From Feyra studio, a study composed by one man alone comes the tactical RPG Shards of Feyra. In this game, you have to help a little village complete several missions. The game focuses on tactical combat, without story modes or character progression, just fighting with the different classes to complete the assignments. It was released on 10th January but is not complete, nevertheless, the developer is updating several times a week.
Selecting your campaign
Shard of Feyra is divided into campaigns. Every campaign is a scenario with several levels. On every level, you will fight different enemies when you advance. Also, you will meet some NPCs who give some lore to the campaigns. At the end of the campaign, you will fight a boss, and after defeating it, you will receive a score based on your number of turns, the number of killed enemies, and some quest bonuses (like discover secret rooms for example).
Currently, there are two campaigns, Rescue Party, where you go to a dungeon to rescue some villagers, and you have to stop a deadly magic that threatens the village, and Mountain Village, where you go to save the town from the hands of a dark elf. In the future, new campaigns will be added.
Creating your team (or teams)
On Shards of Feyra, you can select your party composition, and you can add a party trait if you want. The game can be played cooperatively online, up to two players, where every player has a team of two characters. Of course, you can play it alone, configuring your team too. For the moment, you can put one of the four available traits for your party, like giving them more resistance to damage or more speed. However, you can finish the game without using this.
The current classes are Dark Knight, Wizard, Paladin, Warrior, and Rogue. Each one has specific skills and passives. For example, The Dark Knight recovers life every turn, recovering extra health when he defeats an enemy or uses determined skills. Another example, the wizard, has several elemental spells, certain can cause state ailments, and he recovers Mana every turn. The character classes are well-differentiated and different combinations will give you different ways of finish the campaigns. In the future, new classes will be added.
Battle system
Shards of Feyra’s has a tactical turn-based battle system. During your turn, you can move your characters over the classic square grid and attack the enemies. You can hit first and move or vice versa. Then, enemies will do the same during their turn. You can strike with the standard command or use a skill. Some abilities will not consume the turn, so you can use it and then attack, but they are the minority. Also, the skills can damage your allies, so you have to think before using them.
In the battle stage, you can use some elements in your favour. There are explosive barrels, which will damage the close positions, and traps, where everyone receives damage if they pass through them. The movement will consume turns too, the walkable distance is limited by the grid, even if you killed all the enemies before. The number of turns used to complete the campaign will influence your final score.
What to expect
As I described before, Shard of Feyra was released on 10th January 2021, but it feels more and Early Access than a complete game for the moment. The dev updates it every week, and he has weekly plans and further ones. This week comes:
- New steam achievements (currently there are five)
- Character classes’ balancing
- Better game optimization with a light rework and LOD optimization
- and a new class available
Also, he has long-term plans:
- A new campaign
- New enemies
- Main menu redesign
- and quick party search implementation
The game needs some refinement, but it shows great potential if you like a tactical RPG focused on battles. I will look forward to the final product.
