Video Game Review - Drova: Forsaken Kin

Drova: Forsaken Kin, a grim dark pixel ARPG that’s not afraid to see you wander off alone within its unforgiving wasteland…

I’m not going to lie, when I first stumbled into the gothic world of Drova: Forsaken Kin I thought I was in for a rough time. From a quick explanation of how to defend yourself, you’re then thrown into the thick of it with zero handholding. Where you go and what you do is completely up to you. All you have to guide you is the fleeting words of your character's companion and your sense of adventure. With no map to guide you, and no waypoints for you to follow, the world of Drova is yours for the taking. 

The epic story of Drova takes place within a harsh Celtic/Slavic-gothic land. You’re a stranger within this world as you’ve been pulled into a vast conspiracy that all started when your character witnessed the druids of their village stealing a crystal with magical powers. With the druids dead, you’re then thrown into the world of Drova to reunite the crystal with its owner in the city of Nemeton. What comes next is anything by simple as you’ll meet the vast array of characters who inhabit Drova, and learn of their struggles in this world. And maybe you’ll become the next legend along the way. 

Drova is an old-school ARPG through and through. There’s no signposting or handholding at all and you’re left to your whits as to where to go and what to do. You are given a map, however, it’s completely blank and can only be filled if you’re savvy enough to buy some ink from a merchant you meet shortly after your arrival. As such you’ll learn of points of interest from the people you meet, and the factions you can end up working for. Naturally, these also come with a price as working with some factions will alter your path in the world and the citizens will react accordingly. 

With any good RPG, there’s always a wealth of skills and talents to back you up along the journey, and with Drova this is no different. Skills here work in two ways those that you learn through combat, and those that are taught to you. As you start to use weapons you’ll gain proficiency with them which in turn will allow you to learn better skills with them. This proficiency is governed by a simple level-up bar which needs to be filled to reach the next level with that item or spell. Most of the time you’ll be battling enemies within melee combat, but Drova also allows for ranged combat in the way of bows and spells. What was interesting for me was with bow combat it make you line up two lines every time you fire. This gives the impression of your character lining up their shot rather than working on autopilot. Nautically, missing these does mean your arrows will go wide - so best not to rely on them in close range. 

Thankfully you can freely switch between two weapon sets which allows you to mix and match weapons for both ranged and close-range enemies. It certainly helps to keep some enemies at range as Drova doesn’t display any indication as to how powerful its range of enemies is. You simply won’t know you’re outmatched until you start fighting. Combat itself is fairly straightforward. You’ll be blocking and dodging blows, while you attempt to land your own. While the combat is pretty fun, it’s also quite tough. I wouldn’t say that it’s unbalanced but a few mid-timed moves will see you thrown back to the nearest checkpoint. You’ll need to take your time and more than make sure that you’re ready for every encounter. 

Despite being an indie title, Drova: Forsaken Kin feels like an RPG with a much larger budget. The world is teaming with life with a great atmosphere. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to discover which coupled with the “explore at your own pace” feel gives plenty of additional run time. There’s also an abundance of loot to discover with most having some purpose to them, and for those who like to experiment with food, there are plenty of recipes to find too. 

When it comes to presentation the pixel art style invokes the retro feel of the 16-bit. It’s hard not to compare Drova to the likes of Gothic, Final Fantasy, and Phantasy Star but it’s exactly that. Drova: Forsaken Kin is a charming title that pulls you into its world across its 40-50+ hour journey. 

Overall Drova: Forsaken Kin is my must-play RPG of 2024. It’s a beautiful grim dark fantasy, that’s set within a world teamed with depth. The atmosphere pulls you into its gothic world while its simple yet intuitive mechanics keep you on your toes. While some may see the lack of handholding as a problem, Drova: Forsaken Kin is better for it - simply pick a direction and see what stories you can uncover. 

Rating 8.5/10 

A code was kindly provided for this review

Drova: Forsaken Kin is available now and can be purchased via the PlayStation 5 Store (version reviewed)