Drova - Forsaken Kin

I absolutely loved this game. It gave me the complete nostalgia of an old school NES/SNES game in terms of the open world to explore, all the little nooks and crannies, buried treasures, etc. The monsters you faced were challenging and the real time mechanics of dodging attacks, combo-ing swings, using magic, all just felt great. I would've loved a different setup for using abilities and magic like a hotbar, so I wasn't constantly hitting number keys and then Q to cast, and remembering which abilities were bound to which buttons, but that was a small complaint. I loved the story, there was a lot to uncover, even outside of the main story which gave a lot of life and context to the world. And it potentially opens up for more at the end. Sign me up for Drova II please. Loved what the developers put out here, this became an all time favorite of mine and a hidden gem which deserves more love.

Never enjoyed an open-world RPG that much. It's the perfectly middle ground of a linear RPG adventure and an open-world exploration RPG, mixing just the right amount of exploration, focused story telling and well balanced combat.

Awesome little game and a must play for all RPG connoisseurs, especially fans of the Gothic series!

You will get f**cked, but progression is good and feels rewarding. If somethings too strong just come back to it later. Nice story and fun combat, full of secrets that reward exploration and puzzles that are fun to solve. For Nemeton!

A genuinely delightful and surprising gem of a game. The world-building and characters are excellent, as is the surprising amount of depth and RPG mechanics that the quests have. Music is wonderful as is the charming pixel graphics. Combat has some depth, but don't expect anything major. The game also boasts animals you can pet galore - 10/10

Drova is stardew mixed with skyrim , but with dark souls difficulty fights , v fun game that i would recommend to anyone, small but very compact map , rewarding exploration and fun optional side quests, objectives and bosses tldr; play the game

I did not expect to like this as much as I did. Fun exploration and story. The combat is fun too tho I feel like we should've [spoiler]gotten magic earlier (besides the scrolls)[/spoiler]. Either way I would love to play a sequel in this universe.

Immersive, has a very Risen 1 feeling, but with a better story. The progression is more well-balanced which means exploring is slightly less exciting than in Risen, but still interesting enough. As always with these games, the first half was more exciting than the second half, and the end-game "hidden" side content was bleh but also extremely skippable.

Great little gem. Way longer than I expected in a good way. I'd love to see another one of these that builds off of this great formula.

Really well-made old-school style RPG. The quests are a mix of fetching, fighting, and puzzle-solving, each of which felt balanced enough to keep things interesting, especially if you're following the game's storytelling while at it. The story is decent, with some branching and, what I would assume, at least 2 endings. You'll need to do some reading to keep up, as the game doesn't include voice acting for dialogues or notes. The map can feel a bit small, but there are still places to explore that offer worthwhile rewards and lore. Some areas are gated, which unfortunately can limit exploration. Overall, this game was a pleasant journey for me, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this studio comes up with in the future.

At 15 hours of gameplay, I've finished the first chapter, and I'm excited to keep learning more. The game is good. Lots to explore. Combat is reasonably balanced; I neither feel superhuman nor helpless. You can get in over your head and die, but you can also avoid doing that. There's more than one route between places. There's stuff hidden in the wilds. There's puzzles and battles and deception and conflict. It's good stuff. And the fact that there's been 15 hours of (admittedly exploration-heavy) gameplay before ending the first chapter makes me very satisfied with the amount of content. I'm thrilled not to get a pilot episode, and eager to see the game through to its conclusion. On a critical note, there are some edge cases in interactions that don't get worked out too smoothly narratively; but nothing has actually caused bugs for me so far, so it's still above average in that respect. (e.g, quests that you sequence break by over-exploring sometimes assume you know that someone wants something you carry that they haven't asked about.) This is true of pretty much every game anywhere. Drova handles it better than most.

A lovely RPG! I am a big Gothic fan and I do appreciate some good Pixelart Styles...this game ticks both boxes and more. I was immediately hooked by its atmosphere, mechanics, combat system and the loot loop. I can really recommend it to any RPG Fan, especially if you like a more challenging, gritty experience!

Fantastic RPG! Open world with consequences and some moral grey areas. Fun systems in general and a dense world packed with secrets, love that they skipped questmarkers and instead you have to rely on the information the dialogue and journal gives you to figure out what to do. All in all awesome, loved it and highly recommend it!

What an absolute gem. If you're a fan of Piranha Bytes other games like Gothic or Risen, OR you're a fan of open world games but was tired of them feeling empty and your hard earned exploring and secret finding not really giving you the rewards you want, THIS game is for you. The world is kinda medium big as far as open world games go but damn is it DENSE. All of the factions are interesting and different, choosing between them was pretty hard for me. I wanted to join some of the third party factions like the Ruin Raiders but you can't, but you CAN talk to them about that conflict if you want too. All of the dialogue and quests and interconnected in this super interesting way that the other games like it have. I haven't seen another dev do the Gothic formula and do it so well. Getting new weapons and armor feels amazing. You genuinely have to earn them or really explore your ass off. Going from a bronze to an iron sword felt so special. I kept a little notebook on my desk for all the notes I would take about the secrets I would find or quests that they would lead too. Exploring the ruins and finding the fossils and the learning shrines was super fun. Explorers heaven imo. GOTY/10

A 2D pixel-art "Gothic-like" in the same way that Fallout 3 is a "Fallout-like". >Handing out water to farmers in Gothic :) >Sharing my sausage with every monk in Gothic 2 :) >Any stepin fetchit quest in Drova :( This is the power of having an immersive world and the writing to sell it. Every water bottle handed out in Gothic comes with a promise that one day I will stand up to my bully and beat him up and have my revenge. In Drova, I can beat up some farmer's wife and he just watches because he knows all the NPCs in the game are invincible & they don't have enough of a personality for you to hold a grudge against them in the first place. I'd even rather try to finish Risen than give Drova another chance.

Really great! It gives strong mix of BOTW and Elden Ring, but in pixels. I bought this to play on my Steam Deck and it runs in solid 60 fps. I did play for about 20 hours before I realized I could zoom out.

(Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42150626-Jarl%2527s-Game-Treasury/]my curator[/url] for more reviews like this) Drova is an action-RPG heavily inspired by Gothic. The only difference is that it's from a top-down 2D perspective instead of 3D - everything else feels almost exactly like Gothic, no other game captures the same vibe quite as well as Drova (except for Piranha Bytes' own games and big Gothic mods like Archolos, of course). The game's strongest point is its exploration. After a short, linear intro that explains how you entered the world of Drova, the world opens up very quickly and you can go explore anywhere you want. You'll soon meet a guy who gives you a rough hand-drawn map to guide your first steps, but it only shows a small section of the world. Later you meet a cartographer on the road from whom you can purchase a proper world map. It is also hand-drawn, but contains a lot of detail: you can see every ruin, every cave entrance on it, so it's a great tool to guide your exploration. However, there are no markers, just the little drawn shapes of landscapes and buildings. If you purchase a bottle of ink, you can set your own markers, which allows you to mark places of interest you discovered on your journeys. And you will have to place many markers - there are ruins where you might not know how to open the entrance yet, caves with dangerous creatures you stand no chance against until you leveled up, dungeons with puzzles you might not yet know the solution for. The game allows you to reach many places that you're not ready for, giving you the classic RPG experience of getting your ass kicked and returning later to return the favor. Just like Gothic, everything in Drova is hand-placed and enemies don't respawn, allowing you to clear the map entirely if you're thorough, which also means experience points aren't infinite so there's no grind, only new challenges to face after you mastered the old ones. The leveling system also works similar to Gothic: whenever you level up, you earn learning points, which you can spend on improving your attributes or acquiring new skills from a trainer. There are different weapon types to skill into, as well as three attributes (strength, dexterity, mind), but you unlock the ability to use magic only late in the game so a pure mage isn't viable - you have to pick a favorite weapon and go melee. Ranged weapons also exist, but they're more of a support weapon than a main damage dealer. The combat is solid, every weapon feels different and there are many different skills to use with them. The power progression feels great, you start out weak and even basic enemies offer a tough fight, and can end up so powerful you wipe the floor with the hardest encounters. And there are some INCREDIBLY hard hidden combat encounters in this game! All optional of course, and you have to find them by exploring thoroughly. The game's structure is, again, heavily inspired by Gothic. There are five chapters, and each chapter transition makes a few changes to the world (such as spawning new enemies or opening new paths). There are two factions and you have to join one of them, which begins the main quest and starts chapter 2. But before you make the choice you can explore about 80% of the world openly, do side quests for both factions, and gain quite a few levels. I spent about 30 of my playthrough's 44 hours in chapter 1, exploring everything and doing all the side quests. The story is decent and there's a secret ending for completionists who complete several specific quests before the endgame, encouraging exploration even further. Overall this was a highly enjoyable game, and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes exploration-heavy action RPGs.

It was a pleasant surprise the whole way through. I got an ending that I really liked on my first full playthrough. I could see myself returning to get the last 10 or so achievements I didn't get, along with the other endings. The hardcore, no death playthrough one will be challenging. It's easy to wander into areas you aren't prepared for yet. I love that freedom and exploration though, achievements aside, it's just a fun game. It feels like a Zelda game mixed with Skyrim.

Action Game: A game emphasizing quick reflexes, precision, coordination, and fast-paced gameplay. Exploration: A game that encourages interacting with and discovering the game world to uncover new areas, secrets or resources. RPG Mechanics: Systems that define character progression in terms of power and versatility. Drova attempts to mix all three of these concepts together: An action game where your skill, positioning and timing for dodging and attacking impacts your effectiveness; an exploration game where there's all sorts of hidden nooks and crannies and secrets to discover; and RPG mechanics that see your weak starting character grow stronger over the course of the game. Now, there's different ways to do RPG mechanics; you can make it so an endgame character hits twice as hard and is twice as tough as a starting character, so the growth is modest; or you can make it so an endgame character is 100x as strong and 100x as tough as a starting character, so the growth is dramatic. Drova opts for the latter, to its great detriment. If you explore to your heart's content, you'll encounter enemies that require a thousand hits to kill, but only require a single hit to kill you back. You can be super good at the action part of the game, attacking and dodging masterfully, but attempting to win these battles is fruitless and pointless; the action part of the game is sacrificed. Alternatively, you can allow yourself to be railroaded by the game's roads and quests, sacrificing the exploration part of the game. Drova's RPG mechanics mean that enemies are often either trivial or impossible to beat, and seldom just right in terms of challenge. Which is a damned shame, because in most other respects this is a great game, but the RPG mechanics really spoil it.

8/10! It's a challenging game, especially at the start. You feel super weak, but with a little perseverance and practice, you get the hang of combat, and really have to utilize everything at your disposal (in a fun way!). Story is VERY engaging, has multiple endings, and everything you do/don't do matter to the ending. Really glad I bought it, and worth every penny, if not more!

I had a great time with only a few frustrating moments. As others mentioned, the game rewards exploration. After 20 hours or so I stopped exploring as much and I think that led to the frustrating moments. Had I explored fervently I could have had more learning points, healing items, better gear, etc. One of the enjoyable things about the game is that all the information you need can be found within it. To solve the more intricate puzzles and so on. I feel like many newer games just assume their players are going to find some wiki or something. So pay attention to writings and scrolls! I thought the "investigate" mode was a fun way to implement a lot of this knowledge-finding. It was very quick to investigate something and didn't interrupt the flow of the game or exploration. I enjoy the art style and definitely the isometric perspective. The story was good. Not super great, but not a total letdown. I guess they left it open to a sequel maybe? I would have preferred a more involved ending(at least for the "good" one). The combat system is simple but well implemented. You need to learn timing a bit or you'll suck down all your health items in frustration. I normally leave items on my wishlist until a 75% sale comes along, but this one I bought at full price. I was bored and had a long weekend so I bit the bullet...and it actually paid off. No need to wait for a sale for this one, you'll get your money's worth even at full price!

It really draws you in on it's exploration. Especially the first few hours when you don't know what to expect it shines. TL;DR: if you're into pixelart, exploration and game vibe - take it A bit of a criticism: - Show the player that you can jump across the water early (otherwise there will be someone like me that goes all around trying to find a hidden switch or smth) - Map is packed, but initially feels to small, splitting it into even further chunks (imo) would be benfitial - In some biomes the music is way too intense for how long it plays - Ngl i did expect a bit more interconnection between side quests, but overall it's a minor thing - Randomly blocked paths are annoying af

Great art, great story, great gameplay. A worthy successor to Gothic. 10/10

Graphics 1/2 - Brilliant pixel art with unique and fun animations throughout. Music 1/2 - Good music for the most part. Nothing too amazing. Gameplay 1/2 - I played melee mainly and enjoyed combat for the most part. It does get completely overshadowed by magic which ends up being the core of endgame power. It makes sense lore-wise but it just feels less rewarding to have a new mechanic take-over for most of endgame combat. It is however, a little annoying that you need to respec in order to fully try out other weapon types. This prevents you from taking that risk not knowing how much of an investment change it will be in the long game. Story & World 2/2 - Amazing world which I got lost in many times and continued to find hidden secrets, mini-bosses and challenging puzzles. The story is fantastic and while the core is linear, your choices change the world and affect how many npcs survive and changes quests around them. This and also your own unique story is a welcome RPG experience. Difficulty 2/2 - The game is difficult but it balanced quite well with super-rewarding power-scaling where you feel useless for the most part in the early game only to achieve godly powers towards the end. The enemies also scale well in the open world, with more unique and powerful enemies soft-locked by skill and some super strong enemies tied to unique traversal skills you obtain later. Overall - 7/10 I had a blast playing this game and might even try again to experience some of the other weapon types. There are also many unique combinations of skills and traps waiting to be tried. The story kept me intrigued for the most part. There are still some unanswered questions but all within the realm of a possible Drova 2. Great price-point for a super fun retro-style RPG.

Echt gutes Spiel. Stimmig, herausfordernd, aber nicht frustrierend. Bei manchen Rätseln musste ich nachgucken, aber da hat auch eher die Ungeduld gesiegt.

The game has some quirks, for sure. That said, use some guides online only when you're stuck and it'll be fine. It's a lot of fun and amazingly deep. Definitely one of my favorite RPGs recently.

Fun quests, decent fighting, not to big. Great game!

Fantastic RPG with a lot of great exploration, progression and content. It doesn't hold your hand often so you're gonna have to work on stuff like directions, how to progress with side content, and most of all figuring out places that you can or can't go without your ass getting beaten to a pulp on your own. On top of that, ability/skill/gear progression is pretty good, and getting new gear and abilities actually feels impactful. You start off at the bottom of the food chain and slowly work your way up, and even if you do get stronger, you still need to have the extra precaution as early enemies can still overwhelm you if you're not being careful. Plotwise, I'd say the game is pretty good and serviceable, and serves a good enough motivation for you to push through. Drova also gives a decent amount of dialogue choices to either flesh out your character or change the consequences of a quest. Speaking of consequences, it's also great to see the outcome of quests from action whether it's an NPC relocating, or just having small additional dialogue acknowledging your actions. There's also tons of lore to be found, though I personally didn't keep track of it for most part (Overtime though, I did start piecing stuff and speculating the overall plot of the game from reading them throughout my playthrough). On the other good side, the game has a pretty well documented journal system that keeps tracks of these quests, notes/lore you find, and NPCs and where they're currently at. Though slow paced game to an extent, I overall highly recommend this game especially if you enjoy exploration, and I would personally say it's made at a surprisingly high level of polish.

This is a good game. 8/10 I really liked how it gave you many choices in the beginning. I delayed choosing a faction till very late game and I'm happy about that as it gets very linear after that point. The monsters also get extremely spongy. I just ended up watching the rest on YT and I still feel like I had a lot of fun. [spoiler] Yes, Primeval Forest had me quit - Along with roasting the dude at the fire festival. Nothing wrong with doing either, but it's totally out of the player's hand and is forced for the narrative. [/spoiler]

really fun game. lots to do. the story is good, and the dialogue is really well written. the ambient music is nice. the environments are beautiful and filled with secrets. i've never played the gothic games but others say this game is really inspired by them, so if you like those games you'd especially like this, but i think anyone who likes a good adventure with dungeons, factions (although theres only 2), quests, exploration, and decent combat with some tough boss fights will enjoy this game.

An under-noticed gem of a game. Very unforgiving but rewarding combat mixed with a classic "no-hand-holding" quest system. It's open world, but not monotonously large. I absolutely recommend to anyone who likes at lest two of the following tags: pixel graphics, act based, open world, western RPG, tactical real-time combat.

Fun game, great open world and rewarding mechanics

I loved this game. The world feels huge, engrossing and full of mystery. It is genuinely magical to explore. Though the magic naturally fades as you start internalizing the map and all the unknowns become known. Beating the game with a completionist mindset (I did not want to miss anything, though I'm sure I did) took about 35 hours. I did not encounter many bugs. Only once did I have to load a previous save because the game got stuck. Overall the game is very well polished and feels like a complete experience. I could write for hours about little things I would change, but all of it boils down to: I just wanted more. I wish the game was longer and more intricate in combat, systems and story. I only feel this way because the game was good. You should play it!

This is a MASTERPIECE. This is the game I have wanted ever since I played Gothic. This is the character and story progression I needed. This is the world and exploration I expect from every open world game!

Solid story, good gameplay. 5 10/10 would die to a giant chicken raptor, threw me back to the start of Gothic. gg

I was drawn in the moment I started the game. The main menu alone — with its atmospheric soundtrack and striking background — made it clear this was something unique. The first few hours flew by. I really appreciate that the game doesn’t hold your hand: no minimap, no clutter of markers, just pure, immersive exploration. It clearly respects the player’s intelligence and encourages thoughtful engagement. You can feel the Gothic inspiration, and it works beautifully. Every step off the beaten path feels rewarding, which is exactly what I’m looking for in a game. If you’re into meaningful choices and real adventure, I highly recommend it!

This game is a lot of fun. I've been wringing everything I can out of it, doing literally every side quest and a lot of exploring. I'm maybe only 2/3 through the story? at 34hrs in? That's wild. There's so much here. The story is also really good. Lots of neat choices for the player, dialog, etc. Overall just really well done. I took a chance on this game not thinking it would be for me, but I've been obsessed.

update: I finished this game and it is amazing. This game works very very well on a controller for a PC, and in the end I didn't think it was an issue. For anyone reading this review, don't look at any guides whatsoever, you don't need it. You don't need to min/max, it isn't worth getting anything spoiled for you. There were so many good moments, and I unfortunately spoiled two major moments because I was afraid of getting locked out of items or story/quest lines. You won't This game did what Divinity 2 failed to do so miserably, and does what Witcher 3 does well, yes your decisions matter but just enough, and I'll explain what that means. They don't lie to you about your choices, meaning you get very clear informaiton what might happen if you make certain decisions. No random BS ever happens. There are no obnoxious soft-locks because the developer chose quality over quantity. However, the trade-off is the story is more on the linear side with exploration being open ended. That isn't an issue because one, the story is friggin amazing, and two, the exploration is friggin amazing. Combat in the end was a lot of fun, the progression of combat was smooth for me. Others might have liked more variety. But there was enough learning new enemy patterns, developing skills to keep me engaged through to the end and beyond. This game is up there with BG3 and Stoneshard for me. All questlines are done well, and for an open world game, the developers truly focused on quality over quantity, and as an older gamer with less time, I truly appreciates a game like this. Think more Witcher in 2d form (I've never played Gothic). That said - the BAD, usually with games like BG3, Witcher, it can overstay its welcome with the many hours of gameplay and infinite quests. This game is a bit too short, and I feel like it is just missing 4-5 questlines and a better ending/ just 1-2 post game content. and I never say this about any game especially as someone with little time to play games. But if you play this game and look around the map, there are interesting locations on the map that indicate the developers had some plans to finish fleshing out more of the map. I also say it feels like missing the post game content, because as satisfying as the overall game was, I was left wanting more from the ending. and from playing the game I feel like, there was plan for post game content for tying a few loose ends. Also, the world-building didn't feel complete to me. I needed more story on the History of the land. Lastly, there was an announcement, that Drova will not be updated anymore. So . . . . . there is that. A bit disappointing, but that can only happen with a game I've enjoyed the entirety of and was wishing for more. Also one last point. Finally a game where stealing isn't some annoying *** ordeal. People throw out the word "immersion" and it could mean different things to different people. I've been wanting stealing not to be this arduous thing that developers pretend isn't necessary, but makes it so, and then gives you all this bullshit surrounding how to do it. The developers did not waste anytime there, and thank god. I'd like to not be locked up in jail 100 miles over, for some thing I stole 20 hours in game ago, and figure out how to get out of jail. Now that breaks my immersion. Also thank god they didn't implement inventory management. I have enough real world experience with buying too much shit at Costco and having to make 5 trips from my car to my apartment up a few flights of stairs enough to not care about that in-game anymore. Old review: I've been playing for 3 hours and I'm already hooked. This game prioritizes ambiance and functionality while not giving up any graphics. Sure you won't find crazy flashy modern designs, but these developers understand good art direction and writing, and sleek design is the best for immersion. I haven't felt a sense of wonderment in a game in a while. That said, as one other reviewer pointed out, the hotkey bindings are atrocious. Maybe this other reviewer and I are old, but I often push the wrong buttons for skills and item usage. This game feels like it would work much much better with controller bindings than mouse and keyboard at times. But who knows maybe as the game goes on, I'll get better at it. The other critique is, the beginning is almost TOO short in terms of introduction( a rare problem as games are often bogged down by text). I don't know if there was lore I was supposed to read before starting the game, but I would only say the lack of immersion is that I'm not sure why I am where I am right now or what is its importance to me or to the people where I am from. I feel like that could be solved with 3-4 lines of text. but I'm just 3 hours in, and haven't looked at my UI to see if there is some kind of lore or compendium I am suppose to check out. I might just run the intro again to see if I missed something.

Some stories in this game are overwhelmingly real. To choose the right option in a conversation between NPC, you gotta figure out what are the interest of that particular NPC, and if there are conflict of interest. And as a player, we need to figure out NPC's interest base on their position in the story. Well done.

Feels like an old school CRPG for most of the right reasons. Story is compelling enough. Combat is fun enough with good enemy variety, although it gets a bit stale after a while. Exploration is the best part of this time, the game feels borderless when playing through it even though there are clear borders at the edge of the map. A lot of interesting mysteries unravel and different locations to explore.

A very good ARPG, great story and great gameplay in my opinion. Also because of the different difficulties there is quite a bit of replayability! Get it if you're a fan of ARPGs ^^

I loved this title. The combat in particular feels uncomfortable and maybe a bit unforgiving initially but I think comes into its own and becomes quite fun. I've never played Gothic, which is what I most often see this being compared to, but I found myself reminiscing on my time with Outward during my travels through the land of Drova. Secret hunting is engaging and rewarding and while the world is tough I never found it to be unfair. A well conceived world and a plot that does it's part, the character story lines are really what kept me thoroughly engaged until the end. Excited to see what the team is working on next!

Very fun! Definitely worth m,ore than the price listed. It has HOURS of game play and branching story lines.

Very nice. Feels like a PS1 game with modern trappings. Looking forward to what Just2D will do next.

Solid old school RPG. Enjoyed the story but found the combat to be fairly boring.

Great game, slow start but good ending content. A second game which improves on this one would be great

Just finished the game, and it is pretty damn good. Nice lore, story, quests and the world is interesting to explore. Kudos to the writer.

fun mechanics, cool lore, iframe dodging, unlimited inventory space, difficult

I haven't enjoyed a game this much in a while. It has everything you need from a good RPG. You are never forced to follow a certain path. If you want to go somewhere, do something, you can just do it. The game allows you to explore the world in your own way and pace. This can make you feel like every playthrough is different, and I personally feel like my experience is unique. Spent 38hrs on my first playthrough, and definitely will do it a second time. 10/10.

This is a fun world to mess around in. It has the good kind of jank. Well written and interesting lore. Combat system gets a lot more engaging as you level up. Easy to recommend this one.