Swords and Souls: Neverseen – Review (PC)

By Phil Neyman Last updated Jun 5, 2019

Swords and Souls: Neverseen takes everything that made the original game good and takes it to the next level. Fans of the first entry have been looking for new content for quite some time and, with a 15 million player fanbase, Soul Games and Armor Games finally delivered. Bigger and better than its predecessor, Neverseen is full of addicting gameplay that will keep you playing for hours.

It’s a tale as old as time. You find yourself shipwrecked in an unknown land and have to rid the indigenous people of the evil witch by collecting four powerful relics that have either disappeared or been stolen. In order to accomplish this massive feat you’ll need to level up your character and rid the island of wave after wave of baddies until you reach your journey’s end.

As your adventure begins you’ll start by creating your character, after which you’ll be thrust straight into your first battle. Of course you’ll fail and be sent directly to training. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.

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Gameplay consists of a multitude of mini games camouflaged as training and the battles themselves. One of the strengths of Neverseen is they never throw too much at you at once. To start, you’ll only have the ability to upgrade your melee and defensive abilities. All minigames require you to use the mouse or the directional buttons on the keyboard. Leveling up your melee combat will require you to use the directional buttons as you attack whatever they throw at you from the left, right or above.

Defensive training is quite different. You’ll use the mouse to control your shield and use it to deflect anything coming at you. Each training is designed to enhance your skill in those areas and this becomes the core way that you’ll increase the stats of your character.

As you increase your skills you’ll be more prepared in battle where you’ll earn money that can be used to buy and unlock a plethora of things (including new levels where you can train). You’ll be able to learn ranged attacks, magic, and better your agility in battle by consistently returning and training in each area.

The minigames include objectives that add even more bonus points, enabling you to level up even faster. Each training will let you go on for as long as you’d like and, when you build up a nice rhythm, it feels like you are accomplishing something. You’ll never believe how fast your fingers can actually move. Other ways to increase your stats include upgrading your camp where you do all of your training and by building yourself a house. Each piece that you add at either location costs incrementally more, so you’ll need to earn a ton of currency in order to complete both.

Progressing through the game will unlock new locations that you can visit in order to acquire various items to help you on your quest. Some of these include the tavern, where you’ll hire party members to go out with you for a limited number of turns, a blacksmith that will sell you new and improved melee and ranged weapons, and a market where you’ll purchase potions and elixirs to help keep you alive during battle. You’ll need to visit each location frequently in order to give your character a fighting chance against the forces of evil. There’s even a museum you can visit that houses all the books that you collect, the fish that you catch, and offers various perks for you to stop by and collect. You’ll receive extra coins there that you’ll want to make sure you pick up. You can even invest in the museum and earn extra coins for doing so. There’s a magic mushroom that you feed shamrocks to in order to receive items in return. Sounds pretty nuts doesn’t it? Well, it is. On paper, Neverseen sounds like a witch’s brew of ridiculous ideas. But when they all come together the game is incredibly fun.

So, you’ve trained and trained and feel confident enough to head out and take on the hordes of enemies that await you. This is where the game shines. The battle system starts out simple enough and builds into a complex combination of offense, defense, and magic that will make you feel like your conducting a symphony. At the beginning of the game you have offense and defense. When it’s your turn your character will automatically attack. By clicking the left button on the mouse, you can defend your enemy’s advances. Hitting the button at just the right second will even cause you to perform a counterattack. You need to use these wisely because you only have a certain number available. They replenish after a cooldown period but, in the heat of battle, this can feel like an eternity.

In time, as you continue to train and earn new abilities, you’ll be switching between melee attacks, ranged attacks, defense, lightning, fire, and a plethora of other abilities all working together to complete each arena and collect the treasure that awaits after taking out each boss. For every boss that you defeat you’ll receive a crown that will be added to your trophy room in the museum for you to marvel. You’ll feel like Scrooge McDuck as you sift through your newfound treasure. At the end of each chapter is a main boss that, upon defeat, will yield whichever hero treasure is in their possession as you make your way to a final showdown with the witch.

Recommendation

Swords and Souls: Neverseen is an example of what a sequel should be. It takes the core of the original and makes it better in every way. With ten+ hours of addictingly fun gameplay and plenty of training, fishing, and other minigames to break up the complexity of the battles, you’ll never feel bored even when the game becomes fairly grindy in the latter stages. If you’re looking for something original to play in a crowded sea of new releases, look no further than Swords and Souls: Neverseen. It’s easily one of the most fun games released this year. The humor and gameplay will keep you entertained for hours and have you coming back for more.