Testament: The Order of High Human
Gameffine presents Testament: The Order of High Human. Jay takes a critical look at Testament: The Order of High Human, the indie fantasy action game by Fairyship Games
Product Brand: Fairyship Games
Product Currency: USD
Product Price: $8.99
Product In-Stock: InStock
4.6
I have a reputation as a jank enthusiast in the hush-hush corners of the Indian gaming community. I take pride in saying “janky games are my forte”. Stuff like Gothic 3, Shadow of Chernobyl (unmodded- yes!), Deadly Premonition, Pathologic, The Sinking City, etc. is right up my alley. I love these unpolished gems for the same reasons as other fans. Despite the crude exterior, they have a lot of redeeming qualities. It might be a killer story, emergent gameplay, or the fun factor that makes these games worth cherishing. On the other hand, there are games like Testament: The Order of High Human. Games that, despite showing a lot of promise, fall flat due to poor execution and end up being a tedious slog.
Usually, I don’t like to shit on smaller projects like these, but Testament: The Order of High Human left me feeling sad, bored and disappointed all at the same time. So much so that I some tough love might be in order for the developer’s next venture. Here’s our Testament: The Order of High Human review.
Raining on the Parade
I first caught a glimpse of Testament: The Order of High Human during the last Steam Next Fest. While rough around the edges, the demo gave off the impression of the final build being a labor of love taking inspiration from classics like Dark Messiah of Might & Magic and The Elder Scrolls. Sure, I didn’t expect the game to match the production values of a big-budget game but I at least thought that the full release would take the demo feedback into consideration to deliver a game worth its hefty asking price. Instead, what they delivered is a mediocre action game with impactless combat, a generic story, awful voice acting, and a campaign that’s too long for its own good.
In Testament: The Order of High Human, you play as Aran, a fallen High Human god-king who was tasked by a sect of higher beings with protecting the humans of the realm. Your brother Arva turns on his Loki-mode and plunges the realm into darkness. Stripped of your powers, it is up to you to reclaim what was lost and stop Arva and the tide of darkness.
The story is easily the worst part of Testament: The Order of High Human. I can stand the fact that it’s generic but it’s the poor presentation, cringeworthy dialogues, and awful performances reminiscent of a mid-2000s budget game. There’s not a single character in the game worth caring about and the main character in particular is the most bland protagonist I’ve seen in a game this year. It’s sad really because it’s evident that the team has put much effort into fleshing out the lore of the game world in copious detail. A good narrative would have elevated generic story beats. But the amateur writing and poor voice acting take a big crap all over the game.
Sleeping Pill
The gameplay of Testament: The Order of High Human doesn’t fare any better. While it’s evident that the game is inspired by the aforementioned classics, it comes across as a budget imitator at best. The marketing boasts such feats like “skill-based combat”, “grand XP system”, “exciting platforming” and more yet it the game has none of these.
Testament: The Order of High Human is composed of three main elements- combat, exploration, and puzzles. The melee combat in the game is an absolute snooze-fest that’s not a bit satisfactory. The two-button melee combat is as basic as they get. Attacks feel impactless, combos are unresponsive and clunky, have poor hit feedback, and are accompanied by lackluster sound effects. Despite boasting a skill tree, the combat never gets any better. What’s the point of unlocking new skills if none of them feel satisfying to use?
Magic and Archery fare a little better as there are a few unlockable spells and different types of arrowheads available. But even they require a lot of skill point investment to feel serviceable and they too suffer from the clunkiness. Speaking of skills, despite featuring a skill tree that is divided into the three combat styles, you can’t really make a specific “build” in the game. You are forced to put skill points into things you don’t want in one tree (if you can call it that) to unlock skills in the other trees. All playthroughs essentially end up being the same. There’s no choice. Heck, there’s not even an illusion of choice.
The store page of the game says that the game has Metroidvania elements in it but that’s quite a stretch if you ask me. Other than fast traveling back to the odd blocked-off areas to get stuff you won’t really use, exploration is highly linear. With some exceptions, you’ll be making your way from point A to point B in a straight line. There is also quite a bit of platforming in the game. Movement and platforming do have some clunkiness to them but I’ve seen worse. I was basically on autopilot by the time I had reached the third area and learned to shut off the logical area of the brain and decided to embrace the blandness to get the job done.
Sigh of Relief
Not everything is terrible in the game. The visuals, for example, look quite decent and there’s an appreciable amount of variety in the levels themselves. You’ll get to visit murky forests, fruitful fields, ancient ruins, advanced temples, and more. The texturework is great and so are some of the first-person animations. There is also a lot of puzzle-solving in the game which I found to be a welcome change from the mundane nature of combat. While some of the bigger puzzles can be a bit obtuse, most of them give your brain something to do. That’s gotta count toward something.
Real Talk
Is Testament: The Order of High Human so bad to warrant a 2/10 like IGN gave it? Eh, there are certainly worse games out there. Rather than being outright terrible, the problem with Testament is that everything is mediocre to the point of being utterly boring. The ideas are there but it doesn’t quite stick the landing. At least, the game is perfectly playable from start to finish. Definitely not worth the asking price and as it currently stands, not worth your time either. Hopefully, the developer can come up with a more cohesive product the second time around.
FINAL RATING: 46/100