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Whitestone by Hailstorm Video games
Whitestone begins off with our protagonist, Jack arriving at a state-of-the-art airship, which serves as one thing like a mini-town hub that’s dwelling to many.
Jack is shortly assigned to the archaeology division, however not lengthy after arriving, he begins to expertise bizarre occurrences: a mysterious man has gone lacking, and Jack begins seeing ghost-like figures and even incidents of spontaneous combustion! On prime of all that, he additionally has to battle off bizarre creatures. It’s a really unusual and compelling set-up.
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I like how totally realized this recreation is, from the various interactable NPCs and dialogue choices to the ship’s expansive structure. It’s clear that Hailstorm Video games put plenty of work into this recreation to make it really feel like a completely realized, fleshed-out world. Whitestone is an bold recreation that takes plenty of inspiration from the Persona franchise.
All You Do to Me Is Speak Speak
For those who’ve performed a Persona recreation, you’ll know what to anticipate: a life simulator RPG about preventing monsters and constructing relationships. As time passes, you may select totally different actions to mildew your experiences, whether or not that’s constructing a stronger relationship with a specific NPC or pursuing actions to degree up and construct up stats.
There’s a good quantity of freedom of selection, and I believe it nails that Persona formulation fairly effectively. Whitestone engaged me all through, and I wished to study extra in regards to the recreation’s overarching, mystery-filled plot threads. Even the act of constructing relationships with NPCs was gratifying. This facet of the sport was plenty of enjoyable.
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Very similar to the video games that impressed it, Whitestone is closely targeted on dialogue. Many of the recreation is speaking to NPCs, constructing relationships with them, and studying extra about folks and the plot via conversations and dialogue choices.
Fortunately the dialogue is great, with many well-developed, plausible characters and a story stuffed with thriller and intrigue, making for an gratifying trip to seek out out extra. I loved the writing in Whitestone and would say it’s on the identical degree as a contemporary Persona recreation.
When Dialogue Fails, Battle via Issues
Sadly, I do want the fight facet of issues was higher. Moreover operating across the airship and speaking to folks, there are particular occasions when it’s important to battle grotesque creatures.
Fight is in real-time – akin to a Diablo-style recreation – and it feels a little bit undercooked and missing in polish. Enemies clip via the ground. Typically swinging a weapon freezes your character in place for a few seconds.
Taking pictures and locking onto enemies has some main hit-detection points. It actually brings down the entire fight expertise when your bullets move proper via your enemies…actually irritating.
These evident points apart, the fight total feels serviceable however not nice.
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There’s lots to love relating to the general artwork type. Whitestone implements a cel-shaded type that matches its anime-inspired darkish fantasy tone. Character portraits are lovingly drawn, whereas dirty areas and energetic locales alike are properly detailed.
Character over Fight
The one problem comes from the sport’s body price. I skilled a lot of slow-downs, notably throughout fight when plenty of particle results have been onscreen. These incidents weren’t terribly widespread, as these situations weren’t very frequent, nevertheless it was undoubtedly noticeable.
Whitestone actually shines in its dedication to an RPG sim expertise the place decisions appear to matter. Selecting to speak to sure NPCs over others feels natural and by design.
Acquainted methods like crafting, leveling up, and exploration are solidly executed. I actually loved these methods; I want fight was equally gratifying.
General, Whitestone feels uneven recreation at occasions due to its flaws, however as somebody who enjoys the RPG sim features, its fight points are a bit simpler to miss. I’d advocate this recreation to these in search of a Persona-style recreation however who’re keen to look previous its subpar fight.
Whitestone is offered by way of the Nintendo Retailer, the Sony PlayStation Retailer, the Microsoft Retailer, and Steam.
Take a look at the official trailer for Whitestone under:
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