Felvidek (video game)

Felvidek is an indie role-playing video game developed by Jozef Pavelka and Vlado Ganaj, and published by Tutto Passa.^[1] It was released for Windows on March 29, 2024. Developed in the RPG Maker engine, its gameplay resembles that of a JRPG, but it is set in an alternate history region of Earth called Felvidék in a low fantasy version of the Middle Ages. Its realistic, but low-resolution and heavily-dithered monotone graphics are styled after the fifth generation era of consoles.

Felvidek
Developer(s)	Jozef Pavelka, Vlado Ganaj
Publisher(s)	Tutto Passa
Engine	RPG Maker MV
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	March 29, 2024
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

While Felvidek describes itself as a JRPG, there are no character levels, with all battles being scripted and story-based. The game's first-person battles also depict combat animations from that perspective.^[2]

Plot

The game's protagonist is Pavol, an alcoholic knight who confronts an invasion of Hussite pillagers and Ottoman spies, as well as more surreal and fantastical monsters. In a cutscene, he is seen waking up and noticing a castle on fire through his window, which starts his adventure along companions like the priest Matej and other assistants like guards or Jozef. ^[3]

Reception

The game was positively received overall, with its unique setting, story and characters being praised. Its short length and basic gameplay had a more mixed reception. Nic Reuben of Rock Paper Shotgun equated the game's dark, horror-adjacent tone to Fear & Hunger. Calling it "raw, strange and brilliant", he stated that the game was a perfect length, though he wished that it was more non-linear.^[2] Ted Litchfield of PC Gamer described it as "like Baldur's Gate on the Game Boy", also comparing its environmental art to Return of the Obra Dinn or the original Nosferatu film. He called it "a more grounded, sober sort of low fantasy", but with "glimpses of more fantastical elements".^[4] Meanwhile, Rollin Bishop of GamesRadar+ said that the game "really speaks to the kid in me that desires to play nothing but somewhat clunky PS1 RPGs".^[3]

SECTOR.sk gave a mixed review to the game, saying it had excellent story, visuals and audio, but suffered from being overly short without depth to its gameplay.^[5]