Recent reviews by ArcrossA

First off: I can't believe that this game is priced under $19.99. It's $12.99 — that's simply unreal. 

As a player who has never really played any grand strategy games before, The Heroic Legend of Eagarlnia has been a very surprising and enjoyable experience considering it's an early access game developed by a dedicated team of four. If you had been watching/following this game for some time, you'll know that Eagarlnia has gone through some rocky periods throughout the years, as the development team had been very silent about the game's progress and status despite hosting it on Steam's platform around late 2019. There were some hints here and there that the game would be localized to English, but there wasn't any concrete information to go on for several months. Fortunately, the team would resurface to announce that the localization for English was well under way, and that the demo and early access release would arrive soon. If it wasn't for their decision to localize, I most likely would've never stumbled across this gem of a game simply because of the language barrier.

I've clocked in over 200 hours since Eagarlnia's early access release, but I've spent at least half as many hours playing their demo builds in September and October. The game offers a surprising amount of replay value simply because of the number of different factions you can play as, as well as being open to playing any way you want. Want to buy out the majority of territories with the power of capitalism? Live under a rock until you feel like it's time to start conquering by the 300th round? Take over the world with an army composed of only the best waifus/husbandos? That's all possible — it's just a matter of if you feel like doing it. In a way, this is very much akin to a sandbox.

The gameplay loop and mechanics are quite simplistic, so I never once felt overwhelmed by what the game threw at me. Easy to learn, but difficult to master, even if you are completely new to these types of games as I am. Your objective is very clear from the beginning - conquer every faction and unify the continent of Eagarlnia under your banner. How you do that is entirely up to you, and you're given ample opportunity to interact with the systems to see what works best for you. The game does not hold your hand in that respect, but hero missions help guide you in case you're not sure what to chase after. You pretty much learn as you go, and once you get the hang of things, clearing Easy and Normal mode on any faction is a piece of cake, even with self-imposed challenges.

So far, I've cleared just about half of the current playable factions on Hard/Challenge mode, and my favorites just so happen to be the ones that are god-awful to play as. I mostly did this to see if it was even possible to play certain factions in the current state of the game considering how bare-bone some of them are when it comes to what tools they have at their disposal. And for the most part, every single faction with a scuffed roster (for the time being) can get through the hell that is early game... granted you know a few tricks to survive and succeed on this difficulty, even without using the tempting Joanna crutch (seriously trivializes the point of playing on Challenge mode). However, I would only recommend playing in this mode when every faction is more fleshed out, unless of course you think Normal mode is too easy and want to push your favorite faction to their economic limits.

Of course, there's a lot of work ahead for the development team. Remember how I said that the gameplay loop and mechanics were simplistic? Well, that's actually one of the downsides, oddly enough. Once you get familiar with the game and really take a look at every individual mechanic and system for what it is, you'll wish that they were a lot more intricate and complex. Faction reputation and relations? Hero loyalty or relationships? Espionage and logistics? Policies to enact? More lore integration in gameplay? These are things that I wish were in the game right now, because I want more! 

220+ heroes in the game. That's quite a daunting number, but worry not... you'll easily remember them like the whole Pokedex since you're likely to only find a quarter of them worth keeping around. You'll get so familiar with all the bad heroes in your first 50 hours that you'll be able to name off half the entire roster by memory alone! In addition to that, you don't really get attached to characters since they don't have as much personality/development just yet. For the time being, I simply see them for what utilities they offer me, nothing more.

19 different factions to play as. Awesome, but this primarily just determines how good/bad of a start you have and what your early/mid-game approach is, since you'll have everything you want by end-game. Some even consider this as just choosing your starting location on the map. As a result, most of the fun I have is only during the early/mid-game since you're forced to use what the faction has to offer, and to play on their strengths to survive. What this also means is that factions basically only have an identity at the beginning, as everything starts to get homogenized near the end. So... it's a lot more fun to start over than to actually finish a conquest. Weird, huh?

All in all, The Heroic Legend of Eagarlnia shows great promise for an early access title, especially considering the price you pay (it's a steal). A lot more depth and complexity is planned for the future, so it's only going to get better going forward. Although I received this game free of charge, I would've earned several times my money's worth in entertainment value had I paid for it. 200+ hours across 3 weeks and I still enjoy this game. The fact that this game is priced at $13 is a crime.

Absolutely recommended. Need I say more?

Originally posted by author:

* Dr. Faust's Otherworldly Adventure does not retroactively apply to past saves. This means you will either have to start a new save OR finish an old one to begin its NG+. You cannot undo your decision about enabling or disabling the DLC until you finish that save file's run. A save file with the DLC enabled will feature an icon of Faust on it in case you aren't sure if it's working or not.

1. Wandering Dr. Faust's Forest
A new dungeon area is added with this DLC. You gain access to this upon clearing a level in the Misty Forest after starting a new game (both brand new or NG+). It's a small-sized map that you can comfortably explore bringing nothing but few pieces of rotten food. The rest of your inventory can be reserved for loot drops.

Dungeon Features

• BOSS — Faust: A fun encounter that creates the exit portal once defeated. Unlike other bosses, Faust can be farmed as he will respawn on your next entry.
  
• New Enemies: Post-Op variants of the Followers from the Misty Forest. Same skills though.
  
• Guest Enemies: Enemies from the Cathedral and Cursed Town also appear.
  
• New Traps: Golden Mimics and Light Flower Traps. They're everywhere.
  
• New Combat Consumables: These items are immune to the Mist's contamination mechanic.
  
• —Chocolate: Clears status and mesmerize ailments
  
• —Donuts: Regenerate life every turn for 6 turns (comes in S/M/L sizes)
  
• Dungeon Scaling: All loot and enemies found in the dungeon scale to your crew's average level. You can easily acquire level-appropriate gear without much risk.
  
• Ignores Doomsday Clock: The clock will not move while exploring this dungeon. You can come and go as often as you like. However, running away still incurs the usual loot, experience, and gold penalties.

2. Achievements
There are 13 achievements associated with this DLC. If you are aiming to platinum Mistover, this will be required. Nearly all of them are tied to the Faust boss encounter.

While offering a nice change of pace from time to time, Dr. Faust's Otherworldly Adventure lowers the difficulty of the game as it provides a (mostly) safe environment to farm for level-appropriate gear and gold. This is especially true for players that choose to play with the Doomsday Clock enabled on Hard mode, since you always have the option to run this instead of an area that may be challenging or too low for your crew to run without having the clock tick forward.

Clearing the dungeon is relatively easy compared to most areas in the game, as the only things you need to watch out for are branding (focus fire) from Executioner Shotels and Bows, and stuns from Collectors and Wraiths. Enemies are often lined up for column-based skills or a juicy Chaos★Blast from your Witch, so have fun with the AoEs. However, the Faust encounter can prove to be quite challenging if you tackle his dungeon early on without any sort of equipment, since he can overwhelm you with fodder and heal himself every now and then. In the case of which this happens and you realize he's going to show you the way out, there's no shame in running away because you still make out with half of your acquired loot.

Yeah, this means you can go raid the forest for loot (preferably with a Shadow Blade for invisibility), avoid all the monster encounters, and run away so you keep a good chunk of the spoils and not level up in the process. How convenient is that?

And speaking of which: Don't like the loot offered in any area? Not enough epics? No problem. Faust's Forest can be utilized to target specific gear drops you need, as entering and leaving the dungeon (remember, at absolutely no penalty) will refresh available loot in all areas. 

The new combat consumables can also make some parts of the game easier, if you choose to use them or their original counterparts. Chocolates are a direct upgrade to both Purified Waters and Bandages, since you don't need to spend gold on them and they are immune to pollution. Donuts are a heal-over-time version of Potions — they're quite handy on all difficulties except Hard, as spike damage becomes a common issue to worry about. Doesn't mean they're useless, but fights often end quickly enough where you're either killing fast or on the receiving end of that treatment.

As a non-Guilty Gear fan: Recommended and a Non-Essential DLC. 

For $5, it's a little bit of extra content that always remains relevant, whether you're at the beginning of your playthrough or near the end, and on any difficulty setting. Unfortunately, it's a bit short since the dungeon only has one area (a small one, at that) as opposed to three like every other. But like I said, it always remains relevant since the dungeon scales to the crew that enters it; it's meant to be replayed multiple times, not just once.

If you struggle with Hard Mode and/or dislike the stress associated with the Doomsday Clock, then the dungeon from this DLC may help alleviate some of your issues and make it bearable to play at the intended difficulty levels. The consumables are nice to have at hand and it's a great source of quick and easy equipment, especially if you're looking for good alchemy fodder to fuse into your primary crew's gear.

Honestly, it's only a must-buy if you want to 100% this game. It's not asking for much, but you're not missing out either if you choose to skip this. If anything, Mistover needs more content-based DLC, so this is fine in my book.