In English, most fairy tales lead with the phrase “once upon a time.” In Hungarian, they start with the phrase “Operencia,” which roughly interprets to “far, far away.” And that is precisely the place Operencia: The Stolen Sun transports you–to a realm steeped in magic and thriller, splendidly indifferent from all issues actual.Operencia is a dungeon-crawler RPG set in a fantasy world. It begins by plunging you into the salivating jaws of a three-headed dragon. However, as quickly as you slay the colossal serpent, the prologue ends. Before you already know it you are not a dragonslayer, however a runaway farmhand decided to comply with their desires. Those mad powers you had ten seconds in the past? Gone. You’ll need to make your individual future if you happen to’re to retrieve the legendary land’s stolen solar.Composed of 13 completely different ranges, the world of Operencia boasts some breathtaking vistas. You discover quite a lot of areas, from the murky depths of a citadel cursed by tears to the metallic wilds of The Copper Forest–which is infested with copper troopers sporting chainsaw-like utensils for arms. The range of the sport’s artwork makes for a journey that’s always recent, awe-inspiring, and wonder-inducing. Its vibrant colours and complicated artwork type create an aesthetic that enhances the mystique imbued in its magic, and it boasts a rating that screams tales of monsters and creepy crawlies instructed across the heat fireplace of a grimy tavern. This envelops you in a world of creativeness and fantasy, extra involved with evoking a way of surprise than any kind of fantasy realism.After you embark in your journey throughout this fantastical realm, you slowly start to come back throughout an entire host of intriguing companions. These characters all converse in pre-written conversations, leaving you no choice to intervene with your individual dialogue. However, conversations between characters are so well-written that it would not actually matter. The banter between companions whereas resting at bonfires–which replenishes your well being and energy–is no much less arresting. Every companion you come throughout is their very own particular person and has their very own sense of humor–the witty Joska hurls jests at everybody within the get together, whereas the strong-willed Kela ensures that you do not falter in your quest. I loved sitting again and ingesting within the dialog extra so than I skilled a longing to interject with my very own ideas. This world is so splendidly bizarre that it is higher for telling you its tales, relatively than affording you the prospect to jot down your individual one inside it.Combat in Operencia is fast-paced, fluid, and interesting. It revolves round turn-based mechanics, involving a mixture of bodily, ranged, and magic assaults. The magic assaults make the most of a power/weak spot system based mostly on elemental typing akin to frost, lightning, and fireplace. Your construct can both lean closely into one combating type, or embody all of them as a way to achieve versatility on the expense of specialization. While maxing out a single stat means that you can deal devastating injury in some instances, immunities can render you utterly ineffective if you happen to’ve overcommitted to at least one explicit attribute. I performed as a mage, as I normally do in fantasy RPGs, however with out my Strength-based companions I’d have been Ancient Elemental bait earlier than I might say abracadabra. After battles, you will achieve expertise and loot. For each stage you achieve, you will get three capacity factors to pump into attributes. Leveling up feels well-rewarded, and the sport means that you can carve out a fight area of interest for your self with its myriad permutations of attribute/capacity level combos.Managing the flexibility cooldowns and power level prices of every particular person character in your four-person staff may be powerful, particularly within the late-game when a mistake can imply loss of life, or sport over if you happen to’re taking part in with permadeath enabled. As a end result, it is necessary to play good. Even the strongest of enemies may be rapidly incapacitated if you happen to’re prepared to take advantage of their weaknesses and be savvy together with your potions.Operencia’s fight takes customary turn-based RPG mechanics and makes them really feel recent with its personal pacing and magnificence. The solely factor it might use is a bit of bit extra versatility, as at instances it feels as if your individual character is a bit vanilla in comparison with the extra superior predetermined builds boasted by late-game companions. At the identical time, you’ve seven characters to construct a staff of 4 from, so you possibly can all the time change issues up if frost spam is beginning to get a bit of watery. As for enemies, there’s a entire vary of various beasties of all sizes and styles who would like to eat you for dinner. Some of their niches may be very annoying, however not in a approach that appears unfair.Traversal in Operencia is tile-based, creating alternatives for intriguing environmental puzzles. However, at instances this technique complicates makes an attempt to take a look at the finer particulars of the world’s magnificence. There have been moments the place I needed to take a look at objects caught between tiles or transfer an inch nearer to the horizon as a way to take the proper screenshot, however I could not as a result of the traversal system bought in the best way.Operencia: The Stolen Sun transports you to a realm steeped in magic and thriller, splendidly indifferent from all issues realMost of Operencia’s puzzles are excellently designed. In one case, you need to defeat 4 highly effective enemies, all of whom drop a token. These tokens are then positioned in slots round a magic circle; you have to place each in the appropriate place, after which spin the circle’s three tiers to match animals with the tokens’ likeness. This may appear to be the sort of puzzle you’d come throughout in comparable RPGs, however Operencia’s aesthetic actually makes the answer really feel particular. Before you already know it, a surge of coloration and lightweight encapsulates the circle and magical powers start to work in great and mysterious methods.The puzzles that are not solved by environmental manipulation or visible prompts normally require you to make use of artistic key gadgets, which vary from magic shovels to griffin feathers. These feathers may be hooked up to any object with a feather marked on it, and trigger that object to turn out to be drastically lighter. This means that you can uproot bushes and transfer heavy weights with the flick of a wrist. You even get magic beans to develop beanstalks with! The puzzles get progressively more durable as you make your approach by way of the sport, however are nearly all the time intuitive and truthful.Some do not match this formulation, although. While elective puzzles used to unlock secrets and techniques and legendary gadgets are understandably greatest fitted with esoteric options, ones which are tied to story development should not be as area of interest as they’re. On one event, I spent nearly an hour and a half in search of one among 4 keys, all of which have been used to unlock a collection of doorways that led to the mould for yet one more key. While the primary of those was a simple discover, the second was randomly hidden distant from the cave and will solely be discovered through the use of the magic shovel in a sure space. This made me determine to scour the entire map in search of hidden doorways and buried treasure, of which I discovered neither.As it seems, the third key is definitely obtained by returning to a melting pot I used to amass a special key. There are so many keys. When I solved the puzzle I felt irritated, not relieved. And I nonetheless had yet another to get. Lo and behold, the fourth key was proper in entrance of the final door, requiring no puzzles or exploration. After such arbitrary options to the earlier puzzles, this was subversive. It was additionally extremely irritating. I could not keep irritated for lengthy although, because the joyous booming of your relieved companions is infectious, and the sport picks up so rapidly that you just’re bounding onward into the following dungeon earlier than you will get sufficiently irritated to cease taking part in.Operencia tells an exquisite story derived from Central European folklore, mythology, and historical past, and it does so with unwavering confidence in its make-up. Companion characters are humorous, and the banter between them makes for a enjoyable expertise that is not with out its heartfelt moments. In phrases of fight, the strategizing is so participating that you will seemingly find yourself charging rat warriors headfirst as an alternative of hopelessly making an attempt to keep away from bumping into them. Best of all, although, this world is so beautiful that you will simply have a look at the bushes, the water, the rocks–everything. It’s a disgrace that among the puzzle options are needlessly irritating and current vital obstacles in getting by way of the story, however except for that Operencia supplies a very particular expertise.Operencia transports you someplace far, distant, and when you get there, you will in all probability wish to keep some time.