The Lonesome Guild Review
The Secret of Etere
Loneliness is a silent killer. It is said globally that one in six people is lonely, and this number has been on the rise since the pandemic. People are going out and seeing others far less, and many feel that they don’t have a proper support network to rely on. "Third spaces" are shrinking, and people feel like they don't have places to cultivate community beyond online spaces. In our rapidly changing world, we can have items instantly delivered to our homes, but we all struggle to make friends and maintain connections. Loneliness is an emotion that, coupled with anger and anxiety, can be an incredibly powerful force, and it threatens all our well-being. Tiny Bull Studio's The Lonesome Guild is a game that wears its themes on its sleeve, and while the gameplay is a mixed bag overall, the message of the game couldn't be more crystal clear: find others, combat loneliness, and make your own community.
The world of Etere is shrouded in a red mist known as "loneliness." This mist is spreading far and wide, causing citizens to become infected by anxiety, fear, and hopelessness. Players take on the role of Ghost, a spirit with no memory of who they once were. Ghost encounters a young bumblebun named Davinci, and a grumpy yet stoic foxtrae named Mr. Fox. As the game expands, players meet four other companions, each with their own personal struggles, but who ultimately have the same goal: to expel the loneliness from the world and find ways to revitalize their communities. The themes of combating loneliness and finding community are really the heart of the overall story, which feel particularly important given the current state of the world. Moreover, these themes are presented in such an earnest and sincere way to melt even the grumpiest of hearts. Every character that Ghost encounters has their own personal struggle, something holding them back from greatness. Yet, each of them wants to find a way to change the world so that the communities they come from can thrive once more. The Lonesome Guild has such a wholesome approach to its storytelling, and with such likable characters, it is definitely a highlight.
However, the narrative isn't perfect by any means, especially given how predictable and cliché so much of it is. One of the game's main plot twists is too obvious and evokes more of a twirling mustache type of villain than something these characters should actually be afraid of. There are also so many moments where the game is overly predictable, yet the characters are still surprised, and it just feels infuriating. Part of the issue could be that the game doesn't know who its core audience is, as it tries to straddle the line but often ends up being too childlike. There is also the issue of the final boss being hyped as one of the most important moments in the game, but it's also one of the most anti-climactic fights. What should be such a big occasion, providing a healthy challenge for the player, is pared down into a power of friendship moment that could have been better served as a full story event rather than a battle.
[caption id="attachment_164720" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Fireside chats are comforting.[/caption]
The Lonesome Guild sports action-based combat that could use more refinement. Players can select one of the three characters in their party to control, each with their own physical and magical skills that can be used to fight enemies. One at a time, characters can fuse themselves with Ghost and emblaze themselves, boosting their power level for a short period of time. Sadly, the combat is mediocre at best, as much of it feels routine for the genre, and the abilities characters gain aren't overly inspired. The game also suffers from a terrible dodge mechanic, wherein the player still gets hit even when the visuals indicate otherwise. Enemies will even telegraph their more powerful attacks, but players will easily find themselves in the line of fire more often than not. Players also have an instant win button in the form of Ghost. As characters attack the enemies, Ghost's gauge will fill, and once it's ready, this spirit can do a lot of damage. It's so easy to save this ability for the tail end of a boss fight, hit the button, and call it a day. It's too powerful and really diminishes the challenge of the game overall.
One of the core elements of The Lonesome Guild is building relationships with the cast of characters. During fireside chats, the cast will have conversations, wherein Ghost will have to make a choice that will then affect their relationship with the other characters. As Ghost builds their relationships with each of the cast, more abilities in their skill tree become available. Characters gain skill points in a few different ways, such as combat, fireside chats, and completing sidequests. That means the player is never hurting for skill points, which unlock new abilities and power-ups. There are forty-four side quests for the player to complete, though the majority of them are fetch quests and battles. Shining among them, however, are the character bond quests, where characters will ask Ghost for assistance to solve a lingering problem. All the characters get a great and personalized storyline that more than makes up for the boring fetch quests that are otherwise present.
As players explore the world of Etere, they are tasked with completing a plethora of puzzles throughout the journey. These puzzles are very uninspired to downright frustrating. There are tons of poorly worded riddles that can be very difficult to understand, lacking the clarity needed to determine the order of elements, such as switches, that need to be pushed. A lot of the puzzles are mostly switch-based, so there isn't a lot of variety in the designs either. It feels like the game needed a second pass at ensuring clarity and understanding for its riddles, because as they stand, it's easier to find success through brute force. Puzzles are fine when they are varied, and given that puzzles are a core gameplay element, the lack of variety in The Lonesome Guild significantly hurts it.
[caption id="attachment_164725" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Wheeeeeeeeeee.[/caption]
The Lonesome Guild does not outstay its welcome, clocking in shy of twenty hours for a complete playthrough, with players being able to go back to the last save to complete other content. During the review playthrough on PlayStation, the game crashed multiple times, and the AI constantly got stuck in parts of the environment. Party AI during combat is serviceable, though the amount of damage they output during battles feels minimal compared to whichever character the player is controlling.
The world of Etere is visually appealing, especially during story beats where still-frame artwork is present, doing a great job of giving the game a storybook aesthetic during important moments, or as Ghost encounters new memories of the characters and their past lives. In-game graphics are decent, very colourful, and the environments have a wonderful variety in terms of design and colour use. Every location is distinctive and interesting to explore. Sadly, there is only a handful of enemy designs, which is a shame considering how vibrant Etere is. The music is decent, and it does a great job of highlighting the game's more emotionally heightened moments, and the battle theme is serviceable, though it could do a better job of hyping the player up for battle. It's a good soundtrack, though not a lot of music truly stands out.
I found myself truly struggling with how I felt overall while playing The Lonesome Guild . On one hand, it's a game with adorable characters who build their own bonds to push back a very real threat in the form of loneliness. It wears its heart on its sleeve, and while a lot of what happens in the story is fairly cliché, there's also a warmth and kindness that cannot be understated and is truly the focal point of the game. On the other hand, the combat is uninspired, the dodge mechanic is fussy, the puzzles are often so poorly explained, and the rewards offered to the player have no real value in the grand scheme of things. The Lonesome Guild is a game that will find its audience through its visual appeal, but those wanting much deeper gameplay and story may be disappointed.
Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.
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