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0 Published by SOEDESCO and developed by Among Giants, Albatroz is the latest adventure RPG that allows players to backpack across majestic landscapes. Featured in the Wholesome Direct back in June and recipient of the Epic Games MegaGrant, this indie title has players testing their wilderness skills, traversing the wilds, and managing their resources. Albatroz was released November 1st, 2024, and is available on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S for £26.99.
An Albatroz Adventure Awaits
The Story So Far
Players start their journey with an opening scene titled Days on the Road, driving a red car, filled to the brim with supplies. You play as Isla, a young woman who chooses to leave her mundane and monotonous city life, in search of her missing brother Kai. Kai has disappeared and is on a mission to find Albatroz. This mythical and mysterious mountain is never in the same place, so it is a wonder to discover. Driving through the valleys, Isla is tasked with using a map to find a gas station and the next village.
After refueling, players make their way to the trail that takes them to El Condor. But the journey becomes difficult halfway through. As the weather begins to drop and the wind starts gusting, Isla spots a figure in the mist believing it to be Kai. After chasing the figure, and going off trail, a gust of wind and birds knock Isla backward, losing consciousness. Isla awakes in El Condor village, thanks to the help of inhabitant Sence.
Gameplay
The majority of the game consists of following the map or following the clues to get to your destination, traversing and exploring the land on foot or by car. The story is delivered to players by interacting with NPCs or through dialogue between Isla and her companions.
Albatroz uses a party system where players can swap between the characters they find along the way. The first character that joins your party is Sence, an inhabitant of El Condor. You can level up your skills and the skills of your companions, by using travel points. These are earned through the gameplay by discovering areas and completing clues. The game makes it easy to swap characters, allowing players to seamlessly swap characters with better attributes quite quickly. There are three options for difficulty levels, allowing all levels of players a chance to try the game at their own pace and skill, whether it is wanting to focus on the story or being given a challenge.
The controls are quite easy to pick up, but the User Interface can be tricky to navigate as three buttons bring up similar-looking menus concerning your inventory and skills. The controls do feel quite clunky, as maneuvering around feels heavy or overly light at points, and it was unclear if this was due to Isla not having all the hiking skills yet or if it was an issue with the inputs.
No Quests, No Waypoint, Just Maps
One thing that stood out from this game was that the player’s adventure heavily relies on reading the map, using the compass, and following the clues. Players don’t have a waypoint to follow but are equipped with the intel they received from the villagers. The most help you get with the map is when driving. This allows players to see where they are located but only after they discover a landmark, river, or village. This does capture the backpacking and adventure themes nicely, as the game does not hold your hand but gently encourages you to step out of your comfort zone and explore.
Graphics & Audio
For this review, Albatroz was played on PC via Steam using a controller and tested using a mouse and keyboard. Visually, the game is a treat to the eyes. Beautiful, dense, and detailed landscapes and stunning sunsets. The soundtrack is another aspect that stood out, capturing the willingness and determination of the characters through beautiful guitars and percussions. Composed and produced by Pedro Pereira and Henrique Cardoso, the main theme is the perfect introduction to the game and sets the tone of the adventure players are about to embark on.
However, there are some issues where the game design does not feel cohesive. This is most notable during Scenes 1, and 2 and when you explore the wilderness on foot. The opening scene was perfect and captured the excitement of adventure. Although the short loading screen following this broke my immersion. Especially considering it was just to prompt us to exit the car. During the flashbacks or when entering a home, the game flips to first-person mode which felt strange to experience after driving through beautiful vistas and walking around the forest in third-person.
A bit buggy
There were several graphical issues, with framerate drops and several bugs. This was mostly encountered during the first trek up to the El Condor village. The character teleported back to the save point, T-posed during rest, which then triggered a flashback sequence. After the flashback ended, the interface and tasks from the flashback were on the screen during rest. This caused my playthrough to miss an exciting cutscene. Which for story driven players could be point of contention. Exiting the game and jumping back did fix some of these issues. However, the game continued to have frame drops, clunky object interaction controls, and a UI that felt over-produced. A new patch was released on November 10th, which hopefully fixes the experience. Unfortunately due to deadlines I did not have the chance to check this before writing my review.
Longevity
Albatroz does not have any game modes. It is linear in story but there are moments where players can stray off the path to complete the optional clues. Given the nature of the story, most players will find that you can only play it once. Depending on your playstyle, Albatroz can vary quite a bit in how long it takes players to finish the game. It is not something you can complete over the weekend, especially as there are very few save points. Players may find that they will have to go back on themselves if they exit the game a while after a checkpoint.
Final Thoughts
There’s no doubt that this game was created with passion and love, using the personal experiences of the devs to build a fantastic world. The story of Isla and her journey through the land is a beautiful, challenging yet rewarding adventure. Most players interested in investigating and following clues to unearth the story will find it a great experience. Those who were expecting more survival themes may find this to be tedious. The gameplay itself is not reflective of the already-established survival games currently available. Having to eat or drink water every couple of minutes comes across as the stats being very unbalanced. There is no major risk to ignoring these, except for Isla passing out and being put back at a checkpoint.
Using intel and maps as a means to move the characters forward in the world and story is done well. This is refreshing to see as it is both challenging and rewarding. The soundtrack had the most effect during my playthrough. It was fantastic throughout the game and captured the overall ambiance quite well. I would love to recommend the game wholeheartedly, but there are just too many issues in making this a comfortable experience for players. Especially at the current price point.
Albatroz gets a Thumb Culture Silver Award as most players will like the sound of it but it might not live up to their expectations.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
Want a new game to add to your library? Why not check out Jordan’s review of Moon Mystery, a sci-fi adventure, FPS on the Moon, and beyond.
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