Toward Dawn Review
Hen Gymru Fynyddig, Paradwys y Bardd
Toward Dawn is the debut title of solo developer Devi Serene. While very much built on a traditional RPG base, the game distinguishes itself through both its narrative’s heavy influence from Welsh mythology and the tweaks to its ATB-style battle system. While not a particularly deep game, it’s a very strong debut offering that provides an enjoyably rewarding ten-hour-or-so experience.
Toward Dawn follows Carys, an Incanter at the temple of the Two Dragons and follower of the red dragon Ddraigoch and white dragon Ddraigwen. One day in the night, the temple is assaulted by an unknown force and all of Carys’s fellow Incanters are killed. Carys is saved through an encounter with a local Gwyllgi, Bleddyn, who helps her escape and offers her a place to rest at his forest home. Carys sets out with Bleddyn to find people to help, which leads the pair to a journey that ultimately uncovers their interconnected pasts while they deal with their shared traumas.
The game’s use of Welsh mythology works strongly in its favour, helping to develop the setting and have it stand out in the genre, as well as providing opportunities to learn more about some Welsh legends. There’s definitely a sense of wishing to read up on the tales and figures that are mentioned, and it helps establish Carys and Bleddyn’s roles in the story. The plot may follow fairly well-worn paths as it further develops through the introduction of Idwal, a young noble with his own filial difficulties, and the very localised scope means the world-building outside of the myths is lacking. However, the game’s use of its Welsh inspirations ensure it at least has a distinct backdrop, and the development Carys and Bleddyn’s relationship through their own difficulties is excellently handled.
Bleddyn offers an immediate test of one’s Welsh pronunciations.
Toward Dawn takes place over eight chapters, each lasting one to two hours and taking place around a particular location or dungeon. Progressing through nearly all dungeons simply involves finding the correct path, rewarding players with various chests scattered around the areas if they choose to fully explore. The locations are well designed with enough potential paths to retain interest but not too many to become frustrating and hard to keep track of. Side content is fairly minimal; there are a few places to visit on the world map that provide small events and rewards, and the game includes a selection of Tales series style skits to add a bit of flavour to the locations and characters, but it equally feels like the game’s tighter focus helps it tick along nicely. That said, more could’ve been done to blend the exploration and battle rewards with character growth as many of the rewards will go unused.
Combat is a mixture of real-time and turn-based using an ATB-style system. Fights involve the party of up to three members facing off against between one and five foes. Turns are indicated at the top of the screen with combatants advancing through the standby and action phases at different speeds depending on their stats, previous or current action, and status. Once they have completed the standby phase, characters select their action, which activates when they reach the end of the action phase.
Each combatant has two sets of points: health and poise. Health acts as one would expect, while poise effectively serves as a defense meter. When a character runs out of poise, they are stunned for a period and take extra damage, making it a core part of the game’s strategy. Players can determine whether they want to focus on taking down a single enemy, or try and stun multiple enemies at once. Another strategic element is mana, which is used by the more powerful abilities. Standard abilities will usually generate a mana point, and various passive or other abilities will also generate one when conditions are met. Powerful abilities also come with a cooldown preventing them from being used multiple times in a row.
The combat system comes together well. There’s a decent selection of abilities and enemy types to cover the game’s runtime without things becoming repetitive, and the strategic elements ensure there’s always something to think about in combat. There are good synergies within and between the characters’ ability sets, including a selection of powerful combo moves. When there is a challenge, there are clear strategic adjustments that can be made to give players an easier time of it, with defeat allowing players to retry the battle at no cost.
Combat features some enjoyable tweaks to the standard turn-based RPG formula.
A standard experience-based levelling system awards ability points each level up, which players can use to upgrade their character’s skills, stats, or passives. Meanwhile, weapon, armour, and accesory slots also allow characters to gain different passive bonuses or additional active abilities. Players won’t be able to obtain all possible upgrades in a single playthrough, but there isn’t a huge amount of difference that can really be made to the character builds using them, meaning it becomes more of a minor complement to the combat system rather than something worthy of full attention.
The game’s pixel art style works well without ever trying to impress too much. The locations evoke its general forest setting well with enough variation between them, the character and enemy designs are effective, and the behind-the-back view in combat offers a pleasing presentation. There is voice acting for certain events in the game, which definitely helps point out some of the more egregious pronunciation mistakes non-Welsh speakers are likely to make in their minds, though it comes through very stilted. The music provides a suitable backing, with a few catchy tracks while most others blend in the background, but it never becomes grating.
While Toward Dawn certainly tempers some of its ambitions, it is nonetheless an impressive debut title from a solo developer. It displays a fine understanding of what makes RPG tick, and its efforts to showcase and raise interest in its Welsh mythological inspirations are effective. The game is a fun and worthwhile spending of time, and I look forward to seeing what Devi Serene has in store next.
Good use of Welsh mythology
Enjoyable tweaks to standard RPG combat
Pet the wolf
Audio is a bit weak
Scope for lots more depth outside of combat
Recent Comments