Unepic Interview, Reviews, and Teaser Trailer

There has been quite a bit of activity since I last checked in on Unepic, as the team behind the Castlevania-inspired indie RPG platformer has released a teaser trailer, participated in an interview, and have likely been keeping an eye on the new reviews over at Destructoid (6.5/10) and Aylives (8/10). We'll start off with the trailer:



Before diving into the meat of Destructoid's critique:
At each level five skill points are awarded that will allow players to fine-tune their character. Points can be put into weapons, armor, constitution, potions and magic types, and the only two that are necessary are constitution and armor. Mostly. There are times when using one weapon type is better than another, and there are other times where a certain level of mastery is almost required. This can be irritating if you haven't invested into the required skill, but usually there is more than one way to beat a monster or boss. If you don't have the skills necessary to bring something down quickly, that just means it will take longer to defeat. Or you'll just die a lot until you can actually kill what you're trying to kill.

Since this is a PC game all actions are controlled by mouse and keyboard, though the mouse isn't as needed as the keyboard. Along with the usual jumping, attacking and magic-casting that is expected in this sort of title, just about everything you can carry can be assigned a shortcut. This is especially useful with alternate weapons and armor since there are times when you'll need to switch gear quickly. I most frequently switched between a melee weapon and a bow, which was quite a lot nicer than digging through my inventory looking for the items every time I wanted to use a different one. In addition to weapons and armor, pets, potions and spells can also be bound to keys, which will become incredibly useful later in the game.

Probably the most important thing to note is the Map (and it is important enough that I made it a proper noun) which can be used to make notes, serve as a point of reference and show you which areas you have and have not explored. You will use the Map. A lot. The castle you will be exploring is huge, with over 200 rooms and seven sections, all filled with quests, secret passages, vendors and bosses. The only way you can keep from making notes is by having great memory, and even that shouldn't be relied upon. I used the Map to make note of just about everything, whether it be quests, entrances to boss rooms, or gates and locks to new sections of the castle. There is a good deal of exploring to be done in the course of this game, and the easiest way to go about that is by using the Map.
Interested? Grab it from GamersGate.