FRACTURED WORLDS A DARK UNFORGIVING RPG WORLD.
Fractured Worlds is the latest title from developer Laser Guided Games and bills itself as a dark, unforgiving top-down souls like RPG. You as the hero must explore different facets of a shattered reality guided by a mysterious entity who asks you to aid him piece together important events from the past by gathering lost memories. Unlike most Souls like games where the story is left to you to figure out, I found myself getting more and more invested in the cut scenes that appear when you collect a lost memory which reveal the events of the past which led to the area you are exploring and explains how it came to its current downfall. While exploring, the areas you adventure through are varied and interesting for example destroyed and ruined farmlands, caverns with luminous plant life and a polluted smog ridden steam punk version of Victorian London each with different sets of enemies that require different tactics to defeat.
While the story is enjoyable, the combat is really where Fractured worlds shines . There are numerous unique enemy types which inhabit the different areas all with different move sets. While on their own the telegraphed attacks are easy to dodge, block and counterattack. However, when you start adding numerous different enemy types into the combat this is where things start to get chaotic as you will be dodging enemy’s melee attacks, also keeping an eye out for off screen ranged attacks all while desperately preparing a ranged spell of your own. Each area has a unique boss with challenging abilities and moves, however if you are experienced with games like Dark souls, Path of Exiles or Elden ring you will probably find these rather easy to defeat.
TAILOR YOUR PLAYSTYLE WITH DOZENS OF SPELLS AND ITEMS.
Speaking of spells, the game has dozens of different spells and abilities, each varied and interesting and are discovered at random as you explore the levels and each one can alter how you approach the game. if you are more of a huge hammer skull crushing type player you might find an ability that closes the gap to the monsters with a charge or a leap, or if you are like me, I favoured ranged abilities kiting enemies and wearing them down with an AOE poison mist attack which was particularly satisfying.
One thing I enjoyed and found challenging was the “extraction” aspect to the levels, once you venture into an area there is no escape, so you have to be very careful while you explore. You have to manage your healing ability carefully as you only have a finite amount that has to last you for the entire 3 levels and if you die you lose all the gold and items you have found which can lead to very upsetting moments particularly if you find a nice upgrade die and lose it for good. There are also rare and useful consumable items you discover from monsters and treasure chests that help greatly and should be used as they help massively.
The loot you find is varied and interesting and if you have played games like Diablo or Path of exile you will find the loot system familiar, although I found the extremely rare legendary items a bit underwhelming as although powerful, they aren’t really build defining. However, the crafting system I did really enjoy. If you find a base item with a stat or effect, you like you can essentially take powerful aspects from other items and put it onto your base item creating a personalised piece for you to use. After playing dozens of RPGs with convoluted crafting systems, I found Fractured Worlds system to be a refreshing yet simple take.
NOT ALL PHANTOMS ARE FRIENDLY!
Fractured Worlds borrows heavily from Dark souls with the multiplayer system, you can leave “helpful” hints for your fellow players and in true Dark Souls’ style you can imagine what these messages entail. You can also leave a summon sign to help out players and interestingly if you are offline these persist and a player can summon a phantom of your player with behavior you can preset yourself such as defensive or aggressive personality. You can also invade players worlds killing them and steal loot and gold found or if you prefer you can leave a red phantom in an area to patrol and ambush unsuspecting players which you can then amusingly rewatch your phantom murdering people in separate saved highlights with your victims’ names.
The game has fantastic replayabilty, once you complete the game in true souls’ tradition you can restart in NG+ to get harder areas and monsters, one aspect I found very interesting was the “Map shard” system occasionally you might discover a map shard as loot which can be completed by yourself you can then share this shard with other players. When you share “Map shards” other players can purchase the shard from a merchant in town and complete it, each person can leave a permanent comment warning others on what to expect such as bosses or elite monsters. You can also if you wish, use the shards as a trap by leaving a high-powered red phantom version of yourself to farm players of items.
SIMPLE, BOLD AND COLOURFUL.
Fractured Worlds is a nice-looking game, the worlds are varied, colourful and interesting to look at and explore. While the graphics won’t blow any minds or GPU’s this doesn’t take away from the experience but may not be some peoples cup of tea. The cut scenes as you progress through the story, I found charming, vibrant and I particularly enjoyed the hand drawn art style which contrasts with the more simplistic graphics of the playable areas. The music and sound effects are all pleasant and I enjoyed the voice acting throughout.
The game performed perfectly, not once did I experience frame drops, lag or any issues whatsoever and surprisingly this game ran great on the Nintendo Switch which as its older hardware surprised me even with multiple enemies on screen. in my opinion this game is better played on a handheld device once you get to grips with the controls; I found lounging on a sofa grinding out the levels really fun and the fact it runs so well meant it was a joy to play in this way.
COMPELLING GAMEPLAY.
I loved Fractured Worlds, although initially it took a while to get to grips with the game once I got deeper into the story and figured out the crafting and multiplayer aspects, I realised that while Fractured Worlds seems a very simple game the more, I played, the more I realised it was actually surprisingly deep and complex. If like me, you enjoy ARPGs or Souls like games I would defiantly recommend you give this game a try and the game can be purchased here or for Switch here.
