Zoria: Age of Shattering Review

Alright folks, let’s get into Zoria: Age of Shattering, a new CRPG by Tiny Trinket Games. Having played a ton of CRPGs, including some phenomenal recent releases, I was happy to play this. But hold on, Zoria might not be what you expect. Let’s break down what works, what needs work, and ultimately, the fun factor.

Standard Fantasy with a Twist

The world is your typical fantasy setting: Izirians versus Elions, with the baddies using dark magic (necromancy) to dominate the battlefield. You play a disgraced commander tasked with investigating a mystery after a major defeat.

The story starts strong with a decent voice-acted intro and hand-drawn panels, but in-game dialogue relies on text with just a few good voice actors. Most lines sound monotone, and lore comes from books scattered throughout the world. These can be interesting, but reading breaks the exploration flow. Plus, the introduction of magical technology in Chapter One might not sit well with everyone who prefers a pure fantasy experience.

Sounds and Visuals

The background music can be repetitive and drown out other sounds. Sometimes it doesn’t even match the situation. Spell and ability sounds often lack impact. Thankfully, you can adjust audio in the settings.

Visually, things are a step up. Exploring each map is enjoyable once you get used to swiveling the camera to avoid blocked views. The color palette isn’t as vibrant as some competitors, and some effects look dated (like 2D fire sprites during the opening siege). However, areas like spider caves and certain forests look great. Discovering a giant elemental walking on its back with huts on it sparked genuine curiosity! However, the camera doesn’t always pan to show off these cool discoveries.

Character Creation and Exploration

Character creation offers limited but enjoyable options. Base character models are rough, and hair looks like plastic. You can choose gender, body type, face, and hair color. Thankfully, adventuring gear covers most of the base model. Character animations are standard and repetitive in conversations, and some spell effects are just okay.

Exploration is smooth, with informative tutorials popping up for new mechanics (although they break immersion). Tooltips for character stats and UI elements are helpful. More complex elements could use additional tutorials, like interacting with the “Configure Party” table at your keep.

Gameplay Loop

Clearing maps for standard fantasy quests (like retrieving a farmer’s cow) can get repetitive, but it leads to the core gameplay loop: exploring and then transitioning into turn-based combat.

This combat is where Zoria shines! You strategically select a party of four from ten available classes, each with unique combat styles, exploration abilities, and status effect counters. This variety feeds into decisions about upgrading your keep and mission table, allowing you to recruit based on your needs.

The crafting system has potential but feels clunky. Crafting food and buffs is fun, but requiring so many components and having them take up inventory space feels unnecessary, especially without quality-of-life features found in other games.

Technically, Zoria runs well. I didn’t experience crashes or freezing. There were some minor graphical glitches and rare enemy AI hangups during combat, but nothing game-breaking. The review build I played might have some of these issues patched in the final release. Be aware of short loading screens between areas, but they’re quick and not bothersome.

Verdict

Zoria: Age of Shattering has the makings of a good CRPG. The combat is strategic, and I enjoyed the decision-making around party composition and utilizing class strengths during exploration and combat. However, the world lacks that feeling of full immersion due to missing quality-of-life features and polish.

7/10