Early Access Review

It doesn't take much to make a good Diablo-Clone. Just take what made Diablo great and expand on it. Simple right? If you know anything about these games, you know more times than not, it's either Hit or Miss...Hit meaning classics like Titan Quest, Torchlight, and Grim Dawn...or Miss meaning pieces of trash like Blood Knights, Sacred 3, or The Incredibly Impossible Adventures of Van Helsing.



Anyway, Victor Vran takes the ARPG formula and makes it real simple and functional. Firstly, you get to choose your controls - WSAD to move & click to attack, Click to Move/Attack, or gamepad. You read that correctly...all three are options, as well as key mapping for either keyboard option you choose. Why other dungeon crawlers don't attempt to adopt this kind of setup is beyond me.



That said, there's a reason more people enjoy playing Diablo III on a console..using a controller feels so excellent for this type of game, and it's actually very responsive. Your attacks are quick, but weighty, and you actually get experience points for doing more damage to an enemy than needed.



They've added a jump button, which at first seems stupid, but combined with the ability to wall jump, it actually allows you to get to secret areas and get away from enemies. They've also included a dodge button, taking a page out of the Dungeon Siege III book. There's no cooldown or stamina bar for dodge rolls like there is in Risk of Rain or Dark Souls, respectively. You can do it as many times as you want and it really comes in handy.



Sound is great, voice acting is pretty spot on as well. From time to time it DOES sound like the voice actor is reading his lines..because he is...but it's still well done. Looting is par for the course, and you'll be able to upgrade your weapons, transmute, etc. Since there's no skill tree or even any classes so-to-speak, your skills and based on your outfit and the weapons you use. It sounds strange, but it really does work. That ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ skill tree in PoE turned a lot of people off, myself included, so to have things simplified so I can concentrate on killing stuff is a breath of fresh air.



Each dungeon actually gives you 5 tasks to complete, each one giving you a star for completion. Some of them require you to take no damage, use no potions, or slay a certain number of beasts in a certain amount of time. If things get hectic and you can only accomplish 4 out of the five, no biggie. Just leave, get your mind right, go back later and get that 5th star. It's pretty linear gameplay, but if you're a fan of this genre, then you've come to expect that.



So far the game's a lot of fun, and it's only gonna get better. Grab it now while it's in Early Access or wait til the 26th when it gets a full release. Either way, it's worth owning. Hands down one of the best ARPGs I've ever played.