VED | PS5 Review

Uncanny, and artistic by design, "VED" comes on the scene boldly spoken and steeped in it's own lore. An immersive experience that melds the world of magic with the world of humans in a technological fantasy driven sense, blending as it does so, turn based combat and visual novel style storytelling with individually voiced characters of interest. 

In it's mythos we find that chaos and order are on the tipping scale, and that two men will forever change, through their choices, the destiny of both worlds. On one hand you have the order keepers known as the Brotherhood of VED, and on the other a technologically advanced organization led by a certain Mr. Tims. To begin with a VED by the name of Dook would defy this brotherhood to save a beloved acquaintance only to be banished from it for his meddling with magic. Leading ultimately to the introduction of a younger lad named Cyrus who would, in his own time, once again take on the destined role of aiding both sides in their endeavors.

Divided into three different types of gameplay elements that include interactive storytelling, story combat, and turn based combat you'll find that VED is a living breathing work of art that would have you questioning whether or not it's AI produced. A huge part of that gameplay loop comes from decision based storytelling. That of which will change the flow and outcome of future chapters as you go along. These narratively driven segments breathe life into the animated artwork that almost moves in a pseudo-realistic manner. Each segment giving up multiple choices onscreen attuned to button presses that will weigh in on the end tally of possible key impacts per chapter.

Choices in the VED story include conversation specific options, options pertaining to tasks, and those that pertain to routes taken. Some are also morally or ethically driven having a much heavier impact on the unfolding plot. On occasion you'll also battle opposing characters within the confines of the story leading to a d20 dice rolling game where magic, defense, and strength tallies hold sway on the end results. 

By rolling the 20-sided die and doing so successfully you'll deal the decisive damage that needs to be done. Marking one of the three action choice types' checkboxes including that of magic, defense, and strength per each roll, and potentially solidifying the victory. That roll and the action choice's coinciding dexterity points which are attributed to each choice will weigh heavily on the outcome. Alternatively failure will result in your character taking a hit. The overall outcome ultimately being determined by who dealt the most successful hits.

Outside of the story lies the world of magic, and in it your choices at hand boil down to exploration, fights, teleportation, and the upgrading of the troglodyte's tree off life with energy points earned from battle. The latter being a way to unlock new abilities for combat. 

Combat in VED is both complicated, and not so complicated by nature. As Cyrus you will be placed on a row of several movement squares in front of a main creature, it's appendages, and sometimes it's minions. Your abilities are each divided up into three sections dependent upon the placement of these row of movement squares. Abilities each cost a certain amount of action points of which you only have four per turn, and have a certain left or right direction assigned to them. 

As you attack the enemy creature/s their planned attack will be highlighted on the row of movement squares underneath you giving you the opportunity to use abilities to move out of the way while dealing damage. Damage itself is divided into a red main health meter for the main enemy/s, and up to two side purple meters tied to appendages or minions. Killing off the purple meter threats will increase damage done to the main threat. As far as your health goes it is only a red meter with limited HP that levels up through your story and combat choices.

Alongside storytelling and battle a diary is kept for reference sake. Detailing the characters, and events. Allowing for smarter choices in each interactive moment. Speaking of smarter choices, you can set the game to story mode difficulty from the start allowing for a first playthrough in which to learn the routes to create the best character outcomes. Combat is obviously less of an issue here. For those of you looking to gain a better understanding of features and mechanics the developer has also added that tutorial system to the OPTIONS menu. Tutorials, themselves, do playout in-game as well.

The Presentation ...

When I first saw VED my first thoughts were that it was using AI art. It has similar animations to AI art, but is less sloppy by comparison. You'll be surprised to know though that it is not AI. This fact was disclosed to me by the developer/publisher. As a visual experience what it does artistically it does it very well. It's like bringing a living drawing to life in a truly uncanny way. At times it can be downright creepy, if I were to be honest. Other than that you get a fitting fantasy soundtrack to go along with it. Package-wise it's like the brain child of Jim Henson & J.K.Rowling. Has a Harry Potter vibe with some cyberpunk aesthetics and some Henson-esque creatures.

The Verdict ...

This game is so unique it's hard to rate it by comparison. Everything from the visual novel approach to the turn based strategy is uniquely this game's. It might be hard to grasp it all at first, but once it clicks you get to enjoy an interesting world filled with interesting characters. The only downside if any is that conversations can be a bit heavy handed, and the lengthy monologues can overstay their welcome. Making characters seem more pompous or arrogant. Even the voice overs sometimes suffer from a monotonous tone that does character building no favors. That being said I'd still recommend it for it's artistic and creative genius, alone.