The Crimson Lyre

[b][h1] An Ambitious Fantasy Imsim that Needs More Time to Cook [/h1][/b] [b][url=https://youtu.be/lctJIInuVKw]Check out the review on 2 Headed Hero![/url][/b] The Crimson Lyre strikes a good chord with its focus on exploration gameplay and its colorful WoW-inspired fantasy world. There's a good level of polish in many places - characters have voice lines, the world feels unique and alive, and there's a lot of secrets to uncover. An RPG-style skilltree unlocks by exploring for special pillars, giving you a sense of progression as you quest for the mysterious artifact that can save your home. Unfortunately combat is the biggest pain point here - blocking feels like a guessing game due to a lack of good attack telegraphs, enemy AI leaves much to be desired, and the lack of consistent pain states and hitstops makes hitting a zombie with your sword feel like bonking it with a baguette. But at the very least, I think Crimson Lyre is worth keeping an eye on, and there seem to be monthly updates chugging along. Thumbing this up for now because it'll be nice to see where the dev takes this ambitious concept. https://youtu.be/lctJIInuVKw

One of the first things you do in the game is enter a code, and of course it's 0451. Briefly after that you stack a few boxes - 10/10 Ok, for real, this is obviously rough, and I only played it for a short time. But there can't be enough imsims, and this appears to be a competent one with it's own unique charm. There's stealth, a visibility meter, inventory management, gear with stats and it's well optimized. It even has key rebinding for keyboard and mouse. :) It certainly deserves more than this one review, which is a shame for such an obvious passion project from one dev, and I'm looking forward to play it.