Fairyship Games took a big step in its history as a studio and in a very ambitious way for a new company in the market (2017) because Testament, its new release (scheduled for June 19th), emerges as an RPG that is not limited to the standard characteristics of this style; there are, therefore, a wide range of possibilities for players to explore. Now, among several games of this sort, we hope that the work receives a good public evaluation, not broken and good, which is rare for the present day.

Anyway, after this vent about my personal disappointments with one of my favorite genres, it is important to highlight some characteristics of Testament. It's a first-person action-adventure game, but here's where it gets interesting (and the ambitiousness is already explained): it also has passages of Metroidvania (even in first person) added to the RPG.

Furthermore, playing the game, I noticed details of older MMOs I have played, with options to explore or not certain areas and fight or not certain mobs, with the reward of getting XP or extra items. Okay, up to this point, I find it easy to believe that we are talking about a game with high possibilities.



Aran, The King

In the fantasy world of Tessara, we will play as Aran, a king of the High Human race, immortal and very powerful, who lost all his powers after the betrayal of his (now powerful) brother, Arva. During the narrative, we will hear our character tell about all the events that were going on to bring about chaos.

In this context, apparently, Aran was very powerful and, even without his powers, he does not accept defeat, obviously with pride at the level of his position Therefore, during our journey, we are going to rescue his powers and concentrate our forces to get revenge for the betrayal. However, this journey will not be easy, and dying is quite common during the gameplay.



Calm down; here it is very rare to find friends, at the same level that it is easy to find enemies, from numerous other races that we will meet, including ''father nature," which will fill our patience in the first hours of gameplay. That said, it's easy to understand that combat will be recurrent in this story, so we'll already talk about some of the mechanics available, along with the controls developed.

Testament has many tutorials from the beginning, according to our progress in the narrative, so getting lost here will be impossible because we will also have a menu where it is possible to locate all these teachings at any time, and it also contains other points for us to access. From this perspective, we will be able to see all the characters we have encountered, objects, bosses, and more.

In addition, in the menu, it is still easy to find our missions, inventory, and the skill tree, an essential place to assemble and strengthen our character according to the preferences of the player. 



So far I have told countless different facts about the gameplay, the last being about the ''bureaucratic'' part of the game, but that's not all, because here to be able to move forward we will also need to think about the next step. With puzzles on our way, it is impossible to continue progressing by giving swords or arrows in the mechanisms that will lock us in a little time until we unravel.

Last but not least, I would like to mention the wide range of consumables found to be used. The mechanics of use are quite simple; there is a command that will open a wheel on the screen for us to select the desired object. At first, we find a few of these objects, and this round will appear empty. However,  it is only a matter of time until it is crammed with options to the point of leaving us confused.



Choose your style

You have already been told that following the skill tree, we can build the character according to our preferences, with options to focus on spells, melee, and also range, with a bow that we acquire at the beginning, the arrows we can find in chests or in broken pots, as well as pots of life and mana.

For me, the idea is to choose a mix of the three because the game delivers different categories of enemies, which are possible to view by the icon on top of the mobs, so we know how powerful the monster is with which we are dealing and can create an appropriate strategy for not having to take much damage to our health and die. Finally, combos with the sword are very important and certainly fun (especially for me, a fan of the warrior class), but it is impossible to ignore the magic and the bow arrow (which will help us in some of the puzzles mentioned above).



Preview Surprises

Coming to the end, in every review comes the moment that is impossible to ignore, the one that tells about the graphic and sound qualities of a game. After all, with such advanced technologies in a gaming world with so many exceptional examples of verisimilitude, we will always expect the best in these aspects. I admit that I always start a demo with a certain amount of trepidation at this point, especially with an open eye for bugs and graphical glitches, but this didn't happen so much.

In the face of this, the audiovisual feedback was considered at a fairly adequate level; the art and style of the world pleased me a lot; the details are not exceptional; and the outlines of the characters, shadows, and objects are a bit grotesque, but nothing that certain updates do not correct.

Even better, the audio in Testamente only had one problem, a warning in advance of events. For example, while we walk around the map, there is an ambient sound or a very nice soundtrack (a positive factor); however, just like that, the noise ceases and leaves the player aware of something that has happened, which actually happens, and probably seconds later will occur a cutscene (not something so urgent, but adjusting the sound moment can be important for the expectations of players). Nevertheless, I have to say that the character dubbing sounded very good and smooth to me, as did the combat sounds.

Testament: The Order of High Human is available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Xbox One.

Thanks to the PR team at Fairyship Games for providing us with the game key and making it possible to create this material.