ADORE | PS5 Review

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie it's ADORE!!! Just kidding, lol! Adore is a very serious matter. It's a bold and brazen Brazilian indie in which the developers at Cadabra Games implemented their own take on the staple monster capture gimmick often times associated with gameplay experiences like those featured in Pokemon. It went from being a roguelike initially to being a story driven action RPG with monster mastering mechanics. Set in a world with two warring Gods, and a people known simply as Adorers, Adore aims to capture the gamers' heart. 

As with all storied adventures, Adore begins with a backstory. Caught up in the aftermath of the downfall of their adored God Draknar at the hands of Ixer, a lone individual among the tribe of Adorers is blessed with the last divine essence, unknowingly. Destined to be Draknar's host body, and eventual means with which to end Ixer's usurped reign. A role not to be taken lightly. Thankfully, as the chosen Adorer Lukha has the innate power to tame and use creatures to fight for him. Cannon fodder of the creature kind.

As the fated Adorer hero Lukha you find yourself in the mix of something bad early on. Facing off against Ixer in a surprise encounter only to fall, and be instantaneously resurrected by Draknar, himself. Draknar, it seems, has unfinished business and throne to reclaim. You are, for better or worse, caught up in that plot as you are the unknowing host to Draknar's divine essence. With Draknar on your side, and your ability to control creatures you are set to face off against the God of the end, Ixer. With the aid of fellow villagers this task will be made even more possible. Through quests, expeditions, and the leveling up of your army of captured creatures you'll be able to face anything that stands in your way. Be it a legendary creature or a God.

As Lukha your abilities are limited but extend outward to summoned creatures that you capture using a staff tethered method. You can perform an evasive roll with no penalty to stamina, and can use your staff to release a beam that connects to creatures' sweet spot, and pulls their energy outward towards you until it meets the outer perimeter of the energy cone's radius. Ultimately capturing the creature, and enabling you to call it forth to release an attack or special attack when charged. Further enabling for the calling back of said creatures at a press of a button to mitigate any damage that might be taken. 

These creatures that you control in the lands of Gaterdrik are each assigned for ease of access to the controller's four face buttons. At any given time you can only have four creatures assigned for summoning, and can only summon them on cooldown. The rest stay at the village sanctuary where they can heal from becoming cursed (losing all health) or lie in wait until you are ready to use them. Creatures in the game come in three rarities that each take from one to three particles, respectively, for capture. The rarer the creature the more stages to the capture process are needed. 

Along with the basic attacks, and special attacks creatures you capture can be synergized with each other building upon their basic abilities. Assigning their elemental/spiritual alignment to add to their attacks when summoned in tandem with another creature will effectively create a synergy effect that triggers when two synergized creatures are called upon. In regards to summoning said creatures, using the two bar stamina meter will allow you to let loose up to two creatures at a time putting to use their synergy, and capitalizing on their boosted attacks against cursed creatures. 

Other things outside of creature combat include the relics, runes, and meals that can be cooked using ingredients found while out on quests, expeditions, or other task oriented objectives. Relics, themselves, are purchased using the found gold currency. You can buy them from Baldin at the village, or sometimes find them in quests. With Baldin's assistance you can even upgrade, and modify these perk inclusive relics using found ingredients. Relics, are basically, charms with boosts to certain features tied to both Lukha and his army of creatures. 

In addition to Baldin there exists Bellina, and she acts as the resident cook preparing meals for a price plus ingredients. Something that can stave off death as Lukha does have a health bar to deal with. Beyond that there exists a rune tree which acts as the game's skill tree. Here, placing found runes will buff Lukha's performance attributes. Things like speed, stamina, and health. While out on quests these things can also be temporarily buffed by picking up particles, and choosing one of two temporary upgrades. The difference between the two options being the rune tree offers permanent upgrades whereas the quest upgrades only offer temporary bonuses. Last, but not least the village elder acts as your go to guy for synergy management. With his help you can pick elemental alignments, and assign them to designated creatures building upon their attack abilities in battle when called out at the same time.

About Gameplay ...

Seeing as "Adore" is story driven quests will mostly have you meeting objectives at the behest of NPC characters or Draknar, himself. They are basically fetch quests with a required checklist of achievements for completion sake. Each area despite the region or mode type (Quest, Expedition, etc.,) will be randomly generated pathways with triggering mechanisms, cursed creatures, collectible items, and branching doorways that eventually lead to an exit back to the village refuge. Goal-wise each sectioned off area is only deemed complete when the required objectives are met. Whether it's clearing out all cursed creatures, lighting up platform mechanisms, or facing off against legendary creatures/bosses.

 When accessing the map of Draknar's world you will find listed the region, optional quests/side quests, and the payout for venturing into each biome within their respective modes. Most quests or objectives are short lived with only the legendary creature and boss battles extending gameplay efforts due to their additional challenge.

The Presentation ...

Visually 'Adore' has been likened to League of Legends, and I can definitely see how it compares. It is a isometric semi-top down action RPG with cartoonish characters, and a colorful world enhanced by the presence of creatures, and the crumbling environments around it. The game does include some light animations and cinematic sequences outside of the gameplay loop, but nothing grand in scale or scope. Still the game harbors a noteworthy artistic design, and a soundtrack that borders on being Western and fantasy. 

The Verdict ...

Adore is an addictive, and fun action RPG that can be picked up, and put down at any time due to its segmented gameplay loop. You will find in it 39 creatures that you can capture, name, and utilize as an extension of your abilities as an Adorer as well as variants of each. It's these simple, but effect mechanics and features that make the game shine. Rewarding the masterful use of what's provided with ample rewards, and level up opportunities. My only complaint, if any, is that I would have loved to have seen this game as a roguelike. I'm not knocking if for being what it is, because it's still really good, but the replay value roguelikes bring with them could have extended this game, indefinitely. If you haven't yet picked it up or played it Adore gets my seal of approval. It is a good game through and through. A polished indie with Pokemon-esque twist.