EARTHLOCK Reviews

EARTHLOCK is ranked in the 30th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
6 / 10.0
Sep 7, 2016

You won't find much in Earthlock that you haven't seen in hundreds of other RPGs, but there is a charm here that you may just want to be a part of.

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Sep 9, 2016

This homage to the seminal days of RPGs is quite successful at what it set out to do. The strong points include character advancement, the village, and enemy variety, while I was let down by a slow plot and inconvenient save system. The Xbox One isn't exactly a haven for this genre, but in nostalgia value alone it's a welcome treat.

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GameSpew
Top Critic
8 / 10
Sep 17, 2016

Whilst the art style here verges on the cartoonish, the gorgeous sense of colour and texture really brings the world alive

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6.5 / 10.0
Sep 22, 2016

For most gamers, they should simply avoid playing this and instead play other, better games. For those willing to stick it out through the game's flaws, they'll find something to enjoy.

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3.5 / 5.0
Oct 12, 2016

Storytelling and character development aren’t Earthlock’s strongest points, but it has some interesting twists on classic JRPG gameplay. If you miss those classic games, Earthlock: Festival of Magic is worth a look—just don’t expect anything earthshaking.

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6.5 / 10.0
Oct 23, 2016

Earthlock: Festival of Magic shows that the JRPGs aren’t games of a bygone era. It’s got it’s issues, but it’s still a fun game if you’re a fan of the genre. Hopefully, the developers will have the funds and resources in the future to deliver a more fleshed out experience, but for now, this game is just fine.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
7 / 10
Oct 28, 2016

Earthlock is a beautiful and exciting RPG, being one of the best this decade. It combines aspects that make a game great, like a very well-written story, a beautifully composed soundtrack, and characters that stand out. However, the gameplay is sort of lacking, with most of it being battles. The game also loses its lustre fairly quickly after starting, as nothing really interesting happens until later.

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7 / 10.0
Jan 27, 2017

Earthlock: Festival of Magic is a solid attempt at making retro RPGs fun again.

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6 / 10
Jan 30, 2017

Earthlock: Festival of Magic is a surprisingly hardcore RPG that belies its child-friendly surface. Teeth-gnashing boss battles can almost always be overcome with careful consideration and patience, and, when you find the solution, you'll wonder why you were even annoyed in the first place. The story is guff with a set of bland characters that do little more than move you from place to place, but you could do worse.

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Jan 30, 2017

Ultimately, what makes Earthlock so essential is just how earnest it is in its love for classic JRPGs. It’s worth sitting through its more cumbersome features in order to appreciate the hard work that a team of people who clearly love the genre have sweated over to refine the game to the point where it’s not only a homage to the greats of old, but it adds just a little to what makes the genre so wonderful.

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Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
3 / 10
Jan 31, 2017

A loving homage to PS one era JRPGs, but its small innovations are suffocated beneath a dead weight of clichés and conventions that in most cases were better off left to the past.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jan 31, 2017

Earthlock has very fresh and new ideas, but it does not really fit in the classic RPG genre. It is visually attractive, although the game seems a little bit seems to go to waste on multiple occasions.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

84%
Feb 2, 2017

Gameplay: This is where the game shines for me, it harkens back to the old turn based combat I used to love so much, while it doesn't always work in modern day gaming, I enjoyed Earthlock. Instead of having meters fill up to let you know when your character was getting ready to make their move there is a string of icons to the right of the screen showing who is coming up next whether it's you or the enemy which allows the players to strategize as to what needs to be done next. (should I heal now or can I make it until the next round, etc) The leveling up system allows players to customize the characters to how they want to play, focus on close or long range combat, is defense more important than attack, etc. The game does require some old-school grinding at points though in order to be a high enough level to tackle some of the bosses otherwise you will die, a lot. The only thing i didn't care for in the gameplay was the ability to help your enemies, for instance there was a few times while using my healer when trying to select the right person to heal I would accidentally heal my enemy, I know it's dumb it's my fault but just something that annoyed me. However if you heal a ghost enemy it does a large amount of damage, and if you hit a stunned ally it'll snap them out of it so it is utilized as part of the gameplay.

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5 / 10.0
Feb 4, 2017

Do you long for oldschool jRPGs? Better look somewhere else, because this mediocore title is not worth your time.

Review in Polish | Read full review

50 / 100
Feb 5, 2017

Cliches are the death of interesting characters and Earthlock is all too willing to draw its own characters’ chalk outlines and willingly lay them down in it.

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6 / 10.0
Feb 5, 2017

Earthlock: Festival of Magic is a cute JRPG inspired by a bunch of very old-school mechanics, but that fails in delivering a satisfying experience.

Review in Italian | Read full review

65 / 100
Feb 13, 2017

Earthlock: Festival of Magic was an enthralling concept that failed to materialize into one of the better roleplaying games this generation. The potential was certainly there, but the lack of an interesting story, characters that do not feel memorable, and strange difficulty spikes that require a lot of grinding hold the game back to a certain degree. The combat and battle system offers a lot of enjoyment though, and is where the game really shines. Still, even with the complaints, fans of the genre are going to find something to love in Earthlock.

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80%
Feb 17, 2017

EARTHLOCK: Festival of Magic is a great RPG, and you should try it right now! Its battle system was fun to play (albeit with some battles that were a bit too long for my taste), and the locations were fun to explore. Also, this is the first game of an announced trilogy, which means we should look forward to a sequel soon!

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Sirus Gaming
Jem Sagcal
7.5 / 10.0
Feb 24, 2017

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but seeing the art style and testing Earhlock’s Talent system or its farming feature is still worth a try, especially if all you need for week’s getaway is a simple game and visually stunning graphics.

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8 / 10
Mar 8, 2018

Earthlock is a true indie gem that has come a long way in such short time.

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