Earthlock Review – A Second Chance

Earthlock transforms a nostalgic but flawed turn-based RPG into a worthy entry in the genre, with enough improvements and additions to make it a solid game for both newcomers and fans of the original.

Earthlock
Snowcastle Games
Price: $29.99
Platforms: PC (reviewed), PS4, Xbox One, Switch

In 2016, Snowcastle Games released Earthlock: Festival of Magic. Clearly inspired by classic JRPGs, it found its own identity through its combat mechanics and customization system. However, it suffered from poor story progression and a lack of character development. This year Snowcastle Games released Earthlock, an expanded version (provided to owners of the original for free) that set out to fix the game’s flaws.

The core gameplay of Earthlock remains the same. It features turn-based battles where every character has two stances you can swap between, each of which has up to eight abilities mapped to a button. Characters fight in pairs and can use special attacks when their Bond meter fills up, and you can give each character stat boosts, passive abilities, and new skills by adding Talents to their Talent Boards. Oddly, some of the tutorials show incorrect button prompts, but this is a minor problem in a much-improved game.

There is so much more to do in Earthlock compared to the original. The world map is no longer an empty overworld. Instead, there are scrap piles to scavenge, plants to harvest, buried treasure to find, and creatures to catch for side quests. Several quests have also been added, some of which can be repeated. In addition to fleshing out the content, these side activities also lessen the game’s reliance on level grinding. It still can be challenging at times, but it won’t force you to grind to move ahead.

One of the best parts of the original game was the island where you could grow plants for crafting materials and fast travel to any save point in the game. In Earthlock, it’s better than ever. In addition to growing plants and developing new seeds, it now includes additional crafting, a variety of cute creatures you can bring to the island (either by growing special plants, capturing them, or setting them free in towns and dungeons, depending on the type of creature), and optional character interactions.

Character development was a major place where the original game struggled, but that isn’t true here. The optional conversations provide new insight into the characters and demonstrate their bonds with one another. They feel like a team, a group of characters I could care about. Between that, adjusted characterization, and altered story beats, Earthlock’s plot works significantly better. It’s still the story of a young man named Amon who becomes the target of a dark conspiracy when he finds an ancient artifact, but this time I wanted to follow his journey through to the end.

The Final Word
This expanded edition of Earthlock improves upon the original in almost every way while keeping the best parts intact. If you were disappointed by the story and lack of side content in Earthlock: Festival of Magic, or if you never played the original and love classic turn-based JRPGs, Earthlock is definitely an RPG to keep in mind.

MonsterVine Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 – Great