Spain-based developer QuickFire Games is taking players on a dark journey through a gritty fantasy world in Prelude Dark Pain, a tactical RPG that has already won awards at IndieDevDay 2023 and the 2023 Dreamhack festival in Spain. It has since been released in Early Access on Steam, with a full release being planned for sometime next year.
The story of Prelude Dark Pain takes place in Statera, a land ruined by a calamity known as the Dark Pain. This in turn has given rise to The Order of the Ashen Crusade, a brutal and oppressive cult that strikes terror in the name of The Lord of Pain. It falls to Soren, a former warrior-turned-local blacksmith, to put a stop to The Order’s reign and rescue his imprisoned wife by taking command of a growing army of heroes with their own special skills and abilities.
At certain points in the story, you will have to make narrative choices that will determine the fates of certain characters, while other times you can alter the course of the plot by failing a particular objective.
Key Details
- Developer: QuickFire Games
- Publisher: Firesquid, Gamersky Games
- Platform: Steam
- Price: $19.99
- Review Code Provided: Yes, For Steam
Journey Into The Dark World Of Statera
Prelude Dark Pain‘s early access build has access to 9 different characters, though the final version will have over 20. Each one has 4 unique Skills, which cost a certain amount of battle points to execute. In addition to Soren’s stealth and dagger abilities, there is his more tech-minded son Tizon, who can set up drone turrets and blast foes from a distance with his pistol, the hulking Tammais who pummels enemies with brute strength, the archer Maya, and Sage’s magical cross that can perform area-spanning attacks on friend and foe alike.
Gameplay in Prelude Dark Pain unfolds from an isometric top-down perspective, with the player able to choose between two different navigational settings that determine which directions Soren moves with the joystick. Battles are controlled through the action menu, as players can choose to move their characters along a highlighted grid with the Move command, perform a basic strike with the Attack action, use a character’s special skills with the Skill menu, or even move the camera around for a better look at the battlefield. This last option also lets you check an enemy’s stats and attack range, letting you come up with a proper strategy for beating them.
On The Battlefield, Every Command Could Be Your Last
At the start of each battle, you can select which heroes are active in your party, with 2 being the minimum party size and 5 being the maximum. You can even set up the starting position of each member on a standard battle grid. All of these options require strategic thinking and a solid understanding of your party’s strengths and weaknesses to properly manage.
Some of your characters’ attacks have a wider range, which is represented by a grid of red squares. Striking from behind or side will deal extra damage. Once an attack is declared, the chance of a successful strike is determined by the chance ranking in the Confrontation menu.
At the end of your turn, you can select which direction you want your character to face to avoid the enemy pulling off a sneak attack of their own. You can also choose to Defend yourself to prevent any extra damage from a rear or flank attack – provided you still have at least 1 battle point left over.
Color-coded Status Effects can be inflicted by certain Skills, and range from beneficial (green), harmful (red), or character virtues (blue). These usually last for 1 round of combat and can turn the tide of a battle by draining an enemy’s health or giving a character a needed stat buff. You can also gain damage bonuses when you fight on elevated terrain.
After each battle, the player will be awarded experience points for each character that participated, as well as loot.
Prepare Yourself For War
Outside of battle, Soren moves between destinations in the overworld map. You can also upgrade your characters by spending Attribute Points you earn in battle in the Attributes section in the pause menu. The same is true for unlocking new Skills, which instead use Talent Points. Skills are split into Active Skills, which are the special attacks used in combat, Passive Skills that boost certain stats, and a Virtue – an always active character trait.
Equipment can also be managed in the pause menu. Each player has a Weapon, Chestpiece, Belt, Boots, and Accessory that grant bonuses. Equipment is also divided by Rarity, with Grey being the default, Green and Blue being less common, and Purple being the rarest and most powerful of all. Lastly, the Weapon can’t be replaced, but rather upgraded. Throughout your travels, you will find Forges where you can build or upgrade equipment using the loot you’ve gained in battle.
Prelude Dark Pain‘s art style features colorful hand-drawn character sprites and environments that bring to mind games like Hades, as well as slightly animated cutscenes. The music is composed by Kumi Tanioka, the legendary talent behind the soundtracks for Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning, as well as Spanish musician Isaac Montes. Their work gives Prelude Dark Pain a dark, brooding tone, with medieval-style string instrumentals that fit the grim atmosphere.
Final Score – 8/10
So far, Prelude Dark Pain shows a lot of promise in its Early Access build. There is much variety in the game’s characters and battle abilities, even if the movement plane takes some getting used to regardless of which control option you go with. Aside from that minor complaint, Prelude Dark Pain is a solid turn-based strategy game for fans of Final Fantasy Tactics and other titles in the genre, and I, for one, am interested in seeing what else awaits in the realm of Statera.
**Bonus Action was provided with a Steam Code of Prelude Dark Pain for the purpose of this review**
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