Empyreal

“Emperyal offers intriguing ideas and a solid artistic direction, but its story feels shallow and the combat falls short of expectations. Despite its innovative gameplay concept, repetition and simplicity take a toll on the experience. It’s worth a try for indie fans, but it doesn’t go much further than that.”

“Empyreal offers a deep dive into a mysterious world with challenging gameplay and rich features. Dive in for a rewarding action RPG experience!”

“Empyreal, Silent Games’ new title, tries to do too much at once, but between misaligned ambitions and technical issues, it ends up failing more often than it succeeds.”

“Empyreal is a decent ARPG, but really misses all its marks. It may have an interesting-looking world for an indie, but it clearly misses having a good story, engaging combat, or exploration. The game tries to be challenging, but only ends up being a bland fighting experience loop that just progresses to be even more frustrating. Overall, if you’re a die-hard ARPG fan, you can still find a good time, but there are many better titles to play this year.”

“Empyreal offers a fun combat if you can understand and manage the progression and gear systems, but other than that, the story, world and character design, and atmosphere feels empty and disconnected from the player and their avatar's perspective and experience.”

“Empyreal is a testament to Silent Games' ambition, offering an interesting mix of rogue-lite, souls-like combat and action RPG. While it excels in certain areas, such as combat variety and setting, it also has narrative and gameplay problems.”

“I love the fact they hand-designed the levels, but the overall graphics might have suffered as the game certainly is nothing to write home about in that area.”

“Overall, Empyreal has endless potential to be a great game, and it can go quite far. The story does come off as a bit messy at first, but there is a solid plot. The rest of the gameplay could use a bit more work, but a little extra flair can go a long way and would definitely put it out there in a much nicer way.”

“Empyreal offers a rich action-RPG experience with rewarding exploration and progression, but its weak story, lifeless NPCs, and clunky, chaotic combat mechanics make it less enjoyable than it could have been.”

“Despite its flashy looks, Empyreal is a bog-standard ARPG that somehow lacks any of the things that make these games fun and interesting.”

“Empyreal is one of those AA games that come along once in a while. They’re good fun, great to look at and you come away wanting more. From unrelenting combat to ‘one more go’ at another Cartogram, another level and another attempt at getting the best loot, Silent Games didn’t do much wrong.”

“"Keeps making the journey feel pleasantly curated despite its semi-random elements."”

“Empyreal's ambition to do something different is commendable, but it's ultimately the only thing it truly has going for it. While character customization and the Cartogram system are solid enough, the forgettable and generic story and characters, average and clunky combat and the lack of proper multiplayer mechanics make the game a frustrating experience that gets tiring very quickly and one that only the most diehard ARPG fans might briefly appreciate.”

“Empyreal is a solid action RPG with soft rogue-like elements that manages to swing above its weight where it counts, but still suffers from some noticeable jank. The game still plays well and offers plenty of replayability, including a secret ending only accessible in a New Game Plus run. At the end of the day, Empyreal is a solid first showing by Silent Games, a team who clearly knows what they want to create. If you live for games where you can maximize the strengths of your playstyle while minimizing the weaknesses, Empyreal is for you. I see a second climb in my near future. Here's to hoping you'll catch some of what I've left behind.”

“Empyreal has a great combat system with lots of opportunities to try something new. Hunting for better equipment is exciting, and developing your character is a rewarding feeling. But there's not much else to do, and the shine wears off quickly. This is also a game that demands a good PC, or you might run into problems. It's a great game for fans of varied combat and boss rushes, but not much else.”