Coridden Review

Coridden caught the attention of action RPG fans even though the game was being developed by a new studio, Aftnareld, based in Sweden and formed by a gaming couple. Being Aftnareld's first and what appears to be an ambitious project, Coridden tries to merge role-playing action and exploration with a mix of transformation abilities. It combines high customizability with energetic battles, but unlike most RPGs, this game was built with a focus on multiplayer, and that's where the game's true potential lies, and so do the many challenges.

The plot in Coridden takes place in a reality in which the city of Aasha has been walled off for 200 years with an inexplicable barrier. Nobody knows why, how, or what current technology and its mechanism of working are. The adventure begins in the secure city of Quillin when four kids inherit magical gauntlets from their dad. 

As one of the protagonists, you're out to explore secrets about your lineage and your planet's mysterious past. There are a few exciting twists in the plot, including a general intrigue that keeps one interested in seeing through it. The plot increasingly turns into a sophisticated and macabre mystery, with a lot to draw in, a mix of important narrative objectives and optional secondary objectives.

Coridden, in its heart, puts you in charge of four switchable siblings, Jai, Devi, Eshan, and Lilly, moving through an energetic, interconnected environment filled with monsters, buried treasures, and environment puzzles. With an isometric view, sections between one and another are joined through quick loading times, and the transition between humans and beasts occurs effortlessly, offering a twist for battles and investigation. 

One of the most impressive aspects of the game is shape-shifting. Having a wolf shape-shifting ability allows you to move across the map with increased velocity, and having a shape-shifting function for a bear will allow you to have tremendous force with which to break through obstacles and destroy strong enemies. Exploration is supplemented with the addition of this concept, and it brings a new level to both fighting and moving about.

If you don't compare Coridden with games like Diablo or similar triple-A games, combat here is decent enough, with a satisfying mix of melee and ranged blows in both beast and human forms. Humans use a mix of melee and ranged weapons, but beasts use claws, bites, and tramps to cause them wounds. You have a maximum of four skills for each form, for a grand eight active skills in battles. The game's dodge mechanism is a major drawback, and its responsiveness is slow, making it frustrating when you take damage despite you timed the dodge properly. 

Having the option to switch forms between humans and beasts in a bout in between brings in an additional level of stratification, particularly because each form carries its respective energy level with it. How you handle the use of your powers and when you switch forms can make all the difference between success and failure. The game's dodge mechanism is a major drawback, and its responsiveness is slow, making it frustrating when you take damage despite you timed the dodge properly.

Unlike most RPGs, in which healing potions can stack, in Coridden, you will have to have a heightened situational awareness and a range of protective options at your disposal. Healing will then follow through passive regrowth, unlocking in the talent tree, and gear optimizations. With no quick healing options, such encounters, including battles with bosses, become immersive and extremely difficult to manage at times.

Boss battles, for example, involve careful attack timing, evasion of blows, and efficient use of whatever tools are at one's disposal. With no quick healing options, mistakes will cost, and success will have a satisfying, earned, and therefore even sweeter feeling. It took me some time to get used to this system, but I can't deny that the learning curve was extremely frustrating.

Coridden's cooperative multiplayer modality permits you to play with up to three friends. You can strategize with one another, locally or at a distance, together, combining capabilities for effective fighting encounters. Mounting one another in beast form is a sweet feature, offering a new level of co-op activity that is both useful and exciting. The co-op activity works smoothly even when playing with a companion at a distance location, and the overall performance is well optimized.

However, there's one flaw in the game's graphical design that needs to be addressed for multiplayer. Each of the four siblings has a specific hue, and that carries over to magical effects, too. Hence, elemental attacks, such as flame, poison, and lightning, tend to become indistinguishable in battles, with no differentiation between skills at times. That could mean times when a lot happens at a go, taking a toll on overall visualization.

Side missions in Coridden go a long, long distance and contribute a lot towards the overall attraction of the game, with a mix of chores that flesh out the city and its populace. In one, you can have to weed out killer flowers in a garden, sort out a lover's quarrel in a different one, or liberate a trapped hunter pursued by hostile beasts. Variety in objectives will keep you interested through and through, not allowing for any monotonous feeling at any point in between.

Aside from fighting, Coridden values exploration a lot. There is a lot of platforming and problem-solving with parkour and obstacles in environments that demand a lot of creative problem-solving and movement. There are even locations accessible only via certain beast forms, such as a reptile-beast form for swimming through deadly seas. The mix of exploration and problem-solving in an environment creates a more fun way to reach objectives.

Coridden features character development and customizations, but this part of the game felt really uninspiring. There is a talent tree with four individual classes: Helen, Guardian, Hunter, and one for Summoning. All four have individual powers, such as flame-infused attacks, protective shields, or traps for controlling groups of enemies. You build experiences through battles with enemies and levels and unlock new abilities and powers.

There's also customization of weapons, armor, and beast cores for characters. Those beast cores, for monsters that can transmogrify into, can be run into at random and have incredibly variable stat improvements. There are also gems to modify gear, providing it with additional improvements such as attack powers and resistances to certain types of attacks. The item drop ratio in the game is very high, and you can make constant tweaks and refinements to your character.

Overall, character development was lacking and uninspiring. You never feel attached to the character you are developing. It felt like a drag, constantly changing gears and unlocking abilities, but not really loving them. For instance, if you unlock or buy a new weapon from a shop and after one mission, there's another weapon with higher stats in that same shop. Initially, you'd probably keep on selling the old one and buying a new one, but this gets really tiring soon. Just like the characters, you don't really find a weapon to stick to.

Visually, Coridden has done a decent job. Obviously, you shouldn't expect it to be as detailed as a triple-A game, but it's clear that a lot of love went into creating the characters and the world. The character's running and swimming animations could've been better, especially the jump timing, which gets a bit confusing because of the 2.5D design. Roaming around Aasha or any other area is fun, and there's much to discover in every area. There's also voice acting in major cutscenes, and they are decent enough.

All in all, Coridden is a decent action role-playing game, introducing some new gameplay mechanics for RPG fans to experience. The multiplayer is particularly well executed. It's a great alternative for individuals who enjoy working in collaboration with friends. Although it has a few minor faults with its fighting visuals and its use of dodging, its faults in no way overshadow its overall value. Coridden might have failed to deliver its full potential, but it comes with fun and new ideas that make it stand out in a sea of traditional RPGs.