Info about Zoria: Age of Shattering:

Official game description:
DLC
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About the Game
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You will lead a diverse team through the various lands of an Uram continent and against challenges **countless groups of monsters and bosses.**  
Zoria has now fallen prey to the sheer brutality of the hellspawn that roams its land. Its **lush forests, mysterious caves, and majestic buildings** have transformed into haunting and dreadful locations. Take your time and explore unknown areas, as each holds a mystery.  
Combat is bread and butter, and **you will engage in it easily.** Use the **unique skills** of all of your party members:  
*   Attack from close range or distance with different attack patterns and directions,  
*   Heal or shield allies with various spells and commands,  
*   Inflict status aliments like damage over time, stun, immobilize, and other elemental effects,  
*   Leverage your environment to gain the upper hand or create new scenarios to distance yourself from the enemy.
Keep a keen eye on your **equipment and vitality** as they both deteriorate over time. A **bonfire in Zoria's provides a safe spot** to restock your resources and prepare for the next battle.  
Take care of each of your warriors' **skill development**, and it will repay you on the battlefield. Remember that having an individual with the right skills can **get you into previously inaccessible places and quests**. It may turn out that interacting with a specific character with various objects in the world of Zoria may lead you to discover hidden treasures or make your travel easier.  
You have to be wise in and out of the battle. You cannot win the game without making progress - this also counts toward your outpost. You may regularly **update the base by unlocking new wings to the buildings**, and by doing so, you will be rewarded with either resources, quests, or items. **Different buildings will have different numbers of available upgrades.**  
In your outpost, you can **plan and assign tasks to your companions**. Send selected party members on an autonomic mission, in which you won't participate but will receive what they find along the way. You will also get some of the experience they gain. **Never forget that their lives are in your hands!**  
**ABOUT US**  
Three brave devs on a mission to make a great RPG. We started making video games together in 2010, beginning with a hidden object game and later with a mobile title and working on several prototypes over the years.

Release date: 7 Mar, 2024

Categories: Turn-based Combat, Tactical RPG, Single-player Story, Exploration, Resource Management, Base Building, Crafting, Character Progression


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging story and immersive world (weight 0.95): The game features an engaging story, rich lore, and immersive world-building, enhanced by well-written dialogue and voice acting. The narrative is compelling and keeps players invested, with a plot that unfolds gradually and becomes increasingly focused as the game progresses. The world feels alive and well-defined, encouraging exploration and discovery.
- Enjoyable and polished tactical combat (weight 0.87): The game offers enjoyable, fast-paced, and intuitive turn-based combat with a good level of tactical depth. Battles require strategic planning and utilization of character abilities, providing a satisfying and engaging combat experience. The combat system is polished and relatively bug-free.
- Nostalgic, classic RPG feel (weight 0.79): The game evokes nostalgia for classic RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, capturing the feel of old-school adventures. It successfully blends familiar RPG elements with refreshing innovations, providing a unique yet comfortable experience for fans of the genre. The game emphasizes combat and looting, similar to older titles.
- Appealing and distinct visual style (weight 0.71): The game has appealing graphics and a distinct art style that enhances the overall experience. The visuals are well-done, with impressive special effects and world-building. The absence of overwhelming visual effects allows the game's clear graphics to shine.
- Enjoyable and worth the price (weight 0.35): The game is enjoyable and worth its price, offering a substantial amount of content and a refreshing experience. Many reviewers found the game addictive and fun, especially after getting past the initial learning curve. The game's imperfections add to its charm.
- Diverse classes and customization (weight 0.22): The game offers a wide variety of character classes and companions, allowing for extensive customization and strategic team composition. The skill tree and progression system are robust, with easy respec options, enabling players to experiment with different builds and playstyles. Both balanced and stacked class compositions are viable.
- Extensive crafting and resource systems (weight 0.2): The game features extensive crafting, alchemy, and cooking systems that add depth to the gameplay loop. Players can gather resources, experiment with recipes, and create customized sets to enhance their characters' abilities. The inventory system is well-designed, making it easy to manage resources and craft items.
- Engaging base-building mechanics (weight 0.17): The game features a base-building mechanic at the outpost, adding depth to the gameplay loop. Upgrading the outpost unlocks various facilities, mercenaries, recipes, and schematics, providing tangible rewards and enhancing the player's sense of progression. The outpost mechanics and missions are a highlight.
- Well-balanced difficulty options (weight 0.11): The game offers a well-balanced difficulty with multiple levels, catering to both beginners and veterans. The difficulty can be adjusted at any time, allowing players to customize their experience. On normal difficulty, the game provides a fair challenge without being overly frustrating.
- Responsive and supportive developers (weight 0.09): The developers are responsive and actively engaged with the community, providing excellent support and addressing issues quickly. They are dedicated to fixing bugs and listening to feedback, showing they care about the game and its players. The developers are friendly and helpful.
- Impressive for a small team (weight 0.09): The game is impressive considering it was developed by a small team of only three people. The developers have put a lot of love and effort into the game, creating a high-quality experience that surpasses expectations for an indie title. The game punches well above its weight.
- Unique charm and refreshing experience (weight 0.05): Zoria has its own charm and direction, offering a refreshing and deep experience that merges tactical RPG and keep/team management elements. The world of Zoria is rich with lore that gradually unfolds as the player progresses. The reviewer had an overwhelmingly positive experience with the game.

Common complaints:
- Unpolished, buggy, and incomplete (weight 0.54): The game suffers from numerous issues, including bugs, poor optimization, and a lack of polish.  Many reviewers felt the game was rushed or incomplete.  The developer's response to reported issues was also criticized.
- Shallow character customization/progression (weight 0.34): Character customization and progression are limited and uninspired.  Skills are simple and unbalanced, and many classes feel similar.  The game lacks depth in its RPG mechanics, with stats and skills having minimal impact.
- Excessive and unorganized loot (weight 0.31): The game features an overwhelming amount of loot, making inventory management tedious and frustrating.  The lack of sorting options and the abundance of useless items exacerbate the problem.  The crafting system is also overwhelming due to the sheer number of items and their randomly generated stats.
- Poor navigation and map design (weight 0.28): Navigation is frustrating due to poor pathfinding, confusing maps, and the lack of fast travel within zones.  The maps are often too large and empty, leading to excessive running and backtracking.
- Quest-related bugs (weight 0.13): The game suffers from various quest-related bugs, including quests that cannot be completed or that fail to trigger properly. These bugs can prevent progression and lead to wasted time.
- Uninspired loot system (weight 0.12): The game's loot system feels out of place in a CRPG, with randomized loot that lacks creativity and impact. Crafted loot is often far superior to found loot, making exploration less rewarding.
- Line of sight and pathing issues (weight 0.11): Line of sight issues and invisible walls hinder both exploration and combat.  Enemies can often bypass these obstacles, while the player's ranged attacks are frequently blocked.
- Clunky and confusing UI (weight 0.09): The user interface is clunky, confusing, and lacks essential quality-of-life features. The tutorial is also inadequate, leaving players to figure out many mechanics on their own.
- Inconsistent difficulty and generic AI (weight 0.08): The game's difficulty is inconsistent, with some encounters being too easy while others are significantly more challenging. The AI is also generic, with enemies behaving in predictable ways.

Gameplay feedback:
- Core CRPG gameplay loop (weight 0.57): The game combines familiar elements of CRPGs, tactical RPGs, and ARPGs.  Players explore the world, complete quests, manage a base, craft items, and engage in turn-based combat with a party of characters.  The game emphasizes strategic party composition and utilizing character skills.
- Classes with unique skill trees (weight 0.14): Each character class has a unique skill tree with various skills and specializations.  While the skill system is functional, some reviewers felt it lacked depth, with limited skill choices and a reliance on a few core abilities.
- Extensive crafting and alchemy (weight 0.11): The game features a crafting system for equipment, potions, and food.  Crafting allows players to create powerful gear and consumables, but some reviewers found certain aspects of the system, like cooking and alchemy, to be somewhat unnecessary.
- Variable difficulty, balance issues (weight 0.08): The game offers adjustable difficulty levels, with 'normal' being challenging from the start.  However, some reviewers found the combat became too easy later in the game.
- Outpost management and missions (weight 0.08): Players manage an outpost, upgrading facilities and recruiting new characters.  Characters can be sent on missions to gain experience and rewards, and the outpost management system is well-integrated into the game.
- Resting is key mechanic (weight 0.05): Resting is essential for healing, removing debuffs, and crafting. Different classes provide unique benefits during rests, and food provides additional stat bonuses.
- Detailed map with quest guidance (weight 0.05): The game features a large, detailed map with quest markers and points of interest.  Exploration is encouraged with incentives to discover new areas, but many quests are fetch quests.
- Initiative impacts turn order (weight 0.04): Initiative determines the turn order in combat.  However, the player's party often acts second, especially on higher difficulties, requiring a defensive approach.
- Similar to other RPGs (weight 0.03): The game is similar to other RPGs, such as Divinity, Baldur's Gate 3, and Diablo. Some reviewers felt the game was more like a dungeon crawler than a CRPG.

Performance notes:
- Good performance on various systems (weight 0.16): The game generally runs well, even on older or mid-range PCs, with smooth gameplay and decent optimization. Some players experienced initial performance issues that were resolved with driver updates or adjusting graphics settings. The game is also reported to run well on Linux.
- Classic controls, controller support (weight 0.08): The game features mouse controls with available controller support. The controls are described as classic, similar to Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, using a click-to-move system.
- Stable experience, few bugs (weight 0.07): Many players have reported a stable experience with very few or no bugs and crashes encountered during their playthroughs. This suggests that the game is generally well-polished in terms of stability.
- Average graphics quality (weight 0.07): The graphics are considered average or decent, with some describing them as simple and indie-like. While functional, they are not a standout feature of the game.
- Clipping and getting stuck (weight 0.02): Players have reported instances of clipping through walls and getting stuck in certain areas of the map. These issues can be resolved by saving and reloading the game.
- Inconsistent loading times (weight 0.02): Some players experienced long loading times to core locations, while others reported good loading times. This suggests that loading times may vary depending on the player's system or game version.
- Audio volume issues (weight 0.02): The sound quality is considered okay, but some players have experienced random audio volume drops during dialogue. This suggests that the audio implementation may have some minor issues.
- Day/night cycles and vistas (weight 0.02): The game world features day/night cycles that affect lighting and high vantage points that offer views of fields and the sea. These features contribute to the game's visual appeal and immersion.
- No UI or text scaling (weight 0.01): The game lacks UI or text scaling options, which may be a problem for players with visual impairments or those who prefer a different UI size.
- Invisibility exploit (weight 0.01): One player reported using an invisibility trick with a thief character to apply bleed and remain invisible indefinitely. This suggests a potential exploit in the game's mechanics.
- Typos in the text (weight 0.01): Some players have encountered typos in the game's text. While not game-breaking, these errors can detract from the overall polish of the experience.

Recommendations:
- Mixed opinions; flawed but promising (weight 0.68): Reviews are mixed, with some praising the game's value, fun factor, and potential, especially considering its indie status and low price. However, many others cite significant issues such as bugs, unpolished gameplay, and a lack of depth, leading to a wide range of recommendations from strong endorsements to outright rejections.
- Lacks quality of life features (weight 0.41): Many reviewers mention the need for quality of life improvements, indicating that the game is missing features or polish that would make it more enjoyable to play. This suggests a need for better UI, clearer tutorials, or more convenient systems for inventory management and other common tasks.
- Unrewarding loot system (weight 0.38): The loot system is criticized for being unimpactful and not useful, suggesting that the items found are either not powerful enough or not relevant to the player's needs. A rework of the loot system could make exploration and combat more rewarding.
- Hope for future improvements (weight 0.16): Reviewers express hope that the developers will continue to improve the game through patches, updates, and DLC. They commend the small development team and encourage them to address the game's issues and build upon its potential.
- Falls short of AAA CRPGs (weight 0.1): Some reviewers express disappointment, especially when comparing the game to titles like Baldur's Gate 3, noting that it lacks the depth and polish of AAA CRPGs.  Others find the game to be a tedious slog.
- Engagement drops after fortress (weight 0.01): Steam achievement data indicates a drop-off in player engagement after reaching the fortress area, suggesting a decline in the game's quality or appeal at that point. This could be due to increased difficulty, repetitive gameplay, or other issues that make players lose interest.
- Indie release quality concerns (weight 0.01): One reviewer is reconsidering supporting indie titles on release due to recurring issues and excuses. This suggests a growing frustration with the state of some indie game releases and a desire for more polish and stability.
- Translation needs optimization (weight 0.01): The translation needs optimization, suggesting issues with accuracy, clarity, or localization. Improving the translation would make the game more accessible and enjoyable for non-English speakers.

Other player notes:
- Small indie team's limitations (weight 0.12): The game was developed by a very small indie team of only three people. While this is impressive, some reviewers noted that it resulted in a lack of polish and lower quality graphics compared to larger productions. The game is also explicitly noted as an indie title, setting expectations appropriately.
- Responsive developer, active patching (weight 0.07): The developers are actively engaging with the community, responding to feedback, and releasing patches to address bugs and implement quality of life improvements. Some reviewers appreciate the developers' commitment and responsiveness, even revisiting the game after initial refunds.
- Varied class-specific skills (weight 0.06): Reviewers highlight specific skills of different classes, such as the Lancer's ability to clear obstacles and repair equipment, the Guard's skill with military equipment, the Sentinel's action point buff, and the Ranger's evolving skill set. Some skills, like the Sentinel's, are considered less effective.
- Limited, poor localization quality (weight 0.03): The game primarily supports English and Chinese, with the developers open to adding more languages based on sales. However, the quality of the Chinese localization is criticized as being machine-translated and difficult to understand.
- Basic but functional graphics (weight 0.03): The game's graphics are considered basic, and there's limited voice acting and polish in some areas like item names and dialogue. However, reviewers generally found the graphics acceptable and didn't encounter significant glitches.
- Lengthy game, lots content (weight 0.03): The game offers a substantial amount of content, including hundreds of items, interactive elements, and a lengthy script. Reviewers indicate the game provides a significant amount of playtime.
- Limited character interaction (weight 0.01): Many named characters are potential quest givers, but they cannot be interacted with unless they are actively involved in a quest. This contrasts with the ability to engage in small talk with generic villagers and guards.
- Ultrawide resolution support (weight 0.01): The game supports ultrawide resolutions (21:9) without issues like black bars or distortion. This is a positive point for players with ultrawide monitors.
- Convenient cloud save system (weight 0.01): The game features cloud saves that can be made at any time outside of battles. This provides convenience and flexibility for players.
- Controllable enemy aggro (weight 0.01): The game features a mechanic where enemies chase the player, allowing them to control the pace of combat and engage smaller groups of enemies. This can make combat more manageable.
- Crafting is useful (weight 0.01): Crafted gear is considered very useful and should not be ignored by players. This suggests that crafting is a worthwhile activity in the game.
- Easily countered status effects (weight 0.01): The effects of antidote and bleed are considered unimportant because medicine can solve them. This suggests that these status effects are easily countered.

Emotions:
No emotions}