Game: Heroes of Drakemire
Genre: RPG
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Clockwatchers Inc
Controller Support: Yes
Price: US $19.99 | UK £16.75 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: October 26th, 2023
Review code provided with many thanks to Clockwatchers Inc.
Adventure Calls
Heroes of Drakemire is an RPG reminiscent of the classic jRPGs. This title takes the formula back to basics and might appeal to those looking for a more straightforward RPG experience. But it does come with some grinding.
The story follows Brutus, a young chap frustrated with his simple life of picking mushrooms and keen for adventure. After taking on another tedious errand in the forest, he encounters Endolf, a mage suffering from a common video game case of amnesia. At the same time, a swarm of goblins and orcs appear in the area, suggesting all is not well in the realm. This gives Brutus the opportunity he is longing for, so he sets out with Endolf and the experienced ranger to investigate the recent rise in monster activity and, of course, save the world while they’re at it.
You’ll encounter new party allies and chat with various NPCs along the way. I’ll be honest: Heroes of Drakemire’s story didn’t grip me. There’s plenty of dialogue and moments of humour, but it felt like a typical by-the-numbers fantasy plot. It’s not terrible; it just does the job. It doesn’t feel overdone to its credit, and you will find yourself heading into gameplay very quickly.
Prepare for Battle in Heroes of Drakemire
The gameplay has that familiar turn-based RPG feel. You have a main quest to follow, but you can pick up multiple side quests on your adventures. Controls are easy to use. To move your character, click on the game board where you want them to travel. A blue guided area will then highlight the way forward, and you watch Brutus walk his way to that spot so you can sit back and take a sip of your coffee.
The controller is an option, but I actually favoured using the mouse for this game. It is one of those rare examples where you can play one-handed while waving a cuddly toy in front of your small child with the other. But before long, you’ll be heading into battle.
During turn-based battles, each character has a variety of attacks and magic spells to use to dispatch the enemy. Each move or spell describes the potential damage it will cause and the location it will hit, say the body or head, to help guide you to make the right choice. The order of each turn between you and each character is made clear on the bottom right of the screen so you can strategize who to focus attacks on.
In battle, you gather experience points to increase your hero level. However, to improve your moves, you need to gather various resources, which you can then take to the blacksmith to increase their effectiveness, unlock new moves, and improve your defence.
Collect Enemy Drops
I initially liked this idea, but not long into Heroes of Drakemire, it quickly became a bit of a pain. Resources are found dotted around the map and dropped randomly by enemies. The problem I often had was that the enemies didn’t always drop what I needed, so it would take even more grinding to gain what I needed. Repeated battles felt slow and tedious until I finally upgraded my team. With no way to speed up battles, it greatly slowed progress.
It feels like sticking to the traditional formula where you get stronger with each level up and buying new equipment would be easier. Though I wasn’t fond of the grind, I did like how Heroes of Drakemire keeps its formula simple, making it easily accessible for gamers looking for a more relaxed RPG experience or just want to shut their brain off.
A Look of Charm of Heroes of Drakemire
The graphics are pretty good. It makes a change to play an indie RPG that doesn’t adopt the typical RPG Maker top-down pixel art style. The developers are clearly working with a budget, but they made it work. Sprites are well-hand drawn and detailed, with many enemies to encounter. There are nice small touches to the animations during battle, such as how a goblin might scratch its nose while waiting for its turn or one of your team does a victory stance when they successfully slay an enemy.
I also really liked how, before a battle begins, a large banner crosses the screen with ‘Prepare for Battle.’ This reminded me a lot of the excitement created in games like Darius. The music is fine, not memorable, but it feels fitting for the fantasy setting.
Steam Deck
Heroes of Drakemire is yet to be verified on Steam Deck. For the most part, it ran totally fine on the handheld. With a small install that only takes up a slither of space, this game hardly pushes boundaries with processing power. The only issue I encountered was that some of the text boxes were totally cut off on the right side of the screen. I found grinding away at the game much more tolerable in handheld form than on PC.
Conclusion: Simple and Effective
Heroes of Drakemire is a good RPG, but it doesn’t bring much innovation to its classic formula. For some players, that will be perfectly fine. Heroes of Drakemire will take you back to a simpler time with straightforward turn-based combat and no overly complicated mechanics to get your head around. For me, the game fell a bit short because of the grind.
After too many sessions, I found myself grinding away on battles, trying to gather loot to improve my skills rather than progressing. It just came across as tedious, and as a busy parent, it didn’t fit well into a busy schedule where gaming sessions are quite precious. However, if you have the time to spare and love the genre, give this a try and support an indie developer.
Final Verdict: I Like It
Be sure to check out the free demo on Steam if you want to try it before you buy.