Alterium Shift Has Classic RPG Potential

You can tell Alterium Shift is an early access RPG. It’s got all the bones there - a decent combat system, an interesting world, a neat premise - but there’s definitely still work to go before it feels like a full fledged worth-your-time RPG. TDespite it’s few flaws however, there’s still already a lot to love in this charming adventure.

The first immediately noticeable (and immediately enjoyable) aspect of this game is the lovely sprite work and animation. While Alterium Shift definitely hearkens back to the 16 bit days of old, there’s a larger than life joy found in the gentle sway of the bushes and trees as a gust of wind meanders through town. Your character doesn’t just run around the world - there’s a pep in their step as they move about the space, accompanied by some terrifically nostalgic background tunes. 

Animations in battle are just as crisp. Combat is fairly typical of what you’d expect here, with battle actions spreading across regular attacks, a myriad of skills and items to use. You have status effects, HP and MP equivalent, level ups with stat increases - you know the drill.

Starting out you have an option of choosing from 3 distinct characters, all of which have their own goals and are all present in the world, which is a cool twist. The other 2 heroes may or may not join up with you at some times and not others depending on their own paths, giving them a feeling of agency you don’t normally get with companion style characters. Any one of them (or all of them in some ways!) can be the protagonist of this story, each with their own special skills and interactions across this charming world.

While we have some lovely pixel art breathing life into these characters, the world itself has a cool 2.5D style, making the game feel very diorama-esque. This does come with a few issues; sometimes it’s tough to tell where you should and shouldn’t be able to go, and the world design itself can be somewhat confusing as a result. There’s getting lost in a fun way and getting lost in an annoying way - this game straddles both in its current state. There’s also plenty of branched off areas that feel like redundant dead ends. This is easily forgivable for early access in the hopes the world gets more filled out down the road, but even just a clearer map of where you are in relation to the area you are exploring would go a long way to resolve this.

I’ve only played a couple of hours as Pyra, the resident spear and fire wielding melee character, so far - however the game splits up saves into different slots for each character, so it’s clear that playing through different character's stories in chunks is probably key to unraveling this story and world.

I’ll be keen to see how Alterium Shift continues to evolve - there’s definitely the spark of something cool here with plenty of charm to boot, which I really hope the small dev team can pull together to create something truly special.