Playing Tanzia is a bit like jumping into a time machine and travelling back to an era where consoles still needed memory cards and DVD playback was all the rage. Everything from the cheesy soundtrack to the visuals that look like they’ve had the old-gen HD treatment makes you feel like you’ve traded your Nintendo Switch in for a sixth gen machine.
It’s both a compliment and a criticism, and one that sums up the consistent sense of duality within Arcanity Inc’s indie odyssey. There’s no doubting the studio’s ambition with this title: there’s the levelling system of an RPG; the melee and ranged combat of a hack-’n-slash; and the sandbox exploration of a 3D platformer. There’s a lot to admire here, but the problem is there are just too many ingredients in the pot and it leaves the whole experience lacking one area where it truly shines.
You play a shamanistic prodigy who will have to shake off the shackles of youth and stop the invasion of the dastardly Skeleton King. So yes, the story is very silly, but there’s a real sense of charm to it. Most of the characters you’ll encounter don’t have voiceover, but the narration that links the comic book-style story segments of its roughly ten-hour-long campaign offers a quaint yet dramatic edge. It’s not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, but you can really see the influence of classic cutesy platformers informing dialogue, level design and its overall feel. Some of its monster designs are also really impressive, despite the HD remaster-esque sheen assets often possess.
There are some problems, though, and they can make playing through Tanzia’s story an unnecessary chore. When you do find yourself in combat, the hit detection - or the absence of a reliable hitbox - can make fighting both single foes and groups an exercise in perpetual frustration. You can hold ‘ZL’ to lock onto an opponent, making the ranged power of its spells a little easier to direct, but the same feature doesn’t make hand-to-hand battles any more palatable. You’re often just swinging your chosen tool at a group of enemies in front of you, hoping their health depletes before yours does the same.
There’s also a real lack of feedback to every strike you unleash and spell you cast. Combat serves a key part of a game that’s trying so hard to spin an action-RPG plate among many others, but every swing of the various weapons on offer lacks some much-needed heft. Its acrobatic movement and fighting are a little reminiscent of Legend of Kay Anniversary, but much like that actual HD remaster, these elements never leave an impression or mark that makes Tanzia stand out from the crowd.
You can purchase multiple spells and switch between them at will via an inventory bar that’s always on-screen - it’s a nice touch to be able to flit between each one during battle, but considering you have both a mana bar and a cooldown timer for each one, fights too often descend into periods where you're dodging attacks while waiting for a spell to finally become available again. Juggling two conflicting systems robs Tanzia of the fun its magic elements should bring in abundance, and simply adds another problematic element to the game’s combat model.
There are also a number of instances where the game feels a little too reminiscent of the PC version. Everything from the word ‘hotkey’ being used to refer to its spell inventory, to the fact there’s a ‘Save As’ option when you save in the menu, leaves a little to be desired considering this version has been developed specifically for Switch. There’s no denying the indie studio behind this multi-faceted adventure has poured its heart and soul into an ambitious project, but this doesn’t play like a game that has had the right amount of final polish to get away with a full asking price on console.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to like about Tanzia. It’s an indie game that’s set its ambitions high, boasting DNA from action-RPGs, 3D platformers and more. It’s very much a throwback to a time when those genres were very different beasts, but it's a love letter riddled with many of the problems modern iterations have shed. However, if you can look past the fact it often looks and plays like an HD remaster, you’ll find some creative monster designs and a fantastical world bursting with heartfelt charm.
Comments 19
Am I understanding it right that they released a port of a game still in Early Access? Wow.
"Looking to the past" of graphical achievement. This looks like an early Gamecube or PS2 title.
"it is straight-up port of the version currently available on PC"
That is not finished. Basically trying to get early access money without telling people.
"Playing Tanzia is a bit like jumping into a time machine and travelling back to an era where consoles still needed memory cards..."
What, like that old machine, the Nintendo Switch? 😉
Hi, this is Matias, one of Tanzia's devs. I just wanted to make clear that Tanzia on Switch is not a port of the Early Access version of Tanzia on PC, we finished and optimized 100% the game on Switch and now the PC build is catching up to that one. What you get to play on Switch is finished and optimized to run on the console.
@ArcanityInc Thabks for clearing that up.
@ArcanityInc thanks for the info. That is good to know. I like the look of this and that info has swayed me. Cheers
lol cue the stream of updates bringing this up to par
@Stocksy Thank you for changing your mind! All of our players are loving the game and commenting on our Facebook page. We're a little perplexed about the disparity between what our players tell us and what the "pro" reviewers say...
@ArcanityInc the criticism of the “dated” graphics both here and elsewhere I find a little confusing - I’ve watched videos and don’t get where that’s coming from and have no issue with the art style at all.
Good luck with it and I hope it goes well.
@Stocksy Thank you! We really appreciate that : )
@ArcanityInc Thank you for the information, this game has been on my wishlist since I saw it in the Switch eShop thanks to it looking like a love letter to the PS2/GameCube era of gaming. Clearing up that it's 100% done has me chomping at the bit to grab it! Good job to you and your team.
@ObeliskDrakon Thank you! It really means a lot to hear that : )
Pretty big undertaking for a fledgling studio, but it really seems like they've pulled everything together!
Hoping for all the future Steam version updates to also arrive on Switch.
Sorry, but when the combat is that screwed up, that's a definite deal-breaker for any action-RPG. I'll pass.
@Pod Every future update will go to all platforms, Switch, Steam and Xbox One : ) Thank you!
@BulbasaurusRex People are having a lot of fun with Tanzia's combat, it looks like it wasn't this reviewer's cup of tea. But it's definitely not broken. Check Capital Vices playing the beta, he's incredible https://www.twitch.tv/cvttv/v/62083680 and https://www.twitch.tv/cvttv/v/76624653.
@ArcanityInc
That's great to hear! Keep up the good work.
@ArcanityInc Are you saying the hit detection problem is just the reviewer's imagination? That alone is a dealbreaker, and it's not something you can dismiss as just not being someone's cup of soda.
Anyway, I watched the videos, and they only serve to highlight the reviewer's second and third complaints about the combat: it just doesn't look very fun if the best way to fight is to jump around and herd the enemies into groups before launching your rarely usuable area of effect magic (which don't physically or aurally affect the enemies at all), then rinse and repeat until you've killed almost all of them before you can directly finish off the last survivors.
That's what happens when your physical attacks are very underpowered, your magic attacks are overly limited (both a mana gauge and a cooldown timer, really?), and the sight of the combat itself looks like an MMO from 20 years ago (with a graphical quality only slightly more advanced).
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