Re-providing an enjoyable gameplay and a satisfying power fantasy | Beta Review - Raziel Rebirth

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✨Overview

Raziel Rebirth: Dungeon Raid is dungeon-crawling action RPG developed by Indrasoft and is a rerelease of a former game called Raziel: Dungeon Arena. With a focus on character customization, gear collection, and action-packed gameplay, players can explore varied dungeons, face menacing enemies, and uncover the secrets that lie within its foreboding realms.

The game is currently on an Open Beta with a release coming soon, and progression from this beta will carry over. For all intents and purposes, this game is basically out now.

🟩Pros +Satisfying power fantasy ARPG gameplay +Fast progression rates +Generous rewards and free-to-play friendly +Same style of play as the original Raziel

🟥Cons -Graphics are a bit dated -Unstable performance that is a hit or miss depending on the device -Not much new content from the original Raziel

Honestly, I haven't personally played the original Raziel before, particularly a few years ago before its untimely demise. However, I've heard it was a popular ARPG back in the day with a decent following, a game that could give Diablo a run for its money. I was actually surprised not to have seen this on my radar as I was looking for a Diablo-like game on Android a few years ago. Looking at old gameplay footage and comparing it to my experience today, it looks like it's mostly the same experience with just re-upped servers and new events, from the menus and loading screens to the actual gameplay, which is good news! So far, fans of the original Raziel still longing for that game will be glad to hear this, especially those who aren’t still satisfied with Diablo Immortal and other ARPG games.

I'm not sure if progression from the original Raziel, which was shut down, can be recovered. However, it's most likely negative since it's a relaunch. If anyone can confirm this, please leave it in the comments below.

📖Story and Premise

In Raziel Rebirth: Dungeon Raid, Players step into the roles of heroes tracing the footsteps left by the gods, battling relentless waves of undead to save the continent from an ancient, encroaching darkness. The narrative weaves together forgotten wars, exile, and the resurgence of malevolent powers, offering a tale of heroes confronting the echoes of history in a quest to safeguard their realm. Overall the story is not too compelling for me and I was more interested in the gameplay that it offers. Some aspects are censored in the cutscenes and it’s weird to see how they’ve handled it instead of outright cutting it out or replacing it with another. 🎨Visuals and Art

Raziel Rebirth features a blend of dark fantasy and atmospheric elements with grim character and environment design, spanning from dungeons to landscapes. They are presented with a colorful palette though and the overall tone is very lighthearted during gameplay. The excellent spell effects and combat animations add dynamism to the visuals, but positively not too over-the-top, overall enhancing the colorful but grim ARPG aesthetic. Admittedly, the visuals of Raziel Rebirth: Dungeon Raid have shown its age, which looks like a mobile game that released almost a decade ago. However it still fine honestly and this means it can run on older mobile phones as well without much difficulty. If you're somewhat familiar with the art style and tone of Diablo III, you'll notice that this is almost always a carbon copy when it comes to instilling that look. The style of the skill effects, the color of the elite enemies, the design of the monsters and characters, and even the orange-ish color grading are very similar. 🎮Gameplay

At its core, Raziel Rebirth: Dungeon Raid offers a straightforward top-down dungeon exploration and combat experience. Players navigate through levels filled with hordes of enemies; and usually culminates with a boss battle at the end. The controls are very intuitive and traditional, featuring a virtual joystick for movement and buttons for various actions like attacking, dodging, and using special skills. Players can choose from a variety of character classes; From mage, rogue, and warrior archetypes and more, each with unique abilities and playstyles. The combat mechanics reward skillful maneuvering, well-timed dodges, and mastery of character-specific combos. Ofcourse as with most ARPG, gear, itemization, and skill tree is what matters the most and is what influences your character power and ability to kill mobs faster. Continuing with the Diablo III comparison, Raziel Rebirth closely resembles that game in terms of how the skills work and the overall mechanical feel of the gameplay. Many skills are direct copies taken from Diablo III, such as the Barbarian’s Leap and Whirlwind; and Wizard’s Arcane Torrent and Blizzard. Showing this game to a Diablo fan without the menus, he/she would probably think this is a legit Diablo III spin-off for mobile. In the first few hours, it's enjoyable—perhaps a tad too easy, but the fun factor is undeniable. The rapid leveling up adds to the excitement, all in all creating a power fantasy where you can effortlessly mow down groups of foes. The sense of empowerment is very good, making the early stages of the game a satisfying experience. However, it remains to be seen how the difficulty curve evolves and whether the initial thrill sustains as the game progresses to very late stages. Dungeons and missions are instanced setups; you cannot change your gear, equip new items, or modify skills during dungeon runs, essentially locking you in until you either clear the challenge or choose to exit. So yeah, equipping a looted item or checking it out right after it dropped — out of pure excitement — is just not possible and it will have to wait until you're in town. ⏫Progression

As players conquer dungeons, defeat enemies, and complete quests, they earn experience points to level up and collect valuable loot. Character progression includes customization options through skill trees, equipment upgrades, and cosmetic choices. The main story itself is just a linear progression of chapter missions that reuses maps from time to time just with a different objective and accessible areas. There are other game modes too, such as the open world feature that unlocks early in the game, offering players along with their friends or guildmates on multiplayer, the freedom to explore current unlocked maps. This mechanic thrusts you into a vast landscape teeming with monsters, quests, and activities to discover. Again with the comparison, but it functions very similarly to Diablo III’s adventure mode. The game takes a different approach to character management. While technically possible by creating a new account, Creating a new character on the same account isn't straightforward as; you're required to reach levels 40 and 56 to unlock the other two character slots. Playing the fourth and fifth characters necessitates further grinding or, alternatively, spending money. 💵Monetization

Raziel adopts a free-to-play model with optional in-app purchases that includes familiar features like login bonuses, weekly events, challenge rewards, and in-game cosmetic. While the game provides a generous amount of content for free, in-app purchases include cosmetic items, in-game currency, and conveniences. The developers are promising a “no paywalls, never pay to win” aspect of this game and so far; there are no stamina systems at least and you could argue that it’s not pay-to-win mostly because there’s no PvP. Still, it’s a pay-to-progress if you want it too since the diamonds that can be used to increase your power can be brought with real money, Pay-to-Win? Technically yes. 📊Technical Performance

The game is unstable at the moment. I was simply not able to play using my main device: ROG Phone 5, after several attempts and multiple tries and fixes, It just kept crashing during login. I fired up my old Samsung Galaxy S9+ to play it and it surprisingly worked there; although it’s not without it’s own occasional crashes too. Game performance on the other hand is satisfactory, my S9+ is already aging and quite sluggish in most newer titles, but it runs Raziel Rebirth just fine. If you have an old phone looking to play some decent ARPG action, then this is a safe bet. ⚖️Conclusion

Despite its age and ill-fated outcome a few years ago, Raziel Rebirth: Dungeon Raid rises up from the ashes and is literally reborn to keep the fire going, re-providing an enjoyable gameplay for those seeking a mobile ARPG with a familiar touch of Diablo III-style mechanics with its straightforward mechanics, engaging gameplay, and delivering a satisfying power fantasy that’s hard to put down.

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