Mists of Noyah from Pyxeralia and QUByte Interactive promises to bring a dose of survival action to the Xbox. I’m not averse to a survival game, having played a fair few in my time. Makes sense for me to divulge some thoughts then, eh…
Now, I’m going to start with the presentation of Mists of Noyah, as it is a fairly humble looking thing. Presented in a pixel art style, working from a side-on perspective, this is basically a side-on platformer with well designed level layouts and enemies that you will encounter.
The various characters we can choose from all look jolly nice too, complete with a wide range of animations, mainly based around their attacking styles, of which more later. The levels are all a very good size, with many secrets and things to find as you explore, and with a day/night cycle to get used to, the presentation of the game is pretty good.
The sound is equally decent, with monsters making the noises you’d expect, the combat sounds doing likewise, and the music being low key, fading into the background. All in all, not much to complain about here.
The story of Mists of Noyah gives me a little bit more difficulty, to be honest. I don’t really have much of a clue what is going on and all I can tell you is this – we awaken as our chosen character in a deserted fortress, one that has been overrun by corruption. Everything and anything seems to be hostile, and so we have to make our way out of the fortress and find our way back to civilisation – if any still exists. Beyond that, you really are on your own.
The first job you have to accomplish when you start a game is choosing which character to play as, and there are a few on offer. I initially went with Lance, a guy armed with a nifty bow, as I’m a firm believer in peril happening at more than arm’s length! You can also choose from Allure, a strange looking guy with a flaming sword; Ninn, a wizard who uses water; Rhys, who is basically a Paladin; and finally Vylat, a duelist who uses blood magic. A mixed bunch to be sure!
In terms of how the game plays, and again the theme of being on your own continues. The tutorial is completely absent and you are left on your own to, well, survive! This is a bit of a sticking point, though, all joking aside, as the mechanics found in Mists of Noyah are pretty complex, and having some kind of guide would certainly make life easier.
This theme continues on with the crafting system – as you go through the game, missions are unlocked as you level up, and some of these involve crafting wooden armour, as an example. But the crafting interface isn’t awfully intuitive, and again a bit of guidance would have been handy.
Still, enough moaning, let’s have a look at the way that the game plays. It is split into a day/night cycle, and what happens in each part of the day is different. In the daytime, the enemies are a bit weaker, it seems, and the idea is to explore the various levels and gather resources. As you approach various objects in the level, such as trees or rocks, your character gets a prompt over their head, and with a swift press of the Y button, they will chop a tree down or mine ore, as an example. If you manage to build a fishing rod, and find some water, you can even go fishing – an addition that just has to bump the final score, as we all know, a fishing mini game makes any game better. So, gather materials while the sun shines, in addition to fighting off the various creatures that want to do you harm.
Come the night, the whole demeanour of Mists of Noyah changes, as the creatures become a lot more aggressive, and even things like the green slimes that you dispatched easily when the sun was up become much more of a problem. Not to mention the zombies and bats, oh my! The baddies will also make a move on your village, it seems, so fighting them off and keeping everyone safe is your first priority. Or, you know, find a corner and cower in it until the sun rises.
Now, as with any game with RPG leanings, actioning combat with the enemies is a good way of earning EXP points, and as we all know, EXP points equate to levels! As you level up, you get to choose new skills and perks. Perks are a real boon as you can choose to have extra health or attack power, for instance, but you can also have the same perk more than once and the effects stack – so a lot more attack power, for example. Choosing new attacks, skills and the correct perks can really make all the difference to your survivability.
It all comes together to ensure that Mists of Noyah is an interesting proposition, hamstrung by the lack of any kind of handholding. It would be nice to know what we are doing, and why we are doing it, so while in the moment this can be fun, it all feels a bit pointless. With a little more guidance, Mists of Noyah could have been a contender, but it is just too inscrutable for its own good.Â
