Unforetold: Witchstone
- January 25, 2024
- Spearhead Games
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"Unforetold: Witchstone" is a non-linear RPG set in the reactive world of Kalsundia, where every choice matters and impacts relationships and outcomes. With classic turn-based combat and stealth systems, players can shape their own journey and character in this open world filled with milestones and opportunities. Development has been paused indefinitely, so the game is being sold in its current state with no future full release planned.
Reviews
- The game has a lot of potential with an interesting premise and unique gameplay mechanics, such as the ability to recruit any NPC to your party.
- The influence system allows for dynamic interactions with NPCs, providing a unique approach to questing and character relationships.
- Despite its current state, some players find the game enjoyable and are excited about its future development, appreciating the developers' responsiveness to community feedback.
- The game is no longer in active development and has been abandoned by the developers, leaving it in an unfinished state.
- Many players have experienced significant bugs, crashes, and performance issues, making the game frustrating to play.
- Refund requests have been denied for many users, leading to feelings of being scammed after purchasing an early access title that is now considered abandonware.
- story18 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game's story features an intriguing concept and worldbuilding, but suffers from issues such as a lack of a quest tracker and clunky interactions that detract from immersion. While the non-linear questing system allows for player agency, many players feel that the execution is currently flawed, with bugs and incomplete quests undermining the narrative experience. Overall, there is potential for a compelling story as the game develops, but significant improvements are needed to enhance player engagement and connection to the characters.
“Witchstone has a great concept, an interesting storyline, and worldbuilding, with very fun gameplay for any RPG lovers. The influence system was a great thing to explore, and the classes were all good and fun.”
“The gameplay is reminiscent of some of my favorite CRPGs; the non-linear questing system and story are intriguing, and the character creation is in-depth.”
“As a fan of CRPGs, I can say I like how this game is being developed. It is transparent, and you know what you're getting into with this early access. The game has a non-linear quest structure that makes you feel like you really shape the world; you can join or do anything you want.”
“The first quest in the game is a fetch quest, and the map and journal disagree on where to go.”
“I understand that the story is meant to be fluid and isn't going to be to the level of a linear narrative, but right now I feel like interactions with other characters feel very stiff, like I am just giving orders to a robot and watching those orders either fail or succeed without feeling any connection to anyone I encounter.”
“When the battle ended, I also got a notification about a potential quest that never appeared in my journal, and another notification telling me that citizens just witnessed me murder others.”
- stability11 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 82 % negative mentions
The game's stability is currently a significant issue, with numerous users reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and mid-combat freezes that hinder gameplay. Many players express frustration over the game's unfinished state, indicating that while the concept has potential, it requires substantial optimization and fixes to become enjoyable. Overall, the consensus is that the game is too buggy at this stage, making it difficult to recommend until these stability issues are addressed.
“It's not too buggy, but I've had several crashes, and it's far from finished.”
“There is a lot to fix and optimize to get this to run smoothly and bug-free.”
“This game is just too buggy to be enjoyable.”
“Or if your main character fails a roll for climbing, i.e., athletics... the game freezes and doesn't know what to do.”
“I've had several bugs, mid-combat freezes, poor pathing AI causing characters/opponents to get stuck, quests that don't seem to be able to complete, etc. Overall, my impression is the game could be quite fun, but it needs a lot more work at this stage.”
- gameplay8 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Witchstone is praised for its fun RPG elements, intriguing non-linear questing, and in-depth character creation, appealing to fans of classic CRPGs. However, some players criticize the outdated graphics and awkward mechanics, suggesting that significant design changes are needed for improvement. Overall, while the game shows potential and offers enjoyable interactions, it feels like it could benefit from a modern overhaul.
“With all that being said, Witchstone had a great concept, an interesting storyline and worldbuilding, with very fun gameplay for any RPG lovers. The influence system was a great thing to explore, and the classes were all good and fun.”
“The gameplay is reminiscent of some of my favorite CRPGs; the non-linear questing system and story are intriguing, and the character creation is in-depth.”
“The gameplay feels smooth, and I can tell the interactions are going to be impactful.”
“The game feels like it's 15 years old and not in a good way; the graphics are stale and the gameplay itself is awkward. No fixing can save this title unless they change the engine and rethink a good part of their design decisions.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 80 % positive mentions
- -40 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The graphics received mixed reviews, with some praising the art style for enhancing world-building, while others criticized the visuals as outdated and stale. Although not overly polished, the graphics are considered decent and not demanding on system resources, complementing the game's strong combat and persuasion mechanics. Overall, the visuals seem to be a point of contention, with calls for significant improvements.
“The art style is fantastic and really supports the world building.”
“The good: decent graphics, fantastic combat, and the persuasion system is absolutely great.”
“The graphics aren't super polished, but good enough, and it's not too hard on the CPU/GPU, which is great.”
“The graphics feel outdated and lack the detail expected from modern games.”
“Character models are poorly designed and animations are stiff, making the game visually unappealing.”
“The environments are bland and lack variety, which detracts from the overall experience.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game shows promise with its core systems, but performance issues and bugs significantly hinder the experience, making it difficult for players to recommend it at this stage. Optimization is needed to address these concerns, as it currently feels rough around the edges typical of early access titles.
“For the moment, work and optimization are needed because, like a lot of early access games at their release, it can be a little rough at times, and you can expect bugs.”
“This has the potential to be a good game, and I like the core systems (non-linear narrative, reactive factions, etc.), but performance issues are holding me back from recommending this right now.”
“But for the moment, work and optimization are needed because, like a lot of EA games at their release, it can be a little rough at times, and you can expect bugs.”
