Ancient Enemy Walkthrough Part 1-KJS
0Y'all, I am sad. Disappointed. Downhearted, even. I wanted to like this game so, so badly! But I just DID NOT enjoy it. I actually had to contemplate it for several days so I could gather my thoughts on why it was such a let-down.
I purchased this game on sale since I already owned and enjoyed 'Regency Solitaire' and 'Shadowhand' also from Grey Alien Games. Having played the latter game quite repeatedly as only someone who hyperfixates can, I was hoping 'Ancient Enemy' would be just as good. I guess it is somewhat superficially similar, in the aspect of solitaire game play mixed with card battles, but that is where it ends.
'Regency Solitaire' felt peaceful, relaxing, bright, and sweet. 'Shadowhand' was engaging, clever, fun, and unique. I cannot gush enough or recommend those games more! 'Ancient Enemy' was absolutely... none of those things. If I had to choose adjectives for this game, they would include: bleak, grim, lonely, depressing, unfinished, annoying, trite, clichéd... get me a thesaurus and I could go on!
I knew from the description that the story was supposed to be a post-apocalyptic setting and almost didn't buy it for that reason alone -- can I just say that in the Year of Our Suffering 2022... my GOSH am I sick of dystopian or post-apocalyptic anything! With everything going on in the world right now it hits a bit too close to home -- but I thought maybe the clever development team would be able to handle it deftly. Surely, I thought, SURELY the people responsible for creating those joyous earlier games will make this good! Maybe this game will have a hopeful ending, like in certain movies in the disaster genre (see '28 Days Later', 'Shaun Of The Dead', 'I Am Legend', 'Wall-E', 'Mad Max: Fury Road', etc.) ...Unfortunately not.
Right from the beginning, the art bothered me quite a bit. The gorgeous, lush, and detailed backgrounds of 'Regency Solitaire' and 'Shadowhand' are nowhere to be found; no lovingly rendered landscapes that you'll want to save as your computer desktop. Yes, there's a sepia-toned "Standard Fantasy Map," that you choose a level on, but that is all. Everything else in the art seems half-done and unfinished looking. Nor does each location look unique; the rough smears and dull washes of color suggesting ruins and other barren terrain are either reused several times or I was unable to spot the difference between near-identical background paintings. I will admit this is a possibility; as by the end of the game it was definitely all starting to blur together and I have no desire to go back and check. All of the potions, spells, abilities and defense cards in your inventory resemble rushed and sketchy preliminary line drawings; thick, ugly black outlines and nearly monochromatic. Even the actual playing cards - which are the things you look at the most! - have an unsightly appearance and undesirable colors that you cannot change.
The main character, 'The Mage' (whose real name you never find out) recycles the same pose almost the entire game, with only one or two variations when you are hit in battle. The same few enemies and monsters are fought again and again and again very tediously. Despite killing numerous foes who wield multiple weapons that you could loot to upgrade yourself (as you did in Shadowhand!!) you are forced to fight with the same janky little knife that you start out the game with. You cannot change armor or wardrobe. It all feels like a downgrade, honestly!
AND the corny dialogue! Or monologue, rather; as 95% it is the main character talking to himself out loud for long, LONG paragraphs between levels. The majority is cliché pseudo-profound trite declarations that rewords the same rote sentences over and over, in as many ways as possible. It was awful, and by a few levels in I was rolling my eyes and grimacing constantly. I gave it the benefit of the doubt by not skipping the story and kept hoping it would get better, but it never did.
The music was okay; a whole lot of male choir doing possibly-Latin "ominous Gregorian Chants" over various dramatic instrumentation. To my ear, I would swear parts of it sounded INCREDIBLY similar to the music from the old original 'Puzzle Quest' soundtrack, or perhaps it was "inspired by." I'm no expert and I haven't sat down to compare note-for-note, but for me the resemblance was very noticeable, IMHO.
I won't spoil how the game story ends, but let's just say that nothing happened at the last minute to improve my overall feelings. I gritted my teeth and toughed it out, and forced myself to finish out of sheer contrariness, but it was not a fun time. In the words of Marie Kondo, this game does not spark joy. I'm not going to ask for a refund but I will be uninstalling it from my laptop and also deleting it from my game library.