About The Game

Faeland is a handcrafted 2D action-adventure RPG that wears its 8-bit and 16-bit inspirations on its sleeve. Stepping into the boots of Sam, a skilled hunter, you are thrust into a sprawling, vibrant world that emphasizes freedom and discovery. Unlike linear platformers, Faeland focuses on a non-linear journey where exploration is key—you'll scour hidden areas for gear, acquire "Skill Scrolls" to expand your repertoire, and carefully manage your equipment. From your choice of tunic to the specific weapon in your hand, every piece of gear impacts your combat speed, attack animations, and defensive capabilities. The game aims to capture the "magic" of weekend-long gaming sessions from the past, wrapped in a modern, fluid pixel-art style.  

History and Inspiration

Developed by the small indie team at Talegames, Faeland represents a multi-year labor of love that began with a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2018. The project has long been noted for its "enhanced 16-bit" aesthetic, utilizing widescreen resolutions and fluid, high-frame-rate pixel animations to modernize the feel of classic adventure RPGs. The developers have taken a transparent, community-focused approach to development, frequently iterating on the game’s core systems based on player feedback from their Early Access period on Steam, which began in late 2023. Recently, the team marked a major milestone by releasing a playable demo on Xbox, signaling their commitment to a robust, simultaneous multi-platform launch for the final 1.0 version.  

Critical Discourse and Player Feedback

The discourse around Faeland is as varied as its landscapes. On the positive side, the community frequently praises the game’s "striking" visual style, which many consider a high-water mark for modern indie pixel art. Fans of the Metroidvania genre appreciate the sense of mystery and the rewarding nature of the game’s exploration. However, the Early Access journey has not been without its hurdles. Some players have expressed frustration with the game’s pacing, describing the movement and combat as "leisurely" or occasionally sluggish, particularly during boss encounters. Additionally, the development timeline—which has seen the target for a full release shift to accommodate a multi-platform strategy—has been a point of contention for some long-time supporters who are eager to see the final chapter. Overall, the sentiment is that the game has immense potential and a strong foundation, provided the developers can successfully smooth out the remaining technical and balancing "rough edges."  

My Hands-On Impressions

I noticed the Faeland demo was recently released on Xbox, and given some of the feedback I was seeing on socials, I prioritized giving it a try. I'm very glad I did.

Clearly the game is a 2D side scroller, but other than that I didn't know much about it. Once you start and select your save slot the game presents a character creator. Given the screenshots I saw showed a blonde female warrior that's what I ended up creating (and because my brain wasn't ready for this I just named her "Faye"; so creative, right?). You can choose from either a male or female form, five different skin tones, twelve different hairstyles (roughly six traditionally male and six traditionally female - but there's no gender restriction), and thirteen different hair colors. I ended up choosing blonde, but that's just because my expectation was already set to play as a blonde female, so that's what I chose. I'll probably go back and pick a purple haired male next time, just for fun.

Then the game begins with a series of cinema scenes (using well-crated pixel art) telling the story of how the land was created by the Fae and they also created humans but of course it all goes wrong at some point. Humans who dabbled in dark magic were twisted into monsters and drama ensued. The narrative seems well thought out and written. I didn't even skip any of it. LOL.

After the story scenes end you are shown the interior of a temple, crated in really great-looking pixel art. Seriously this game is beautiful in a similar level to a game like Blasphemous, but with more of a Legend of Zelda-vibe than Bloodborne. There are some scary monsters walking through it, all very well drawn, and then you wake up in your house.

The animation showing your character getting out of bed and stretching is very impressive. You can tell the devs spent a lot of time on it. You collect your clothes, knife and bow, then find out you're out of food and need to go hunting.

I ended up going to the left (I always like to see how developers design a game by trying to immediately go to the left) and entered a great looking forest. You are presented with some mushroom monsters to use your knife on, plus a crow to teach you how you can attack upwards. It's all really good.

After you run through the forest and find a deer to kill for food, you go back to your house, cook it and eat it. Then you go to sleep. During the night your house is invaded by monsters and you barely escape with your life. You jump through the window and run into the night, with the monsters giving chase.

Upon trying to cross a log spanning a deep pit, the monsters destroy the log and you fall. Luckily you are not killed though and you wake up the next morning, without any clothes (except your default underwear) or weapons. This begins the second half of the demo.

You then do some typical cave exploration, item finding and monster killing, but it's all very well done.

There is a boss for you to defeat, and shortly after that the demo ends, but it's a really good time overall.

You can watch my gameplay from the Woodo demo on PS5 in the video below: