If something became clear to us after attending the presentation ALZARA Shining Echo This is in Studio Camelia They love role-playing games. It is not for nothing that Emma Delage, its director, admitted to us that the studio was founded with the aim of specializing in this genre, since they believe that “the world needs more role playing games“So, a few years ago, a team of 15 industry veterans began implementing their first project, A very classic RPG adventure that looks great and has now started his funding campaign on Kickstarter.
A role with a classic flavor, good ideas and great inspiration.
Probably what caught our attention the most ALZARA Shining EchoMoreover, its beautiful art direction is a strong source of inspiration for a saga that we sorely miss and that Nintendo abandoned too many years ago. Indeed, we refer to golden sunalthough it is also worth noting that there are influences from a larger number of works, among which stand out Final Fantasy X, Lost Odyssey And Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Thus, We will travel to Taksim, an archipelago located in a fantasy world inspired by Mediterranean culture. which is invaded by the powerful and brutal army of the military state of Vedoria. Of course, this cannot continue, so we will have to accompany a group of four heroes who will lead an uprising to free the kingdoms from the tyranny of the enemy.
As you see, The plot is not original, but promises to give us the perfect excuse to go on an adventure., explore a beautiful 2D world map and delve into dangerous dungeons where all sorts of challenges await us. Obviously, we’ll have to see how the story develops and whether the characters have charisma and good group dynamics, but we can’t judge that yet. That’s all at least The design of the characters seemed quite good to uswhich is easy to explain if you consider that they were developed Yoshiro Ambean artist you know from participating in projects such as Trials of Mana, Genshin Impact or Fire Emblem Heroes.
Actually, What we just discussed can be extended to the entire artistic direction of the game., as its inspiration from Mediterranean culture gives this universe a unique flavor that we were able to appreciate in the cities and scenarios they showed us. Add to that the vibrant color they gave everything and you can see why we think this is a particularly beautiful piece that doesn’t require any technical marvel.
At the gaming level ALZARA be exactly what you expect: role-playing adventure with turn-based combat, imitating the style of the Japanese classics of the genrealthough you will also try to add your own ideas to the formula to give it your own flavor.
We see this clearly in his combat system. How in golden sun, each of the four main characters can manipulate a specific element, so Kayla (the main character) is associated with fire, Adil with air, Hugust with earth and Nakhil with water. In the same time, each element also allows them to fulfill their role during battlesalthough this is where the fun begins.
This is because the header will include a system that will allow us to change positions between the vanguard and the rear, as well as share our elements with those of our comradeseither to allow an ally to use certain abilities they couldn’t normally use, or to combine two elements and create a new one. So, depending on how we play and what we do during fights, we can access 10 different elements, each of which has its own techniques, spells and features that we must learn to use.
Thereby, Characters will not be locked into one role and will be able to perform all types of tasks according to the needs of each encounter.. For example, if Kayla needs to go to the rear to regain mana points, she can transfer her fire abilities to one of her comrades so that he can go to the front line and support the advance on the enemy using very destructive attack methods.
To make it juicier, We can also trigger a summon in exchange for sacrificing some of our attributes for a few turns.and from Studio Camila we have been assured that to defeat our enemies it will not be enough for us to just know their basic weaknesses, but that we will also have to do certain things to cope with them, which will force us to adapt our tactics to each type of monster we face.
On paper, The combat system looks great and if the variety of opponents is good and the bosses are up to par, then this promises to be one of its strengths.: dynamic, deep and very versatile. By the way, Mediterranean inspiration is also noticeable in the bestiary, since all the creatures that stand in our way are based on the mythological creatures of the region.
It is worth noting that here meetings will be random, so we won’t see enemies on the map. The studio knows that this system is somewhat frustrating for some players, so they are working on a number of options that will allow us to adjust the frequency of battles, among other things, depending on the experience gained. They haven’t been able to go into detail about this yet, although they hope to be able to explain it in more detail in the future.
Except, We were also pleased with the promise that the dungeons wouldn’t just be mazes of rooms and corridors to fight through, as they would contain quite a few puzzles. this will add variety, enhance the sense of adventure, and make exploration more fun and interesting. Of course, our characters’ elemental powers will be key to solving them, although they also wanted to let us know that these puzzles are intended as small challenges to encourage progression rather than walls of great difficulty designed to leave the player, for example, stuck, so don’t expect nothing too confusing or complicated.
Finally, it should be noted that The soundtrack features Motoi Sakuraba.a true legend of the medium, whose compositions accompanied us in games of the caliber Dark souls or golden sun. We only got to hear a small glimpse of his main theme, but we can confirm that Sakuraba’s style remains unmistakable and has an undeniable quality. Of course, the tunes he composes make extensive use of Mediterranean instruments to adapt to the setting, which gives them a very interesting distinctive flavor. As for the dubbing, it is expected to be dubbed in English and Japanese.
The promising role-playing adventure will be released on PC and consoles in 2026.
As fans of the genre, we must admit that what we saw ALZARA Shining Echo we really liked it. It looks like a very classic, beautiful RPG with a combat system to show the way and a sumptuous soundtrack to which we have to add amazing inspirations and dungeons that promise to offer more than corridors and combat. It remains to be seen whether it can reach its funding goals on Kickstarter and whether it can deliver on everything it promises, but for now it’s a project that we think is worth keeping an eye on once you’ve enjoyed role-playing games of all kinds.
*We wrote this article after attending an online presentation to which we were invited by ICO partners.