C
onan the Barbarian has a surprisingly large gaming
footprint, being the face of online survival games
and tower-defence strategy experiences, all of
which miss the razor-sharp point of Robert E. Howard’s
fast and furious short stories. Elderborn doesn’t feature
Conan, but this taut and breathless first-person slasher is
nonetheless the best Conan game we’ve played.
The plot is classic sword and sorcery fare. You play a
barbarian who ventures into an ancient city, which was
once the terror of its fantasy realm, but fell silent after it
was besieged by a massive rebel army. Dispatched by your
tribe to investigate rumours of a great treasure hidden at its
heart, you discover that the soldiers who attacked the city
centuries ago are now defending it as cursed husks.
Elderborn’s combat is inspired primarily by Dark Messiah and
Dark Souls. The controls are like the former, with a combination
of light and heavy attacks forming the foundation of fighting.
There’s also a powerful kick that can boot enemies off ledges or
into conveniently placed spike traps, much like Dark Messiah.
The broader rhythms of the fighting, however, are more
like Dark Souls. Combat is fierce and uncompromising, with
death always hovering a few inches from your face. It’s
possible to fight defensively using weapons that prioritise
blocking attacks, but it’s more efficient to use parrying
weapons such as spears and sickles. If timed correctly,
parries open up enemies to devastating counterattacks that
often separate their heads from their shoulders.
This thrilling combat is bolstered by an impressive variety
of enemies, although a few, such as scorpions, are less fun
to fight than their human counterparts. Weapon variety
is more of a problem. Of Elderborn’s eight weapons, only
four are really worth using. The effectiveness of parrying
weapons renders blocking weapons, such as swords
and hammers, useless. Part of the fun of these games is
experimenting with different weapons, so half your arsenal
being ineffective is a problem.
Fortunately, the adventure makes up for this shortfall.
Your journey begins in the city’s undercrofts, tombs and
dungeons filled with deadly traps. During the mid-
game you battle through the city itself, which is
one huge level that can be attacked from multiple
angles. In its final act, Elderborn takes a turn for
the surreal, as you venture into an astral plain that
defies conventional Euclidian laws.
Clocking in at around five hours, Elderborn
is short, and the deceptive lack of breadth to
the combat causes problems in the latter half.
However, it’s one of few games that understands
the spirit of old-school sword and sorcery, which
means it’s still worth playing regardless.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
An unofficial
Conanthe
Barbarianstory
ingame form,
Elderborn is a
thrilling hack-and-
slash game,
although it’s
slightly let down
by a lack of
weaponvariety.OVERALL SCORE
72 %%
ELDER
+ Thrillingcombat
+ Solid fantasy
adventureJUNIOR- Lack of^
weaponvariety - Some enemies
aren’t fun to fight
Elderborn/£11.39 incVAT
DEVELOPER Hyperstrange / PUBLISHER Hyperstrange