Testament: The Order of High Human Preview
Have you ever walked into a house where the decor was a mismatched mishmash of styles? You know, a modern sofa paired with a farmhouse table and chair that looked like it dropped in from the 1950s. Oh, and against the wall, an unfinished Ikea bookshelf that looked like it was one knickknack away from collapse. I thought of that as I played through the preview of Testament: The Order of High Human, an upcoming, first-person action adventure RPG.
Now, a disparate collection of styles can be funky and charming, too, and Testament is also working that angle. It brings to mind a first-person style Soulslike, Skyrim (of course), and a dozen other fantasy, sword, and sorcery games. It’s made by a small team with pretty grand ambitions. Sometimes, that gets developers in trouble. Mission creep almost always translates into missing features or a lack of polish in many areas.
A Tale of Two Brothers
Testament: The Order of High Human starts with an epic, high fantasy tale that might not be incredibly original, but has some meat on its animated skeletal bones. Stories of warring siblings are as old as storytelling itself. In Testament, Aran is king of the High Humans and was betrayed by his brother, Arva. Aran awakens — and begins the game — powerless. The kingdom of Tessara is in the throes of an apocalypse thanks to Arva. Aran must defeat his brother to restore the kingdom. There is a lot of talky exposition and narrative complication, much of it still in need of a ruthless editor with an ear for understatement.
The game’s voice acting doesn’t help sell the story. Some of it’s decent. Other characters can’t seem to decide which dialect or accent to use. The small team and modest production values also show up in the repetitive sounds that enemies make.
The Scent of Skyrim
Skyrim — and the Elder Scrolls games in general — do a lot of things well, but combat isn’t necessarily one of them, so developers need to be cautious if those games are a model. Remember the creaky Ikea bookshelf that didn’t quite come together? Melee combat, ranged combat, and magic are like that in Testament, at least at this stage of development. Swordplay has almost no impact and is maddeningly imprecise. Some basic action game mechanics like blocking and parrying are nowhere to be found. Though in short supply, arrows do a decent job of softening targets at distance, but melee encounters are just not much fun. There isn’t a character creator or pre-rolled classes, but I’d pour my points into ranged magic.
Part of the issues are the laggy and imprecise controls, which work only most of the time. Getting around the environment is sometimes a pleasure, when the game’s unexpected parkour and platforming work well. At other times, inputs that don’t work or easily misread jumps are incredibly frustrating. One of my biggest game gripes is titles that are built around platforming, then fail to really polish the mechanic.
It’s a Man’s World
Testament: The Order of High Human is billed as having a post-apocalyptic setting, but it strikes me as standard fantasy. Its wooden huts, stone keeps, shadowy dungeons, and polished marble puzzle rooms are familiar elements. At least in the limited preview build, I didn’t see any imaginative new enemies or surprising architecture. That’s not to say it’s bad, though as of now the game’s textures and character models are a bit rough.
Testament: The Order of High Human is not without some new ideas, like adding puzzle platforming to a first-person fantasy RPG. The biggest hurdle for the game to overcome right now is a lack of polish and refinement with controls and combat. Fans of indie games understand they’re often playing a work in progress. Hopefully, at some point Testament: The Order of High Human’s collection of ideas will coalesce into something really special.
