Salvation Prophecy video review

Salvation Prophecy is available now via Steam for £14.99 and is developed by small indie studio Firedance Games. The game offers interplanetary space action adventure as several races vie for control of the galaxy which blends on foot shooting action with space travel and aerial combat… oh and there’s a bit of strategy thrown in as well. With such a vast galaxy to explore and conquer, is Salvation Prophecy worth your time and money. Take a look at our Salvation Prophecy video review for the full lowdown.

Salvation Prophecy review Text version:

Today we’re taking a look at Firedance Games’ galactic space action game Salvation Prophecy which is available now via Steam and will set you back £14.99. To begin, players are given and introductory tale to set the scene, and then have to choose between one of the four races on offer which range from Humans, Droids, Aliens and evolved humans. Each race has their own distinct play styles which makes the choice stretch beyond simple aesthetics.  There’s quite a bit of story to be gleaned from the game, but it’s until players assume the role of whatever race they choose the game opens up its progressive story.

What’s really neat about the story progression, is how it’s tied to the various components of the gameplay, so at the start of the game, players are  basically introduced to boarding a craft and joining fellow invasion forces planetside. It’s here where players fight epic land battles against the opposing races with the idea of destroying everything, including all the opposing forces structures.  Players are then introduced to space travel and combat, and its here where using the game’s scanner navigation tools can warp through wormholes to various locations fairly quickly. Travel in this manner is a mini game in itself as players avoid touching the edges or avoid energy obstacles which drain shields.

The space combat works well and features all the tension you’d expect such as incoming missiles to avoid, large battleships and a slew of nippy fighters to take care of. Again, the onus is on total destruction, which feel satisfying and well represented as ships explode and laser fire fills the air. Controls for both styles of play are pretty standard fare, although with the ground based combat, a few more moves would have been more satisfying.

Once the basics have been covered, players are then given some free reign to explore a little, although in the first part of the game the shackles are fairly tight. Between missions players can work on rising through the ranks to unlock more features, with the main reward being granted once players become faction commander. Until then, bounty missions which involve hunting down pirate spaceships single handedly  can be undertaken to earn more credits, and faction missions can be participated in which represents more organized space and land battles.  Story based missions are thrown in from time to time which give rise to solo exploration on distant planets where players   even assume the role of alien beasts before landing and setting up beacons. It’s here where more of the underlying story elements are revealed and a bit of simple puzzle solving  to spice things up a little.

With free travel around friendly installations, players can spend their credits on upgrading parts of their spacecraft, or get better gear for when fighting on the ground. There are differences between the races in terms of what equipment is available and therefore makes for an interesting element to try out each race first before sticking with one for the long haul. Players can also spend skill points on boosting the abilities of their character which affords things like more health, attack power and such like.

The real meat of the game comes once players level up and are given full control of the faction. It is here that players can then choose to invade other races space stations and colonies or form alliances. Players spend resource points on building installations and amassing  troops with the aim of  colonizing all the planets. However, the other three races are doing the same, and so it becomes a tug of war to try and annihilate the others or make peace. Its at this stage of the game that the action of taking part in the battles  which can be a little repetitive has an overall meaning and adds to the strategic element on offer.

Salvation Prophecy fuses  a mixture of basic looking menus with some neat visuals for a budget game that are perhaps a little dated , but then again are impressive for such a small studio given the resources available. This is no Mass Effect in terms of sheer expanse and quality, but does competently represent its world well enough despite many areas being quite barren in terms of  finer details.  There’s perhaps a lack of variety with the locales, and the hubs for each race are the same which is a shame.  In terms of performance, the game runs very smoothly, and despite odd animations when objects are destroyed, there’s little to fault in this regard.

The game’s audio is of a reasonable quality with plenty of voice over work to draw players into its world. Whilst not award winning performances, the fact that there has been effort placed in this area is commendable and adds a bit of personality to proceedings. Whilst there is a bit of text to read, the majority of the game is easily digestible as the focus is on action rather than deep characterisation. In terms of music and sound effects, there’s some great audio moments during large scale battles and more subtle effects between missions. Every element of the game whether that be the roar of ship engines as players leave their space stations, to the sound of exploding battleships is perfected, making a cool sounding game indeed.

In terms of longevity, Salvation Prophecy eats away the hours on a single play with much to do and the option to replay the game using a different race if desired. In fact, players are free to save as many slots as they choose, so experimentation with the other races  is possible.  With a bit of open ended gameplay towards the latter part of the game, players can manufacture various outcomes in terms of how the four races relate to each other adding a bit more replay value to game. If there’s any real complaint here, is in the lack of side activities which could have expanded the game a bit further if there were more of them.

Salvation Prophecy manages to successfully marry several play styles into one game which makes for an enjoyable excursion into space for fans of shooting and exploration. Whilst the  progression feels a little rigid in places, once the game opens up there’s an enjoyable fusion of gameplay elements that keeps the game fresh and worthwhile. The game is very much a budget release, but with so much care and attention placed into this project, it stands as a testament that smaller budget games can be good and don’t necessarily need expensive effects or flashy graphics to make them enjoyable. The gameplay and looks are simple compared to triple A games, but if this can be ignored, there’s a cool and fun game to play here that’s well polished and certainly worth the price of entry.

Score 8/10 – review by Robert Cram

 

 

 

Written by: Rob Cram

Rob Cram has hundreds of video game reviews, thousands of articles under his belt with years of experience in gaming and tech. He aims to remain fair and free from publisher/developer influence. With his extensive knowledge, feels his gaming opinions are valid and worth sharing. Agreement with his views are entirely optional. He might have a bias towards cyberpunk.