In all honesty, this is the single best FPA I've played since the Myst and Rhem series.

The environments are beautifully moody, well-rendered, and filled with mindbending puzzles that become more difficult as the game progresses. The storyline is engaging and presented at an excellent pace. And just when you think you have it figured out, there's a twist that blows your mind.

This plays like an old-school adventure game, so pay attention to notes, clues, signs, symbols, and the like. An overall brilliant game, and I hope to see more from this developer...and soon!

I purchased Epistory on sale at another site after playing a demo and falling in love with this unique game. Graphically, it's stunning. Each isometric world unfolds before your eyes, beginning with unadorned squares of newsprint that bend, twist, and crumple into the forms of the landscape, then fade from monotone to color.

Game play is original and a breath of fresh air in an industry rife with overly violent first-person shooters, simplistic hidden object games, and copycat time management games. Move through the main world and eight sub-worlds until you've eradicated the invaders, leveled up with a new power, and defeated the "nest." The sub-worlds are modeled after classic platform games; each is a distinct biome.

Move using the E, F, J, and I keys so you can easily switch to typing words. Space bar switches from movement to typing and back; when you press it, interactions that require typing are revealed. At first, you need only type whatever word appears above each area, obstacle, or enemy. Once you gain powers, some actions will require certain powers. For example, if you're currently using "ice" and an enemy approaches that can only be defeated by fire, you'll have to type "fire" first, then the word that defeats it.

It sounds complicated, but it's really not. The learning curve is perfect, plus adaptive difficulty is built in so if you're not a fast typist, just type more slowly at the beginning when the words are small and you won't be overwhelmed when faced with "oxymoron" or "pseudonym."

Also, there are upgrades you can "purchase" with earned game points to increase the speed of your fox, make your hits on the enemy more powerful in different ways, reveal secrets on the map, and more.

Lastly, it's a fairly long game, especially if you take your time to explore each level and find all the hidden treasure chests, and I believe the replay value is high.

While this game has some of the best graphics and music in the TM/Strategy genre, it suffers from a thin story line, clumsy and slow game mechanics, and repetitive gameplay.

The graphics—both map and scene—are detailed and dimensional. The overall look is medieval, but the characters are vampire goth. There's not much animation except for a looped background character in each scene. The NPCs with whom you interact (and who give you your quests) don't move or lip synch.

You have two energy levels to keep up—vigor and mana—plus money to earn. Vigor and mana are increased either by eating or resting. Money is earned through a series of jobs which you can upgrade for higher wages as you learn new skills. You're also awarded a choice of rewards at the completion of each quest.

The quests include finding items on the map, hidden object scenes, running errands for the populace, learning new skills and spells, and upgrading your clothing, steed, and home. This entails traveling from place to place on the map, one drawback to this game, as this travel time interrupts the flow of gameplay.

This has potential to be an enthralling game, but needs improvement in the areas of game mechanics and gameplay, in my opinion.