The Broken Seal

Can't say how good it might have been as it crashed on launch every time,

games real fun kinda rough in terms of graphics but real nice speaking phrases to cast spells is a real cool gimmick

So to start off, Yes, this game does not receive anymore updates from the developers, BUT this game is a HUGE BLAST! I just finished chapter 1 (took 5 hours btw) and there are still 3 more chapters to go. So yeah there is PLENTY to do. Just annoying saying the same spell over and over again. Try not to be in a party or around others when playing this game LOL!

SPELLS:

To start off, each chapter has 5 bosses you have to kill in order to progress to the next chapter. Each time you kill a new boss you receive a new spell. Each spell has its own line/phrase you have to say in order to cast . i.e I am the ripper of the burning sky (part 1) to guide the visitor to the end (part 2). The first spell you get is fireball. The skills do have a shortcut/phrase you can say, for example, fireball you can just say fire or chain lightning, you can just say, chain. So on and so fourth. The spells are pretty OP, BUT still fun to use.

MOVEMENT/CONTROLS:

Movement is alright. There is no sprint but instead a dash that uses 10 mana. So in the beginning you get 10 dashes and the mana takes a while to recharge till you get the spell, Give Me Mana. Wish there was a sprint function but to get to the Death Lord (5th boss in the first area) you have to go through a maze and it takes forever to get around. The controls are easy to get use to. You dont have to hold the grips to hold the weapon. You just equip and you are good to go. So far I have seen, axes, swords, bows, staffs, shields and hammers. Not much of variety so far, but then again I am only on the 2nd chapter.

GAMEPLAY:

They say there is 40 hours of gameplay. So far I've only done 5 hours. So if I take 5 hours for the rest then it will be a total of 20 hours, BUT who knows whats in store in these next chapters. Graphics are maybe a 4.5/10 nothing to crazy like Half Life Alyx. More like Diablo/WoW. The fighting is a 5/10, could use some work when it comes to hitting enemies.

OVERALL:

Good game. Worth the money. I think if anything else the voicing spells is what is going to get you into this game the most. Just sucks that there is no more support with the game since there is so much that can be done to this game like farming, dungeons, guilds, housing and markets. But what do I know? I am just a table that is broken

Honestly. One of the single best VR games i have ever played. The gameplay, combat, everything.The graphics are on the low side, but that wouldntt make skyrim bad now would it. Im supprised it is so cheap considering i grinded for 5 hours to get the boss, and now im starting level 2. The spells get more complicated down the line, having multiple sentenses to execute them, and the ir power grows exponentially. It even allows you to spec for a build. 9/10 would reccommend to all vr enthusiuasts.

I don't recommend this game due to few reasons.

Pros:
1) This game is great. Open world and exploration. The world is kinda big.
2) Magic magic magic.

Cons:
1) Biggest con for me is the developer ignoring the specific audiences like me as a Deaf Gamer who wants to do magic. It's been 2 years since then and it showed me the dev's unwilling to work with people like me and other people with voice issues. I can speak, but I can't seem to trigger any magic at all. I have a "Deaf voice" which is a bit different accent.

2) In Non-VR mode, it lags massively. There are no support for it. No FAQ or solution for it. Nothing.

3) The options are not great. Very limited. You only can change language, locomotive (only 2 options, teleport or moving), and details. There are no spectrum in any of them. 3 years in this game and it doesn't show any promising results in long-run. It's pretty unfortunate.

Well this game actualy suprised me its a Diablo Stile rpg with solid Combat sistem and remarkable Good Voice sistem for casting spells and opening invetnory , map and so on now when it comes to graphic its not the most polished game out there and there no tutorials whatsoever so u kinda must figure out for yourself how the game works but when u get a hold of the basics its a toon of fun casting spells with voice and slashing creatures , SO not the best polished rpg out there but its a hiden gem for any RPG players out there . in any case i fully recomend it .

This game isn't perfect, but at the end of the day... There's something truly cathartic about turning what used to be a field of enemies into a burning hellscape as far as the virtual eye can see.

All with only a quatrain poem and a whim.

Darkness blacker and black and darker than dark,
I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson.
Explosion!

Be advised that aside of combat, everything in this game sucks. Maps are too big and repetitive, no story, no enemy AI, sounds are broken etc. But the combat is super fun.

I can't really recommend this game. It was cool for a bit, but got so terribly repetitive with very little substance.

Weapons are all the same per level, no variety. The same sword, hammer, etc, just with slightly incrementing stats per level. They go up through tiers. New tier, new look, but they're again, all the same. You've got an assortment of spells to choose from that you find new ones, but there's really not appearing to be a wide swath of them. No other skills.

It's just empty. Sure, it's hack and slash, kinda like Diablo if it was gutted and barebones. Not much else I can say about it.

I get I didn't see all the boards in the time I played. I get that there's probably many things I didn't see. But after seeing the clear trend of the game, extremely limited content served in spoonfuls, I'm out and can't recommend.

I like VR RPGs in general, but this one felt quite unpolished. Speaking the spells was a nice gimmick at first, but it never seemed to get any more interesting or unique beyond that. The combat was quite repetitive, perhaps I never got deep enough, but with so many other great titles out there, it is hard for me to invest more time in hoping this takes a drastic turn for the better.

This is a barebones Diablo clone in VR where the key gimmick is chanting spells yourself.

This means you have to be able to speak to play this game. That's good and bad. The good is it's great for immersion, chanting spells is super fun, especially in co-op. The bad is you can't play it when people are trying to sleep.

That said, it's a load of fun. There are three acts and three difficulties to slow through, loads of spells and equipment, and a surprising layer of depth once you start playing around. Much worth it.

We need more games like this. This is soo precious and I cant wait to see this game Idea evolve and become bigger.
I was waiting and looking for a game such as this one.

I mean just look at this:
-Open World
-Grinding
-Loot
-Boss Fights
-Magic, Melee and Ranged attacks
-DIfferent enemys
-Different Areas with different enemys
-Difficulty setting
-Multiplayer
-Simple quests
-Voice activated spells, which is so cool!
-You can break enemy shields
- you can get skill points, lvl your stats and items

So yea I think thats more than enough especially for that price. I'd love to see this game or a game like this to develop in to a MMO RPG JUST like this, well with abit more polished mechanics maybe but its still really cool.


What I'd love to see in a game like this / or this game:

-Wandering NPC's
-Wandering Traders
-Buildings & Dungeons to explore
-Actuall assasins that come after you after killing certain named enemys
- Companions
- Isekei Anime mode, which starts u with all spells and more magic and high base stats (hp;attac etc)
- Some sort of transportation
- Enemys dropping health potions, or other consumables
- More use for your money than just buying new weapons
- Armor.
- Random encounters with friendly/hostile NPCs like other adventurers for example
- Combining spells
- Enchanting Weapons/armor
- The ability to attack/kill neutral or friendly NPCs out in the wild if there would be any

(Using Samsung Odyssey+ Mixed Reality)
I LOVE this game! No tutorial, very little hand-holding, get out there and figure it out. Reminds me of old school Everquest but better. Me and a friend with a Vive have played about 20 hours of it so far and am not even HALF way through the content! That's not even counting the fact there's a HARD mode after you beat Normal and a HELL mode after that!

EDIT: Now two weeks later and over 70 hours played each, my friend and I have played through Normal, Hard, and Hell! The game gets progressively harder despite starting with your previous gear and spells. Enemies are tougher and drops just keep getting better. By the time we started the Hell mode we were just over level 40 and by the time we beat it we were both nearly 60. The gem levels increase up to 60, and weapons so far I've seen up to level 71 (with ONE weird appearance of a level 91 sword when we were low 50's). Although we have effectively "beaten" the game we continue trying to upgrade our items, take different paths, and just having fun trying out the spells and weapon types that we under-used or avoided before.

I think this game is well worth the $19.99 I paid for it and much more. We need more games like this, or an expansion, or BOTH!

I love this game. The enemy models look amazing, though their animations are simple, and their sound effects are mostly stolen from other big name games.
The world looks plain, but there are few VR games that let you move around in spaces this large.
The english translation is really bad, so it can be difficult to remember spells. Also spells are way more powerful than melee or bows. Really no reason to ever physically attack anything at all.

Despite what seems like a lot of negatives the game is still very fun. My girlfriend and I played through normal difficulty together over the span of 3 days and really enjoyed it. Not many co-op VR games out there, and this has an old school feel to it that made it comfortable and familiar.

I wish there were more games like this.

OMG! This game takes VR to an all new level! Voice controlled spells, menus, etc... is awesome! The player can now focus on playing the game, rather than trying to remember what button to hit for what spell. There are 2 modes of movement - teleportation and the sliding method. Many people thought, in the comments, that the teleport mode took away from the immersion. However, for me, teleportation modes in games are the only way i dont get motion sick - so I am happy they have it!

I have no complaints about the audio and visuals. Yeah, sometimes the baddies are walking/dying not entirely on the ground - I'm not a purist and I can overlook that. For me, however (using the Vive), i sometimes have to really look down and to the sides to see how much of my health potion bottle and teleport scrolls are left. A quality of life improvement would be to move the location from the sides of our waist to the front of our waist. Another QoL improvement would be to have the inventory appear in a way that takes into account the NPCs that may be near (I'm specifically talking about the NPC that identifies items - depending on where I am looking in relation to him, my inventory goes right thru him). As I mentioned, its just a QoL - not a break in the game. I just make sure that I have my back to the guy when I open my inventory to ID items.

I am not using headphones or a microphone connected to my headset. I am using my surround speakers and webcam microphone. I did notice that the game sounds do interfere with the voice recognition. So just a headsup to anyone using a setup like mine - you cant have the game sound blasting and expect the voice commands to be recognized.

So far, I've played about 4 hours and I'm hooked! I haven't tried the multiplayer yet - talking some friends into getting this game so we all can team up. Will update when I do try the multiplayer feature out...

I highly recommend this game!

This game relies on voice commands for spells, if you have anysort of accent magic will not work for you.

Also a subpar game at most, not digging the 2003 graphics.

Experienced on the Oculus Rift with Touch Controllers

I bought this back on January 29, 2018 for $18.74. I believe back then the normal price was $24.99 and it originally was priced at $39.99 so I thought that was a good deal, given the positive reviews. I didn't play the game until today, I played this game for over 2 hours straight. I, honestly, kept thinking this must get epic at some point. I just have to grind a little bit until we start seeing some epic battles. Maybe the boss fights will be intriguing, but it just never happened.

It was constantly on the edge of being great, but instead was rather pedestrian. Let me mention some positives first. This game is HUGE. After 2 hours of playing and just walking from battle to battle. There are just so many enemies and so much terrain to cover. You do walk at a brisk pace, however, there is no running. I chose full locomotion with smooth turning and I could play fully seated without any problems. You can choose magic attacks, melee attacks (sword, hammer, axe, shield) or bow & arrow. There are lots of magic spells to learn.

Just when you think the variety of enemies and environment will start to dwindle down after some exploration, the environment completely changes and there's even more variety of enemies. There's loot everywhere although there's not a whole lot of graphical variety there, but weapons do level up.

In fact, there are so many magic spells to learn and this game has a unique mechanic where you have to orally say the magic word while pressing the right trigger button. I think I must have said fireball about 500 times. All I know is that my voice is nearly gone, but it did work about 95% of the time.

The boss fights were okay. The pets you get to help you are pretty dumb. The main problem with the game is that the combat is just too simple. I was literally 1 shotting almost everything with my fireball spell. Melee isn't much better although it is viable and probably the most fun. Bow & arrow just sucks. It feels like you're shooting a nerf bow with plungers as your arrows.

The game ran smoothly. The quests were pretty vague and not that interesting. It's basically go and find boss and killl it. There's really no story here. There is multiplayer. I did not try it, I would imagine this game would be a lot more fun that way.

Rate 6/10. Just because of the sheer amount of content and the attempt at something grand, I can give a recommendation. But it's only a slight recommendation. Mostly for those VR tech enthusiasts. I hope somebody builds on this game type and makes something better.

Is The Broken Seal a hidden gem or should we go ahead and seal it back up?

https://youtu.be/WLvMKP9w_f8

Personally, I was really surprised by The broken seal. You look at the Steam trailer and it looks like it's going to be a small half finished indie title but it was actually pretty well done. There are obvious deficits but we'll get to those later.

The Broken Seal felt like I stepped into the weird, low res baby that resulted from the illicit indulgences of Diablo, WoW, Darkfall and a Vive. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Combat felt good. There was no waggle to win. No enemies impaled themselves on my sword. None of the BS I usually expect out of an indie title like this. They took care when developing the combat system. Which makes sense since that's where we'll be spending most of our in game time! Not only that but weapons had collision with each other, meaning that you're not bound to a shield if you're not the sword and board type. You can absolutely parry blows if you're fast enough!

I want to say again. The combat feels good. The AI might be a bit derpy but I didn't make it out of the starting zone. Hopefully enemies get craftier on later maps but for what I played. The combat really did feel good.

Casting spells was satisfying. The voice recognition worked more than I expected it to. Most of the failures I think were my fault for clipping the beginning or the end of my spell off by not holding the trigger long enough or not giving it enough time after I pulled the trigger. Like pressing the Google button on your phone and trying to talk before it's actually listening and you end up with a mangled sentence. Other than that, my spells felt powerful. I didn't feel like I couldn't play a pure mage but at the same time I also couldn't waste my mana. It seemed like a decent balance but I'd need to play further to really comment on that accurately.

Ultimately though, the game was just fun. I enjoyed myself while I ran around and explored a new world. I reveled in that same feeling I had exploring my first MMO. It was both nostalgic and new and exciting.

Teleporters can rejoice. There is teleportation and you can pick it without moving an inch.

Trackpad locomoters can rejoice. Trackpad locomotion is the default for the game

TBS claims to provide up to 40 hours of gameplay as well as offering multiplayer capabilities which I imagine would stretch out that 40 hours even more as long as there is the population to support it. If that's accurate then I think you're likely to get your $24.99s worth.

So far this month we've seen two updates from the devs and close to a dozen more when the game was still in EA. I hope the devs continue to support the title because there are a few things that need work.

Which is a good segue into the not so good...

The sound effects need some work. Some sounds are just too loud or frequent. They don't seem to have been balanced correctly. The giant thing I fought had loud booming footsteps that were just too loud and booming to the point of feeling out of place. The sword swings felt as though the velocity to produce them was far too low. Any movement while walking triggered the sound. Likewise the goblin chatter seemed a bit too chatty and a little on the annoying side.

Graphically the game isn't going to win any awards. That being said, neither will Minecraft and people still play the hell out of that. Graphics don't equal quality gameplay however I think the current graphical state of the game is going to be a barrier to sales.

Some of the UI elements could use a bit more explanation at the start. They make sense once you figure them out, you just need something there to show you where/what they are. IE: shops, your inventory, swapping gear, etc... This is something I'm told that they're working on for the next patch.

The English translation is a bit rough. Most of the quests I saw were short one liners so it's not too big of an issue but it might bug some. I personally like some story with my slaughter but I didn't mind the directness of the quests. Still more dialog with a better translation would be nice.

The bow mechanics are the not so great arrow hand doesn't impact aim mechanics. This is another thing I'm told is being improved in the next patch. For me, this makes the bows useless atm. I hate this bow mechanic. It's horrible.

One thing I didn't mention in my video. I didn't see a way to have your left hand be your main hand so lefties, sorry, you got play as a righty if you want to sword and board or use a staff.


There are some rough edges to this little gem and a good bit of room for more polish but it's still enjoyable. Hopefully the devs continue to work on it.

Getting to say "I Am The Ripper Of the Burning Sky" and having the sky open up so I can call a giant molten rock out of the freshly ripped sky to annihilate my enemies is worth every penny. This is as close as any game has come to making spellcasting almost out of D&D become a real experience to participate in. Playing this with friends, or just others who own the game is pretty fun if everybody gets into it. This is a step in the right direction for vr gaming and what is possible; especially for some rpg fantasy gamer type nerds. Good times.. just needs some fine tuning on controls, ability to mute in game chat and a few other quality of life improvements.. be able to change which controller is motion and which is for weapons stuff like that.. Overall fun.. plus you can drive other people in your house nuts while you loudly repeat "Fireball!" over and over..

I edited this after more time in.

Bought The Broken Seal during the winter sale on Steam. I am not disappointed. Buy it and give it some time to get comfortable with it's quirks. As new as it is I am very suprised at how well it runs.

Pros
-Vast world (edit: Far more vast than I realized at first. I am 7 hours in and about to kill the bone dragon on the first board. I played multiplayer with someone last night who is on the 5th board and has not finished the game.) This is the largest game I believe exists on VR.)
-Easy controls(My review is on Oculus. I played with a friend on Vive who said they had trouble with the discs or touchpads being sensitive and dashing when they didn't intend to.)
-Variety of spells, weapons, and mobs
-Voice controlled menus and spell casting!
-No motion sickness
-Multiplayer (Played multiplayer last night and it was awesome. The voice chat garbled up on us after about 2 or 3 hours of play. When we tried to reboot our PC's and relaunch a game we couldn't find a game regardless of which one of us hosted it. I'm not sure how the system works but something was failing here)

Areas of opportunity
-Locomotion is good but I've been constantly wanting to use the right stick to rotate 45 or 90 degrees. The right stick is not assigned to anything so it would be an easy add for those of us who like this function. If anything it's nice to recenter yourself after a fight when you've done a 1080 and your cord is choking you or tripping you. My rig hangs from the ceiling with retracting caribiners and I still managed to turn on my ceiling fan and almost hang myself.

-I would love to see a quick weapon switch feature. Maybe you could have a melee outfit and a casting/ranged outfit you could toggle between. Currently you have to open the "wardrobe" and pick items off the shelf to equip a different setup. This is not feasible in battle.

-The Bow. Go play Longbow in The Lab and make it like that. (edit: I gave the bow some more time and you can get used to it and actually be pretty deadly. Especially with the poison enchant which launches 5 arrows with every draw.)

-There is some rough translation in quest and menu text. No big deal.

-Maybe add the ability to run faster. The map is HUGE and you travel some serious distance. You can dash but it uses mana and I like to conserve between groups of mobs.

-Balance. While I'm sure the harder levels are more of a challenge I am lvl 15 playing on normal and I can instigate a fight with 5 or 6 mobs at a time and just wreck them with my spells. It is very OP. Melee and shield is tougher and slower to kill mobs so there is that.

-Enhanced textures would make this a AAA that everyone should have. (edit: Played on Epic and it does clean up quite a bit. )

-"Give me your power, the ruler of sky"..........That's a long cast. lol. That one fails about 50 percent of the time for me. The others aren't too bad. (edit: I realize I had only scratched the surface of the spellbook when I wrote my review. There are so many spells I think they have to be long. "I give you life so you may taste blood", "look at my eyes", "freeze my enemies as my wish". It's a lot to memorize but you feel like a legit wizard)

-Show your active buffs on the hud. I might be missing something on this but I don't see anything obvious that tells me if my mana regen is increased or if my weapon is sharpened. (edit: I realized that my arms will glow with a color corresponding to the buff I've received. Blue for mana regen, white for spell power, red for weapon strength)

-The chest you drop gear in is a little awkward. Maybe just add a loot button so you don't have to drop the items into your shirt pocket.

Just my thoughts. I can't wait to see where this goes. I've put more time into this game than most in my library and I've only had it for 24 hours. You won't be sorry if you enjoy warcraft/lotr type games.

Edit: I'm a few bosses into the ice lvl and figured I'd add some cons to my earlier pros:
The price.
The bow is bad. Hard to do a bow in vr these days unless it's perfect.
Quests only consist of killing the bosses. Same as the previous lvl.
That being said, casting meteor is def fun.

Wow, this one kinda caught me by surprise. From the video I thought it was some kinda arena wave shooter with a nifty magic system. But in reality it's an action rpg...with multiplayer! (I haven't tried)
I'm close to 4 hrs in atm and I'm getting close to the undead dragon boss of the first area and figured I'd throw a quick thumbs up.
The first area is somewhat varied. From hills to forest and giant mushrooms. It has an open feel to it, but in reality you are going from point A to B. There is a nice variety to the monsters as well. Treants, golems, ogres, bosses, ect. And there are a lot of em.
As of now I have unlocked 5 spells. At first I had some issues with the speech casting, but now that I've got them down it's a hoot. I still end up mostly smacking things with my flame hammer. (You get to enchant your weapons)
What can I say, I'm a sucker for loot (somewhat limited), xp, and most anything rpg related in vr.

Edit: I do recomend this game. Just not with the current price tag. and be ready for some needed gameplay fixes. (I hope)

I must say this is a great concept. Let me list the pro's and cons. Here are my system specs if your wondering: i5 3570K oc'd, watercooled 1080ti, 16gb ram.

Pro:
The bow is stupid good once you get the electricity spell
The spells are easy things to say
the enviroment could be turned into something good.
the movement doesnt make me sick after the first few minuites and I get a hold of things.

Cons:
The sword fighting mecanic has no parry or counter. Come on, Gorn has great sword fighting mechanics. At this time sword fighting is broken and there is no shield break or hammer break to their defence
The enemies are stupid repetitive
The enviroment has promise but is at Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone level graphic quality, for a modern game I'd expect better graphics than what the barriers are.
The slow movement style sucks, they need options
NO TUTORIAL, I didn't know there was a sprint til an hour into the game.
NO Pause menu. I needed a break mid campaign. couldn't take one. pain in the rear.
NEEDS MORE QUICK TRAVEL LOCATIONS, you walk forever.....
Buildings would be nice too
Weve got weapons and amulets but NO ARMOR?! Thats like first grade gaming.
The way you level up spells is kinda meh.

The voice recognition is what I would expect from a first generation Siri program. Its terrible. It must be fixed for this game to be amazing. Its a great idea. Make it work. Hire an american and voice pattern him.

flipping through the book of spells is annoying and kinda broken. that thumb swipe doesnt work.

I believe this game has a weapon "Rarity" system with the color orb your magic is when casting. They should make the entire weapon glow that color. The only way to currently tell the color is to equipe and cast a spell. its annoying.

The angle at which the hand in game holds a bow is incorrect. unless you choke up on the controller really high. I also found it to be easy to spam arrows while holding the bow sideways with the electricity spell equiped.(not a problem. only way to deal with so many stupid enemies).

The enemies are very stupid. they use a distance trigger with a small area alert some times. There need to be less. and they need to fight more realistically.

I also noticed a rendering issue at times of alot of movement. not my video card and not my cpu. they've handled worse.

Where is the back ground music? Or any variation in any of the noises? Those monster sounds get old.... Fast.



The verdict.

Its not worth $30, I might pay 10 for something like this or $5. But I'm comparing against Raw Data, Gorn, Rec Room.

Devs: work on your stuff. This isn't even cleared from Beta.