On May 28th, developer Tiny Bull Studios and publisher DON’T NOD revealed a trailer and demo for their newest game, The Lonesome Guild. I dove into the hour-long demo, and came out both surprised at what game I was reminded of, and ready to find out more about the land of Etere being encroached by a corrupting mist.
A Fable of Cosmic Loneliness
The demo starts as a fable would, with a light traveling across the universe, which ends up unable to find what unknown element it seeks, no matter where it goes. It touches ground in Etere, hoping it can find a cure to what it finally plagues it — loneliness. It turns out this cosmic being isn’t the only one plagued by loneliness when they meet Davinci, who looks like a rabbit but is actually a Bumblebun. Davinci, ever the thinker, names the translucent being before him “Ghost” as they form a fast friendship. With the unpleasant, red mist approaching from all sides, the questions they both have will have to wait until they are in the clear.
Story Mode or Challenge Mode — Your Call
Looking more to soak in the world and narrative than be challenged in combat? The Lonesome Guild offers a Story Mode difficulty offering “a more relaxed experience for those who mainly want to enjoy the story.” in addition to Normal and Hard difficulties. I chose Hard just to see what sort of challenge the game was offering, it’s worth mentioning progress carries over to the full game.
Your party soon grows from the timid, friend-seeking Ghost and inventor, mechanic, astronomer, and all-around optimist, Davinci, to include a total of six party members. In the demo, you’ll soon recruit the skeptical and morose Mr. Fox, who you’ll need to navigate both combat and puzzles. Ghost, as you might imagine, cannot affect the mortal realm like Mr. Fox or Davinci can, but he can possess his teammates (called Joining) to enhance their combat capabilities. While each character can dodge, has their special attack, and can use skills, Ghost is key to a number of battle mechanics, even if they cannot fight directly. Emblazing when asked, filling the Ghost Bar, Activating Support Skills, and unleashing the team’s ultimate attack are all part of combat you’ll have to master should you choose to see this journey through. Even at this early stage in The Lonesome Guild, I was impressed by the depth of combat and how many useful options you were provided with. Additionally, it was really nice to see when I wasn’t controlling a character that they would contribute to the fight and build up their Skill meter – something even triple-A Action RPGs like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth don’t fully commit to. This also means that your allies can be knocked out — hopefully, later in the game, a skill or better equipment introduced so that this doesn’t become problematic. While the enemies did not provide much challenge in Hard mode, one wrong move will deprive you of half your HP. There is a revive system in combat, though I’m not sure if there’s any restriction beyond finding the time to actually get your comrade back on their feet.
Combat That’s Deeper Than It Looks
As this is an action RPG, combat isn’t just about what you do on the battlefield, but how you prepare for your battles as well. You’ll be able to pick up equipment from chests, stat-increasing items, and complete quests, which award gear for your characters. Leveling up provides Skill Points you can assign to unlock new Skills or increase Mr. Fox’s critical rate, or increase the damage of Davinci’s Wrenchammer Skill. It isn’t as simple as that, however, building a relationship is necessary to unlock more of the skill tree.
Relationships aren’t formed overnight, and for your characters, this is done whenever you set up camp, which also refills their health and saves your progress. Sometimes, fireside chatter available to you may just explain the world or let you learn a bit more about why Davinci doesn’t have wings like other Bumblebuns. There are also key conversations when resting at camp where you must choose a dialogue option. While it’s fairly clear cut which answers the hopeful and naive Davinci would like versus which the world-weary Mr. Fox would, I don’t know if dialogue decisions go as far as decreasing your reputation with party members or would cause them to leave your party permanently from this demo. There are also gifts which may mean more to some characters than others, and side quests can help with building friendships.
The Lonesome Guild seems to be equal parts combat and puzzle, which was a good balance from the demo. You’ll find yourself engaging with the Wait command and splitting your party up to navigate block puzzles, activate levers, and use Ghost’s special ability to peer into the past to get through forests, a castle, and more. I will be the first to admit I’m not the greatest puzzler out there, but I seemingly solved the last puzzle of the demo completely randomly (I promise, I tried!)
The Journey Is Just Beginning
The Lonesome Guild is also a gorgeous game. While the demo only showed a forest area, a castle, and an autumn area, it reminded me of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. This comparison isn’t one-to-one, but the diminutive woodland creatures traversing through breathtaking backgrounds, which told me more about the world wordlessly, left an impact. Another similarity is the conversations between cute critters, which talk about very adult problems like loneliness, war, and the effects it has, and religious zealotry. Lastly, seeing characters with very different worldviews come together for a cause all reminded me of Paper Mario, and made me think The Lonesome Guild could be something very special. Unfortunately, the demo ended as a rival/ally saw fit to put forth a challenge, so I can’t say much more about this fascinating game.
The Lonesome Guild releases this Fall on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
