You are marked for higher purposes – review of the game “Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark”

Though the greatest evil has long since been buried, human self-interest and meanness continue to poison this world. Fortunately, there are still those who put law above interests.

Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark  is a fairly simple, but well-developed cRPG game with a tactical, turn-based combat system, in which we have to direct the fate of a dedicated Arbiter and her companions. The murderer is caught red-handed in a dark alley, and the sage of the great council decides to retire, initiating the complicated process of selecting his successor. What do these two events have in common? More than anyone could think.

Does my keyboard have such a key?

Producer of the featured artwork, 6 Eyes Studio advertises itself as a developer focused on blending the best aspects of a classic retro game with updated design and visual features. Its description does not differ from competing creators of virtual entertainment. Does he, like many others, only use empty talk without being substantiated by deeds? Let me wait for the end of the review with a reply, just to build some tension. However, thinking about the aforementioned addition of new solutions to the classic formula, I would never have guessed that it could also be an unusual keyboard.

Accustomed to the absolute dominance of the Esc and Enter keys across the taboo of games, I was quite seriously surprised to notice that this time they were pushed aside, giving way to tabs and spaces. In Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark,  we can forget about our habits, because before we are invited to explore the presented world, we first have to make friends with quite unusual controls. Of course, we can always do everything with two mouse buttons, because these have retained their standard properties, but in many cases it is quite inconvenient. Fortunately, the layout of the keys you need, although not very intuitive, is quite simple and learning to use them correctly is easy.

Fun in the game is divided into reading dialogues and tactical, turn-based combat. Unfortunately, we can forget about various dialogue paths, moral choices or creating the image of our heroine. The story presented is completely linear, and at the same time incredibly predictable. I was able to easily guess the next events well in advance, I could clearly see who was on the wrong side, and I was surprised literally only once. This does not mean, however, that we are dealing with a boring cliché. The presented world is very interesting and quite authentic, the events have their own weight and the characters are expressive. If the creators scattered collectibles extending the knowledge about the created universe on small maps, they would certainly be a great addition for players.

Fighting, which is by far the most time consuming activity, was done quite decently. Small arenas are dotted with inequalities that can be used to your advantage, a fairly large range of weapons with unique properties allows you to carry out many different battle scenarios, and the mass of skills allows you to use a variety of tactics. A definite plus is also the variety of clashes, because our goal is not always to break everything in sight, and the special abilities of the bosses can radically change even the best plan. In the latter case, however, we do not have previously communicated what our opponent can do, so unfortunately getting to know his strengths takes place by trial and error. The fights are also not the easiest ones. Enough to mention that when you set the lowest difficulty level, which promises you to learn the story without having to worry too much about skirmishes, one wrong decision can lead us to a disgusting defeat. It is also important to visit the traders regularly. Obsolete equipment makes it practically impossible to take on more and more difficult challenges.

Oh, mum, how much is there!

As befits a decent cRPG representative, the characters led by the player gain experience and subsequent levels, thanks to which their power increases significantly. It is true that we can only interfere with the statistics of the heroes with the equipment, but the biggest changes in the strength of the protagonists occur with the choice of the character class. You can definitely see that the creators put the most work into this element of the game, because we have a really large number of professions to choose from, and each of them has an individual set of really useful skills. At the beginning, we only have access to a few professions, but over time we can reach more. Interestingly, we develop these specialties by using them, thanks to which we gain access to new skills. Each character can use the abilities of two classes and nothing prevents you from changing them between fights.

While the story leads us straight to the pre-planned finale, it is not the only opportunity to test your tactical skills. Most of the discovered locations can be visited again by performing a patrol, which is sometimes very useful. Not only does it allow you to practice the fight and strengthen the heroes with injections from experience, but also we can try to open the boxes placed in certain places that we did not manage to plunder during the main storyline. You only need to approach some of them and spend a turn opening them, while others can only be accessed by using special abilities. Some city locations also offer you the opportunity to fight in the arena. It is true that we will not find free equipment on them, but each victory is a large inflow of cash,

Pixels, pixelated and brush

Visually Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark presents a really high level for indie games. The characters are made in pixel art style and are really very detailed and expressive. In addition, they have a set of different variants, squatting, looking away or with folded arms, and the animations created by sprites are, speaking with a hand on the heart of a graphic lover, a real masterpiece. During the dialogues, the heroes are practically constantly in some kind of movement, either by turning their eyes towards the speaker, or by reacting to the presented events and words. Like nothing, simple raster graphics with the right time coordination, but the effect is really fantastic. It is completely different in the case of locations. This is far from pixel art, because they look as if they were painted with a brush, although they also feature animation. The miniatures of the heroes were made in a similar style, and although they are static, they have many versions corresponding to the specific feelings of the characters. The contrast between smooth, slightly melancholic views and expressive, sharp characters does not irritate, on the contrary, it fully harmonizes with each other. Thanks to this, despite the detail of the graphics, you can clearly see what to focus on without being distracted by what is unnecessary in the battle confusion.

Unfortunately, it is worse with music. It is true that it is not tragic, but rather average, although slightly reflecting the atmosphere, but not always suited to what we see. More than once, I have read unpleasant and important statements in sad dialogues, while in the background I was playing a cheerful, lively melody that did not care about what was happening at the moment. It may not be a big and common disadvantage, but it is still very noticeable.

Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark  is undoubtedly a successful game, not without flaws, but with great visual solutions and a very rich possibility of using various tactics. So, returning to the question at the beginning, does 6 Eyes Studio fulfill the promises made in the description of its activity? Their product definitely confirms this and it is not without reason that Steam collects a lot of favorable opinions. Strange keyboardology, linear, predictable plot and sometimes mismatched music are minor flaws that do not completely obscure the satisfying gameplay in a very interesting universe.