In Adore, we play as Lukha, who can collect, summon, and control creatures to fight by his side. In the world of Adore, people like Lukha are called adorers. Though Lukha is just an apprentice, he is the last hope for his world to find and revive Draknar, the God of creatures. Without Draknar, a curse spreads through the lands, and soon all will be lost.
GAME PLAY
While exploring the world, Lukha can collect creatures and then have them work together. The creatures in Adore have different abilities, which, combined with traits, upgrades, and special skills, allow for varied gameplay. We can create “synergies” between the creatures, which then can be used to activate an extra ability or to modify a creature.
Our hero, Lukha, can equip and upgrade runes and artefacts for each creature. Each of the creatures has a special ability, and by using it, it also charges the special abilities for all the other creatures in your party. The next time you use a creature with a fully charged special ability, it will use it automatically.
If one of your creatures takes a potentially fatal hit, it becomes cursed. It cannot be healed, and you, as its adorer, will absorb some of its damage with your health to prevent the creature from dying.
Gather Ingredients
We can also gather ingredients during our travels and cook unique dishes. In the village where we start, there is a chest where we can store collected items. Speaking of the village, this is where we begin our journeys and where we return to. We have different non-playing characters who give us missions and help.
Gameplay-wise, we move using the WASD buttons and F for interacting and picking up stuff. The creatures are summoned with the left mouse button and Q and E. You must remember to click just once to summon a creature, and it will automatically attack. Initially, I kept clicking the mouse, essentially summoning and un-summoning my creatures. Once you get used to it, combat is a breeze. It would help if you strategized which creatures you send out to fight and how to upgrade them so it’s not mindless clicking around. You can create some powerful combos, but there is an element of challenge because you sometimes get them.
Art style
Adore is a very colourful and cute game. Style-wise, it kept reminding me of the Torchlight games. The character models and the creatures have that rounded cartoon style, which, coupled with the responsive yet somewhat slow movements, made for an enjoyable gaming experience.
One thing to note is that this game has a lot of loading screens, each an incredible artwork. The loading is fast enough for you to appreciate the artwork without growing bored with the loading itself. I honestly cannot say if it was an artistic decision or if the game actually needs that many loading screens.
The soundtrack is simply great. It compliments the game well, and it’s great on its own as well. I would buy it to listen to it.
Some other notes
Adore is at the perfect balance between challenging and easy; it’s just right. The levels are short enough at the beginning that when you fail, you can try again quickly. Later levels and the so-called expeditions are more prolonged and complex, but simultaneously, you and your character are more experienced, which balances out. In terms of bugs and crashes, I didn’t experience anything. I also saw that the development team has released some patches already, which speaks well for the game’s future.
We have some settings we can change – brightness, resolution, and sound, but we can also remap some of the controls. Saving is automatic and manual, and we have three saving slots. At the beginning of the game, we get a tutorial for the controls. You can always refresh your knowledge via the help panel, where, besides all the tutorials, we have creatures, consumables, quests, adorers and bestiaries. Each of these panels shows us and allows us to equip and upgrade gear and read about abilities and skills to plan our strategy even better.
Adore has Steam achievements but no trading cards yet.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Adore is a game that guarantees a fun experience regardless of your level. It’s easy and intuitive enough for you to learn its mechanics and then tricky enough to be a challenge without boring you. With the weather turning cold, I know I’ll spend many more hours in the world of Adore.