Shores Unknown: Arrival

First, yay for demos and thanks to the developer and GOG for making it available. A few things to note if you are reading anytime near March 2021: * this is a pre-"in development" demo, it mostly works but there are rough edges (example: I stopped playing when I was supposed to go to sleep but there was no indication how to do that) * the demo is the full game size so a large download just to try a game for those of us with slow connections * the combat is very basic JRPG style, pick any turn-based JRPG and you'll find a similar but more developed combat system * graphics look to me like 20+ year old 3d from when hardware just couldn't do any better (and lots of games that might have tried 3d stuck with 2d because of that) * you don't get to choose who leads the party the way you do in many similar games * writing was a major turn-off for me In short, the game is very basic right now and I can't see any signs of doing anything I might find interesting. I recommend looking at the Trails in the Sky series or maybe Cosmic Star Heroine. Or really any other turn based game. At least this one has a free demo so you can see what you think, although I'd suggest waiting a couple of years and see how it is then.

The polygon art is captivating, story is intriguing, but I think the decisive factor for me to buy the game is this demo. The battle system is clunky - gridless means your character can attack enemy from far without sacrificing AP to move. It also means attack is a sure swing - either hit or miss, and you cannot run to save your life. Most of the features - character building, inventory, weapon also simplified and it keeps my mind at ease. I guess I'm enjoying the game mostly to run through the story.

Is this an illustration of the full game, i hope not cos I wont be buying it. Clunky interface just to get around, battle is the worst, AP's mean nothing, dual weapons mean nothing, weapon stats mean nothing. 5AP's or 1 AP all you get is one attack, had dual weapons but never dual attack, second battle in the cave for me was impossible, 6 times tried it got bored and gave up, the tutorial was so basic it was pointless. Graphics were ok but with no ability to zoom in or out means stuff gets missed behind trees and objects. Narrative frustratingly bland, story seems to be averaged out script form every other RPG alive. So much so that there is nothing to pull me back after my first go at this game. Sad really.

This demo feels not good, even the camera and graphics are fined, but many pointsd includes the others saids are awful, evcen the software mouse is slow and laggy doesn't like the other games. and such large volume to download for a demostrative build of software that's heavy even I have fast enough game, costs 4 GiB+ disk write to try just few minutes is hard to say something. I decided not to buy the full game based on demo and the simple game is still in-dev today.