Testament: Order of the High Human Review | Being The Highest Human

There’s always going to be a fantasy world in need of saving, which is why so many developers are working hard to create entirely new ones. One such world is the setting for Testament: Order of the High Human by Fairyship Games. This is a first-person 3D-action affair sending you on an epic quest to stop a great evil and restore balance to the world. You’ll have a combination of melee and ranged weapons coupled with magic to give you more options. As a special kind of human, monsters, and evil will not give you an easy time on your quest to destroy them.

What is Testament?

The more fantasy a game has, the more new terms you may have to learn as you get into the story. Thankfully, Testament uses some familiar content while introducing its own throughout the plot.

You play as Aran, leader of a race known as the High Humans, who recently gave up his power and immortality to battle against the forces of darkness. Unfortunately, a prime threat of the darkness is his very own brother Arva, who has embraced the dark and gained the powers that come with it. Using an artifact connected to an ancient race of beings called the Seekers, Aran must seek out their power to gain the strength needed to defeat Arva and the darkness itself.

A Testament to Quality

It’s not easy to build an epic and expansive fantasy world that makes the evidence of time and effort stand out. Testament has a lot of time put into rounding out gameplay, and it comes across the experience that it provides.

The first is the action that comes through in combat with all sorts of humanoid and animalistic beasts. Combat is fast and messy, much like how real combat would be. You’ll swing your sword around while using wild and dueling tactics. The bow offers a nice alternative, with stealth being a viable option in many scenarios. The magic spells can also change this up in interesting ways especially when used in the heat of the moment.

The game does a solid job of making you feel part of something big and important. You get the sense that Aran was once very powerful, and is now starting all the way from the bottom. Every piece of loot you get, whether it’s an important story item or just a simple drop, makes you feel like you’re building yourself up just a little bit. The skill tree offers enough variety and extensions that you really want to shoot for those level-ups as much as you can, even if that means going into high-risk scenarios.

A Lacking Testament

The point of a testament is to stand for something, to prove something, and to really push to whatever it’s connected. However, this Testament is not as strong as it could be considering how much it’s holding up.

Unfortunately, the technical issues cannot be ignored, especially with enemy detection being odd at times. This makes some stealth sections random in terms of whether or not you’ll be spotted even if you’re fully hidden. That being said, Aran’s magic eye ability can make things a bit too easy considering its range and the fact that he can see all enemies through multiple layers of objects.

If you do get spotted, however, you’ll have to deal with the combat mechanics turning on you when you least expect it. Though they tend to work in the average situation, the game can’t always process everything that’s happening. You may be swarmed by minions and their pets causing you to wildly swing your sword, only to realize that you aren’t making contact with anything. Then, you’re left to stand there helplessly as you get torn to shreds. At least with the bow and arrows, you’re guaranteed to do some damage as long as you land a hit.

Then there are the puzzle segments of the game. While they add a decent alternative to the action and stealth gameplay, they aren’t executed as well as they could be. Puzzles are generally divided into contained rooms where all you need to do is get from one point to the other. Considering how repetitive the tactics can get, the puzzle sections can be a bit too long, and the tedium sets in quickly.

Also, the voice acting is absolutely ridiculous to the point where you’re wondering if that was intentional. It both hurts and is humorous at the same time.

A Time for the Testament

Testament: Order of the High Human is a 3D first-person RPG action-adventure game about saving the world from the darkness and your evil brother. It does well in making you feel a part of an epic experience while also empowering you with every single thing you collect. However, the technical issues, stealth balancing, and tedious puzzle layouts can work against the overall enjoyment. If you’re looking for a testament to good RPG gameplay, there might be a few scraps of it hidden somewhere in here. Just be prepared to seek them out.

Testament: Order of the High Human was played on PC with a code from the PR team. It’s available for download on PC via Steam.