Testament: The Order of High-Human is a first-person action-adventure game developed by Fairyship Games. The demo of this action RPG with puzzle elements surprised me with how good the atmosphere and story were. While the puzzles became harder, the world around me became more immersive. This reminded me of The Last Oricru. Tessara is a dark and foreboding world, where madness has descended upon the land after the betrayal of your brother Arva. The immortal king of High Humans must navigate a path of survival. Our journey begins with deranged followers of a mad dictator, fighting against worshippers of a blood god, reclaiming your lost power. And much more to confront your brother Arva.
After exploring beyond the fortress, we learn to sprint, crouch, and vault over obstacles to find a weapon. In order to defeat a basic enemy, we need to learn how to swing with timing. Crouching and sneaking up behind enemies enables us to strike a death blow. We begin with a one-handed sword and later discover a bow. Once we reach some puzzle areas, we discover magic spells that can heal or buff us. A detailed skill point talent tree allows our character to choose one or more of these combat disciplines. There are numerous elemental powers in Tessara, from lifeforce and light to fire, gravity and void. A number of spells will buff and shield enemies and others will burn or push them back. Enemies will also have weaknesses or resistances so use tactics to your advantage.
It’s not just about hacking and slashing, but timing your swings right will allow you to perform combos as well as interrupt enemy attacks. Some attacks cannot be interrupted, so a quick dodge will get you out of danger. The enemy uses their special attack if you see a red flash, and if you are hit by it, you will be interrupted as well. While there is no visual stamina bar, it seems like you do suffer stamina loss with your swings and dodges. An icon above their heads indicates your level, purple is far too difficult. You respawn at the last checkpoint when you die. There are no visual checkpoints, but some fast travel stones are available. Occasionally, fallen enemies drop loot such as green life essence crystals that heal you, blue spirit force crystals that replenish mana or shards of creation that can be used to craft consumables.
Following a few combat scenarios and an encounter with our brother Arva, we encounter platforming and puzzle-solving mechanics. Light puzzles require bending light towards a gem by manipulating mirrors on a board. Other orb structures raise, lower, or move platforms that you need to jump to and from once activated. It was fun to work out and solve these platform areas, which allowed us to find a better weapon and unlock spells for combat. The best part was exploring Tessara’s land. Despite the linear exploration areas, I enjoyed exploring the forest and forts with mist and rain/thunderstorms around me and the moody atmosphere helped to set the tone of the game. I also enjoyed the sound design, and the voice acting was excellent. The experience reminded me of The Last Oricru.
Overall, I found Testament: The Order of High-Human to be a fun and enjoyable demo, with a good mix of combat, puzzle solving, and platforming sections sprinkled throughout. The game is currently in development for consoles, but there has never been a date set for its release yet. The demo shows that the game has a lot of potential to be an excellent first-person action RPG.
