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    REVIEW: 'Elyon' starts off with a blast, only to fizzle out

    Will Elyon be a major hit in the Philippines?
    Jul 14, 2022
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    FILIPINO MMORPG fans can now enjoy the beauty of the steampunk inspired world of Elyon as the game was publicly released last July 8, 2022 via PlayPark servers.

    The game was developed by Bluehole Studios (now Krafton Inc.) and it initially launched in South Korea back in 2020 before reaching Western audiences the following year. Sadly, it is currently on a decline in these regions, but it could experience a resurgence through a new portal in the Southeast Asian scene.

    Why didn't it become a hit during its initial launch? According to reports and player experience, the game suffered from its comparisons to TERA Online, one of the best games in Bluehole Studios' portfolio. Many argued that Elyon felt like a downgrade to TERA Online.

    Ignoring the history of the game as well as the comparisons to TERA Online, we decided to take a deeper look at this free-to-play steampunk action adventure PC game.

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      Elyon has a promising beginning

      The moment you load up the game, everything about Elyon was an absolute blast. The character customization offered a whole bunch of options that players can experiment with.

      So far players can choose between human, elf, orc, and the furries known as eins. Then they can select among the classes: warlord, elementalist, mystic, assassin, gunner, slayer, and archer. Players have so many ways to diversify their overall look, as well as dry-run the final output, with the game’s numerous outfits and poses.

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      Moving past the character customization, the story starts off with an interesting narrative as players encounter an action-oriented sequence inside a massive airship. You can imagine being in a climactic battle in a superhero or fantasy film with the scope of this prologue.

      From there, we also get to experience the game’s combat system, which is one of the highlights of the game.

      You’ll initially start with the basic left and right click buttons, but as you progress, you can further experiment with new abilities that are easily spammable given the simplicity of controls, making it a satisfying experience.

      And to spice things up, you can upgrade these abilities, which could add some crowd control and other effects.

      The graphics look solid as you can take in every detail of the environment's lush and bright appearance. While enticing, make sure your PC is up to spec — the game’s massive memory needs and impressive displays could lead to some issues with the overall frames.

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      There were also moments where the extreme brightness from the environment gave me a nightmare as I looked for my quest marker.

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      Where it gets problematic

      While the first few parts of the game would make you marvel at the game, there are issues with the overall progression of the game.

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      Upon traversing to the open world of Harth, the story becomes a dragging narrative. While the prologue made you feel like you’re on a special mission in an epic fantasy series, the journey into Harth felt more like a household chore.

      The story transitions to the player helping either the Vulpins or the Ontaris, depending on your chosen faction, and there will be cases where players will be forced to carry out side-missions before proceeding to the next part of the story.

      Are these side questsworth it? At the beginning it can be fun as you get to further explore your abilities, but as you progress it becomes repetitive and boring as players are forced to kill loads of copy-paste enemy creature types. This ultimately makes the game an absolute grindfest, which could be a turnoff especially to gamers who are more inclined to fast-paced gameplay.

      Then, once you reach a certain level, you can now proceed to the next part of the story. However, going through the narrative feels a bit lackluster as the story doesn’t make us care about the factions we choose.

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      This is what separates the main story from the prologue. In the prologue, we felt some sense of urgency, but in the main story we feel like we are basically thwarting the plans of Vulpins or Ontaris just because we're told to do so, or because we are completing a tutorial lesson.

      It would be better if there was a strong motivation behind our decisions.

      Then to make matters worse there are issues with the overall voice-acting. Most NPCs only deliver the first line or sentence, then go silent, forcing me to just read or skip the remaining dialogue as the VO goes silent. Their volume in the game's sound mix is also relatively muted.

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      Conclusion

      As a newly released MMORPG in the Philippines, Elyon is a mixed bag for Filipino fans.

      If you’re a fan of action-oriented, hack-and-slash RPGs with the traditional grinding methods, then this could be the game that you would love.

      But if you’re more of a narrative-based and a fast-paced progression gamer, then you probably wouldn’t consider Elyon enjoyable.

      And for first-timers of the genre, the game could be a mind-boggling experience. It's packed with features, has a very long tutorial session, and the 60 GB install and cutting-edge graphics might means this would be a challenge for budget PC gamers. While this could be daunting for newcomers, they are blessed with the ease from the game's combat mechanics.

      Overall, it’s a decent MMORPG for diehard fans, though I wouldn't consider it as a groundbreaking masterpiece.

      Now the big question is: Will Elyon last long in the Philippines? With PlayPark already unveiling plans about TERA Online for local players, MMORPG fans in Southeast Asia could probably see firsthand why TERA was more lauded compared to Elyon.

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