Thy Creature - Review

Thy Creature is an early access game that has a unique style of gameplay which stuck with me. It has an amazing story to boot along with it that captures a unique theme and motive behind it that is quite depressing the more you think about it. This is MazM’s own take on the Frankenstein story and I have to say, I really like it. I am a huge fan of dark fantasy-type stories, so this was something I wanted to try out for myself.

Thy Creature is in Early Access at the time of writing this review, meaning that not all of the content is out yet.

Pros and Cons

Pros

- An amazing story that deals with a very interesting theme

- Great characters that are full of personality

- Gameplay that is really interesting and fun

- An awesome soundtrack filled with nice piano tunes

- A fantastic creepy art style that fits with the game

Cons

- There is one boss that has an annoying mechanic

- The controls felt awkward to use

Story

The story starts out with a nameless creature, who has no memory of himself. He is dragged out of his village due to his appearance, where he could only find comfort from the animals who got along with him. The creature goes to this eerie tower where memories are supposed to intertwine and reality is distorted. He wants to find out why and where he was born and hopes that this tower can provide the one wish he truly seeks. There, the creature meets Noah, who has been trying to escape for some time and helps him along the way.

There is a lot more to this story that I would love to talk about, however, I would just end up spoiling it as a whole. Thy Creature deals with the themes of painful memories, where you don’t want to leave old friends behind or by going through a painful experience in life. I think the story is crafted very well and the characters are also very well made.

My favorite character has to be Noah, he has this mysterious charm to him that I loved. Out of the three characters that are present, I can relate to him the most on the memories that he wants to forget.

Justin and The Nameless Creature are well done as well, they had their own unique personalities that made them good characters.

Gameplay

Thy Creature has a mix of bullet hell gameplay and puzzle-solving elements. The puzzles are not too difficult so far at least, think of them as trial-and-error kinds of puzzles. I liked this style, nothing too confusing and it’s something that I can sit down and casually enjoy doing.

Then, there is combat. You will be dodging a bunch of bullets, but you do not have the ability to fire back against the Nepes. Instead, you will be collecting black rock fragments that will damage them. There are small ones that will deal half a heart or the big ones that will do a full heart container of damage. Be careful though, you yourself only have five and there is no way to heal during battle or a way to get more heart containers.

There are two issues that I do have with Thy Creature. These did not make me put the game down but are worth noting. The first issue has to do with the current final boss. They have an attack that will make their attacks stay on the screen for at least a few minutes. Now, this is fine, however, they will stay on for too long and when I am at half a heart container of health left and I am stuck in a corner, I am pretty much screwed on the next attack.

The next issue has to do with the controls. They felt a little weird to use but they do work. You use the arrow keys, "e" to interact with the environment or characters, and "z" to open your quest log. I am not saying they are bad, they work, it’s just my fingers felt a little cramped after a while. Take it from someone who is used to using WASD controls.

The only other thing I would add to Thy Creature would be some achievements, other than that I think the game as a whole is perfectly fine.

Graphics, Performance, and Soundtrack

The art style that is used in Thy Creature is honesty really well done. I liked how it looked. It fits with the characters very well. I especially liked it when the areas are all dark and gloomy, definitely shows that something is around the corner. I tested the game on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Quad-Core Processor 3.50, with16 GB of RAM. Thy Creature is not a demanding game and should run on low-end PCs.

The soundtrack is another thing that I loved. The piano and violin tunes sounded very pleasant to listen to. I think each theme had something charming to them and that is something I like about a soundtrack. I also loved the intro song, not only does it tell part of the story but the tune for it is just spot-on for what it’s trying to present.

Final Verdict

Despite Thy Creature being in Early Access, I feel like it’s a good quality game that is worth the price. Note that the game is not complete, however, updates are still coming out. I especially enjoyed the story, characters, and music the most and it shows that a lot of work and care was put into the game.

Steam Store Page

My Original Review