PAX East 2024 - Lost Eidolons: Veil of The Witch delivers more of the best parts from the original
Back in September 2022, I stumbled on a strategy RPG at PAX West that was such a pleasant surprise that I instantly became a fan - that game was Lost Eidolons from Ocean Drive Studio. Now, almost two years later, and with Lost Eidolons having released (you can check out my review), I knew I had to check out the new spinoff game, Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch, while I was in Boston for PAX East.
Veil of the Witch returns players to the land of Benerio, picking up after the events of the original Lost Eidolons. Veil of the Witch opts for a different structural approach, which, according to the developers, "highlights and focuses on the parts that players seem to have liked the most" from the original title - its tactical combat. Whereas Lost Edilon saw your time split between its tactical combat and running around exploring (akin to something like Dragon Age), Veil of The Witch shifts all of its focus to the combat side of the equation.
Combat will instantly feel familiar to everyone who played Lost Eidolons - a wonderful blend of challenge and rich strategy that requires you to utilize the mechanics efficiently. As far as I could tell (in an hour or so I've played), every system from the original release returns, including the environmental interactions, characters carrying two weapon types, and the weak point + combo mechanic - my personal favorite of Lost Eidolon's offerings.
Horrific beasts and other monstrosities once again feature weapon-specific weak points that can be broken, allowing for ever-increasing damaging combos that turn these fearsome adversaries into toothless pups. Successfully using my party's skills to pull off those combos remains a great little serotonin hit - just as in the original.
Veil of The Witch has adopted a roguelike system where you will form a party from a pool of characters to embark on a multi-act quest with branching paths to choose from - each with different challenges and rewards - testing you along the way. As you progress down the paths through Veil of the Witch's Acts, you must ensure your party is up to the task ahead of them. To survive to the end and grasp victory, as you tackle various tactical encounters, your characters will gain levels with certain levels rewarding you with a selection of new abilities or benefits to pick from - with various rarities of each.
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