Angel Whisper is a recently
released demo by OHR designer RMSephy (or Sephyroth), who is known for
incorporating experimental battle and movement systems in his
games. Such is the case with Angel
Whisper, which blends excellent graphics, smooth gameplay, and
an engaging story into an enjoyable, albeit short, experience.
The game begins with a disembodied voice conversing with the player in a completely black void. The voice turns out to belong to Lilith, who then asks (lets you create) your name. I chose the name Samael, but rather than explain here, it's easier if you read these articles about Lilith and Samael.
Lilith goes on to tell us that she is an angel who grants peoples' wishes. Unfortunately, she has lost her body (a real problem most angels face) and cannot leave the void you both are in until she finds it.
Since Lilith can also act as a gateway between the void and her world, she teleports you both into a forest where you can begin searching for her body (plot contradiction!). You really have just enough time to fight a few battles and meet two more party members, a Knight named Dallas and a Cleric named Rena, before you reach the end of the demo.
Battles are the most interesting function in Angel Whisper. Rather than using the default OHR system, battles take place on a separate map and allow you to potentially use up to six heroes in completely turn-based (doesn't use a time bar) combat. Enemies are displayed as slices on the top half of the battle map while heroes occupy one of six slots on the bottom half.
Rather than beginning a battle with all of your heroes in play, you must summon them into one of the slots, but you can summon only one hero per turn. The exception to this is Lilith, who apparently does the summoning and has her own separate type of health stat that refills after each battle.
Once summoned heroes have a certain number of turns they can take before they must be re-summoned. This limit is determined by their STAMINA stat. If they should be killed before this, then any extra damage a hero took over their total health will be subtracted from Lilith's health. When Lilith's health reaches 0, you lose, but there was never any real danger of this in the demo since most of the enemies were low-level.
While using your own custom battle system can be a gamble, it paid off for RMSephy. The controls were smooth and made easy to learn by the interesting and helpful first battle.
Outside of battle, there are two functions worth noting. One was the Zelda-style scrolling screen, and the other was the ability to use an equipped item, the only one in the demo being a sword, by pressing Z.
Graphics have a simple style, but are well executed. The enemies were particularly polished. If only the trees didn't look like clones...
Angel Whisper's excellent musical composition made the fifteen minutes of already immersive gameplay that much more immersive.
This demo might have been short, but it was very enjoyable. Definitely worth a look for anyone who is interested in creating their own custom battle system. Hopefully RMSephy will continue developing it, because it looks very promising.
The game begins with a disembodied voice conversing with the player in a completely black void. The voice turns out to belong to Lilith, who then asks (lets you create) your name. I chose the name Samael, but rather than explain here, it's easier if you read these articles about Lilith and Samael.
Lilith goes on to tell us that she is an angel who grants peoples' wishes. Unfortunately, she has lost her body (a real problem most angels face) and cannot leave the void you both are in until she finds it.
Since Lilith can also act as a gateway between the void and her world, she teleports you both into a forest where you can begin searching for her body (plot contradiction!). You really have just enough time to fight a few battles and meet two more party members, a Knight named Dallas and a Cleric named Rena, before you reach the end of the demo.
Battles are the most interesting function in Angel Whisper. Rather than using the default OHR system, battles take place on a separate map and allow you to potentially use up to six heroes in completely turn-based (doesn't use a time bar) combat. Enemies are displayed as slices on the top half of the battle map while heroes occupy one of six slots on the bottom half.
Rather than beginning a battle with all of your heroes in play, you must summon them into one of the slots, but you can summon only one hero per turn. The exception to this is Lilith, who apparently does the summoning and has her own separate type of health stat that refills after each battle.
Once summoned heroes have a certain number of turns they can take before they must be re-summoned. This limit is determined by their STAMINA stat. If they should be killed before this, then any extra damage a hero took over their total health will be subtracted from Lilith's health. When Lilith's health reaches 0, you lose, but there was never any real danger of this in the demo since most of the enemies were low-level.
While using your own custom battle system can be a gamble, it paid off for RMSephy. The controls were smooth and made easy to learn by the interesting and helpful first battle.
Outside of battle, there are two functions worth noting. One was the Zelda-style scrolling screen, and the other was the ability to use an equipped item, the only one in the demo being a sword, by pressing Z.
Graphics have a simple style, but are well executed. The enemies were particularly polished. If only the trees didn't look like clones...
Angel Whisper's excellent musical composition made the fifteen minutes of already immersive gameplay that much more immersive.
This demo might have been short, but it was very enjoyable. Definitely worth a look for anyone who is interested in creating their own custom battle system. Hopefully RMSephy will continue developing it, because it looks very promising.