A Review of Felvidek: 2024's Hidden Gem

A rather niche Indie game for a debut Substack post

  I found Felvidek purely by chance. I was intrigued at first by the music that played over what looked to be a trailer, the very same that plays in the game’s main menu. It wasn’t exactly your typical videogame OST, and neither was the art particularly conventional. Felvidek was an interesting game. I looked it up on steam and saw that it was only around ten pounds. After about a day of thinking about it whilst performing menial tasks, I decided to give it a go, backlog be damned. And I was pleasantly surprised.

  Within the first seconds of Felvidek’s opening, it is immediately apparent that this game contains a wealth of stylised treasures to indulge in. The lurid, psychedelic, bold sweeps of colour and black ink burn themselves into your retinas and the haunting melancholy of tracks like Hrad and Dedina – brilliantly furnished by Czech band Marcel Gidote’s Holy Crab – accompanies you as you begin to explore a town set deep in 15^th Century Slovakia. Felvidek’s presentation is entirely unique, even if the gameplay is relatively simple, following in the footsteps of experiences like Hylics before it.

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  Set up like a Monty Python feature in JRPG form, you fill the boots of alcoholic knight Pavol: a man whose wife has left him. He serves as a protagonist ripe with comedic potential, especially when interacting with the supporting cast. Matej, a monk, is Pavol’s primary companion and together they enter an almost buddy-cop bromance as they investigate the mystery that has beset the local town. This is first and foremost what you’ll be experiencing throughout Felvidek’s five-and-a-half-hour runtime – alongside cutting down hussites and coffee-powered cultists.

  The mystery presents numerous ludicrous situations, alongside a small selection of equally absurd side quests and interactions. Much to its credit, Felvidek never takes itself too seriously, consistently delivering iconic lines of dialogue in its pseudo-middle-English alongside witty jabs at the novelty of its story and gameplay; even in the game’s final dungeon you can encounter a direct acknowledgement of its RPG Maker origins. This seemingly authentic Slovakian humour allows for an exploration of many of the oddities and mundanities of life in 1451, examined through a 21^st century lens. This has much the same effect as the Witcher series’ historical-ish irreverence, or with the same impact (albeit lacking in authenticity, by comparison) of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

‘Much to its credit, Felvidek never takes itself too seriously’

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  Despite a slew of anachronisms and fantastical elements – perhaps necessitated in the pursuit of comedy – Felvidek’s story and setting is steeped in real history, with Pavol himself being a veteran of the battle of Kosovo in 1448. The multiple factions at play – the Hussites, the Ottomans and local Catholic villagers – are plucked from regional history; even the Zurvanists, although not present at this time, are loosely based on an historical cult. The game builds a portrait of a world I’m only slightly familiar with, attributed to its historical and Slovakian setting. It’s not at all so esoteric as to be off-putting, instead inspiring more than a couple google searches about the history and local stories that build the background and integral parts of the plot. Thus, Felivdek becomes a cultural export of sorts, not dissimilar to Warhorse Studio’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance, inviting others to look more closely at foreign history whilst acting as a celebration for those previously familiar.

  It is fortunate, then, that Felivdek’s fictitious micro-history is written with an interesting story too. True, much of its appeal lies in its novelty, yet this does not disqualify its endearing approach to simple themes and ideas, as well as more nuanced ones. Pavol’s grapple with alcoholism and his missing wife are an interesting through-hook to coincide with the cultish mystery in centre stage, even if they aren’t as thoroughly fleshed out as they might have been. Less really is more here.

   It helps that the atmosphere of the game is so brilliantly executed and does much of the heavy lifting in the narrative. The sentiment of less is more rings true in the game’s cutscenes, looking as though they have been torn right off the PSX; polygonal figures exist in a hauntingly vacant landscape, and the cutscenes themselves are few and far between to the point that they punctuate the game to great effect. They’re downright beautiful too, owing to an art style that complements the space Felvidek occupies on the knife’s edge between creepy and hysterical. The atmosphere presented here reinforces and bolsters the story, grounding it in a sleepy rural setting as well as exaggerating the other-worldly elements.

  The impact of such an atmosphere is underscored by a buzz of psychedelic jazz, reinforcing the unique, whimsical take on 1451 Slovakia. Marcel Gidote’s Holy Crab developed an OST that fundamentally understood what developer Jozef Pavelka had created. The tracks Ruiny and Ahriman are some of my personal favourites, and the contrast between the pleasant music of the game’s starting area and the devolved noises of the final dungeon coincide well with the story being told.

Felvidek is beautiful, ‘owing to an art style that complements the space Felvidek occupies on the knife’s edge between creepy and hysterical.’

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  Where the game struggles to achieve anything greater than its RPG Maker roots might suggest is in the core gameplay. Put succinctly, you’ve played this game before; I mean this in the nicest possible sense. Felvidek consists of standard turn-based combat and – despite stellar animation and iconic sound design – does little to innovate upon the typical back and forth, often just boiling down to having a larger party in order to progress. Bear in mind, this isn’t to the game’s detriment on the whole, given that it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and it isn’t the whole picture, yet it did stand out as the weakest part of the package. That said, the only element I outright did not enjoy was the consistent running back and forth between where I wanted to be and the healing altar in the Church. Overall, the combat suffices as a support for the story and presentation available and does little to be a detriment.

  The monotony of certain sections is something to be improved on in following projects, as were the game any more ambitious in scope and length, it may have become a serious issue. Yet, after two playthroughs for this review, I still view it favourably; this all depends on the player’s tolerance for this kind of thing

  In terms of how the game handles being an RPG, there are choices to be made and different ways in which the player can approach a scenario, alongside different characters to be assigned to your party; all is very standard. Additionally, there is very little handholding, allowing players to feel their own way through, with hints littered for the conscientious player to consider, although this doesn’t go too deep. There was something I encountered on my first playthrough, involving defeating a particular enemy, that I didn’t know how to surpass – this was resolved by merely paying more attention to a side character’s dialogue. Secrets are also to be encountered, more often than not they are comedically rewarding, with the most memorable perhaps being an interaction Pavol can have with a man living in a well.

  There is a lot of joy in the simple parts of discovery, many of which I won’t deign to spoil here for you and many of which worth finding. Despite the mediocre gameplay, Felvidek has heart, and polish, exactly where it matters, and exactly where it was intended.

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  Ultimately, Felvidek is a game that is far greater than the sum of its parts – which is not at all a bad thing – and worth the five-or-so-hours it takes to complete it. It is a charming, unique experience that has firmly established its place in my psyche by both embracing the classic JRPG formula whilst breaking its boundaries in subtle and meaningful ways. Felvidek holds a seat amongst games like CDProjekt’s Thronebreaker as an underrated and immensely endearing RPG adventure.

I’d love to unconditionally recommend this game – and I certainly do recommend it to most people – but if you’re the type of person put off by games focused more on the writing and presentation, this is a package perhaps best considering at a lower price in a sale. It currently sits at £9.29 on steam, something I would happily pay again, but it may not be worth it to some. In terms of time investment, Felvidek is undeniably worth it.

  Hopefully Jozef continues to work on games – I’ll be keeping a close eye. In fact, the discord server seems to suggest that a DLC is in the works. Indie projects like Felvidek are inspiring and part of what makes gaming such a rich tapestry, so consider supporting it by wish list at least.