I know the point of early access is to build a game up with community input. But I firmly believe there should be a base standard before a game is released into early access. Especially when there’s a price tag on the game. That is part of why I won’t be recommending Eresys to anyone at this current point. But I’ll get to that later. Before I talk about the game, I just want to say a special thank you to Kalum, Amber, and Gary, who joined me to play.
What is Eresys?
Eresys is yet another Lovecraft-inspired game, though this one can be played either solo or with up to 4 players total. This is the second Lovecraftian game from Ares Dragonis and Dragonis Games, having previously made The Shore.
A deranged former cultist has opened a void portal on a secluded island. Lovecraftian horrors have poured through, already claiming many lives. You and your fellow cultists must team up to send these creatures back to where they came from. This involves finding pages, creating blood orbs, and making offerings.
Too early access?
I’ve been telling myself over and over that this is early access. It’s nowhere near a finished game. But that doesn’t solve the problems that my friends and I encountered. One thing that has not left my mind since we played was the confusion everyone felt about this actually being available to buy. Which is something that we all take issue with.
Eresys is undeniably broken. The game is full of bugs from the get-go. Yes, to an extent that’s to be expected. However, not everything can be excused as just a feature of early access. There was an entire section of cliff that was completely glitched, causing us to fall through the map. Originally it was just myself and Kalum, however Amber and Gary couldn’t reach us to pick up our heads OR the book Kalum had been carrying. So they took one for the team, and joined us in the glitched cliff. There was also a deer that kept glitching out all over the map. At least we could laugh together at that.
The problems with Eresys
Unfortunately, that was the only one we could really laugh at. There were no save points, so even though we were all playing together consistently, once everyone died, that was it. We lost all our progress. All the pages we had found. Everything. Hand in hand with this went actually dying itself. One hit from any of the creatures was an instant death. Even if the eye on your screen said you were concealed, they would still see you and kill you. Literally the only way to escape was get into a safe house. On top of this, one of the spawn points actually leaves you in an area that has creatures. Instant death.
There is an in-game communication system, and it turns on every time you load into the game. However, the audio quality is awful, so our group opted to use discord to communicate instead. We just had to keep reminding each other to turn off the in-game mics, as there was no setting to keep it off.
On top of all of that, there is no map, mini map, compass, or hud of any kind. The map is extremely difficult to navigate, and it gets even worse if you try it solo. Truth be told, I have no idea at all how this game could be viable in single player in any way. It doesn’t have anything to make a difference, there are still missing features.
Final thoughts on Eresys, for now
I love my friends, and I would not have managed to play this game without them. Eresys is completing lacking on all fronts, and the only way to experience any enjoyment is with friends. Here’s the thing, it’s written on the Steam page (at the time of writing) that the developers only plan to work on this for 6-8 more months before full release. They’ve also said there will be a price increase on full release also.
I’ve played even since the latest updates, and it has NOT gotten any better. Based on everything that I have played, both solo and with my friends, I can’t really see a solid future for this game. I will check back in the future, when more work has been done. But for now? No thank you.
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