Midlife Gamer checked out the action RPG Zenith:

Zenith – Review

From the outset, Zenith forcefully conveys its difference from other modern Action-RPGs with its distinctive aesthetic, satirical humour and ArcanePunk setting, and while it achieves this aim, it is not all a positive distinction.

When we meet our protagonist, Argus Wendell, he has been apprehended by Elves from the Homogeny, who are currently at war with the empire that Argus serves as an Imperial Wizard and member of the Infinigon. It is in this first conversation that the level of humour is established, as Argus attempts to distract his captors with tales of running from “Tenor Spiders” that sing as they attack, only for the camera to pan to reveal the very Spiders the Elves mocked awaiting their moment to pounce, accompanied by an acapella attack song.

The story continues apace with Argus and his mage colleagues racing to unlock a forgotten temple before the Elves, recovering an ancient artifact that could turn the tide of the war and earning promotions for their efforts.

The story then jumps forward seven years, to find Argus has settled down in a quiet town to become a potionist, (the most maligned role for a Mage), and the empire has collapsed entirely in the intervening years. It is not long before you discover adventurers are sniffing about a nearby dungeon and Argus is catapulted back into the world of elves, empires and ancient weapons.

[...]

Despite the clunky and sometimes frustrating combat, the relatively light touch armoury, skill and weapon systems, and the clunky controls I found I enjoyed the game overall. It was short enough to keep things interesting and moving along at a decent pace while the unique story, quirky dialogue and numerous nods to rpg tropes and pop culture hit the mark more often than not.

Score: 5/10

GameSpew has reviewed the RPG Zenith:

Zenith is a game that shouldn’t work. In fact, it often doesn’t work. It’s a game that demands you pass it by. Its storefront on Steam looks as generic as it gets. Its myriad of bugs and issues should be turning you off. The shoddy menus and absolutely horrible combat system is so bad it might set your hard drive on fire. However, amid the dire design choices lays a small, tiny golden egg. Among the wreckage of this game is a little thing I like to call heart and soul.

[...]

Good

• Charming characters and setting
• Actual jokes!
• Plenty of sarcasm and contextual references

Bad

• Awful combat system
• Bugged menus
• Generally rough around the edges

Score: 5/10

The humorous action RPG Zenith will be released today:

Wizards and adventurers have one thing in common: they'll happily start messing with any ominous glowing artifact they find in a ruin if they think they can gain something for it, be it knowledge on the arcane powers that forged the world, some shiny new sword or, god forbid, the power of friendship. No matter how many skulls are engraved on the thing.

Sure, mages may be more prepared and do it for the right reasons... sometimes. But that doesn't change the fact that they're toying with dangerous powers, and when they fail, they fail big. And most times those failures reshape the world around them. Generaly in the form of a smoking crater. Or something with a lot of tentacles.

Well, Argus windell was a pretty good wizard, an Arcanologyst to be precise. He knows everything there is to know about ancient artifacts, but I guess an apocalypse unleashed in the middle of a war has a way to change your views on the whole “unveiling the mysteries of the universe” thing. So he retired, looking for peace and quiet.

But that’s not easy to get in a world full of spike-haired buffoons who drag their giant swords around and mess things up with their chosen one complex. Specially when you’re trying to keep one of those dangerous devices out of the reach of their greasy heroic hands.

Key Features

• Explore a world of possibilities in a fully-realized fantasy realm. And one of those world map things we used to love.
• Face huge bosses, dangerous foes, and angsty teenagers.
• Find tons of parodies and pop culture references. Let's see if you can recognise them all.
• Save the world. Sorta. Granted, it's a bit of a cliché. But hey, it works.
• Unlock special abilities and upgrade basic combo movements with an all-powerful "final blow"-type move.
• Evade the cruel and overrated real world with a long single player campaign. Well, not as long as that one with the guy with the white hair, SURE, but we're an indie studio, dammit!

The Action RPG Zenith (with lots of humor in it) will be released at Steam on September 20:

Zenith Trailer 1: Wizards

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Zenith Trailer 2: Adventurers

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Wizards and adventurers have one thing in common: they'll happily start messing with any ominous glowing artifact they find in a ruin if they think they can gain something for it, be it knowledge on the arcane powers that forged the world, some shiny new sword or, god forbid, the power of friendship. No matter how many skulls are engraved on the thing.

Sure, mages may be more prepared and do it for the right reasons... sometimes. But that doesn't change the fact that they're toying with dangerous powers, and when they fail, they fail big. And most times those failures reshape the world around them. Generaly in the form of a smoking crater. Or something with a lot of tentacles.

Well, Argus windell was a pretty good wizard, an Arcanologyst to be precise. He knows everything there is to know about ancient artifacts, but I guess an apocalypse unleashed in the middle of a war has a way to change your views on the whole “unveiling the mysteries of the universe” thing. So he retired, looking for peace and quiet.

But that’s not easy to get in a world full of spike-haired buffoons who drag their giant swords around and mess things up with their chosen one complex. Specially when you’re trying to keep one of those dangerous devices out of the reach of their greasy heroic hands.

Key Features

• Explore a world of possibilities in a fully-realized fantasy realm. And one of those world map things we used to love.
• Face huge bosses, dangerous foes, and angsty teenagers.
• Find tons of parodies and pop culture references. Let's see if you can recognise them all.
• Save the world. Sorta. Granted, it's a bit of a cliché. But hey, it works.
• Unlock special abilities and upgrade basic combo movements with an all-powerful "final blow"-type move.
• Evade the cruel and overrated real world with a long single player campaign. Well, not as long as that one with the guy with the white hair, SURE, but we're an indie studio, dammit!