Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 12/Mar 04:33

The Bearer & The Last Flame – Review

One of the privileges we have as reviewers is that sometimes we get to play games well ahead of their official launch. This was the case with The Bearer & The Last Flame. However, our initial impressions of the indie Souls-like were, simply put, bad. Then the developer reached out to us, and presumably other review outlets, to let us know that the game was going to receive a launch-day patch, asking us to update our review accordingly. Now, we’re an independent review outlet, and our opinions do reflect our actual gameplay experience, but the patch notes seemed to indicate that a good chunk of our issues with the game were going to be dealt with. As such, we decided to give The Bearer & The Last Flame another chance. Story The story of The Bearer & The Last Flame starts with the fantasy world of Hyperborea having already fallen to darkness. The land has been overrun by undead and other monsters. The player takes on the role of the titular Bearer, a lone warrior carrying the Last Flame, which represents the final source of light in the world. Their mission is to carry this flame across several dangerous regions, ultimately restoring Hyperborea to its former glory. Beyond this initial premise, the game’s story is not heavily explained through dialogue or exposition. Instead, most of the lore is delivered through environmental storytelling: ruined castles, destroyed villages and scattered NPC encounters hint at what happened to the world in the past. You’re expected to piece everything together for yourself as you explore, rather than being told everything directly. Graphics It’s not just from a gameplay perspective that The Bearer & The Last Flame proudly wears its Dark Souls inspiration on its sleeve, but from an aesthetic one as well. The game heavily leans into its dark fantasy atmosphere, with the world itself a ruined, decaying landscape filled with castles, caves, swamps, tombs, and abandoned settlements that convey a sense of a civilization already lost to darkness. Lighting plays a central role in the lore and in the game’s visual design: the Last Flame itself acts as the main source of visibility, casting dynamic shadows and reinforcing the oppressive tone of the world. The game doesn’t necessarily do anything new or revolutionary with the dark fantasy trope, but it works well enough in terms of visual direction. That said, there are still some issues here. Animations are stiff, and in certain areas, textures are muddy. Pre-patch, the in-game camera was perhaps a more annoying opponent than actual enemies, and although this has been dealt with, the game’s performance is still not quite up to snuff. Stuttering and screen tearing are common issues that undermine the overall experience and immersion. Sound While The Bearer & The Last Flame’s opening cinematic does have narration, it’s ridiculously difficult to understand the narrator’s monologue without subtitles. We’re not entirely sure if the accent is intentional, adding an otherworldly atmosphere to the opening, or if it’s simply a matter of the voice actor not being a native English speaker. Either way, the narration simply didn’t land. Fortunately, the rest of the soundscape does deliver, with the game’s ominous soundtrack in particular being perhaps our favourite thing about the game. The spatial ambience is surprisingly good as well, with the echoing calls of monsters in the distance really contributing to the feeling of the world’s size. Sound effects are satisfyingly crunchy too. Our only gripe with the soundscape was that sound mixing wasn’t the best, with strange echoes, but this was one of the issues that the game’s patch resolved. Gameplay In our review of Crimson Capes, we noted that a Souls-like game either needed to be really solid or have a unique hook to stand out, given the plethora of games in the genre to choose from. As ambitious as The Bearer & The Last Flame is, it is unfortunately neither of those things. The result is as cookie cutter of a Souls-like as it gets, and that’s without even getting into the issues that plague the game even post-patch. What this translates to is an action RPG that, on paper at least, emphasizes slow, deliberate combat that requires stamina management, timing, and careful observation of enemy patterns, with multiple playstyles such as melee, ranged, and magic builds supported by a large variety of weapons. Exploration takes place across dangerous, interconnected regions filled with ruins, caves, and castles Soulslikes live and die with how well their combat mechanics are executed. In the case of The Bearer & The Last Flame, those mechanics are janky at best. Hits fail to register correctly, with both player and enemy attacks appearing to connect but not registering or missing without a clear reason. There were even instances where ranged weapons simply refused to fire, and reset to their resting position instead. While the patch did address some of the game’s issues, including a persistent bug related to using magic, The Bearer & The Last Flame’s combat retains an overall feeling of being unreliable. In a genre where combat is supposedly methodical and tactical, and requires precise timing and learning enemy patterns, this inconsistency feels almost game-breaking, removing any sense of player agency. The game’s other half, exploration, fares a little better, mostly because the world itself has been designed well, but this simply doesn’t outweigh the frustration tied to the combat mechanics. There are supposedly five distinct regions to make your way through in The Bearer & The Last Flame’s narrative campaign, each containing different enemies, new pathways to explore and additional equipment for your arsenal. We say supposedly, because we couldn’t bear to make our way through the entirety of the game, due to the persistent issues. As such, we wouldn’t be able to tell you how long The Bearer & The Last Flame is, although we can still say it isn’t worth the €19.99 price tag in its current state. Then again, you can’t expect a game that was developed over the course of 2-3 years to be entirely fixed within a couple of days. We do hope that more patches are on the way, because there is a decent game in there somewhere. Conclusion Even post-patch, The Bearer & The Last Flame simply doesn’t pass the sniff test. This is a game that desperately wants to be the next Dark Souls, but it lacks a hook to draw attention. Any enthusiasm that genre aficionados might still have should they accidentally stumble upon the game will quickly vanish, as technical issues and jank are simply part of the overall combat experience. Another patch or two may still salvage the game, but without any further fixes, The Bearer & The Last Flame may as well fade into darkness.