Have you ever stopped to reminisce on the good ol’ days of meeting up on a Saturday night for an intense round of role-play, snacks, sugary drinks, and most importantly… A game of Dungeons & Dungeons (Or DnD for short). It seems that Burst2Flame Entertainment had a vision inspired by this sentiment, though they had to start small first. Founded in 2012 and based in Long Beach, California, this studio, consisting of only four people, set out to bring their old childhood back for another round in a more modern setting.

Burst2Flame Entertainment’s journey started with their first release, Armored Evolution, in 2019. Yes, that’s a hell of a long stint to build one game, but it makes sense when you consider the team size. Now, Armored Evolution doesn’t look that great; it seems quite similar to World of Tanks in terms of gameplay and visuals, but it does have a few extras that set it apart. Fast-forward to now, this brings us to their second release, Stolen Realm, released today, 8 March. Once again, take it with a shovel of salt and remember that this is already a massive undertaking but impressive for what it is. Stolen Realm is essentially what you’d expect in the ‘lite’ version of DnD but with some extra freedom.

Now, Stolen Realm doesn’t follow the typical RPG layout or setting for the story side of things; the story unfolds as you play through the campaign. Granted, there are better ways of doing this, and it really doesn’t help maintain some form of interest. Where it lacks a good story buildup, it makes up for it by giving you time to get a feel for things because the tutorial is rather bare-bones and mostly consists of small tooltips.

The story in Stolen Realm isn’t really what you’d expect, but to make a confusing story somewhat more cohesive. You and your party are in search of your father, who mysteriously disappeared, though this is easier said than done when the realm is literally broken into pieces, and you’ll need to rely on portals or islands to get around. The danger is everywhere, but the same can be said about treasure, the occasional gamble with the people, and even a bored god or two. One wrong choice in your journey will most definitely mean the end of your search. However, aside from the lack of story at the start, there is one major aspect that really stands out.

Naturally, any form of RPG benefits massively from some character creation, and Stolen Realm has it and takes it a step further. You’re not just creating your character; you’ll create a whole party, but there is a catch… Your max party size is 6, and while you can make a full party of 6, this will also raise the difficulty as it scales with that number. Quantity doesn’t always equate to victory, and you’d be surprised at what you can take down with a well-rounded 4-person party as long as you build it with the golden layout in mind. Now, the golden layout is your typical RPG party makeup, consisting of 1 Tank, 2 DPS, and 1 Healer.

Carrying on creating your opponent-crushing party, you’ll be glad to know that there are several classes you can choose from if you want to use the preset builds. These range from the simple Warrior class to the more obscure Cryomancer. However, you can also go down a custom route and choose abilities or passives from the various skills trees to build a Scion (Path of Exile players will know) or a Jack of all trades. It’s actually refreshing to see how much creative freedom there is with party creation, and it doesn’t end with choosing abilities and such; you’ll also get to change the visual components of each character, such as hair, facial hair, head type, skin color and more in Stolen Realm.

With your party done and dusted, all that’s left is to jump into the chaos. Sadly, this is where things go a little dry until you get to the end of your first Main Quest, where things will be explained a little better, but not enough to make much sense. Your adventure starts in Talestone Town, your main stop for supplies, new gear, potions, and the like; it’s also where you start your adventures at the portal, conveniently located at the top of the town. It’s not the most informative start, but it’s better than nothing.

Your next step is pretty obvious: hop into the portal and choose between doing a Main Quest or a Side Quest. We all know the difference between these two: Main Quest will progress the story, whereas Side Quests are for loot, gold, and XP. There’s a clear line between the two, and you don’t have to do one or the other; you’re free to choose either because the quests are instanced. The downside is that you have to finish the quest or abandon it if you want to get back to the Town or have your whole party die and fail the quest.

Once again, running with the very DnD atmosphere, you’re free to explore each new piece of land that gets added on, and you’ll occasionally find random bits of treasure, tiles that can be harvested for materials, and even event-based interactives like an Elven Medium. Events are, unfortunately, a bit of a gamble since they’ll usually have a choice for the whole party or individually, where a dice roll comes into play. To make matters worse, there is also the chance that failing those dice rolls can come with consequences in the form of debuffs or sudden hits to your party members’ health. The events are a nice touch, but one major drawback is that you can’t back out of an event or choose to forego it entirely. More on this later…

Now, exploring the islands in Stolen Realm is pretty straightforward and simple; a slight catch makes it a bit of a gamble with how much randomness it adds. Clearing an island of any hostile creatures or people will cause one of two things to happen: The first is that a waypoint will show, and you’ll be given a mix of several options, such as Battle, Hard Battle, Event, and Rest. Alternatively, your path will automatically be chosen, and you’ll just have to run with it, no matter what comes up next. As mentioned before, you can’t forego an event or choose to step away in most cases, so if your path is automatically chosen, you’re not given any choice and have to roll the dice for better or worse.

Saving the best part of Stolen Realm for last, it wouldn’t be an RPG in any form if there wasn’t some fighting. Once again, you can explore as you like and maintain some freedom. You also decide when you want to start the fight. However, it’s very easy to underestimate just how much you’ll be going up against, as whatever you’re fighting will likely bring in reinforcements the second you start the battle. However, you’ll be given the chance to position your party members before jumping into the thick of it, though it is within a set radius to keep things fair. But wait, the combat is quite literally the biggest part of Stolen Realm, and the real fun is still coming.

With your party members strategically placed, you’re ready to make it rain blood. Stolen Realm is, first and foremost, a turn-based RPG. Therefore, it’ll turn between your party and whatever’s opposing you. However, some tactical strategy is thrown in, too; each party member will still have the usual Health, Mana, and the infamous Action Points (AP) and Movement Points (MP). Unfortunately, there is zero indication of how much AP and MP you have, and it becomes a bit of a guessing game at first. To make matters a little bit more confusing, you’ll have your abilities or actions you can use, but they will almost always come with a cooldown alongside their Mana cost. The cooldown really doesn’t make sense unless it’s an ‘Ultimate’ type ability or action, but having a cooldown on most actions except for movement or the basic attack doesn’t make sense.

Now, Stolen Realm has one more combat mechanic to throw at you in a combat environment. Once you start a fight, things like totems will pop up that give various buffs or debuffs that range from Mana and Health Regeneration to take damage after every turn; aiming for a totem that gives a buff is a good goal, but it might not always be possible. The same can be said about knocking enemies into the debuff totem range. On the other hand, consumable items like barrels or globules can also turn the tide of any fight if used correctly, though you might never really need them if your party is well made.

Lastly, just as the story grows as you progress, so will your party members’ levels with XP from each fight. Leveling up might not happen very often, but a few extra points to your stats and a new ability can make one hell of a difference; the same effect comes into play with gear and loot. Naturally, you’ll need to upgrade your gear for even more buffs, but whatever you can’t find from loot drops, you’ll likely be able to buy at the town or craft onto your existing gear through Suffix and Prefix crafting.

In general, it looks like Stolen Realm got a lot more focus on the combat side of things alone than anything else. The combat system as a whole looks nice and fleshed out at first, but it becomes painfully mindless after a few fights, and to make matters worse, they become predictable. This might be due to the lack of interesting combat tactics and variety or because a well-made party can be an unstoppable killing machine. It needs something that can throw a wrench in the works to keep you on your toes.

On the visual side, there is one major thing you’ll need to remember when it comes to Stolen Realm: It’s built on a low poly art style with hex blocks. Sadly, this might not appeal to everybody, but a certain sense of nostalgia comes with it, especially for DND fans who lived on the old-world layouts. A good majority of the world and its people are designed to be low poly; this builds a nice atmosphere and leaves some mystery when it comes to combat because you won’t always know what’s coming. However, the hex block flooring contrasts nicely with everything, giving it a more tactical turn-based strategy feel.

The sound engineering and music side of Stolen Realm is a mixed bag, starting with what’s bad or annoying: The background music starts pretty well and fits the atmosphere perfectly. The music is themed around a mystical medieval tone but becomes depressingly repetitive after a while. However, while the music is a bit lacking, the voice acting from the narrator as he tells the story is brilliant, to say the least. The voice acting might be few and far between, but when it does happen, you’ll feel like you’re reliving those fun times playing DnD with friends as the Dungeon Master tells the story at hand.

Overall, Stolen Realm has so much potential to be great, but it needs a lot of polish and fine-tuning before it can really make a mark. The lack of story is somewhat balanced out by the combat mechanics, but that also needs a bit more work to keep things interesting. While the music leans more toward the monotonous side of things, the voice acting is the saving grace in that regard. However, what really shines above everything else is just how well implemented the low poly world is and how it interacts with the hex block design for combat strategy. This might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but without major improvement, it might end up being a mindless RPG that can quickly become tedious.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed