Review: Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch (Nintendo Switch)

Welcome to the other side of the veil. I’m your host, and I’m so happy to see you here in Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch. I know it may not be so happy for you, but take heart—I have a mission for you, so I’ll be sending you back to the land of the living…at least for a while.

The first Lost Eidolons title was not released for the Switch, so this spinoff is a new experience (narratively) for me. My first impression was that this game looks good, but it makes use of a lot of well-worn tropes. You died, and a powerful something/someone is sending you back to do their bidding. Maybe you will be rewarded, but you can’t tell because you can’t remember anything. So, you will need to gather help to battle the big baddie. These elements aren’t new, but as I played more, they do appear to be well assembled and blend with other aspects of the game to make it rather engaging.

As usual, I’ll start with what we’re looking at. The graphics are high resolution and well rendered. Even so, it will be a better experience if you leave the console docked and play on a larger screen. The elements of scenery, people, and objects are well balanced and imaginative. The use of color and lighting keep things easy to distinguish and appealing.

The audio effects and music are equally well done. Overall, the game’s presentation is engaging and pleasant.

Considering the way Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch is played (turn-based), there is a grid on the field of battle. The game uses a square pattern layout with subtle but readily distinguishable borders. When it’s your team’s turn, you can use the joystick to move the selection (highlighted border) to the party member you want to use. You can change your mind about your selection until you actually take an action, which I find very handy (I’ve been burned in other games with an accidental double-tap/other selection method).

Another very handy feature is that you can change weapons during combat. It does not cost a “turn,” so you can switch from your tome to your sword and still take a swipe at your opponent.

Veil of the Witch is not all hack-and-slash combat (as fun as that can be); you also get plenty of storytelling. Yes, some of the story elements are things you have seen in other games, but the common themes—redemption, death, uneasy friendships and alliances, and self-discovery—do not detract from having a good time.

The game provides both text and audio/voiceover to tell the story. The voice acting can be a bit extra sometimes, but it is generally well done. Since you don’t remember anything at the start of the game, this dialogue will be important for you to figure out who you are. Your backstory comes in small bites, sometimes at the cost of “memory shards.” These are relics you can use at mirrors to see bits of your forgotten past; not all of it is comforting.

As you learn more and do more, you get the expected experience to gain new skills, enhance old skills, and level up to be more effective at dispatching the bad guys. Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch will provide materials to improve the abilities of you and your party members, as well as a choice of cards. You may only have two cards from which to choose, so consider your options and how skills across the party can complement each other—you’re going to need all the help you can get.

This brings me to a minor point of frustration and a point of relief. The point of frustration comes from engaging in a combat sequence with a healer who can’t seem to get anyone, let alone everyone, healed to the point of surviving combat in the very early stages of the game. I understand the need to level up to be really effective, but many games will make the first few encounters easy enough to allow the player to get familiar with the flow of battle. This game didn’t seem to take that path. If you go into it knowing your party will do plenty of dying (or at least taking enough damage so they can’t continue), things start to make more sense. Be ready for some level grinding and a slow build-up to being formidable.

As you play on, you will encounter new people you can add to your team. You don’t get to take them all into battle at the same time; your party needs to be small and agile (and easier for the game to kill). This provides good opportunities to cultivate alliances, use new combinations of skills, and kick butt in new and unusual ways, which is always fun.

Keep your eyes open for the tips the game will throw your way, as they are usually quite helpful. If your mage has a lightning strike, for example, and if your opponents are standing in water, a hit to one can send a secondary shock to the poor fool standing next to him.

There are some characters you meet who are not human but who are helpful; including a talking crow. Consider his advice carefully, as you have decisions to make. Which fork in the road you take will determine your next encounter and the general path you take through the world as you work your way to the goal. This feature affords a good opportunity for exploration in replaying the game.

Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch offers a good balance of story and action which helps to keep the player engaged. The mechanics of skill management, item collection and use, combat tactics and techniques—along with the ease of play, game pace, and some really nice visuals—make this a good title to have in your game library. Even if you are not normally into roguelike RPGs, there is enough here to make it worth at least checking out the previews.