In the world of hardcore Action-RPGs, Dark Souls reign supreme. But some brave people still try to dethrone the king. This is the case of the Swedish studio Toadman Interactive, founded in 2013, which is now offering its title Immortal Unchained in closed alpha on PC (from March 8 to 12).
First steps
The adventure begins a little brutally, without cutscenes (remember that it is an alpha, the studio is therefore still in full work) and I find myself in the skin of a rather strange character, who looks straight out from a grave or some other place not welcoming.
Not a lot of indications on the screen, I continue where the road leads me. I collect a few items on the way from chests, but at the moment, I'm not sure what I will use them for. It is still a little further that I will finally recover weapons! Owl. Now where do I equip them? The Select button (the game recommends using a controller, so that's fine, I'll do it!) Takes me to the menu, where I can find the items previously obtained, but nothing about the weapons. Well, too bad, I move forward a little.
And finally, I find myself in front of an obelisk, which allows me there to modify my attribute points (the RPG side of the game, with ten characteristics that can be improved), and especially to equip my weapons. OUF!
I therefore equip a pistol as well as a very pretty sword. Next room (yes, for the moment we have a strong feeling of a hallway) and the first enemy arrives. A few pistol bullets and we don't talk about it anymore.
Things go sour a bit later with an enemy with a shield and a long spear. Dodge is extremely important (and therefore timing), to avoid attacks. Barely three hits and I went from life to death in less time than it took me to say "Ouch"! Well, after three tries, I finally understood that I had syringes at my disposal to restore my health, which was very useful to me, I must admit. And in case of death, it's back to the nearest obelisk.
If I can say one thing in these first steps, it's that dodging is extremely important. The end of the level is punctuated by a boss, firing rifle bursts and charging towards the player. Dodge is essential, and especially timing, especially since death comes very quickly after three to four hits taken if you are not careful.
loose
The game is full of good ideas, clearly. The location of the damage in particular, which is done quite simply. When targeting an enemy, we can navigate between different parts of the body. Thus, it might be interesting to aim at the arm of an enemy holding a rifle to neutralize him more quickly.
It is possible to use bladed weapons, but we can see that the emphasis is on firearms (a hundred according to the studio), making the title more of a shooter tinged with RPG than Action-RPG like its illustrious predecessor Dark Souls.
In terms of the scenario, if we can regret the absence of a real background (at least at the beginning), we can note that it is written by Anne Toole and Adrian Vershinin, two video game veterans who have already made their mark. weapons on The Witcher as well as on Battlefield 1. We are promised a Sci-fi universe tinged with magic, revealing its secrets in small quantities.
Finally
Not being a huge fan of difficult games, at first glance this Immortal Unchained is not for me. However, the difficulty is pretty well balanced at the moment (let's not forget that it is an alpha, that can still change). It is true that it is easy to die, but without it being too off-putting or recurring. But the dead are quite a lesson-giver. When blocking an enemy, the whole point is to analyze its behavior and adopt the best solution, which is rarely to empty its magazine on it. Certain skills will indeed be much more useful and adequate, such as the possibility of slowing it down.
In short, Immortal Unchained is an Action-RPG with a lot of potential, despite some apparent flaws (especially visual) which will certainly be erased upon release. In any case, do not hesitate to register for the closed alpha, offered from March 8 to 12, to get an idea. You can register on the official website.
