EARTHLOCK Reviews
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.
An indie RPG that follows all the imaginable clichés from the 90's J-RPG (except random encounters). The result isn't bad, but some areas have plenty of room to improve (characters and plot won't hook you up completely). But, if you love the genre, you will be able to explore its world filled with tasks for 25+ hours (enjoyable in portable mode).
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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
Fun and interesting, Earthlock offers an intense RPG experience with very classic elements and a good playability, but also a little repetitive.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A beautiful game which features a host of challenging boss battles require tactical thinking, useful characters, and a big world to explore, Earthlock delivers a solid experience which scratches the turn-based RPG itch. Its fourteen hours of game play swells thanks to a ton of side quests, hidden bosses, and lots of things to craft and collect, and is a true indie delight for any fan of the genre.
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.
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.
An indie adventure with a lush world, fun characters, and enjoyable battles, Earthlock brings the soul of PS1-era JRPGs to the Switch with excellent results. Inconsistent dialogue and notable load times are among its few missteps, but as a package, it captures the appeal of the epoch wonderfully. If you're looking for a fresh-feeling JRPG that still calls back to the classics, this is a lovely choice.
The care and attention to detail by Snowcastle Games shows in Earthlock. It's a lovingly crafted world and one that I can't wait to see from.
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
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.
In a world of fast-paced games with extra gimmicks and money-grabbing tactics, Earthlock is a breath of fresh air. I have a lot of respect for what it is: it is a love letter to a genre that shaped me as a gamer. And for that, I am thankful.
The nostalgia is nice, but I'm also reminded of advancements that the genre has made over the past twenty-plus years. With brisker combat and some much-needed voice work, this could be great, but Earthlock is still good as-is for genre fans.
Earthlock is a good game, locked behind a lack of polish
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
Whilst the art style here verges on the cartoonish, the gorgeous sense of colour and texture really brings the world alive
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.
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.
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.
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.