RPGFan reviewed the dungeon crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun:

Operencia: The Stolen Sun

"Operencia can be inconsistent in presentation and difficulty, but I would lightly recommend it to anyone looking for a traditional RPG experience with emphasis on exploration."

From Zen Studios, a developer mostly known for pinball titles, comes Operencia: The Stolen Sun, a first-person dungeon crawl that puts just as much emphasis on dungeon exploration as its traditional turn-based combat system. The game certainly has a unique feel that separates it from other first person crawls like Etrian Odyssey or the related Persona Q series, with a setting that invokes a blend of mythology and fairytales as well as endearing characters who grow on you as the story progresses. Though it presents an immersive setting and interesting characters, Operencia does lack some polish in certain areas.

Operencia begins with a prologue where the player controls Attila, a king of legend in the titular land, fighting off a dragon leading an Underworld invasion. After this small introduction, we are brought to the present time, where the player-created protagonist, the son/daughter of a farmer, had a dream calling them to a cursed, flooded castle. There he or she meets Joska, a rogue who has also infiltrated the castle, and together they fight its army of cursed frog soldiers and rescue maidens. This serves only as a sort of second prologue however; upon exiting the castle our heroes find that the sun has disappeared and it's likely a new plot from the Underworld is afoot. They set out to find where the sun has gone and meet many companions who join the party along the way, each with their own connections to the plot or each other. 

[...]

Pros:
Feeling of exploration, fun character dialogue, potential replay value.

Cons:
Uneven difficulty, unimpressive sound design, some UI issues.

Bottom Line:
A decent dungeon crawl of light to moderate length which is fun overall and may have replay value, but lacking in consistency.

Score: 80%

Gamespace checked out the dungeon crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun:

Operencia: The Stolen Sun invites to crawl into its dungeons 

Operencia: The Stolen Sun is a dungeon crawler RPG set in a first-person view that I crawled my way through square by square to explore the depths of its old school mechanics and the world’s lore. I was not disappointed by what I found as I dug deeper into what lurked below. This is our Operencia: The Stolen Sun review.

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Summary
Overall Operencia: The Stolen Sun is a good introduction if you’ve never played a dungeon crawler type RPG before. It has a few rough edges and a tutorial that had me wishing it was over sooner. But this is balanced by some really great world lore, tons of great voice acting and great level design. 

Score: 8/10

The dungeon crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun has been released on Steam

Operencia: The Stolen Sun

Zen Studios’ modern homage to classic first-person dungeon-crawlers takes you to the land of Operencia, an unconventional fantasy world inspired by a faraway land referenced in countless Central European folktales. An old-school turn-based battle system combines with inspiration from unexplored mythology to offer an RPG experience that feels unique yet also familiar.

A Tale for the Ages
An unknown force has abducted the Sun King Napkiraly, leaving Operencia in a state of perpetual darkness – and eventual doom. From hidden royal tombs and cursed castles to an ascent up the World Tree to reach the Copper Forest of the Land of the Gods, explore diverse settings throughout the far reaches of the land…and beyond. Each location boasts its own unique atmosphere, visual style, level design and puzzles, and many take place entirely outdoors.

Where History Meets Legend
Operencia is home to an intriguing mix of unexplored mythology and fantastical versions of actual historical locations (e.g., Deva Fortress, Balvanyos) and characters (e.g., Attila, Seven Chieftains of the Magyars), all coming together to form one cohesive new gaming universe. Several of your own seven party members take influence from heroes of forgotten tales told hundreds of years ago, such as the brave knight Mezey and Sebastian the Dragon Slayer.

Classic Gameplay and Exploration
Along with a deeply strategic turn-based battle system full of spells and special skills to execute, tile-based movement encourages thorough exploration of each area. For added challenge, turn on Cartographer mode to plot out each of the 13 maps yourself. How many secrets will you find?

Beautiful Presentation
Breathtaking hand-drawn cutscenes and fabulous 2D character portraits bring the story to life in a style not easily compared to any other game. More than 30 colorful roles are fully voiced through top-tier performances authentic to the game’s Central European roots.

Other Key Features

• Explore 13 diverse, puzzle-filled levels
• Defeat more than 50 enemy types
• Switch between 7 fully upgradable – and memorable – characters
• Robust difficulty settings allow you to select options such as limiting saves, implementing permadeath, and disabling auto-mapping to create your own
• Stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4
• An epic orchestral score composed by Arthur Grosz
• Fully 3D environments, enemies and objects, plus high-fidelity advanced effects with dynamic shadows and lighting
• AAA Indie production quality and polish with top-tier voice acting, soundtrack, cutscenes and writing

Thanks Kordanor!

Operencia: The Stolen Sun is coming to Steam, GOG, PS4,and Switch March 31st.

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Zen Studios’ modern homage to classic first-person dungeon-crawlers takes you to the land of Operencia, an unconventional fantasy world inspired by a faraway land referenced in countless Central European folktales. An old-school turn-based battle system combines with inspiration from unexplored mythology to offer an RPG experience that feels unique yet also familiar.

Thanks Couchpotato!

XBLAFans has reviewed the dungeon crawler Operencia: The Stolen Sun:

Operencia: The Stolen Sun Review: Clouded by Imbalance

Dungeon crawling, turn-based, RPG with a grid system for movement and severely difficult puzzles. That’s Operencia: The Stolen Sun. This may sound great to some and a pain to others. You’re tasked with finding the Stolen Sun (kind of randomly) and get to create your own character to do so. Along the way you’ll find more friends and create a powerful team. There are several levels with a limited amount of enemies.
You’ll be wandering around quite a bit, so it’s probably best you don’t have random encounters all the time. There are many secrets to find and you could drop hours looking for them. If you’ve ever played games like Myst, you’ll know how long you can spend trying to figure out a puzzle. Will you be sucked into a magical world of charm and find the Stolen Sun, or give up frustrated because you can’t figure out how to progress the story?
[...]

Wrap-up
A beautiful package of a game, Operencia is enchanting but clumsy. It misses as much as it hits the target of being a great role-playing adventure. There was one glitch that was alarming to me. On Atilla’s Tomb, there are sections that overheat my Xbox One X. It shut my Xbox off at least six times. Suddenly my fans would go crazy and it would power itself off. Turning it back on, I would get a message about overheating. It was only on that level but it scared me from playing on. I did battle through it hoping I wouldn’t ruin my console. I do not think there is this same issue for PC players. If you’re in love with the trailers and concept, you probably won’t be disappointed with playing it. If you don’t have the patience for puzzles that require hours of wandering around then avoid this at all costs because without a guide you’ll likely be stuck in many areas. I’m torn, I really am. While I am love stricken with Operencia, I also am tormented by its flaws.

MMORPG has reviewed Operencia: The Stolen Sun:

The RPG Files: The RPG Files: Operencia: The Stolen Sun Review

Operencia: The Stolen Sun by Zen Studios is a throwback first-person turn-based dungeon crawler that seeks to add some modern polish to an older, underutilized formula of trying to put the player into a dungeon themselves, rather than controlling a character in the third person.  While retro-styled games are definitely a popular design choice, this one doesn’t see much in the way of use.  Does it still hold up?  Let’s find out in our review of Operencia: The Stolen Sun.
[...]
Overall, Operencia: The Stolen Sun hits all the right points for a great, immersive RPG.  The game is great fun to play, and exploring each dungeon, taking in the areas and listening to the characters banter with each other sucks you into the world.  While it is definitely a niche game, those who enjoy it will definitely be well served to pick up Operencia and give it a go.


Pros

• Characters & narrator provide backstory and insight
• Each dungeon's environment is beautifully done
• Puzzles & secrets reward curiosity and exploration

Cons

• Interface could use some polish
• Row system in combat feels inconsequential

Score: 8.5 / 10.0

Operencia: The Stolen Sun has been reviewed by Gamespot and Gamespew.

Gamespew

But it’s the gameplay where Operencia: The Stolen Sun truly shines. Whether or not you care for the game’s narrative, the gameplay will get its claws in you. Exploring each area is rewarding and enjoyable as you come across enemies, treasure and loot. There’s a wealth of puzzles, too, with Operencia hiding a number of tricks up its sleeve to make your progress a little challenging. Perhaps you’ll need to scour an environment to find a hidden clue to open a door, or you’ll have to hunt around for keys and important items. Nothing is handed to you on a plate and progression never feels too easy. But that’s all part of the fun.

[...]

Gamespot 8/10

Operencia tells a wonderful story derived from Central European folklore, mythology, and history, and it does so with unwavering confidence in its makeup. Companion characters are funny, and the banter between them makes for a fun experience that's not without its heartfelt moments. In terms of combat, the strategizing is so engaging that you'll likely end up charging rat warriors headfirst instead of hopelessly attempting to avoid bumping into them. Best of all, though, this world is so stunning that you'll just look at the trees, the water, the rocks--everything. It’s a shame that some of the puzzle solutions are needlessly frustrating and present significant obstacles in getting through the story, but aside from that Operencia provides a truly special experience.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Lady Lilia checked out the beginning of Operencia: The Stolen Sun:

(Prologue) OPERENCIA: THE STOLEN SUN | Part 1

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Let's play Operencia RPG! Operencia is grid based AND turn based RPG inspired by classic first-person dungeon-crawlers. The theme is inspired by faraway land referenced in countless Central European folktales.

Gamingbolt has an interview about Operencia: The Stolen Sun.

How much do the maps in the game vary from each other? Are the variations from a visuals perspective, or do they vary in terms of design and mechanics as well?

We have more than ten different visual settings in Operencia and most maps highly differ from each other in their mechanics as well. Our main level design principle was to make the maps diverse and deliver as many “wow moments” as possible.

There are some dark dungeons with narrow corridors and some with huge, open spaces and the layout always defines the puzzles and the behaviour of the enemies. Let me give you some examples. Many towers have multi-level puzzles which mean the targets are linked somehow and you have to comprehend the connection between them.

Then you have to climb to the magical World Tree where you will walk on the trunk, use the branches to build new routes and even move into the tree’s interior lairs and get out on the other side.

Last but not least, some rooms of Anna’s castle are flooded so you are not allowed to spend too much time underwater in search for treasures or you are going to drown. Every level needs a different approach on how to progress.

How much is Operencia going to be focused on narrative and storytelling?

The overall vision for Operencia was to modernize the classic first-person dungeon-crawling RPG – and a huge part of that is telling an interesting story with memorable characters. As much as we all loved playing Wizardry in the ‘80s, it wasn’t exactly deep in those aspects. But Operencia, I would say, takes more inspiration from Final Fantasy games in this regard. We do have an overall storyline running through the entire game, which you find out fairly early on involves literally finding the sun, which has vanished from the sky – hence the game’s subtitle. Once again, Central European mythology comes into play, as Hungarians once believed there was an actual Sun King whom we can see in the sky during daylight. He’s very real in our universe – and he’s been kidnapped.

And like Final Fantasy games ever since the Super NES era, the path to finding him involves encountering a whole party’s worth of diverse characters – a ragtag bunch that somehow has come together to become the land of Operencia’s only hope. It’s my sincere hope that you walk away from Operencia remembering characters like Jóska, Kela, and Sebastian in a similar regard to the likes of Cloud, Tidus, and Locke.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

GameWatcher have played a half hour of Operencia: The Stolen Sun.

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Operencia: The Stolen Sun - old-school RPG turn-based dungeon crawler is out within days and we've got an exclusive access to try early game stages of Operencia: The Stolen Sun Gameplay.

Operencia: The Stolen Sun has been previewed by Xbox Wire.

These encounters can be a mix of turned-based or real-time strategy; Operencia leans into the more turn-based approach, giving you time to plan your moves and anticipate attacks. You manage your hero abilities along the right side of the screen while seeing the order of attack along the left side. In front of you will be your enemies, each at one of three range distances – you can cycle through each range to determine which enemy you’d like to strike first. Whittle down the weaker enemies and save the stronger ones for later, or focus your attacks on the heavy hitter? From my brief hands-on time, it appears you will have a lot of freedom in how you want to plan and then execute your attacks.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Wccftech reports that Operencia: The Stolen Sun launches March 29th on Epic Games Store, Xbox One and Windows 10 via Microsoft Store.

Zen Studios, the Spanish development team known for their Pinball games, announced the release date of their new game Operencia: The Stolen Sun. The title will be released on March 29th on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC (via Microsoft Store) and Epic Games Store.

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Thanks Farflame!

A new dev diary for Operencia: The Stolen Sun focuses on combat and puzzles.

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Operencia: The Stolen Sun – Developer Diary | Puzzles and Combat

Greetings from Zen Studios! I am excited to present to you Zen’s second developer diary where you will hear the personal stories from the talented team behind the creation of head-scratching puzzles to the thrilling combat constructed in Operencia: The Stolen Sun.

So, come along with me as I take you behind the scenes of this first-person dungeon crawler and discover what it took to create a couple of the core gameplay mechanics.

Lead Designer Ferenc Nagy-Szakall kicks it off by explaining the four main elements of Operencia, Puzzles and Combat being at its core. Game Designer Andras Klujber reveals a few games – some classic masterpieces for sure – that were used to inspire the unique turn-based combat system found in Operencia. Also, QA Technician Gergely Drobina reveals some challenges the team faced when trying to find the perfect balance of difficulty within the game. Finally, Game Designer/Writer Oliver Sandor shares the irony of how the puzzles he designed to be the simplest, turned out to be the most difficult for others to solve and gives you the inside scoop of who to blame if you find it difficult to conjure up all the potions at the crafting table.

You may have already marked it on your calendar, but we can’t wait for you to experience Operencia: The Stolen Sun coming this Spring to Xbox One, the Epic Games store and Windows 10. Go ahead and leave comments below or reach out to us through social media. Follow the game at @OperenciaRPG on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and you can contact me personally through Twitter at @akosgyorkei.

A new dev diary for Operencia: The Stolen Sun looks at Inspiration, Lore and Art.

Hello, RPG fans! As a creative director and writer for Operencia: The Stolen Sun, it’s my pleasure to present to you our first developer diary. In less than six minutes, you’ll gain a solid grasp of what inspired this modernization of the first-person dungeon crawler – everything from centuries-old stories that shaped the world to where the name “Operencia” comes from in the first place.

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DSOGaming reports that Operencia: The Stolen Sun will be an Epic Game Store exclusive.

Zen Studios announced that Operencia: The Stolen Sun, its upcoming modern take on the classic dungeon-crawling RPG genre, will release exclusively through the Epic Games store for PC. The game was meant to hit Steam later this year (as there is a Steam store page for it), however – and similarly to other recent games – it will abandon Steam in favour of Epic’s new digital store.

[...]

Zen Studios was interviewed by USGamer about Operencia: The Stolen Sun.

"We want to make sure [Operencia] is accessible to a wide audience and that they understand the story we want to tell," Zen Studios producer Akos Szabo tells me in a Skype call from Budapest. "You don't need any social-historical knowledge of Hungary, these are tales and legends." 

We've seen with franchises like The Witcher and local traditions and local folklore can be used to tell epic and adventures understood universally. Chris Baker agrees. "You know I'm in the same boat. I didn't know a lot of this [Hungarian] mythology coming in and it was kind of one of the more interesting challenges," says Baker in the same Skype call.  

The origins of Operencia are obscure for sure. Probably because there's no readily available English-language resources on the subject. The best I could find was a Hungarian Wikipedia page I translated using Google which told me that Operencia is literally an unknowable fairytale land. 

[...]

Zen Studios announced Operencia: The Stolen Sun - a dungeon crawler with turn-based combat and puzzle-filled levels. The setting is based on Hungarian folklore and mythology:

Operencia: The Stolen Sun

Zen Studios’ modern homage to classic first-person dungeon-crawlers takes you to the land of Operencia, an unconventional fantasy world inspired by a faraway land referenced in countless Central European folktales. An old-school turn-based battle system combines with inspiration from unexplored mythology to offer an RPG experience that feels unique yet also familiar.

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A Tale for the Ages
An unknown force has abducted the Sun King Napkiraly, leaving Operencia in a state of perpetual darkness – and eventual doom. From hidden royal tombs and cursed castles to an ascent up the World Tree to reach the Copper Forest of the Land of the Gods, explore diverse settings throughout the far reaches of the land…and beyond. Each location boasts its own unique atmosphere, visual style, level design and puzzles, and many take place entirely outdoors.

Where History Meets Legend
Operencia is home to an intriguing mix of unexplored mythology and fantastical versions of actual historical locations (e.g., Deva Fortress, Balvanyos) and characters (e.g., Attila, Seven Chieftains of the Magyars), all coming together to form one cohesive new gaming universe. Several of your own seven party members take influence from heroes of forgotten tales told hundreds of years ago, such as the brave knight Mezey and Sebastian the Dragon Slayer.

Classic Gameplay and Exploration
Along with a deeply strategic turn-based battle system full of spells and special skills to execute, tile-based movement encourages thorough exploration of each area. For added challenge, turn on Cartographer mode to plot out each of the 13 maps yourself. How many secrets will you find?

Beautiful Presentation
Breathtaking hand-drawn cutscenes and fabulous 2D character portraits bring the story to life in a style not easily compared to any other game. More than 30 colorful roles are fully voiced through top-tier performances authentic to the game’s Central European roots.

Other Key Features

• Explore 13 diverse, puzzle-filled levels
• Defeat more than 50 enemy types
• Switch between 7 fully upgradable – and memorable – characters
• Robust difficulty settings allow you to select options such as limiting saves, implementing permadeath, and disabling auto-mapping to create your own
• Stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4
• An epic orchestral score composed by Arthur Grosz
• Fully 3D environments, enemies and objects, plus high-fidelity advanced effects with dynamic shadows and lighting
• AAA Indie production quality and polish with top-tier voice acting, soundtrack, cutscenes and writing