Thymesia | Review

Release Date: Aug 18, 2022

Developer: OverBorder Studio

Publisher: Team17

Engine: Unreal Engine 4

Genres: Action Role-Playing Adventure game

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Introduction: In the past I have played through and completed low budget Souls-Like games including The Surge 1 and 2 as well Mortal Shell. I am probably forgetting others. Thymesia has a idea within it’s combat system called Plague Weapons which is unique but is it enough?

Combat is the main selling point for any action RPG in my opinion and Thymesia’s best attribute is just that, it’s combat. The problem is everything else and the staleness of it’s world. Before I forget if you want to watch all of my gameplay videos of Thymesia check out Thymesia Video Gallery Playlist. Keep reading to find out why I’m not a fan of Thymesia.

Presentation: Overall atmosphere and presentation got old fast due to the maps appearances. You start out at Hermes Fortress which is a low budget Boletaria Castle and serves as the starting tutorial area. Next up is the foggy, swampy, dark Sea of Trees which had a circus cult undertone. For the most part the maps were designed decently. I did encounter a few bugs and glitches as well pop in on the Playstation 5 version. My biggest gripe has to do with a lack of Iframes or Invincibility Frames.

Story: Thymesia is about Corvus the protagonist who deals with his amnesia through collecting memories via defeating bosses and collecting collectible documents. Story is similar to how Bloodborne and Sekiro tells it’s stories. Also, a plague, alchemy an NPC named Emerald added story elements to Thymesia’s world. I shouldn’t forget the main NPC of Thymesia is Aisemy who’s basically Corvus’s maiden. The story didn’t do anything for me. This game needs a much bigger budget to flesh out any kind of story. There wasn’t even any voiced dialogue in the entire game that I could remember.

Gameplay: Thymesia plays two ways like Bloodborne and Sekiro meaning quickstep + aggressive attacking (Bloodborne) and or parry + critical attack (Sekiro). I played the game like Bloodborne quickstep + aggressive attacking culminating in executions. You can feather attacks with interrupts enemies and plague weapons.

Plague weapons are Thymesia’s idea and it’s best gameplay attribute in my opinion. I really enjoyed the reaving of plague weapons which could be any weapon the enemy is holding at the time. I had two slots for different plague weapons with a third for the reaved version. Later on in-game you acquire the Bow plague weapon which lets you attack at greater distance.

There are no guns in Thymesia. Corvus has a dagger and a saber only. You have potions that you can add ingredients to like mint or lavender to to buff the potion’s effects. You have a general potion, quick potion and regen potion. You can upgrade Corvus attributes and skills via shards you collect fighting enemies or memories you find on the map. Abilities and skills I used were basic like upgrade saber strength and block ability.

The problem with Thymesia’s gameplay isn’t it’s ideas but the lack of Iframes. Like how come a boss can dodge out of my attacks not get hit but I always get hit when I dodge out his attacks? Or how come the boss can lock on and attack me but I can’t lock-on and attack my enemy? Gameplay in Thymesia lacks Iframes making it kinda unfair when dodging from and through enemy attacks. To sum thing’s up in regards to gameplay, some good ideas with bad execution.

Sound/Music: Nothing worth mentioning seriously. No voiced dialogue which this type of game needed but the low budget prevented it. Music wasn’t memorable at all. I’ll just say the music sucked.

Visuals/Graphics: Art and graphics were below average for current gen. I played Thymesia on my Playstation 5 and wasn’t impressed with anything I saw. The cutscenes were clunky, wonky and blurry. NPCs were lifeless as was the bossfight introduction cutscenes.

I’ll say it again but the lack of budget killed most aspects of this game for me. I have no clue what the resolution is, maybe 4k? Frame rate could be 60 frames? Visuals weren’t crisp at all with misused textures on surfaces. Overall, I wasn’t impressed with the look or atmosphere of Thymesia. I have played so many of these types of games you have to show me something different not original but different art wise.

Final Verdict: Thymesia has some good ideas in it’s combat like plague weapons but overall it’s gameplay is diminished due to no Iframes in it’s dodging mechanic. If you rush through the bosses like I did the game is 8 hours at best at $29.99 which is a good value. You can find keys and unlock more areas in map revealing more of Corvus’s memories. I didn’t bother with the latter. Thank you for reading – Jason

6/10