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The Relic: First Guardian

The Relic: First Guardian’s unpolished edges almost undermine the experience, but atmospheric exploration through a haunting world will pull you through.
The Relic: First Guardian Game Cover
51%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:atmosphere, replayability
Most mentioned negative aspects:graphics, story
51% User Score Based on 70 reviews
Critic Score 51%Based on 9 reviews

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PCPlaystation 5WindowsPlayStation
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The Relic: First Guardian Game Cover

About The Relic: First Guardian

The Relic: First Guardian is a single player hack and slash game with fantasy, dark fantasy and violence themes. It was developed by Project Cloud Games and was released on July 31, 2026. It received neutral reviews from both critics and players.

Transformed into an apocalyptic landscape by the destruction of the great relic, the once-prosperous Arsiltus lies in ruins. But through the silence we began to hear breaths that have not yet faded, faint whispers carried on the wind: promises, waiting, fear, and love. These forgotten voices are Relics; fragments imbued with the emotions and wishes of those who lived before. It rests with you to f…

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The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
The Relic: First Guardian screenshot
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Reviews

51%Audience ScoreBased on 70 reviews
atmosphere4 positive mentions
graphics4 negative mentions
  • Combat offers fast-paced, aggressive, and satisfying encounters with variety in weapons and builds, including a unique relic-based system.
  • Boss fights are well-designed, challenging, and tied to interesting lore, providing memorable and diverse experiences.
  • The game world has a strong dark fantasy atmosphere enriched by Korean folklore, with immersive exploration and meaningful storytelling elements.
  • The game suffers from numerous technical issues including bugs, poor optimization, limited graphics options, and a problematic camera system.
  • Visuals are often described as blurry, outdated, or resembling lower-generation consoles, with no adequate graphic settings to adjust quality.
  • The combat and movement mechanics feel clunky and imprecise, with awkward animations and unreliable lock-on, detracting from the overall experience.

  • graphics

    46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    7% positive mentions, 84% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions

    The game's graphics are widely criticized for being outdated, blurry, and significantly worse than trailers suggest, with a pervasive lack of advanced graphics settings on PC. Many users highlight severe optimization issues, forced low-resolution upscaling, and minimal customization options, resulting in a subpar visual experience that detracts from the gameplay. Despite some appreciation for weapon and armor design, the overall consensus is that the graphics feel last-gen and inadequately polished for the price.

    • “I love it all from the world to the battles to the graphics.”
    • “Yes they aren't 4k mega AAA graphics, but honestly... if you play the game and actually make an effort to enjoy it, it's actually really good, and it's huge; the developers put a lot of work into this game.”
    • “Other than that I actually like this game, combat is pretty fluid and the graphics are pretty good for not having a graphics setting; of course it isn't going to be Elden Ring or Dark Souls, if you're going into this game thinking it's that just don't buy it.”
    • “There are quite a few optimization issues and far too few graphics settings available, although overall it's still playable.”
    • “There is absolutely no graphics options to tweak for performance, and no ability to disable the upscaling which is seemingly rendering the game in an extremely low resolution to run it optimally, resulting in an extremely fuzzy image which, even then, has quite big lag spikes on occasion.”
    • “The audacity of charging $50 for a game that looks like it's from the PS2 era, has no graphics settings at all.”

  • story

    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    17% positive mentions, 66% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions

    The story is praised for its immersive atmosphere, detailed lore, and passionate folklore-driven elements, especially the unique quests and backstories tied to bosses and gear. However, many users find the quests repetitive or lifeless, with vague directions and frequent bugs hindering progression and emotional engagement. Despite some intriguing lore, technical issues and insufficient map details detract from the overall storytelling experience.

    • “+The quests and mini-stories implemented for every boss, every weapon and armor, and a lot of NPCs don't seem like they were written by AI; you can actually feel some heart and soul put into this.”
    • “When doing quests that lead up to bosses, you follow vague text logs explaining the bosses' lore/backstory, and some of them are actually quite interesting.”
    • “Atmosphere is cranked up to the maximum, making every story and path you take super immersive.”
    • “The quests feel lifeless, the NPCs have almost no animations or personality, and the world struggles to feel alive.”
    • “Every boss and every area comes with countless notes explaining their backstory, but none of it creates any emotional impact.”
    • “In other words, 30 bosses and 50 quests later, I have one boss and one questline locked away by broken game code.”

  • optimization

    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions

    The game's optimization is widely criticized for inconsistent performance, lack of graphics settings, and reliance on aggressive upscaling that results in low-resolution, fuzzy visuals with occasional lag spikes. Many users feel it is poorly optimized, with technical issues and performance problems detracting significantly from the experience, especially given its $50 price point. Improvements in performance, smoother combat, and more graphics options are needed for a better, polished experience.

    • “No strange weird glitches or bugs, seems to be optimized well.”
    • “I have a 9060 XT; the game defaults to ultra performance upscaling.”
    • “If you want to make a game with a single automatic save system, similar to the Souls games, then it needs to be absolutely reliable and properly optimized.”
    • “There is absolutely no graphics options to tweak for performance, and no ability to disable upscaling which seemingly renders the game in an extremely low resolution to run optimally, resulting in a very fuzzy image with significant lag spikes.”
    • “There are quite a few optimization issues and far too few graphics settings available, although overall it's still playable.”
    • “Worst game I have ever bought, not optimized at all. The in-game graphics do not look nearly as good as advertised. I would wait at least a year or for a big discount before buying. Currently waiting on my refund. This is a $5 game in its current state, in my opinion.”

  • atmosphere

    9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    44% positive mentions, 23% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive, beautiful, and richly detailed setting, often enhanced by Korean folklore elements. While some technical issues slightly detract from immersion, the strong atmosphere significantly contributes to the overall experience and enjoyment. Many reviewers see strong potential, especially if improvements and pricing adjustments are made.

    • “It is such a beautiful game with its atmosphere and stories, playing it never gets old.”
    • “Atmosphere is cranked up to the maximum, making every story and path you take super immersive.”
    • “Strong atmosphere and Korean folklore setting.”
    • “That may sound like a small issue, but in a game that relies so heavily on atmosphere and exploration, details like this quickly start hurting immersion.”
    • “The game definitely has potential to be much better than its current condition but for the price point this isn't the type of quality you should be getting, for most I would say wait for some patches and maybe a sub-$30 price point, and it will be a decent game for that price, I cannot justify its current $50 price tag but overall I do like the game's combat and atmosphere.”
    • “I’m still leaving a positive review for the relic: first guardian, mainly because I really like its concept, atmosphere, and because I genuinely think there is a lot of potential here.”

  • gameplay

    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    38% positive mentions, 24% neutral mentions, 38% negative mentions

    The gameplay offers some strong ideas and enjoyable combat elements, particularly in boss fights and exploration, but is hindered by janky controls, awkward animations, and a lack of precision and fluid transitions. While the combat mechanics show promise, the overall system feels outdated and less polished compared to modern standards.

    • “The combat is okay, parrying is surprisingly crisp despite some janky gameplay controls, and many of the bosses are actually pretty good, carrying the game for me.”
    • “Its world feels refreshing, its stories are interesting, I enjoy its approach to exploration, and some of its gameplay ideas are genuinely strong.”
    • “The game isn't bad and the fighting mechanics are actually pretty good.”
    • “Transitions lack fluidity, some animations feel awkward, and the overall system does not yet have the precision that this kind of gameplay really needs.”
    • “The game feels like the great-grandfather of Lords of the Fallen and is at least half a decade behind the times in terms of gameplay, combat, camera work, and graphics.”
    • “That being said, the combat is okay, parrying is surprisingly crisp for very janky gameplay controls, and a lot of the bosses are actually pretty good and carrying the game for me.”

  • stability

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game's stability is generally solid, with smooth performance at 1440p and 60fps and no significant glitches or frame drops. However, some users note buggy quests and poor AI voice acting, which may impact the overall experience.

    • “Buggy quests, awful AI voice acting, and it looks like a PS2 game.”

  • music

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions

    The music in the game is considered mediocre and detracts from the overall experience, especially when combined with frequent bugs in quests, fights, and sound effects.

    • “Music is ok.”
    • “After all this playtime, the game feels cheap with bugs everywhere in quests, fights, sound effects, and the music ruining the vibe.”

  • replayability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Replayability is enhanced by the variety of weapons available, allowing players to experiment with different playstyles and creatively build their characters for a fresh experience each time.

    • “Your playstyle definitely changes depending on the weapons you use, so there's room for replayability and creativity in building your character.”

  • emotional

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The emotional aspect is weak, as extensive backstory details fail to create any meaningful emotional impact on players.

  • monetization

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The monetization is widely criticized, with users feeling the game either requires significant improvement or appears to be a blatant cash grab.

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is made tedious by minimal explanations and scattered, irrelevant notes that fail to clarify actions or items, leading to confusion and frustration.

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Critic Reviews

51%Critics’ scoreBased on 9 critic reviews
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Frequently Asked Questions

The Relic: First Guardian is a hack and slash game with fantasy, dark fantasy and violence themes. Common tags for The Relic: First Guardian include 3D, demons, exploration, third person, mythology and others.

The Relic: First Guardian is available on PC, PlayStation 5, Windows and PlayStation.

The Relic: First Guardian was released on July 31, 2026.

The Relic: First Guardian was developed by Project Cloud Games.

The Relic: First Guardian has received neutral reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked The Relic: First Guardian for its atmosphere but disliked it for its graphics.

The Relic: First Guardian is a single player game.

Similar games include Enotria: The Last Song, Bleak Faith: Forsaken, Beast of Reincarnation, Hyper Light Breaker, Sands of Aura and others.