Gladius

Early Access Review I actually want to like this Game. Let's admit it, let's all want to stand like Russel Crowe in the Middle of the Collosseum and prove ourselves as a Gladiator. Feeling the Crowd cheering us on and ending up ripping their Arms in the Air and letting us celebrate for our bloody Triumph. That's exactly what the Game seems to want to develop. Unfortunately, unfortunately, it is very immature so far and I have to discourage it from gaining it at the moment. What's there so far are different Days in the Arena where we're faced with different increasingly difficult Opponents every Day, as well as a Workout and an endless Mode. There are also different Weapons and Armor That can be purchased on the Market and an Armory In which you can look at them. The Graphics sometimes seem very coherent, the Size Ratios are fine, if you stand in the huge Halls of the Armory everything seems quite impressive, in the Background some Glaists train, on the Side there are Horses, yes, that seems like standing in the Builded In front of or under the Arena just before it starts. And the Market and Arena itself are nice to look at. Also look relatively good the Opponent Gladiators, whose Attacking Movements are also nicely animated. The other Fantasy heavy Opponents go OK. The Audience, on the other hand, consists of glued Up 2D Gifs with two Images, which are supposed to suggest Kind of Animation, which kills the Mood quite a bit. Even the Announcer isn't exactly the Bringer. That there is no Tutorial that tells you how to cross the Swords sensibly, however, is a Shortcoming, especially with such a form of Play. One automatically adopts an appropriate Attitude and tries (as one has learned this absolutely realistically from relevant Films) to strike the Opponent as sensibly as possible. But after a short Time, the Deficiencies become clear here. For one Thing, it doesn't become clear if there's a difference to the Damage, whether you get a lot out and have a lot of Momentum (I don't suspect, see below) and often you're sure you've landed a Hit, but that's not the case. Add to That the Slow Motion function (which you can trigger again and again briefly by button), which then leads to the most effective thing: You freeze the Opponent briefly when he just gets out and then wags one on his Head with the Sword. This results in a fast 4-5 Hits and it is there, although you can actually just stroke it with the sword. Or he has at least lost his Helmet. There is also a nice Idea on The third Day with a fight against Chariots, which you have to fire with a bow from a Fixed Position (calls itself "Barbarian Attack" or something, the Resemblance to "Barbarian Horde" from Gladiator also does not come from anywhere) and is a Really great Idea with a very bad Bow Mechanics, which therefore only works very hard. The Mood of the Audience is acoustically accompanied and after good Actions it is also ready to throw a Meal (with which we raise the Life points between the Waves again). Unfortunately, I didn't find out what exactly actions these are. It's absolutely clear that an Early Access Title is not a finished Game. Often many and, above all, essential Components are added only over Time. But the essential Core Element should simply be there. And that's the Fighting with Gladius. Not the Presentation or setting, which is both okay. But the Fight in and of itself just doesn't feel good and doesn't feel fluid or fun. You get into a little sweat when you put in some Effort, but real Fight Feeling just doesn't come up. But the Essential, namely archery, works very well there than with Quiver, for example, where the content is also quite short. I also do not know whether the Manufacturer can get to Grips with this, because in order to do this, you have to get to grips with the Heart of the Matter and work there again. For Now, though, more Content seems more like the short-term Plan. I also believe that a really good Fighting Game on the VR is a very ambitious Goal. It's a real shame, because the Ideas are all great, what's still to follow in Fights also sounds very exciting, but the actual Game principle just can't convince me. At least for Now. In Addition, there are several crashes (3 in 20 Minutes). I would give the Game some More time to see if the game mechanics improve a bit in the next Few months. Right now, unfortunately, it's a Refund for me.