Bound by Mediocrity
Ariana and the Elder Codex is a side-scrolling light metroidvania style action RPG where you play as Ariana, a human blessed with the ability to use magic, as magic has almost all but disappeared from the world Ariana is one of the few left that has the ability to use it, in doing so she is able to uncover stories of tragedy that has befell others in order to try and repair the damaged world.
The books which held the world together were seven Codices which all have elemental affinities, as they became corrupt and therefore plunged the world into despair, Ariana is tasked with restoring the books, by repairing tears within each Codex she is able to restore them as they once were, in doing so she will uncover new stories and lore about the world. Ariana is a librarian and the first half an hour or so you will be in the Codex of Water where you get to grips with the gameplay which is relatively simple, you have a standard attack and a couple of spells at your disposal one which attacks and another that heals when you take damage. You will fend off groups of monsters around the map and occasionally be walled in by a magic barrier and forced to defeat everything before you can move on, other times you will go into a tear where you defeat all enemies with it giving you a rating depending on how quick you took ever enemy down and repair the tear afterwards, there are a certain amount of tears within a Codex and by repairing the book fully you will gain 100% in doing so.
Being a light metroidvania though means you will not be able to do everything straight away as some areas may require you to come back later once you have gained a new ability and once you do there is not much else to explore and you are pretty much done, the layout of the game is more akin to Dragons Crown Pro than an actual metroidvania though so if you are expecting something heavy like an actual classic Metroid game then this is probably not the game for you. The bosses all have fun mechanics that are easy to learn the enemies can feel somewhat bloated without much thought for taking them out. During boss fights, red areas will spawn where a big attack is about to happen giving you ample time to dodge while other hazards such as projectiles can appear and dodging all these is key to survival. Bosses also have phases and once a threshold of damage has been dealt they change their tactics and can become more hostile.
Alongside the fighting elements there is a large element of story segments throughout, once you have completed the Water Codex you will be back at the library where you will get to know Ariana’s acquaintances. At the library you will uncover more lore about the world and be able to unlock new items through the shiny crystals you have found so far on your journey. Once you gain access to more spells Ariana’s arsenal becomes more hostile allowing you to change out here layout, spells are the lifeblood of the world but that does not mean you can cast them as much as you like, spells have cooldowns and if you need to heal during a tough boss battle you need to ensure you don’t get smacked around too much.
Visually Ariana and the Elder Codex is a joy to look at, it is colourful and there are a lot of hand painted depicted pictures although it is sad that some areas look significantly nicer than others. The Earth Codex area was kind of dull to look at and just a lot of grey rock to look at whereas the Water Codex had a more visually pleasing appearance with weather effects thrown in also. The library itself is the most stunning area in the game with its warm glow of dimmed lights and decorative stained glass windows.
While Ariana and the Elder Codex is a fun game that looks stunning to look at it suffers from overall mediocrity. The enemies themselves at first seem tough to handle with projectiles and mechanics that can take you out if not careful however the enemies once beaten seem to repeat themselves later in the game and normal fights just feel like padding towards the game which as a whole is not bad at all. I just wish the world was a little more alive and dangerous, the Water Codex has a few small ponds of poisonous water that you will take damage if you fall in but its never a bigger danger than that as there are no areas that have precisive jumping over large bodies of water. Bosses are certainly the focus point here and are fun to master especially the later ones that become especially tough. The story overall is predictable but fine, the character design is well done also but the game does lack some solid focus. It runs and plays fluidly and looks great but with a game that does not have a lot of backtracking it feels like a chore to go back at times especially when you are fighting the same enemies over and over.
A PlayStation 5 Review Code was provided by Idea Factory International. This article is featured on OpenCritic
