Review by Kieran Sutton
Are you unsure whether you’d like to play a Trading Card, fantasy RPG, 4X strategy, or survival game? Now exiting early access is a genuine treat that somehow combines them all into an exciting yet challenging experience. Thea 2 The Shattering, by Muha Games kept me enthralled turn after turn.
Image not recovered: Thea 2. Archived image reference
Story/Characters
Thea is set in a
fantasy realm of Slavic mythology – you’ll encounter gods, witches, various
demons, people, goblins and a whole mythology of naughty and nice critters in
your adventure. You are the champion of your chosen god and must investigate
the shattering of the realm. Your path is very much shaped by the choices you make,
and Thea does a fantastic job of flipping your expectations. That traveling
merchant? Turns out he was a bastard. That gang of goblins; great ale, and
fantastic stories to share! Those cheeky water nymphs? They have their own
problems.
I initially decided
to roleplay a loyal lover of Lada, goddess of lights settling a charming
village of peace-loving gatherers and healers before being robbed by demons of
the forest one too many times and re-rolling as a night-time embracing servant
of nature and the magic. The latter went substantially better. After a little
mishap with a shadow ritual that totally wasn’t my fault, I had to sacrifice a
powerful item to bring back my chosen; then continued my path of conquest,
taking what I needed from this beautiful world.
Image not recovered: Thea 2. Archived image reference
Audio/Visual
Clear UI, easy to
navigate world and great character art; in both the world view and
stat/inventory pages. Music is nothing to shout about, basic drums and tension
building tones fills the background but little more. To my surprise more and
more of the quests are voiced, which really build the sense of immersion to
truly drag you in to the world.
In fact the art in
the quests and dialogue steals the show; I’ve never heard of a hochlich or
skshack before but the art brings the hideous creatures to life. Even all of
the astounding armoury and resources have unique artwork.
Image not recovered: Thea 2. Archived image reference
Gameplay
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If you’re expecting to drop into a typical 4x city builder,
you’ll have to look elsewhere. Thea starts slow in that sense but there’s an
incredibly vast amount of content. You’ll begin as a small band of adventurer
types; but you’re going to need to make sure you’re equipped for everything
this world throws at you. Encounters are not just combat and you’ll find
yourself wishing you’re axe yielding madman had a little bit of bloody wit
about him when trying to negotiate out of a tricky deal and that mighty craftsmen
may be able to whip up a spear or two but can he help in a shadowy arcane
ritual? Probably not, in fact he may just be a hinderance.
The crafting and research involved in the game is refreshing
– choosing to reinforce that silver spear with monster bones will have a
different result that an Elven wood spear with leather. Build an incredible
amount of weapons and armour to bolster your brave band of heroes. The pace of
the game did switch a couple of hundred turns in becoming a little tough to progress
with me taking 100 turns crafting the finest arms and armour for my party but a
small loss and easily turn into a death spiral.
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The encounters are more akin to an old pen and paper RPG
with card elements than most RPG games and honestly had me a little confused to
start. You’ll have phases to lie down your plans, as will the enemy before the
planning is over and 2 phases of action begins. The actual encounters became laborious
to me and I often resorted to auto-resolving the majority of them but there’s
plenty more mechanics to entice you. The quests and dialogue, despite
occasionally re-occurring had multiple paths based on character classes, skills
and stats. What may end as helping a demon in the forest once may become a
trial across the land for incredible treasures if you’re a little more cunning.
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Summary
Incredible blend of genres and mechanics in this diverse
fantasy epic of Slavic mythology set in a challenging, immersive and borderline
apocalyptic world. Level up, gather resources and adventure but make sure you
have a diverse team to explore, build and unlock the mysteries that await you.
Overall i give it a 8.5/10
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