The Sword of Voldiir

Just for the sake of transparency: I only played the demo version of the game, so I’m voicing my opinions about the demo version of the game and not the full one. Keep that in mind while you read. The review may contain untagged spoilers.

Good gods, I miss my TTRPG sessions. That’s why I was kind of intrigued when it comes to The Sword of Voldiir, which is based on a homebrew DnD campaign. It’s got all that you need: character creation, stat rolling, turn-based combat. I love turn-based combat.

Character creation is rather simple: your race (out of three options, which are human, half-elf, and siren; each with their own strengths and stat bonuses), your gender and pronouns, your weapons, your stats (which can be either rolled or chosen manually; I opted for rolling and managed to get really decent numbers), and your sexuality (one of the companions will shift their gender according to your preference). “Visual” customization comes later in the story, which I’m completely fine with.

The game focuses on the band of four mercenaries: Lorelei of Running Waters (a siren woman), Aenwyn Rolen (who in my playthrough happened to be a half-elf man, as I exercised my bisexual right to not choose a preference), Cassian Winterluff (a human man), and of course, the main character (in this case, half-elf nonbinary disaster, Aaran Alvierni). You are all tasked with retrieving the titular Sword of Voldiir, which has great magical capabilities… or maybe anti-magical capabilities, as it seems it’s most prominent feature is magic immunity. The sword rests in a cave, you go to the cave, retrieve the sword, and… get robbed immediately the moment you leave. Absolutely classic hook: your MacGuffin gets stolen, you have to get it back or else bad things will happen.

Along the way you pass various checks and talk to your companions to raise your relationship (and flirtation, if you want to) points. The demo also contains two combat encounters: one with the bandit who stole the sword, one with a chimera which guards the sword at a rich nobleman’s house. During combat encounters you can choose between using magic and using your weapon that you’ve chosen earlier – unfortunately, you can’t switch back and forth between weapons and magic during one combat and you get locked into using one or the other but you can choose between three spells if you’re stuck with magic, so I guess at least that. Don’t be scared of failing a combat encounter, you can reset the encounter if you end up being unlucky… like me. Oops. There’s not a lot of strategy in those encounters, unless you end up using spells which sometimes deal AOE damage instead of single target damage. I don’t mind it at all because my strategy is usually “the enemy can’t kill you if you kill them first” anyway.

Before I go into the “general enjoyment” section, I need to mention some unfortunate technical things. There was a section in which the <<if>> statement broke. In another, Aenwyn’s pronouns weren’t rendered as they should be (showing only $ahimself). I’m willing to look the other way when that happens, especially if I can just continue playing regardless. The game clearly didn’t break in those passages so I simply continued and it didn’t impact a lot to me. What did impact my gameplay were the color schemes used for the game. I played it entirely in dark mode (as I tend to do) and contrast between certain colors, especially the dark background and red links, makes them hard to read. The red works great for light mode but I don’t use light mode, so, yeah.

To come back to the story: I will be honest with you, it’s not the type of story I enjoy… and that’s completely okay. If the game’s goal was to emulate a feeling of sitting by the DnD table as the Dungeon Master gives you short and quick descriptions of things, it definitely succeeded. It’s not what I want to read in my IF but if all you’re searching for is good old “You’re in a cave. There are three paths ahead of you. What do you do?”, it might just be for you. So, important question: did I have fun? Not really. But you might and I think that’s awesome.

The Sword of Voldiir is a D&D inspired text adventure made in Twine, where you play as a mercenary with the task of recovering the eponymous sword for riches and reputation. Like in true D&D fashion, your quest is not without trials and tribulations: what seems to be a quick and easy task turns into an ambush that almost leaves you in your breaches, and a series of fights to recover what was stolen. And this is where the demo ends (about halfway through the story, looking at the word count - which is also where I stopped).

The D&D influences are obvious in this one, from how you create your character, to the turn-based combat, and the general flow of the story (aka get together, agree on a plan, try to execute it, something goes wrong, and repeat until you succeed). Though it streamlines the more obtuse rules of the game: you don't need to worry about your walking abilities, or spell slots. Which is awesome, because D&D combat can be pretty tedious.
However, it might be a bit too simplistic: at the start of a fight, you only pick your weapon and hope for the best. Even though the fight itself is turn-based, and you see the health bar tick away as you hit your enemies, you can't change your weapon or develop a strategy between turn. I think it's a bit of a shame, because variety in actions make combat fun! Even if you end up only smashing your sword, the option to have a choice is what makes it interesting.

Story-wise, it also felt a bit rushed at times, especially outside of the "beat" moments (going from one scene to the next). I think it makes sense when playing a campaign when playing with other people because scenes can drag on and on and on, and you don't want to linger on the side of the road when the big baddie still need to be defeated (and we're already 5 sessions in and nothing of note has happened). But in this context, I think it removed a bit of the charm of the adventure.
What about an encounter on your way to the city after being robbed for a meal and a listening ear? Maybe even letting you borrow their rusty sword because the forest you need to cross can be treacherous (and BAM tiny combat)?
Or between Act II and Act III, during the week before getting the sword back, why not getting your affairs in order, maybe buying equipment or scouting the building? Similarly to getting information around the city when tracking the woman who robbed you.

While it wasn't really my cup of tea, I can see some solid bones inside. I think it needs a bit more muscles on it, like adding more player agency (in the combat, during the story), so the player isn't just strung along, but an active participant of the story, or fleshing out some "down" moments, to make the combat/action/exploration more energetic (like the meal scene in the inn). Dare I say... maybe a puzzle?

Just a final point for dark mode users, the palette is not super accessible.