Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch

Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
Is this game a masterpiece? No, Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is a roguelite, turn-based tactical role-playing game by Ocean Drive Studio from Korea, the developers of Lost Eidolons. It has now been released on Steam in Early Access, whereby all three acts are already available and can be played through. The plan is to release the game from Early Access in a year at the latest. More bosses are to be added, as well as additional types of battles and random travel events. There are also ideas for a new type of equipment (accessories), an item system for strategic use in tricky situations and a way to adjust the difficulty level.
Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is set in the same world as Lost Eidolons, which was released two years ago. However, it is not set in the same country - but on the island of Anareios, where we landed as castaways. We have no idea who we are, which is very practical because it allows us to customize our character at the beginning. Male/female, name, but that's it. The island (or just the place where we wake up?) doesn't seem to be a normal island, but a magical place that stands between reality and the world of the dead. At least that's what the witch we meet at the beginning (in a dream?) tells us. How do we get out of here? There is a letter in our clothes from a woman we don't know called Carmen - we are supposed to find Silvio before it's too late... what does that mean? And who is Silvio?
We are immediately attacked by zombie-like enemies who are under the control of a sorcerer in the service of the (supposedly defeated) Emperor Ludivictus. Fighting on our side is a magician who seems to know us well. Apparently only we have lost our memories. In any case, we haven't forgotten how to fight and we're still good with our sword. A crew member from our ship also supports us in the fight and we make short work of the zombies. The battles take place in the usual turn-based manner - moving units, attacking, switching between weapons, using abilities, casting spells. However, the frequent conversations during some of the battles are a bit unusual.
After the first battle, we reach the town of Pelikos, meet other characters and learn more about the island. The island is cut off from the outside world, there are no more ships in the harbor. The followers of the defeated emperor have fled to the island and are using their magic to bring the dead back to life in order to seize power. Bandits terrorize the land, monsters roam the fields. A hero is clearly needed here. And that hero is us, the other NPCs immediately accept us as their leader and we gain control of the town that becomes our base. It's time to explore the island.
A considerable part of the game time is spent talking. Equally important is the selection of the five characters for the next exploration mission. We take care of their equipment and training. And once we have put together our party, the journey begins. We move from point to point, always being able to see in advance what awaits us. A fight or another activity - just like in a typical roguelike game. During a run, we improve our party, find new equipment... and hardly keep any of it when all the characters are dead. The witch - actually an Eidolon - brings us and our party back to life and to Pelikos, of course, while also giving us a glimpse into our past with her magic mirror. Who we are, who Carmen and Silvio are, what our actual mission on the ship was... we learn all this in long sequences. We are always outnumbered in the battles. Although our characters are incredibly strong, they can be quickly overwhelmed. You have to use each unit according to its strengths and weaknesses. During battles, your party members gain experience that you can use to improve them. However, this is gone again when the run is over. However, there is an experience tree between runs where you can permanently improve your party members with certain passive skills.
Conclusion:
Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is a mixture of several genres. (Relatively simply structured) turn-based battles are of course a core element, but assembling your party also takes a lot of time, as do many lengthy conversations with multiple-choice answers - just like in a visual novel. If you're willing to put up with it and don't have a problem with the many conversations, you'll get a fantasy story interspersed with intensive party management and regular turn-based battles in a roguelite scenario. Each run dices up the map and the enemies anew, and the upgrades that appear during the run are selected at random. Overall, the game is very special, but also interesting if you want all these components in one game. However, if you don't want even one part of it, then Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is probably not for you.

Pretty 50 50 on the game at the moment

I enjoy tactical turn based combat like this so that was fun. The rogue like elements are ok i guess. It was interesting at first but after 3 expeditions i just kept getting the same options over and over.
The progression is ok as well. You do expeditions, you get runes to upgrade the classes of the people you recruit. You recruit a handful of people doing expeditions as well.

The story might as well be non existent. Everyone basically has the same issue. Hate this island, Protect this island, destroy this island, escape this island. i would say it gets stale but also you dont run into any story beats often anyways.

I definitely understand that this is early access but during my 4th expedition, I just got repeat maps and fights. same map designs. same shape. same enemies. same goals. same bosses over and over as well which im not a fan of.

overall i tend to rate tactics games like this higher than other genres. but at the moment id give it a 6 out of 10 . ill revisit on full release

Fire Emblem-Like Roguelite
Overview
Holy crap was this a hidden gem for me. It’s in early access yet I’m already entirely hooked on it. I’m obsessed. I never knew how much I needed a roguelite version of Fire Emblem in my life. I love it. Can’t wait for more. Devs are responsive on the forums so I have high hopes they’ll address the issues. But for now? I’m just having so much fun that the issues aren’t that big of a deal. If they get fixed? It will make an already great game into an amazing one. I feel confident enough to recommend it already to anyone with an interest in tactical rpgs, meta progression, and/or the slay the spire formula with relics, room choices, three act maps, etc. This game combines them all into one hell of a good time.
Story
You died. A mysterious witch meets you in death and binds you to her. Then she sends you back on your merry way to fulfill your purpose in life. What that purpose is, is a mystery even to you. Conveniently, the tragedy of death erased your memories. All you have to go on is a letter and a name mentioned in it. Of course, the witch cares not for that and has her own purpose for you…
You’re on an island with no escape. The island is overcome by an epidemic of undeath. You convince newfound companions that there is no point in staying put. It is best to set out and do something yourselves. You have a person to find. The others come around and you form an adventuring party.
Throughout the adventure you face humans on the other side of war, monsters, and the undead. While the story isn’t finished yet due to the early access nature, what is there is intriguing. Serves well enough as a reason for the gameplay loop, including the roguelite nature of starting all over again upon death. After all, you’re bound to the witch.
Presentation
This game certainly looks more modern and westernized than Fire Emblem. I actually like the character art quite a lot. Music is OK. I find myself humming along to it at times. Sometimes it sounds a little out of place; sounds more rock than I’d expect for a medieval setting. But it’s cool.
User interface and controls are all just fine for me. I’m able to understand what is happening, what each status effect does, etc. You can also press a key to toggle between layman and detailed descriptions which I think is neat. I find myself using both. Importantly, there is also a toggle for speeding up the gameplay or even skipping the enemy turn. I would suggest there needs to be more options. I like seeing the enemy turns and don’t want to skip them; but x2 speed is still too slow.
Gameplay
This is where the game truly shines; it is just a joy to play. To sum it up? Addictive. Worse than meth (not that I’d know, I’m too busy playing this to do drugs). I finish one run and immediately jump into another, eager to play again.
You start at your base which will unlock more feature as you play. These features include talking to your companions to get more story, meta progression, and challenges.
Meta progression comes in a few forms. You can promote characters so that they start with upgraded stats and skills, as well as a stronger pool of skills available. It makes a noticeable difference. You can change the main character’s class – this is more for variety sake rather than getting any stronger. His default class is actually good. There is a shrine to boost stars, starting gold, better chance for upgraded skills, etc. When the shrine reaches level 7, there is an ultimate upgrade you can choose that is beyond minor stat buffs, but only one. You can upgrade the shops you encounter in runs. You can have him sell more items, discounts, etc. Lastly, there is a method to transform meta progression items into other items so that they always remain useful even after you unlocked everything.
Challenges are the same as steam achievements. You get extra meta progression currency by completing challenges and earning challenge points. The rewards are small compared to just playing through runs, but I find the challenges fun to pursue. There are some interesting ones to encourage diverse parties and replayability. For example, beat the game without a healer. I like these kind of challenges that encourage mixing things up from your usual winning formula.
Once that is all sorted out, you set out with your chosen party members (main character and four others). At the start you have only four to choose from; but can unlock four more by playing through the game. All of the characters are viable and can turn out very strong with the correct upgrades. More on that later. At the beginning of each act, you choose a relic. This works the same as Slay the Spire, it’s just a passive item that grants some effect throughout the run. You lose it (along with everything else that’s not meta progression) after defeat or victory; hence roguelite. From there, you pick a new place to venture based on the rewards shown to you. Some areas are non-combat and just have events. Some events roll dice, a feature I’m not entirely sold on because it tends to screw me. Maybe there should be a meta upgrade for higher dice rolls? Or partnerships enhance dice rolls?
Combat is the meat of the game. It plays just like Fire Emblem. Both the heroes and enemies are on a grid and can move/attack in certain tiles. You go first, then all the enemies. Repeat. Unlike Fire Emblem, there is no hit chance. Every attack will always hit. Instead, there is a guard system. If guard is high enough, it will reduce the incoming damage. I actually like this a lot. It makes positioning and tank characters all the more vital. High burst damage characters like rogues are still very viable and deadly in this system, despite being vulnerable themselves. They may gain new ways to cloak from enemy sight.
This sounds like normal Fire Emblem gameplay so far. But wait, it gets better. You can get an upgrade item to enhance your equipment. These enchantments may grant additional skills or passives that can impact the gameplay. See earlier comment on the rogue. Characters also grow mid battle. Each level up grants a roll of stat buffs or skills to choose from. Skills GREATLY impact the gameplay. You absolutely need good skills to be able to make it pass the wall that is the Act 2 boss. It’s also how to give your healer even more healing spells! Skills cost no MP; can cast them whenever but just have to wait for a cooldown period to cast again.
This upgrade system is ADDICTING and so fun. While I may often choose the same OP skills, my runs still end up quite different. I’ve had runs where the mage was the clear MVP. Others where the rogue was. I’ve had a run where the friggin’ healer didn’t even open her book and just stayed as a shield maiden the whole game… and still healed the party that way! It’s just so very cool how things come together in the end. With all the different combinations available from the 4 extra party members and challenges – I’m still playing this over and over! Constantly want to play again.
Summary
This game is still in early access! As of right now there is only one boss per act – three acts. I’ve started to see maps repeat. But also been surprised to see a new one every now and then. I know this game like the back of my hand now, but still find it fun. It hasn’t outstayed its welcome; in fact I am looking forward to more content.
Note that runs are lengthy – there’s an achievement for beating one in less than 5 hours. My typical runs are 3-4 hours. Long for a roguelite, but the combat is TRPG so it’s fine. I don’t think the length is a problem.
Overall, I recommend this game. There is plenty to do even in early access if you like this kind of game. You can even leave feedback for the developer to help shape it into the best game it can be. Which it’s already pretty damn good.

Each run feels like a self-contained story; this is not your average roguelite; runs take a decent chunk of time (the first run was 5 hours, and I wiped on the second boss).
Gives you enough time to fully develop the entire squad so runs will feel unique each time. Artstyle is amazing, and I look forward to how this one will develop.
Recommend.

Very fun

I just wish there was more of everything...
More relics, more abilities, more equip upgrades, more levels and enemies.
It only takes handful of runs before you start to notice how repetitive everything is..

But I'll still happily play more :)

Good Game, responsive publisher.
Had a game breaking issue and the publisher fixed it within an hour of it occurring.
10/10 customer service.
If you like turn based strategy RPGs give this one a shot!

Very weird game for me : it's feels very though out and very under baked at the same time.
The Good :
- combat is pleasant, each character feels different enough with a variety of unique skills.
While there are some useless skills, some can radically change the dynamics of your party : an upgrade to my squishy healer's sword made me turn her into a highly resistant assassin, criting enemies to heal the whole party. (It was very fun)
- Cool story. I haven't finished the game but I am hooked :)
- There are 10 different heroes, with lots of potential synergies between them. It makes me excited to test out different party compositions (even if some characters are mandatory, like the healer)
- The enemy AI tries to win : they attack your weakest characters and buff themselves when they can't. Only problem is that they play their turn in a random order, meaning they can block each other while moving.
Or even worse : it tells you that this enemy won't attack this turn, so you plan accordingly, just for them to attack because their ally moved and now they can smash you (rip my mage)
The Bad :
- Some bonus are completely irrelevant, like the friendship adjacency bonus. It takes 5+ runs just to upgrade it to lvl2 between 2 characters. There are 10 characters -> 9*(9+1)/2 = 45 relationship meters to fill up, with very meager returns.
- each run can take 5+ hours, for 1%< of the total permanent upgrades. Just unlocking a character can take 3< runs, which means +30h of griding just to see the entire cast.
- every reward >>> gold.
- I can't stand the battle music anymore. It is always the same.
- I know the devs said otherwise, but the art feels so AI. Every time I see my characters I am reminded of the "make your AI gf" adds. If this is human made art, it is very generic human made art.
The Ugly : the UI is bad, like, very bad. It feels like they made a prototype with placeholder UI and now they are afraid something breaks if they change it :
- Moving, attacking and selecting is the same button (left click). How many times I clicked on an enemy to see its movement and my dumbass hero just walked to attack him, ruining my entire turn........
- To see how much damage an ability does, you have to be in range. For instance, to see the potential damage against 3 enemies, it goes left click (=lc)(select), lc (move), lc(menu), lc(2nd menu), hover enemy, right click (=rc), rc, rc, lc, lc, lc, rc, rc, rc, lc, lc, lc.
If you miss *one* lc, your character attacks and screws your turn.
Some characters (like mages) only use habilities. It can be a slog to compare the different spells on the enemies...
- You can't see how much damage your attacks does (!!!) on an enemy. You can only see the remaining health of the enemy after the attack.
This is sooo dumb. Its makes it very tedious to see if my two characters can take out an enemy.
=> The two points above turns planning into a chore..
I feel they know how frustrating it can be to missclick because there is a reset battle button you can use 3 times per battle.
(If you need more, you can alt-f4 the game and it will reload just before the battle).
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Tl;dr : good combat, nice story, ok-ish enemy AI, meh art, much grind and *awful* UI