Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review (PlayStation 4)

For our Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review, we go to 16th Century Latin America – mysticism, magic, and the unknown plague the land. Assume the role of Inca demigod Aluna in this epic action RPG, as you try to defend a mystical shard that possesses the power of the earth.

Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review

Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review Pros:

  • Decent graphics.
  • 6.67GB download size.
  • Platinum trophy.
  • Works on Playstation 5.
  • ARPG gameplay.
  • Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
  • Four difficulties – Story, Easy, normal, and hard.
  • Can change difficulties within the menu.
  • Five save slots.
  • Earn EXP and get points to put into a skill tree to unlock new abilities and it’s split into melee, ranged, and magic trees.
  • Big boss encounters.
  • Play how you want.
  • Meet and group up with other characters.
  • Loot can be found lying around, dropped from enemies or in the many loot chests.
  • Fast travel points can be discovered and used.
  • Items and gear have rarity levels that dictate buffs on them.
  • The merchant buys and sells equipment with rotating stock, he can also craft your new gear (random stats/rarity) and let you change one attribute of a weapon to a random new one.
  • The map uncovers as you play.
  • Create your own load out of abilities.
  • Save and quit whenever.
  • Auto saves regularly.
  • Voiced characters and interactions.
  • Cool comic book style cutscenes.
  • Minimap to show enemies and loot.
  • The right stick is used for dodge rolling.
  • Damage and healing numbers float above character heads.
  • Energy is needed to cast your abilities and you get energy by either using your basic attack or picking up a gem that replenishes it.
  • Health gems can be found and picked up.
  • Beautiful locations.
  • All gear has red and green arrows to dictate if they increase or decrease your stats.

Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review

Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review Cons:

  • Slow starter.
  • Most of the time you are going through menus checking loot and equipping new stuff.
  • The skill tree feels a bit weird because it forces you to stick with a weapon type and never deviate.
  • Performance is not the best most notably the game freezes every time you open a chest.
  • Every new area is the same layout in that you get a new set of enemies that behave the same but are just redskins, there is a new thing to break open.
  • Feels safer than other games in the genre.
  • Cannot rebind the controls.
  • Money soon becomes redundant.
  • The RNG on stat Reroll is generally terrible.
  • All gear is just about the stats as you never really change the appearance of your character.
  • Zero camera control.

Related Post: Bright Memory Infinite Review (PlayStation 5)

Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review

Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards:

Official website.

Developer: N-Fusion Interactive 

Publisher: DigiArtInteractive

Store Links – 

PlayStation

  • 7/10
    Graphics - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Sound - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Length - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Fun Factor - 8/10
7.6/10

Summary

Aluna is a great Diablo-like game but is definitely what I would call a mid-tier Diablo-like. This isn’t because it is bad or anything, it’s mid-tier as it does loot but not as deep as Diablo, it does build but no way near as deep as Diablo. I don’t want to compare it to Diablo but it’s the natural match-up. Alundra is a game you play when you want a lot of games but don’t want to spend hours learning mechanics, builds and all that jazz, No, Aluna is a very chilled yet engaging loiter where you can lose hours just exploring the glorious locations, hidden caves and killing endless monsters and humans. I really do like the game for what it is and it reminds me a lot of Risen, not the same genre really but I liken it as they both nail the mid-tier gameplay and deliver on the locations and atmosphere. Alundra does have a few niggles most notably the freeze-up as you open a chest, all the other little things can be easily forgotten as the combat is really good especially when you nail a perfect build. It does things I like to see in the genre like the right stick dodge rolls and the easy-to-read and access menus. No Alundra is not a Diablo killer it is Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards and it is a brilliant low maintenance action RPG.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!