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Akin to Stygian and Iron Tower before them, Just2D have shown us that a CRPG can be made on a budget. This can't be overstated, for we almost lost my beloved genre to the AAA vulgarisation. It's about to bloom instead. Alas, Drova: Forsaken Kin is an unfortunate title. At least 3 people I know called it Foreskin. Well then, let's pull it back to see what's under the hood. A c#cking good CRPG with twin-stick combat and a hard emphasis on Zelda-esque exploration! Not a game to take the world by storm, yet the one whose little world you could take to heart. Much like Gothic that inspired it. Not being its bleak parody, Drova takes Gothic's unique features and capably integrates them on a deeper level.
Exploration
You begin by following a couple of druids from your village who decide to use a mysterious magic crystal for trans-dimensional travel. Things go awry, they die. Now, you're alone in Drova with the stone in one hand and your dong in another. Then the story gets lost in the shuffle for such a long ass time you'll forget the game had one. Let's do the same and talk presentation. Drova is a love child, evident through its polish, diligent animation, and spritework. The lively pastoral views of the countryside idyll make way for gloomy forests and bogs enveloped in thick fog. The leaves are in motion, bushes and canes sway when you move through as the raindrops ripple in the water, while cute bugs and piglets skitter about to the sound of wistful ambience and fitting fantasy instrumentals.
The world of Drova makes you wanna linger. There's always something off the beaten path. Tracks to follow, a treasure in the ruins, a sprawling cave system, or an ambush. After roaming about for a few minutes, you may find a stone that bestows learning points, a concealed dungeon, or just kill a couple of bandits and loot a powerful rare axe. The rewarding nature of exploration is the main attraction. The perks of being inquisitive and perceptive are evident right from the start, getting you excited for the rest of the game. Another great feature is what I'd call impractical interactivity. It isn't Ultima or even Gothic, but there's a drop of it here and there. Little things like being able to start a fight with almost anyone, sit in a chair, play a lyra, or dance at a tavern add a drop of flavour that pertains to immersion.
I also loved how you have to examine some stuff for a sec before using it. It makes for detective hunts where you need to identify what happened to a person by the traces left or find a button on a wall. A fun mechanic that adds up to the overall superb map design. The world of Drova is full of prominent landmarks and you got a handy map with the ability to denote places of interest with stamps of your choice. You'll need it for the lack of objective markers or even fast travel. A diegetic form of it appears later, but it's limited and costly. I applaud, except backtracking can feel tedious. While map verticality adds depth and there are shortcuts, prepare for long detours around ledges, taking you to dead ends. You have the means to raise your running speed, however, it would be nice if bigger buffs applied for longer than a minute. See, Gothic was technologically advanced for its time, so running around the place had an element of spectacle to it. Here, not so much.
Combat
There's no character creator, you create yours in the process of playing. Just like in you know where. Similarly, you get learning points upon level-up, then find instructors to raise attributes and master various combat or crafting skills. It's not that big a hassle. Stats have an incremental effect, albeit, improving your combat skills or obtaining new gear feels impactful. The power creep is real. The gear typically isn't too interesting, though, only providing stats. To compensate, Drova has several complementary systems at work. Expansive crafting makes it so even the lamest cave has something for you. I used the system to create super-potions and stack up on consumables, which would've bankrupted me otherwise. The economy is pretty harsh. It took me a long time to get rich. I consider it a merit in a genre where balance has always been an afterthought. In Drova, one has to be resourceful to stay alive.
The enemy roster is diverse, from bears roaming across the flower fields to Dwarf-Huluds and swamp cronenbergs. Because enemies are tanky and hit hard, they force you to respect their patterns. Especially bosses who remain a reasonable challenge no matter how hard you munchkin. Save a few magic nukes for those. Speaking of magic, you don't get to have spells outside of finite scrolls until much later in the game. For the most part, you'll have to get down and dirty by engaging in snappy twin-stick combat. Drova is a proper Medieval hack-and-slash rather than your typical hit-or-miss. It isn't Dark Souls, in case you wondered, stamina only expends on dodge, block, or enemy stance strikes. It's a loose system where you can spam attacks. It starts off simple, then becomes more interesting as you build up your skillset, getting access to more options. It's pleasant to grow and see how yesterday's threats die in one hit.
Some complain there's no level-scaling, so you're free to wonder where you don't belong to do little damage and perish. Such fights are optional challenges for people who like getting ahead of the curve. To win a battle out of your league grants a sense of accomplishment like no other. It motivates players to get stronger and more inventive, to learn and appreciate all of the tools at their disposal. Use it as a chance to take another look at your loot. Sometimes it leads to a discovery of something like a scroll that does 750 damage in the area, collecting dust in your backpack. Set up traps or make enemies in-fight for your benefit. All to lay your hands on the treasures you "aren't supposed" to have! Even if you can't succeed now, you can always come back later with a satisfactory vengeance. Level-scaling would've taken it all away.
Role-Play
I expected an ARPG, then got blindsided by the humorous branching dialogues that force you to take sides all the time. Sure, that stuff comes to binary choices and fetch quests, but there's more to it. Although you don't get to know anyone that well, you can talk to most NPCs, and they don't come off as caricatures. The snippets of their pasts provide insights into the kind of hard lives people live in Drova. Its world does it best to be sandboxy and reactive. A character may acknowledge your achievements, notice you're wearing a thing stolen from them, or give you a stat boost after a hearty exchange. When someone says they go somewhere, they really run all the way there! Coupled with couriers and bandits skulking about, it gives the world a lived-in feel. Instead of killing you, said bandits just knock you out and rob you. You can do the same to most people, preferably without witnesses.
All of the above gives a reason to get invested in the world. There are several forces at play, but the choice between 2 camps, Remnants and Nemeton, is what propels the plot forward. Despite the hints, it's a blind choice that locks you up into following their leader's ambition. The consequences might upset you. As a cop-out, you can achieve a good ending anyway. On a smaller scale, the game gives you multiple ways to get favours with people or access places. Lots of extortion, blackmailing, swindling involved. Day and night cycles during which people follow their schedules help with your shady business. The freedom to be a jerk is the sign of a true CRPG. Here, being a greedy cheat pays while ethics usually cost you, which is a good lesson. What's in benevolence if you don't sacrifice for it? Drova places these petty things on your conscience while leaving the final word to you.
My curator Big Bad Mutuh