Drova – Forsaken Kin Review — Dark and Brutal

Drova - Forsaken Kin pixelates the feeling of the Gothic series and presents a fantastic, if dark, world steeped in Celtic mythology.
Drova Forsaken Kin Featured

Drova – Forsaken Kin is a brutal ARPG set in a unique and grim setting that certainly took this reviewer by surprise. With a surprising amount of depth beneath the surface, this semi-open world RPG has much to offer, so long as its inherent difficulty doesn’t put you off.

Drova—Forsaken Kin is an action role-playing adventure set in a hand-crafted world inspired by influential genre titans and Celtic mythology. It has been compared to Dark Souls and Gothic, and it’s fair to say the similarities are there—from the tone of the world to the overall vibe while playing. Like its inspirations, Drova also features high-difficulty and grimdark storytelling, but we’ll explore those aspects in more detail later.

Drova Forsaken Kin Warriors
Screenshot: Try Hard Guides

The game begins with a look into your village’s life, seeing a day-to-day struggle for food and survival until the tribe’s warriors bring home a mysterious stone. After overhearing the village’s druids discuss a paradise called Drova, you follow them into the woods and oversee a failed ceremony, one that awakens ancient spirits and leaves you stranded in another world. As you come to realize that this is Drova, you learn that this world is far from the paradise that was promised and must learn to live alongside the straggling survivors attempting to tame Drova themselves.

The game’s Celtic inspirations are immediately apparent, with the druidic settlement of Nemeton in Drova taking its name from the sacred groves that served as places of worship to the ancient Celtic peoples. Celtic inspiration is something I’ve seen more often in modern fantasy games, with Greedfall II being a more recent example, and the themes dating even as far back as the Witcher franchise. Frankly, it’s a great well of inspiration to pull from, and I generally found that Drova – Forsaken Kin made good use of it to create a rich-feeling world, from its fae-touched fields to an abundance of rodents of unusual sizes.

Drova – Forsaken Kin portrays this other world as one utterly inhospitable to humans. Danger lies around every corner, and survival is a desperate prospect that must be fought for. This theme commonly presents itself both in the storytelling and the gameplay.

Drova Forsaken Kin Death
Screenshot: Try Hard Guides

Without spoiling anything, to survive in the land of Drova, you will have to side with one of two communities. Each has a different idea of how to tackle the issue of survival within Drova. The story cannot proceed without you choosing one or the other, and it utterly changes both the ending and the general progression based on who you side with.

The promise of a story game where your decisions matter is one often made and rarely kept. Drova – Forsaken Kin both makes and keeps this promise, something I realized early on when my mistake dramatically led to the death of a named character. Suffice it to say, your decisions matter, so you should make each one with the apprehension they deserve.

Deck13, the developers behind Drova – Forsaken Kin, are also responsible for the game Atlas Fallen, one in which I felt the writing was severely underwhelming and often hard to read due to translation errors. Drova – Forsaken Kin is much more writing-heavy than Atlas Fallen, and while I do feel there are times when less-than-stellar localization can make things harder to read, generally speaking, the writing is much higher quality in Drova.

I especially enjoy when the game goes into bittersweet moments, usually with characters lamenting their struggles but acknowledging that they still have the will to go on. This theme—that you can be more than your worst moments and shouldn’t lose the will to survive—is peppered throughout conversations with characters and always brought a smile to my face.

Drova Forsaken Kin Dialouge
Screenshot: Try Hard Guides

I also mentioned that the themes of danger present themselves in Drova – Forsaken Kin’s gameplay and I wasn’t joking. Often, you will feel less like the conquering hero and more like you’re lost in the woods and desperately hoping to survive.

Drova – Forsaken Kin features no level scaling or real boundaries besides a few story-blocked paths. This means the world can and will become deadlier as you venture forth, forcing you to prepare diligently and consider which roads are worth traveling. Generally, you’ll find it best to complete all of the quests in an area before leaving, as it will usually give you the experience points and gear necessary to survive or at least have a better chance at doing so.

Drova Forsaken Kin Inventory
Screenshot: Try Hard Guides

Even enemies you are prepared for can quickly lead to death if you aren’t careful; while most foes you are appropriately leveled for can be defeated in a few hits, the same can generally be said about you. Beyond carefully gathering the best gear for your journey, you must also master the game’s surprisingly deep combat system.

Drova – Forsaken Kin makes use of a “flow state” combat system that allows you to execute weapon attack combos when attacking at the right times. Blocking, dodging, spells, and abilities also make an appearance, with many of these abilities being learned from masters across Drova who will only teach you as you help them. These abilities and spells are pretty fun and give a great reward for actually taking the time to help people and engage in the game’s storytelling beyond, of course, the ever-present reward of experience points.

The Final Word

Drova – Forsaken Kin presents a dark and compelling world of survival inspired by Celtic mythology and classic grimdark ARPGs. A challenging adventure, you will struggle to survive, thrive, and find more to live for in this game full of impactful decisions and engaging action RPG mechanics.

9

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Drova – Forsaken Kin is available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.

Erik Hodges

Erik Hodges

Erik Hodges is a hobby writer and a professional gamer, at least if you asked him. He has been writing fiction for over 12 years and gaming practically since birth, so he knows exactly what to nitpick when dissecting a game's story. When he isn't reviewing games, he's probably playing them.

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