Kyn (PC) Review

For its inspiration, Kyn takes a Viking theme, but exists very much in a fantasy world. It's probably about as much authentic Viking as, say, How to Train your Dragon is - so expect the horned helmets, and, thus, expect the amateur historian gamer community to start grumblingly, but it's no real complaint, as reality doesn't correlate with fun, and that's what Kyn aims to be. Without much in the way of cut-scenes, its two main protagonists are introduced and the player is given control straight away. Make a selection with the mouse and tell them where to go, select the spell to use, or click on things to fight. It's a simple enough system, and works as well here as it does in any game that uses it.

Where Kyn deviates from this formula is with a slowdown mechanic, giving more thinking time to react and plan. Many games these days have "bullet time"-like systems, but here it is pulled off particularly well, not just as a cool special move, but as a core component of its gameplay. Slowing down the hacking and slashing to more of a game of quick wits instead. If a character is being overwhelmed in a fight, perhaps slow down time, trigger a spell to scare the enemies away, and, thus, there is more time to lay a trap for them when they return, or use the time the enemies are running away to resurrect some nearby guards to help.

Alternatively, perhaps just pin the enemies to the spot with one spell, only to chuck magic grenades at their feet with another. Learning good combinations and watching their results in battle is certainly one of the highlights of the game, and the amount of possible ways to use various abilities together is huge, and almost all of it only practical to do by slowing down time first.

Not that it's possible to rest, though; slow is not stopped. Arrows and bombs are still in motion, enemies are still preparing or unleashing their own spells, and the slowdown only lasts so long. Therefore, while the slowdown effect allows tactics, the pressure is still on, and in some battles it can get quite intense. Overall, the fighting system works great and makes it as much about quick, smart thinking as it does about reactions. It's certainly the highlight of the gameplay - and given the game allows the re-allocation of skills at any time, one players will spend a while thoroughly exploring. Even outside of battles, it demands slightly more attention than might be expected. Occasionally, the landscape might have a puzzle, or the map itself might have more unique requirements. While never brain intensive, as such, these help keep things much more interesting than a standard hack 'n' slash.

Elsewhere, the adventure becomes a lot more run of the mill, but by no means bad. The battles are balanced, the environments are gorgeous, and the music is rousing, so while it might be a shame that, for example, there are barely any side-quests and the main town offers nothing to do but resupply, at least those that are mildly disappointed are surrounded by nice art design. Unfortunately, in some areas, there is a lack of polish. One significant oddness is the character screen has an extra unlabelled tab - apparently to change the appearance of a character. Certainly a nice idea, but with no labels on the interface at all it seems like a placeholder, something to expect in an alpha version, not a published title. Regardless, it doesn't interfere with the gameplay, and it will probably be addressed in a patch.

More serious, perhaps, is that, very occasionally, a character might get stuck in the landscape. While this only happened once or twice on a complete playthrough, it's advisable to keep a few save files just in case.