VED review

It seems like every month players experience another unique RPG adventure. Whether that's in a huge franchise, like Dragon Age or a brand new IP like Black Myth: WukongPlayers have had a variety of experiences. This month there is one such adventure in the form of the hand-drawn role-playing game VED. The first game from Lithuanian developer Karaclan, VED promises a magical story that players can immerse themselves in. And while the game's art style may be a feast for the eyes, almost everything else about the experience falls flat.

VED puts the player in the shoes of a young hero named Cyrus who discovers he has powerful magical abilities. Because of this, he quickly becomes embroiled in a wild tale of mastering his abilities, taking on all sorts of powerful enemies, and hopefully saving the world. All of this leads to a game that offers some exciting combat encounters and a few unique mechanics, but the actual story and writing feels mostly lackluster, ultimately leading to a rather forgettable experience.

The world of VED is beautifully unique

Apart from that, VED it's not all bad. The story may be lackluster, but the game's aesthetics and combat can be quite exciting. The entire experience is presented through a beautiful hand-drawn art style. Everything looks like a painting, the characters move and behave like works of art in a museum. It makes for a truly wonderful sight that players could be lost in for hours.

When players get bored of staring at one world, there are actually two completely different worlds with their own unique visuals. One is the dirty and gloomy city of Micropolis, filled to the brim with gangs, warring factions and villainous-looking characters. The other appears whenever Cyrus teleports and is full of fantastical creatures and magical floating islands. Both do an excellent job of captivating players VEDCombat makes things even better.

VED's combat can be challenging and entertaining

The combat is outstanding here, which is good since players will be fighting a lot of things throughout their adventure. When they arrive in the mysterious floating island world, they must first equip themselves with powerful abilities that are unlocked by upgrading a cute troglodyte village. Once they are satisfied with their equipment, they must set out to discover the many secrets of this land. To do this, they teleport between different islands, each bringing with it a new threat or scenario.

Some islands have friendly NPCs to meet, while others host random events that require players to roll a d20. Depending on what they do, they will often receive buffs or debuffs during their run through the magical land. Then, if they are brave enough, they can take on one of the many enemies that litter these islands. If they fail to defeat the threat, they return to the village and have to do it all again. But fortunately the islands they have already evacuated remain free.

At the start of each combat encounter, players can choose one of three buffs or debuffs to apply to the enemy. Depending on which buff it is, they will be rewarded with more energy, which works as follows VEDis the currency. If you think it is too challenging, you can also skip these as they are completely optional. Although you lose the bonus energy, you still receive the standard amount as a reward if you win.

The combat itself is turn-based, but has a few twists. Players must choose their attack, decide where they want to hit the creature, and hope the creature doesn't finish them off first. However, instead of always having just one set of attacks to choose from, the player's available moves are determined by where Cyrus is standing. The Hot Bar is divided into four parts, with each part representing a different point on the battlefield. Some attacks move the player, others keep them stationary and it's up to them to plan accordingly.

VED's story and writing leave a lot to be desired

In any story-driven role-playing game, the actual story has to be exciting. Players don't want to sit through a boring or uninteresting story, they want the dialogue to feel natural and the narrative to make sense. With VEDit feels like Karaclan is struggling to succeed on almost all of these fronts. So instead of blowing players away with a fantastic adventure, it largely falls flat.

The story is about a little boy named Cyrus who has the ability to teleport. When he teleports, he is taken to the magical world of floating islands. Outside this world, he must traverse the city of Micropolis and juggle its many factions trying to leave their mark on their world. Because of this, every decision players make matters. At the end of each chapter, they learn what choices they made and what choices they skipped.

This should be a compelling story, but none of it feels natural. The dialogue seems to flow strangely and doesn't sound like anyone is talking. The characters speak in run-on sentences, they end conversations abruptly, there are a lot of exposition dumps, and the script seems to be in dire need of revision. Karaclan has said that the whole thing was translated into English, and while this probably resulted in some awkward dialogue, the fact that the entire story is like that takes away from the overall experience.

In addition, VEDThe voice acting is a bit rough. The dialogue probably doesn't help, but it often feels like a script is being read rather than words being spoken. This can really hinder the immersion of the game and can often be a bit tiring to listen to. Of course, not every game needs award-winning voice acting, but it would have been nice if these characters were a little stronger.

VED is far from a perfect game, but it does have a few redeeming qualities. The hand-drawn art style is wonderful to look at and shows how powerful this game could be. Additionally, the fights are often exciting because if players aren't careful, things can quickly fall apart. However, the story and dialogue slow down the experience significantly. And ultimately, it results in a pretty lackluster experience overall.

VED is now available for PlayStation, PC, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. A PC code was provided to Game Rant for this review.