Get out of bed and get it your head – it’s time to play VED. You heard what I said. Read why in our VED Review!

Here at Qualbert we like to support the little guys. Companies like Nintendo, Naughty Dog and Square Enix have been in the industry for decades, and they don’t really need our help to get the word out for their niche titles like Super Mario Odyssey, The Last of Us or Final Fantasy XVI. We want to highlight the efforts of smaller independent developers that create their games with minimal funding and manpower. For your consideration today I bring you the very first release from Karaclan – a team made up of three brothers who come not from a software development background but are actually artists by trade. They have leaned heavily on their love of tabletop RPGs and their own hand drawn art to bring us a game simply known as VED.

The Karaclan team describes VED as a “story-driven, hand-drawn RPG with a unique turn-based combat system and roguelite elements”. The opening screen of the game brings together elements of fantasy and steampunk and looks extremely inviting. I love a good story driven RPG so let’s have a look at this new game together and discover whether Karaclan have captured lightning in a bottle in their very first attempt. More importantly, let’s work out what a VED actually is in our VED Review!

VED Review – Story

The story of VED is told across two vastly different worlds. A ‘normal’ world full of corporations and corruption, and on the other side of the Boundary – a realm of magic and mystery. After a brief and somewhat confusing Prologue chapter, we are introduced to our protagonist Cyrus. Following a mishap Cyrus learns of his innate ability to use magic to teleport across the Boundary between worlds. Leaving the dreary human world behind Cyrus encounters the enclave of Dawn filled with weird and wonderful beings.

Welcome to Dawn. 

Due to his magical powers, Cyrus is thrust into a conflict between forces of both worlds. His quest is not just a personal endeavour but a race against time to save everything he holds dear from impending doom.

What a lovely chap

As Cyrus navigates through the divergent realms he encounters formidable enemies, unexpected allies, and ancient secrets. VED is a role-playing game full of choices. Your decisions here do actually matter. Cyrus’ path is fraught with challenges that test his skills and resolve, but all of the decisions are yours. The trials and tribulations you face will impact what story paths are available to you later in the game. Cyrus’ actions will leave a lasting effect on the Human and magical world. What those impacts are will depend on Cyrus’ resolve, and who he chooses to trust along the way.

Was it a good decision to leave the witch free? Find out in the next chapter of VED

VED Review – Gameplay

The Karaclan team promised us a ‘unique’ turn based battle system. I can honestly say that they have delivered something new that I haven’t really seen before. The battlefield is split into four positions where Cyrus can stand and three positions that the enemy can occupy. For each of the four player positions, Cyrus can equip up to four different skills. Using attacking skills will not only attack one (or more) of the enemy positions, but they will also cause Cyrus to move to a different spot.

He’ll take a-one step left, and one step right. Attack to the front, and move to the side (Cyrus No.5)

Enemy attacks will be directed to particular spots on the battlefield, and smart movement will allow you to minimise their impact. An important element of battle that cannot be ignored are the various buffs and debuffs that are linked to certain player skills and enemy attacks. An unexpected debuff can quickly lead to failure in battle. Conversely, smart use of player buffs can make some battles a breeze.

FURY! That, uh, alien dinosaur thing, should be scared!

Allocating your abilities to the correct slots is also essential for success. Being able to move two spaces at once to kill off a weak enemy whilst also dodging an incoming attack is a strong combination. I also recommend unlocking at least one healing spell early on. Though there is minimal punishment for losing a fight. You are simply teleported back to town without losing anything (other than your time).

24 total skills available to allocate amongst four skill slots in each of the four battle locations

It isn’t just in battle where you need to be thinking about buffs and debuffs. During exploration you may encounter events that provide you with boons that benefit you in battle. But sometimes your incorrect choices may inconvenience you instead! Even if you do select the correct course of action, a failed roll of the dice could be all that stands between delight and despair.

Attempting to repair the statue before even inspecting it might not be the best option.

VED is a game of choices, with the element of randomness sprinkled in to occasionally make things difficult for you. Simple choices in conversations with NPCs, or deciding Cyrus’ next location to travel to, can have massive impacts on the story. Sometimes, particularly in dungeons, choices will require you to roll a 20 sided die to determine your success. Regardless of the outcome, each roll of the d20 will increase your base stats of Dexterity, Magic and Strength. These stats are obviously important in battle, but they will also make success easier for you for future dice rolls.

In order to unlock new skills for battle, you must find ways to help the residents of Dawn and help them expand their town. In true RPG fashion, making new buildings does require the experience gained from battles.

Build us a building and help our tree! There might be something in it for you…

VED Review – Presentation

As you would expect from a team of artists, the presentation of VED is where this game really stands out. But not in every situation. The hand drawn characters that are drawn in a sketch style might not be everybody’s cup of tea. However, the fantastically detailed backgrounds particularly in the magical realm look amazing.

I hope you want to explore that strange looking statue in the dark forest, because that is your only option

Still scenes look like they have had much more effort put into them than the occasionally uncomfortable animations seen when the characters are interacting. These interactions are also where we come across the elements of the game that could be better. The writing in this game needs a lot of work. Noting that the three brothers that formed the developer Karaclan are Lithuanian, I strongly suspect that they wrote the script for the game in their native language and then plugged it into a translation program / AI to get what we are presented with here. There are awkward expressions, poorly used idioms and turns of phrase that seem completely out of place.

This poor writing is then exacerbated by extremely inconsistent voice acting. Even the main characters will be speaking in a conversation that should be deep and meaningful and just sound disinterested, or like they don’t know what they are talking about. Now, I do want to point out that this is an Indie game from an extremely small team with what I suspect was a small budget. I hope Karaclan sees this as constructive criticism and something to put some additional resources into the next time around. This is because their visual art is definitely unique and should have writing and audio to match.

Where did they find this guy? Deus Ex? Cyberpunk 2077?

VED Review – Performance

For a small team there is something that they did well and that is ensure smooth performance of VED. At least this was the case for the PlayStation 5 version. No issues were encountered in terms of freezes, soft locks or bugs. I do want to point out something that videogame RPG players may not be used to – and that is an inability to load saves. After every single decision you make VED will autosave your progress. A bad roll of the die that causes you to receive a curse/debuff just simply has to be dealt with. Anybody used to tabletop RPGs would be used to this, but I did want to call it out to avoid any disappointment.

That right. No do-overs.

VED Review – Conclusion

VED is a relatively short experience, with maybe 10 to 15 hours of total gameplay if you want to experience different story branches and endings. It isn’t without its issues. Most of my concerns relate to the inconsistency between the amazing visual presentation and the poor writing/voice-over work. The unique battle system is certainly worth experiencing, and I hope Karaclan expand on this for future games.

Exactly how I feel. Snide comments are what I do best

Overall, I did enjoy my short time with VED. I’m proud of the team at Karaclan. VED is great for a first effort, and I will be keeping an eye out for the next RPG that comes out of their studio in Lithuania.

If Karaclan keep putting out games like VED, they will have people lining up to join their studio.

So, why should you play VED?

• Want to play a tabletop RPG style game but can’t find a DM? VED should scratch that itch for you.
• A chance to experience a unique battle system that requires thoughtful pre-planning and good understanding of buffs and debuffs.

But, why shouldn’t you play VED?

• Poor English translation/localization is highlighted even further by extremely inconsistent voice acting.
• If you like action, there is absolutely none to be found here.

A review code on PlayStation 5 was kindly provided by Fulqrum Publishing and Karaclan for the purpose of this review. Want to learn more about our love for Indie games here at Qualbert? Check out our reviews for ! Don’t forget to join the constant banter and videogame discussion on our Discord Server!