Venetica (2009)

Venetica looks like a cross between Gothic and Fable. The only serious difference is that our main character is a young woman. It's not a very successful game compared to the series of games it was inspired by. It's normal that you probably haven't heard anything about the game. Now, 15 years after its release, there are aspects that are starting to look quite dated. There are many points where the animations and graphics suffer. The best looking character model in the game is, as you'd expect, the character we're playing as, but every other NPC has a very strange and mediocre design. I understand that the game is trying to look a fairy-tale-like, and this gave Venetica a bit of cuteness, which increased my tolerance for its poor graphics. But the animations have very stiff transitions and are blocked by invisible walls. The fact that our character can't jump is also a big drawback. The combat mechanics also seem quite troublesome. All the enemies we encounter do nothing but spam blocks, but when you block them in the same way, it's not as effective. I don't like the block system in the game at all and it seems almost useless. After blocking, it takes a lot of time before you can counterattack and you end up getting hit. At least in the early stages of the game. Also, your attacks are constantly interrupted by enemies. Even if you level fast, you can't easily improve your character. You have to go to a trainer first, but even then, most skills seem to be closed. I played for about 3 hours and reached level 8, but as far as I can see, there are only one or two skills that I can choose from the skill tree and they are not very useful in combat. Other than that, the story so far has been okay and can keep you curious about the rest, but I don't know how far it can go. The game has over 20 hours of gameplay as far as I can see, but it seemed too long for such a limited and small game. The main story missions are interesting to a point, but the remaining side missions seem to be just fetch and simple puzzles. You can choose not to do them, but then you'll have a hard time leveling up your character and finding the resources to get new equipment. The most important thing that redeems the negative aspects of the game is that at least it has an easy gameplay, so if you have some free time, give it a shot.

Finished it. It is B grade game. Without doubt. Silly story. Silly characters. Sometimes this game try to be serious, but it is funny instead. Messy map. Not very good skill development and equipment system. Repetitive, easy combat. Finished it on hard without problems. Overall, it is hard to say much good about it, if I think logically. Some boss fights were good. But for me, when I play games, sometimes I feel, that the game is empty and soulless, despite excellent graphic and other things. And sometimes the game can be not very good in quality, but I feel, that it has soul and it is fun to play it. And I can say this about Venetica. Not the best game I had played, but interesting and fun experience for me. Worth to try, if you are not against B grade games with a bit outdated graphics.