The Sword of Rhivenia

I was actually pretty excited to jump in and play The Sword of Rhivenia. It is a text based fantasy adventure RPG and it pretty much relies entirely on your imagination to bring it to life. I played similar games back in the 80s and in my high school days (which were in the 90s by the way) in computing class, we got to make our own text based adventure games and it was something I loved. I picked this up when it was on sale and I thought that it had some neat ideas. If text based adventure games are something that you enjoy, it is worth checking out.

A Shakey Future

The setting of The Sword of Rhivenia is the kingdom of Rhivenia. A kingdom that has long been ruled by King Charles….. no not the big eared British dude, although that would have been awesome if it was. Anyway, three brothers fought over the throne and it would be Prince Charles who would be “chosen” by the sword to lead the kingdom into the future. The kingdom had many good years with Charles and his family running things, but a new threat has emerged!

The Uncertain Future

There are many airs to the throne in the kingdom and the premise of The Sword of Rhivenia is that we are one of those airs and we basically have to decide what kind of character we want to be. The game gives you a great deal of choice, I tried to play things out in a more heroic and noble kind of way, but there were many choices throughout the game and I could easily see how some of those could change your character in some pretty dramatic ways. If you like fantasy and swords and stuff like that, I am sure you will take a liking to much of what the story is about.

Where Did That Come From?

The problem I had with The Sword of Rhivenia is that the story when it is good, is very, very good, and for a game that is just text and all about its story that is very important. There are some interesting characters and relationships. However, there are also parts of the story that feel like they were rushed over or needed to be gone into a little deeper. Plus, the ending comes out of nowhere! There is a poison/plague that runs through the city and it is all doom and gloom and then out of nowhere, it is like everything is fine and dandy. It feels like the writer ran out of steam towards the end or they were rushed and had to get it all done by a certain date. It is not bad by any means, but the story and the writing are so much better at the start of the game.

The Land Of Imagination

When you start playing The Sword of Rhivenia you are tasked with creating your character. You can be a prince or a princess and you have to build your character by setting stats, traits, and so on. The game does do a good job of making you feel like you are the character. The “gameplay” is always throwing choices your way and for the most part, I did feel like my choices were making a difference and some of them even felt like they put me in a rather dire situation. Yet, there were times when I was given a choice, I would make it and then it felt like the response I got was for one of the other choices. I am ok with the writer pushing things in a direction if it is to the benefit of the story. However, do not give me a choice before that as it just feels like a waste of my time.

Pros:

• I liked the setting
• You can play as a prince or a princess
• There are some exciting moments in the story
• I liked how much control they gave over the character creation

Cons:

• The ending feels very rushed and it kind of does not make much sense
• Some of my choices felt like they were a waste of time