Thyria: Step Into Dreams is a demo for an interesting take on the dungeon crawler genre made popular by games such as Darkest Dungeon. While the combat feels pretty similar to Darkest Dungeon, Thyria focuses more on exploration than the combat.
The game is made by a two person dev team and while they did a fantastic job for the most part, there are definitely some flaws in almost every aspect of the game. Thryia has that home made indie game feel.
I tend to be more on the pessimistic side so I ask my friends for their opinions to make sure I’m not being overly critical. One friend is also a one man dev team and an important point he brought up was that it definitely looked like a lot of work and care was put into the game. Another friend brought up the viewpoint that some may actually like the game’s artwork while I thought it needed improvement. Reading through the reviews currently on Steam, it does seem like the majority of players really like the artwork so I may be in the minority here.
While I think knowing how a game was made is important in understanding it better, I don’t think it needs to be considered from the consumer’s point of view. What I mean by this is that it really doesn’t matter if the game was made by two developers or a thousand if the person playing the game is not having fun. They won’t suddenly change their opinion if they learn how the game was made. The most important aspect to consider for me is how the person playing the game will view the game. This isn’t American Idol where every contestant needs a sob story and then proceeds to sing in a mediocre fashion.
To this end, I know there are many different opinions and when it comes to taste in games, they differ wildly from person to person. I try to keep all possible individual preferences in mind, but I can only do so much as a single individual. I will definitely try my best to cover as much of the game as possible. This is why I ask my friends as well as skim through Steam reviews to get a feel for what other people like or dislike about the game.
Most people seem to agree that the combat is actually great. It’s complex and has a lot of depth that is not so easily accessible at the start. I only spent about two hours in the demo and I barely have a grasp on the basics. The game has an interesting day and night cycle which affects the combat in a large way. One way it affects the combat is that certain moves can only be used during certain times. Also, I had a werewolf guy that turned into a scrawny regular guy once it became day time. The wolf form was definitely cooler. This makes me wonder, would it be considered catfishing if a werewolf made a Tinder account while in wolf form. So many questions, so little answers.
While the combat and everything around it definitely has depth and feels fun, some aspects of it are unnecessarily complicated to the point it feels convoluted. This is reflected in the user interface and menu systems of the game. There are so many windows within windows containing text that overwhelms the player with information that is not necessary to the game. Also, the interface does not make it clear which parts are buttons, which are tooltips, and which are just for displaying information.
There just seems to be a lot of mechanics that exist for the sake of existing that don’t add any value. For example, dust is used to craft random stones. The stones are combined to create a random unit. Why not just use dust to craft monsters directly. I get that combining different stones give you different monsters but this isn’t really a skill based or necessary mechanic. It’s just another step added to a process in game where there are already too many things to do.
The game definitely has some magic in the combat and the complexity and depth should be focused there. Everything else should support the combat or add to it in some unique way instead of just adding more tedium that takes you away from the core focus of the game. It’s like a great director making a fantastic movie only to use a mediocre editor that leaves a lot of unnecessary footage in, making the film weaker. It’s dilution. A great editor cuts unnecessary things out, even if the scenes look amazing. That’s what I personally feel Thyria needs, an editor of some sort to really take a look at the game and cut things out that are diluting the magic of the game.
I understand it’s not easy when it’s your own personal passion project since everything is important to you and has meaning but it won’t be the same way on the consumer side most of the time.
As for the artwork, Thyria has a lot of hand drawn sprites that look great for the most part. Personally, I think the artwork is 95% there and needs a professional to do some touchups but most people that played the demo that left reviews seemed to love the artwork. To each their own.
The general flow of the game goes something like this. You craft new monsters, upgrade and tweak existing ones, pick a mission, go into the mission, explore the map and collect treasures, fight some battles, and exit to level up. The exploration aspect of Thyria does feel pretty unique.
The exploration takes place on a map with points of interest, treasures, and ghosts. The ghosts spawn anywhere and fly at you and you have to defeat them by throwing a fireball. It’s pretty simple and easy to deal with but a developer did mention in a forum post that there are five types of ghosts so far and harder ones will spawn in later levels.
The map has a risk versus reward aspect where you can stay longer to collect more treasures but risk fighting more battles and taking more damage from ghosts spawning frequently. The treasures go into your satchel, which is a grid, and every item has a different size and effect. Once you exit the level successfully, the treasures essentially convert to experience points.
There are also locations where you encounter text events that may reward you with some treasures depending on what you pick. I haven’t run into all of them so I’m not sure if there are some events that have penalties instead of rewards.
While the exploration is enjoyable, it does feel a bit repetitive since you are essentially doing the same thing every mission. As a side note, for the narrative aspect you are a witch diving into people’s dreams in order to help them conquer whatever is haunting them. I must say, the English dialogue is quite possibly some of the worst I’ve ever read and needs an editor as soon as possible to clean it up. It may just be translated from google translate because so many lines of dialogue are stuffed with too many unnecessarily complicated words, much like a student stuffing as many words as possible (using a thesaurus) into an essay with a word requirement, as one friend put it.
This is quite similar to the user interface and the game can benefit overall from some streamlining. One example of simple writing that still has some flavor and identity of its own is shown in the Solium Infernum demo. Most of the word structure is very simple but they use key words here and there to create a comic effect but still staying true to the overall theme of the game. You don’t ever need to force complexity, it comes naturally if the mechanics are well made.
Overall, Thyria: Step Into Dreams is a promising demo. While I try my best to cover as much of the game as possible, the best method is to try the game out for yourself. The demo is still available on steam as of this writing if it sounds interesting to you. I think the game has some magic but desperately needs more focus and streamlining in the dialogue, the user interface, and slight touch ups in the artwork. Most other people seemed to have only minor issues and enjoyed the demo.
I don’t do this often and I should do it more but thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog. It means a lot!
Additional Info
Steam Store Page : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2457040/Thyria_Step_Into_Dreams/
Review Score: 83% positive with a total of 110 reviews as of this writing (10/19/23)
Developer: Twokats
Publisher: GrabTheGames
Release Date: Oct 7, 2023
MSRP: Free (Demo)
I received a key from keymailer. Thanks friend!
Time spent: 1.8 hours
Achievement Score: N/A
Ducky Obrien 