Drova: Forsaken Kin - 2D action RPG inspired by Gothic series

[GloomFrost]

Drova is a fine little game (although a bit too woke) but saying its better then Gothic is just silly.

 

[Nikanuur]

Drova is a fine little game (although a bit too woke) but saying its better then Gothic is just silly.

There is zero wokeness factor in Drova. It's as old-school game as it can get. Saying anything else in the former regard means you should probably stop abusing substances or something.

 

[Tyranicon]

Gothic is better in every way: better writing, better combat, better world design, etc.

This seems to be a great love letter to the OG, but imo it doesn't surpass it.

 

[GloomFrost]

Drova is a fine little game (although a bit too woke) but saying its better then Gothic is just silly.

There is zero wokeness factor in Drova. It's as old-school game as it can get. Saying anything else in the former regard means you should probably stop abusing substances or something.

Strong independent wymen everywhere, weak stupid males, body type 1,2. Of course its not the same level as BG3 or veilguard but nonetheless "the progressive message" is in the game. Oh and I absolutely WILL NOT stop abusing substances.

 

[Parabalus]

Gothic is better in every way: better writing, better combat, better world design, etc.

This seems to be a great love letter to the OG, but imo it doesn't surpass it.

Combat in Drova is not really comparable to Gothic, too different mechanically.

 

[Nikanuur]

Strong independent wymen everywhere, weak stupid males, body type 1,2. Of course its not the same level as BG3 or veilguard but nonetheless "the progressive message" is in the game. Oh and I absolutely WILL NOT stop abusing substances.

Nah, you are just full of it.

 

[Jarmaro]

Explain to me how a Gothic-lite is more memorable & works better. Lack of verticality, worse atmosphere (due to graphics), less freedom, etc. It's a good Gothic-like, that's it.

Because Drova has much bigger range in terms of writing, visual style, environments and choices. I don't get lack of 'verticality', not only it's a non-sensical accusation as verticality is just a choice but also inaccurate as there are multiple regions in the game where verticality matters, it's not a flat environment. Lack of verticality in an izometric game of all things? A game that still has vertical elements? That's not even retarded, it's just plain silly.
Do not confuse your personal preference for a good design.

Don't mistake me, I vastly prefer third-person 3D gameplay of Gothic over Drova. However, to claim that Drova's pixel graphics give it worse atmosphere is straight up lunacy.
Drova has range of environments and locations that Gothic 1 cries for. Gothic 1 for all its strengths was monotone and boring in terms of environment. Meanwhile Drova has lush forests, different types of swamps, vast colorful fields, rocky mountains, dark enchanted forests...Even Gothic 2 with The Night of the Raven may lose this contest.

Also, more freedom in Gothic than in Drova? Could you elaborate? I believe Drova has more or less as much freedom as Gothic, whether in terms of progression or quest choices. I'm not sure if it allows for killing downed opponents as I never needed it in my playthrough or other small choices like that, but at the same time it offers much more flexibility in engaging with the world and completing most of the map at any moment.

Keep in mind we are talking almost solely in comparison between Drova and Gothic 1, not the entire series of Gothic. Gothic 2 with the addon is still overall a better game.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Because Drova has much bigger range in terms of writing, visual style, environments and choices. I don't get lack of 'verticality', not only it's a non-sensical accusation as verticality is just a choice but also inaccurate as there are multiple regions in the game where verticality matters, it's not a flat environment. Lack of verticality in an izometric game of all things? A game that still has vertical elements? That's not even retarded, it's just plain silly.
Do not confuse your personal preference for a good design.

Don't mistake me, I vastly prefer third-person 3D gameplay of Gothic over Drova. However, to claim that Drova's pixel graphics give it worse atmosphere is straight up lunacy.
Drova has range of environments and locations that Gothic 1 cries for. Gothic 1 for all its strengths was monotone and boring in terms of environment. Meanwhile Drova has lush forests, different types of swamps, vast colorful fields, rocky mountains, dark enchanted forests...Even Gothic 2 with The Night of the Raven may lose this contest.

Also, more freedom in Gothic than in Drova? Could you elaborate? I believe Drova has more or less as much freedom as Gothic, whether in terms of progression or quest choices. I'm not sure if it allows for killing downed opponents as I never needed it in my playthrough or other small choices like that, but at the same time it offers much more flexibility in engaging with the world and completing most of the map at any moment.

Keep in mind we are talking almost solely in comparison between Drova and Gothic 1, not the entire series of Gothic. Gothic 2 with the addon is still overall a better game.

Lack of verticality is huge in a game with exploration (and being able to jump down, not up, in a few locations doesn't discredit what I said), it's not personal preference.

Yes, Gothic has better atmosphere and 2D is a big reason for that. Having different biomes doesn't change the fact. Drova doesn't feel as lived in as Gothic does, and that's much more important. In many ways, from the schedules & NPC interactions having much more in them, to a more consistent and logical world.

Freedom? Yes. You can't even kill the vast majority of characters in Drova. As for "more flexibility" in Drova, I don't know why you're lying flat out.

Gothic is a vastly superior game. It's simple logic, Drova is a Gothic-like which does the majority of things worse than Gothic. Really good game because the Gothic formula is top tier, but doesn't make it better than Gothic (which in terms of story & setting is better than Gothic 2, which just said is better than Drova).

 

[ShiningSoldier]

Ok, I spent 20 hours in Drova and became so bored I couldn't deal with it anymore.
I can't understand why people say that it feels like Gothic. I mean, Drova tries to imitate Gothic, but it works even worse than in Risen.
In Gothic almost every named NPC had distinct personality and manner of speaking. In Drova, it's almost impossible to distinguish one NPC from another - they're absolutely bland and generic.
In Gothic, NPCs act like they're alive - they talk to each other, wash in the river or some kind of a barrel, piss over corners of their houses, etc. Nothing like this in Drova.
Quests in Drova are absolutely awful. Farmer guy asked me to collect 6 pieces of iron in the field. These pieces were literally just lying in the field around him. I spent 1 minute on this quest. Why couldn't this fucker do it by himself? And almost every quest is like this.
But the worst thing is the complete lack of the atmosphere. The colony in Gothic was a dark and scary place. Drova is a theme park where every NPC is a bit fan of the main character.
At first I liked exploration. But it doesn't work at all in Drova, because I can't even climb on a small rock, can't swim over the smallest river. The locations are actually absolutely linear - you're going exactly the way the developers created for you, with zero deviations.

 

[Vulpes]

Gothic is better in every way: better writing, better combat, better world design, etc.

The combat in Gothic is basic as fuck and not even good for it's time (just look at Blade of Darkness), so Drova is easily better in this department both in terms of difficulty and fun. I know that people are still butthurt about the brownoid women and overblowing the issue, but to say that Drova is inferior in every way is as disingenuous as it gets.

 

[ShiningSoldier]

Gothic is better in every way: better writing, better combat, better world design, etc.

The combat in Gothic is basic as fuck and not even good for it's time (just look at Blade of Darkness), so Drova is easily better in this department both in terms of difficulty and fun. I know that people are still butthurt about the brownoid women and overblowing the issue, but to say that Drova is inferior in every way is as disingenuous as it gets.

Gothic has absolutely amazing battle system, where each enemy has it's own tactics, and if you know this tactics, you can beat every enemy on level 1 using the basic branch of wood.
Drova tries to imitate this, but it fails because of the lack of enemy's variety - it's the same boring wolves almost all the time.
And it's funny how you mentioned Blade of Darkness. Yes, Blade of Darkness has the superior combat system to Gothic. But BoD is superior in terms of combat to almost every game ever made on this planet.

 

[Vulpes]

That's a completely delusional take and it shows that you haven't actually played either games. Those Gothic videos you see of people beating enemies with a branch of wood require zero tactics, just that you're fast enough with your attacks to stunlock your opponent. Drova's fog creatures alone show more advanced tactics that any of the foes in Gothic. Even in the early game, you'll encounter enemies like the spriggans that can root you in place with their ranged attacks (something that's unheard of in Gothic). Meanwhile the vast majority of Gothic's enemies are just beasts with basic melee attacks (wolves, scavangers, molerats, shadowbeasts, orc dogs, lurkers, lizards, snappers, etc). It's not like any of them can charge/jump at you from a distance (like in Drova) or hide in the environment to ambush you (again, like in Drova).

 

[harhar!]

Finished the game. Overall it's a bretty good 8/10. Probably my GOTY 2024 for lack of contenders.

+ Good & rewarding exploration, nice feeling of progression
+ Fighting system is fun
+ Multiple endings if you explore well enough
+ Different weapons + skill progression
+ No quest compass, limitless fast travel, etc.
+ Reasonably difficult, optional strong enemies in early areas

- Half the fighters and miners are women. Most women speak like men. Lots of dark-skinned people in small, separated communities.
- Most NPCs are boring and you don't remember them.
- Everyone is basically forced to play as a melee character for most of the game. Range is weak, only useful as support. Magic can be used as the primary weapon only very late in the game. Overall, there is less variety and replayability compared to Gothic.
- The different camps are pretty lame and exchangeable.
- A lot of fetch quests
- Can't kill downed NPCs

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Finished the game. Overall it's a bretty good 8/10. Probably my GOTY 2024 for lack of contenders.

Geneforge 2 is better, RPG of the year.

And I'm sure many will argue SKALD is better as well.

 

[GrainWetski]

Drova is a fine little game (although a bit too woke) but saying its better then Gothic is just silly.

There is zero wokeness factor in Drova. It's as old-school game as it can get. Saying anything else in the former regard means you should probably stop abusing substances or something.

The game starts with "bodytypes", you pathetic excuse for a Bodytype 1.

 

[GloomFrost]

Finished the game. Overall it's a bretty good 8/10. Probably my GOTY 2024 for lack of contenders.

Geneforge 2 is better, RPG of the year.

And I'm sure many will argue SKALD is better as well.

Yep, Skald IS a better game then Drova.

 

[Infinitron]

00:00 Intro
00:41 At the beginning of Drova, what resources were available to us?
02:07 What was our approach to raise money?
03:12 How did we estimate the required capital for Drova?
05:41 How do we repay our publisher for the investment and work?
08:45 What would we do differently, if we had to do it all over again?
10:07 Chris Question: Why do you need so much money for pixel piss?

 

[Drakortha]

I just picked this up for Nintendo Switch. I was curious to try it out for myself.

Watched some reviews for it first and had to facepalm when the reviewer said "The combat is great, but not as refined as something like Baldur's Gate 3"

WTF does BG3 have to do with a game like this? BG3 is a damn cancer I swear to God. I can't even indulge in a classic style RPG without having to be reminded of that steaming turd.

Also, apparently Drova has a world map and day and night cycles and NPC schedules, so it's definitely more 'refined' than that slop.

 

[Nikanuur]

I'm saddened by how some people view things. If it were about a shallow piece of crap like Forspoken or Failguard I wouldn’t mind. But when someone trashes a maybe not perfect, but surely heartfelt indie project, it feels like an affront to basic fairness, to be honest. I know I probably won't change the minds of those concerned otherwise, but I felt the need to speak up anyway.

So, now seeing a group of women wielding swords or daggers, and others leading a band of adventurers, automatically makes something a woke piece of entertainment? Really? God forbid there’s several men who happen to be a weasels, crooks, or assholes—that must be crossing some line or whatnot. And if there’s a matriarchal society on top of it, like Nemeton—rooted in nature and all, as we know from irl and some historically-proven Earth's societies—well, that’s absolutely haram, I suppose.

That’s some convoluted shit, man.

I mean, take Aliens, for example: Ripley, the protagonist, is a woman. Vasquez and Ferro—a badass marine and a cool pilot—also women (and you wouldn’t dare mess with Vasquez unless you enjoy being *mistaken for a man*, lol). Gorman and Burke? A weasel and a crook. Drows in 3e —ruled by women, where men are constantly belittled but still expected to excel at everything they do. Then there are the all-time-high female cultural references to things like Amazons, mighty sorceresses, nimble fighters, or crafty engineers. Yennefer, Ciri, Lara Croft, Jesse Faden, Alyx Vance, etc. whatehaveya. Did anyone scream "woke" at these iconic characters back in the day? Does breaking stereotypes and succeeding at it suddenly become "woke" just because the character is a woman and we live in superficial age or whatever, really?

Sure, we live in a time where wokeness lurks behind every corner, and you never know what is whose agenda—no denying that—but does that mean we should stop differentiating entirely?

Bottomline: I get it—some people feel the need to project a strong male persona. Heck, I frequent the gym and even practice my strong stares on public transportation just to get some EXPs to level up a nice passive bonus to coincidental Intimidation checks, lol, so I truly do understand. But seriously, I’d urge anyone to think more critically. Now, more than ever. Assuming a camel stable stinks just because you see bees, flies, and butterflies around isn’t helping anyone.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Started playing Drova 2 days ago, so far 3,5 hours and 5 levels in.

Just got totally wasted with a dude in a tavern in the Remnants camp and went hunting together at night. Barely seeing anything due to intoxication we killed a bunch of raptors (he did most of the killing, I was quite underleveled for these enemies, but somehow managed to score some hits), then got even more drunk.

Woke up on the other end of the camp with all my inventory gone. Got randomly beaten by another drunk, managed to crawl back to the tavern and regain my stuff. A friendly innkeeper kept it for me, because previously I aided him with some rodent extermination.

Great times. This really is a spiritual successor to Gothic.

Fortunately there are some ladies around the camp, so its not a total saussage fest all the goddamn time.

Enjoying it quite a lot. Devs were lucky to release Drova in 2024, quite a weak year for RPGs. This gives them not only decent sales, but also a shot for RPG Codex GOTY award, which would otherwise be beyond their reach.