PAX EAST: Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch Nintendo Switch Demo Impressions
At Pax East I was lucky enough to sit down with Ocean Drive Studio to talk with them and play their new release. Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is the newest entry in the Lost Eidolons universe, and is available now in early access on Steam. I opted to play the Nintendo Switch demo so I could provide coverage about how the upcoming port will play, as Sam is doing a review on the PC release. After sitting down with the dev, I feel confident saying this will be a fantastic handheld experience.
So what is this game about? Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is a roguelite tactical RPG … think a roguelike Fire Emblem and you’re not far off. The game gives you five characters from the start to include in your party including the main character, each with distinct personalities and playstyles. From there, depending on player choices and RNG, there are four more characters that can be recruited.
While Lost Eidolons is similar to Fire Emblem on paper, the tone and dark fantasy setting set it apart from the beloved Nintendo series. Roguelikes are not often known for their stories, so what’s here is surprisingly complex and well thought out (though not unexpected given this is taking place in an established universe). The game opens with Ashe, who can be either a man or woman (I chose the woman and will use she/her pronouns through this review), waking up in the land between the living and the dead. A beautiful witch makes a pact with our main character – be her champion and fight for her cause and Ashe will live again. And so Ashe wakes up shipwrecked on an island with scattered memories that she needs to recollect. To do this, she and her party will fight, die, and then come back to the island to try over and over.
The characters that join Ashe are layered, complicated people with their own motives. Here the character art shines with gorgeous portraits that capture the essence of the character. From a one-armed barbarian sailor, to a haughty librarian who just wants to do his research to a disgruntled (and probably constantly drunk) mayor, each one colors the story in their own way.
Further enhancing the characters is the voice acting. All the main characters' lines are voiced, and they are clear and expressive. It’s a bit unexpected for a roguelite to go that far for the story section of their game, but I can’t argue with the results. I was hooked from the start and have been left wondering where Ashe’s story goes.
The actual tactical battles were pretty much what you’d expect from the genre. Characters can move, attack and use a special attack (with each character having their own skill set). My time with the build was limited so I don’t have a robust understanding of the battles. I would look to Sam’s review for more info about those. One of the things I noticed, and appreciated, was that all the enemies' attacks were forecasted, so I could see doing X would result in enemies countering with Y.
When asked about fallen characters in comparison to how Fire Emblem handles it, the developer explained they would return to the next battle with one hit point. However, for the permadeath diehards, there is good news. Players can unlock a mode that renders characters who fall in battle unusable for the remainder of a playthrough.
As for the Switch port, I think it’s off to a promising start. The graphics look fantastic. I personally did not notice any graphical issues or frame drops. The game has a lot of text, and it is on the small side. The dev noticed I was struggling to read the text though and said they would see about making it bigger which is much appreciated, and I’m hopeful that it does end up implemented. The port does have frequent loading screens, but they were overall brief and I found them tolerable.
Overall, Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch has piqued my interest and I am definitely looking forward to our upcoming review as well as checking it out on my own. If you’re curious and aren’t sure about diving into early access there is currently a demo on Steam!
About Ocean Drive Studio
Ocean Drive Studio, a subsidiary of Kakao Games, is a company dedicated to developing and servicing games that resonate with global fans who love the same genres that their developers know and are passionate about. The studio gained attention with the release of its first game, the turn-based tactical RPG Lost Eidolons, on Steam, PS5, and Xbox. Building on this success, they are working on the second game in the same genre, Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch, as well as other titles including the roguelite shooter Section 13, the physics-based sandbox survival game God Save Birmingham, and an action RPG based on the IP Sword Master Youngest Son,. Ocean Drive Studio aims to deliver unique and engaging gaming experiences to gamers around the world through these diverse game genres.
