Developed by Kiro'o Games, Aurion: The Legacy of the Kori-Odan is an Action-RPG whose story takes place in an African world tinged with fantasy. A video accompanied by a demo quickly convinced me to take a look.
The pitch
Enzo Kori-Odan, the prince of Zama, is the victim of a coup d'etat orchestrated by his brother-in-law, on the day of his marriage to Erine Evou.
The couple are exiled and decide to travel the world in search of allies. In addition to reconquering their kingdom, the royal couple will discover all the geopolitical complications and other dilemmas attached to their function.
At the same time, we learn thatAurion is an energy discovered a long time ago on the planet Auriona. It manifests itself in various ways in everyday life. Those who use it for fighting are called Aurionics and it can increase their strength and gain access to never-before-seen techniques for a short period of time.
The beginnings
The demo installed, I embark on the adventure. A screen tells me that it is better to play with an Xbox 360 controller. My good mood today prompts me to tell myself that, too bad, if the demo is on PC, they must have foreseen the blow for the players n 'by not having, hopefully.
We're in Zama with the prince. The latter doubts his ability to become a good king and we follow the thread of his thoughts. Visually, the first impression is good. It's colorful without being aggressive, detailed enough that our gaze flutters from element to element. The music fits the game perfectly.
Enzo's dialogue at this point bothers me a bit. Some clumsiness in the choice of words, a mixture of everyday and familiar language which denotes.
I manage to find Pa'a Amougou, the man the Prince wanted to see. Here I spend a few minutes figuring out how to talk to him (the tutorial screen indicating the X button on the controller, something I don't have ...). I dig through the options on the command side, nothing that does not mean "Talk to the NPC". In the end, I test each assigned key to find the correct one. It falls on the K key, the one intended to attack. Obviously.
I want to talkeeeeer
The speech bubble still annoys me here, but not for the same reason: there is too much space. Pa'a Amougou lays the foundations of the universe around us, perfect to feel a little concerned by the beginning of this story and to learn more about what surrounds us.
A positive point, however, for the speech bubble: the face illustrating the speaker also serves to show the emotion he feels at that moment. Just perfect.
This benevolent gaze
Direction, the palace where I am expected. Along the way, I come across an NPC with an icon. He offers me something to eat.
FOOD!
We then attend the wedding. We follow the ceremony while reading the thoughts of the various protagonists attending. The kinematics are well done. We have a solemn, picturesque side and a tinge of humor. Other cutscenes afterwards will make me feel like I'm watching an anime. Not unpleasant at all.
Moreover, the cutscenes can be paused, an option that can be very practical.
To arms!
A little action now that the basics are in place. Before the first fight, the tutorial returns. It's good but it does not serve me much since I play the keyboard ...
Enzo can do combos, parry attacks with his shield while being careful of the stamina bar used to block hits and he has special techniques. These consume APs and require a combination of keys to be performed.
Go back to the options to see the keyboard commands. I regret that you have to scroll down so much to see all the commands. It's more difficult to memorize them that way. I am not discouraged, however, and am launching into the battle!
With a controller, it would be much better. Suddenly, my gaming experience suffers because the keyboard is definitely not suited to such a dynamic combat system. That doesn't stop me from enjoying my fights, keeping this in mind, and I kill my opponents by stringing together combos and using my available special attack: Spark of Anger.
End of the fight, a summary screen is displayed. We see what we win, our maximum combos, etc.
As I continue the adventure, I learn to perform other movements, to use the objects I have and to use the scenery during my fights. For example, a hit on a stone will send it to an opponent. They can also use this technique too!
I will then learn to use the aurionic power, increasing my abilities tenfold for a short period of time. Here again, the controller gameplay is very present.
Overall impression
The Aurion: The Legacy of the Kori-Odan demo clearly makes you want to see more, but with a controller! We have an ultra dynamic gameplay which will certainly require a learning sentence to fully retain all the possibilities.
The atmosphere is successful but the dialogues in the demo need to be worked a little more on their formatting or the writing. Apart from this downside, Aurion leaves me with a very positive impression and it will undoubtedly appeal to Action-RPG enthusiasts, its combat system being quite nervous and developed. Add to that a universe that seems well worked at first glance and we have a title that will be talked about.
The game already has its audience on Steam since it has successfully completed its greenlight campaign. All that remains is to wait for the final version, scheduled for this year.
