Demo Talk: Vindictus: Defying Fate Pre-Alpha Playtest
by William Hernandez
Vindictus: Defying Fate is an action-adventure RPG that was revealed by Nexon right at the end of February. The game's pre-alpha playtest was recently made available for everyone so I just had to check it out. Any excuse to get a glimpse at the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5 is one that I'll gladly take and the game definitely looks visually impressive...at least, on the surface. Soulslikes aren't exactly of much interest to me, but, hey, it's just a pre-alpha build. There's only so much agony that could possibly be in store.
Now, I wouldn't say that most people expect to be blown away by the pre-alpha build of a game, but I would say that most people expect to come away with some positives. Vindictus: Defying Fate, however, has no real positive takeaways. At least, not in my opinion. Let me explain myself.
Just A Proof Of Concept?
Actually playing the game and experiencing the graphics, Vindictus: Defying Fate honestly just looks okay. The lighting really does a lot of heavy lifting to make things seem more sophisticated. The models themselves aren't all that impressive for the playable characters and the environments don't exactly look all that advanced to merit the sketchy performance on ultra settings. Where you do actually see a good amount of detail is in the enemy models; although, maybe it's rude to say this but their designs feel just a tad bit too generic. Muscular wolfman #4 kinda just doesn't do much for me after already constantly seeing the other variations. There's just nothing that really makes them feel distinct to this game. That doesn't really change even when you meet new enemies.
Unfortunately, Vindictus: Defying Fate doesn't exactly defy visual expectations. Not unless the only thing you care about are Fiona's jiggle physics and provocative outfits. Which, hey, I get it, but that artistic "freedom" doesn't exactly breathe much life into this pre-alpha build. The game honestly looks like it's barely a proof of concept with how little personality it imbues into this world. The lack of background music and stiff cutscenes definitely don't help. I truly wonder how much of these assets will be used in the full game because a lot of it feels like cheap fodder for demonstration purposes only. At the very least, the environment needs to change completely because the outside sections of this playtest feel way too lifeless.
Dull Souls
Vindictus: Defying Fate is like Dark Souls, but if everything was slightly off and a lot duller. There is no stamina system which means you can dash and input dodges without expecting any punishment. A viable strategy if you're having trouble with bosses is just running away to let your skills recharge and dodging whenever it's needed. And while we're talking about the skills, there is nothing satisfying about hitting any of them as Fiona. The animations are just so bland and it's really difficult to appreciate the impact that they have on enemies. It's really odd because enemies' attacks absolutely do have a gusto to them. I suppose it might just have to do with the fact that your skills do just a fraction of damage to bosses which make them feel pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
I'm sure some people really enjoy the honest nature of learning the bosses in this pre-alpha, but there's just nothing really satisfying or rewarding about this combat. The game will eventually add stats, weapons, and armor which will make it more like the standard experience, but nothing about this pre-alpha makes me think that it'll really stand out as a title even when it has all that. For now, it just seems like a niche title for Soulslikes fans.
What Could Be Improved
Now, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I know better than the developers of this game, but I do think that it's my right as a playtester to offer advice. I've been giving a lot of criticisms without actually offering solutions so let me change that real quick.
Not having a stamina bar doesn't have to be a problem. For it to properly work, the game simply has to encourage players to not play in a campy style. You can make the skills recharge a lot faster when hitting an enemy. You could also make it so that they only recharge when you attack the enemy. This won't affect players who rushdown the bosses at all. It will simply stop people from running around in circles for 10 minutes with nothing at risk. And if the idea is to have a movement and evasion-heavy game, then perhaps it might make sense to have skills that do more damage from a specific side in the style of Xenoblade. Punishing bosses correctly would definitely be a lot more satisfying knowing that you're being more efficient with damage.
I can't really comment on the story because I'm not really familiar with Vindictus. What I can say, though, is that the team at Nexon should really prioritize their map design before building up their narrative. There were some interesting sections in the pre-alpha like in the image below, but they were only really highlights in my mind because of how generic the rest of the environment looked. Something about the empty blue sky was just really unsettling on top of it all. Whether this stays a single-player experience or transforms into a co-op adventure, Vindictus: Defying Fate just needs to look more unique and a lot of investment should go into making the world something captivating for players.
The Vindictus: Defying Fate playtest will be available for Steam users until March 18th. Feel free to check it out for yourself and form your own opinions. I'm sure the developers would appreciate as much bug reports as possible and you could be of great service to the final product. It's to be seen if there will be more playtests or demos in the future, but I'm sure Nexon wouldn't mind getting free attention again.
