any replay value.”
“If Operencia had more depth in build variety and character progression, it would definitely be an absolute highlight. As it stands, it's a very good first-person dungeon crawler that focuses on story and characters, providing a great playthrough, but it lacks in replayability.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game to be very wholesome, evoking positive emotions and a sense of warmth throughout the experience.
“This game evokes a deep sense of nostalgia and warmth.”
“The emotional storytelling truly resonates with players.”
“I felt a profound connection to the characters and their journeys.”
