Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch - A Dark Journey of Tactics and Roguelite

When a group of developers decides to create and combine a turn-based tactical experience with a relentless roguelite, it's immediately clear that the game won't be a walk in the park. And that's exactly what the guys at Ocean Drive Studio have achieved with their Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch. The title takes the foundations of the previous installment, Lost Eidolons, throws them into a cauldron full of witches, confused memories, endless runs, and a strong desire to give the player a hard time in every battle. And, we can already tell you, they succeeded.

Plot and Setting of Lost Eidolons: An Awakening Without Memory 

It all begins with Ashe, an unfortunate protagonist with no memory, shipwrecked on a mysterious island, where, to survive, he accepts the help of a witch who binds him to her as her champion. From that moment on, it will be a continuous cycle of fighting, making choices, and powering up with the sole objective of recovering pieces of memory, slowly discovering who he truly is and what led him to that point.

It's a mysterious and dark tale, full of twists, demons, cursed lands, and choices that impact not only the plot but also the game mechanics. All of this certainly doesn't revolutionize its genre, but the atmosphere is there and works great.

Tactical Combat and Roguelite Mechanics: The Beating Heart

It's on the gameplay side that Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch  shows its muscles. We're talking about turn-based grid battles, in the style of Fire Emblem and XCOM, but with the addition of a strong roguelite component; which means you will die many times during your runs and consequently will be forced to start over from scratch.

You will have a group of 9 different characters, 5 available immediately and 4 to unlock during runs by completing certain objectives. Each of them has unique classes, skills, and progression paths. Furthermore, each character will unlock multiple abilities, artifacts that will significantly influence strategy and approach to battle, and persistent upgrades that substantially power up and help make each new attempt lighter.

Every time a character levels up during a run, they acquire new abilities, in the form of cards, which can be normal, epic, or mythical class, and also at the end of battles there may be the possibility of finding some special gems that can be used to upgrade equipment, also with their own class, and which will greatly change the continuation of the run itself. Depending on where these gems are set, special attacks, powerful spells, and passive abilities can be unlocked.

With each attempt, you will face different situations that will require tactics and strategy, as the environment changes each time. Elemental interactions and environmental hazards will also play an important role. The system works great: character positioning in battle matters just enough, exploiting the terrain to your advantage also, and as already mentioned, each character can evolve in different ways. The only real problem? Sometimes the luck factor weighs too heavily: the risk of drawing the wrong card or encountering unfavorable events will too significantly affect the evolution of the run.

Fortunately, death will not be permanent, and with each demise, you will return to the base city where, thanks to the materials recovered during the runs, you can permanently upgrade the classes of your fighters or unlock the protagonist's memories. And then you're ready for another attempt. Unfortunately, after a few runs, the sense of repetitiveness sets in due to paths that, although branched, will sometimes lead to similar encounters, given the limited variety of enemies to face and scenarios present in the game.

In addition to this, the balancing element could also be a problem, especially for those unfamiliar with the genre: especially in the first attempts, the difficulty level and the learning curve tend a bit too high, leading to moments of frustration. Fortunately, after just a few runs, persistent upgrades, unlocking new characters, and learning the mechanics tend to balance these initial moments of discouragement. The real big obstacle encountered, and which influences our final score, is the time each run requires: if initially, as previously mentioned, they will be very short due to premature death caused by the characters' weakness, once a high power level is reached, subsequent attempts, even just to defeat the first boss, will require much, much more time. So arm yourself with patience and clear your schedule, because reaching the end of the perfect run will not be a walk in the park. Perhaps creating stages with fewer enemies would have accelerated and made everything lighter and at the same time more enjoyable: nothing that a good patch cannot fix anyway.

Graphics, Audio, and Technical Department 

Graphically, the game doesn't aim for photorealism, preferring a more stylized, dark, and consistent look with the setting. It works well, although it certainly won't leave you speechless. Combat animations are decent, not always super fluid, but they make the action clear and functional. On PlayStation 5, the version we tested, it runs very well, even during the most hectic moments. Music and atmosphere are perfectly in theme with the game's style. Cultists, monsters, demons, and witches, all well-rendered. The character voice acting is of the same quality level.  As for the text, the title is fully translated into Italian.  Regarding longevity, it's difficult to estimate the time needed to complete the adventure; everything will depend on you, your skills, and your patience. But we are still talking about many hours.

Who Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is For

Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is not your typical relaxed couch RPG. It's a game that grabs you, throws you to the ground, makes you lose, and tells you: "try again, but smarter this time." If you like that mix of tactics, difficulty, and persistent progression typical of roguelites, you might have a lot of fun here. Of course, it's not perfect: the random component sometimes weighs too heavily, runs always take a long time, and the variety of maps could be improved. But if you get into the right mood, it becomes a title that captivates you with its "death – progress – rebirth" loop. In short: not for everyone, but for those who love challenges, it's a little dark gem to keep an eye on.