The developers told me they hope to grab people who aren't typically roguelike/lite players-presumably those who are third-person action fans who might be open to a change. Tragically, I was already out of health potions by the time I received it and was loathe to take on a quest, and thus more muddy combat, in order to afford one. Combat encounters reward me with a card I can add to my hand: some giving additional attack, others defense, one particularly handy one would cause bleeding on nearby enemies any time I used a health potion. The town near the center offers additional health potions for sale along with quests from NPCs which will reward coins to buy those non-renewable potions.

I can transform back into a raven at certain points on the map to fly to a new encounter faster. Past the combat, all of Ravenbound's supporting elements encourage efficiency-an inclination I still appreciate towards controlling its openness. I was certainly prepared to forgive Ravenbound for mid-development oddities.but combat, the primary activity, wasn't negotiable. As it is now though, my first encounter with a group of dual axe-wielding humans actually made me wince and every subsequent encounter confirmed that gut reaction. These seem like solvable complaints individually, and maybe even as a whole Systemic Reaction will be able to yank the reins of its combat back on track.

Even that I can seldom use to cancel my own attack animation-whether by design or error I couldn't tell. The only bit of combat that nearly clicked was the perfect guard, which knocks back and stuns groups of enemies if I time it just before their strike.

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