Estencel for Windows

A dark-fantasy hack-and-slash game

Estencel is a souls-like monster fighting game with puzzles and various types of mazes. Set out to uncover the mysteries of how and why monsters are investing in the real world. Customize your player to become more effective at your fighting style, be it fast and furious, long-ranged-sweeping, or heavy.

This game takes very deep inspiration from Bloodborne, a game created by the Dark Souls developers, From Software. The similarity goes as deep as the setting, clothing, parts of the early-game mystery, and the fast-paced action. Later in the game, as it becomes a lot easier, the fighting becomes very similar to earlier versions of the God of War games.

The mazes and puzzles

In Estencel, there are a lot of maze-like areas. Many are frustrating and many tie into the puzzle mechanics. They should have added more unique landmarks into this hack-and-slash game so that getting lost was more than just backtracking through same-looking streets.

How does it differ from Bloodborne?

There isn't a way to regain health immediately after being damaged. The health system is different, the late-game combat is different, and there is two-player split-screen gaming. The game becomes easier in two-player mode since it doesn't spawn additional creatures to compensate. You can divide and conquer the larger enemy groups.

A valiant effort

The problem with copying a game as popular as Bloodborne is that you are always open to comparisons. It is a good game if playing with two players and when the combat becomes more cathartic in the later areas. Still, they should have picked a different location, setting, and theme to help avoid comparisons with From Software.

Don’t believe the promotional material

Prior to a full alpha release, this dark fantasy game had epic amounts of promotional content released. Plus, all of it looks bleached and washed out because they didn't turn off the HDR prior to making their screen recordings. The colors are not nearly as over-exposed and washed out in the real game.