Alabaster Dawn Early Access Review
Radical Fish follows up CrossCode with an ambitious action RPG that already feels remarkably polished in Early Access.
Alabaster Dawn. Credit: Radical Fish Games
Alabaster Dawn is the follow-up to CrossCode from German studio Radical Fish Games, and it already feels like a major step forward. Development began following the final DLC for CrossCode, with the team building a new custom HTML5 engine for the project. It’s immediately impressive.
From Steam:
Break Nyx’s curse and guide humanity's rebirth in this top-down 2.5D Action RPG from the creators of CrossCode. Battle enemies with stylish combos, wield multiple divine weapons, solve intriguing puzzles and explore a changing world.
The top-down 2.5D game packs in multiple weapons, combo trees, elemental abilities, and a large world filled with secrets to discover and bosses to fight. Its story follows a cast rebuilding humanity’s settlements after catastrophe as you fight back the alien infection plaguing the land, seemingly abandoned by the gods.
Alabaster Dawn. Credit: Radical Fish Games
Combat feels great right away. Enemies hit hard, but the parry window is forgiving enough that fights stay fast and aggressive instead of frustrating. Weapons feel distinct from each other, and stringing together combos has a satisfying, snappy momentum. The game also adds multi-tiered terrain more naturally than most top-down pixel art games, paired with an automatic jump system that keeps movement flowing surprisingly well.
I’m most impressed by the game’s graphics. The pixel art is gorgeous, but it’s the animation work that really sells the world. Characters use 16 directional angles instead of the usual 8 you see in games like this, and once I noticed it, I kept catching small touches everywhere else. Independently animated limbs add even more depth and motion to the characters, making the entire game feel unusually alive for this style.
The current Early Access build runs around 10 hours and features a great snapshot of what’s to come. Radical Fish expects the Early Access period to last at least two years, and honestly, I get it. With the level of polish already visible in an Early Access build, I’m willing to wait for it to cook. You can’t rush this level of quality.
Alabaster Dawn
Radical Fish has another standout action RPG on its hands, with Alabaster Dawn already showing an impressive level of polish and personality in Early Access.
