Mythic Realms Review - A Brilliant Mixed Reality Roguelite Fantasy RPG

With Mythic Realms, developer Petricore has created a novel and compelling MR/VR game which successfully blends multiple genres and play modes into something special.

The game’s hook is the way it transforms everyday spaces into magical places through its innovative use of mixed reality. In Mythic Realms, the player’s living room becomes the backdrop for a Tolkien-esque fantasy in which antagonistic goblins and deadly dragons perch on your couch just as easily as the family cat. With weapon in hand, it’s up to us to hack and slash our way through roguelite combat that’s hectic and challenging.

Equally welcome is the way the game balances the physically intense combat of its MR part with the relaxed crafting and kingdom-building found in its more traditional VR part.

The Gameplay Loop

Mythic Realms’ gameplay loop will be familiar to those who’ve played roguelite games before, albeit with an MR/VR twist.

We begin in a central hub, which in Mythic Realms is a fully realized VR kingdom. At first, it’s an unestablished place— just a small assembly of homes. But from this initially humble village we’re at least able to choose our starting equipment, accept quests, and launch into an expedition to one of four biomes.

These expeditions are where the bulk of Mythic Realms gameplay takes place, and where the game shifts to its impressive and novel mixed reality mode. This is also where we begin the roguelite portion of the experience, wherein we fight monsters, mine and gather resources, and try our best to survive and defeat the boss of the biome.

When our expedition ends, either by choice or by taking one too many enemy arrows to the neck, we return home to our VR kingdom. Here we unload any gathered resources and gold, and use these currencies to grow our kingdom.

Wood hewn from the forest and ore mined from the living rock can be used for buildings, bridges, and to further expand the kingdom. Resources can also be used to craft new and better weapons and armor items in an interesting race-against-the-clock mini-game which involves hammering and cutting with both hands. Fish, caught during expeditions, keep the kingdom’s ever-growing population fed and happy, a status which is also achieved by fulfilling quests.

It's a classic gameplay loop, and one which effectively incentivizes the inherent fun of the game. Kill stuff, mine stuff, and craft stuff so that we can kill scarier stuff, mine tougher stuff, and craft cooler stuff, ad nauseam.

Similar also to many roguelite games, there are consequences for failure. If we successfully escape the biome, either by leaving via the rare and optional escape points which sometimes appear mid-run, or by defeating the final boss, we get to keep all the gear and loot that we’ve collected. But if we die, we lose all our gear (though not our loot) and are forced to return ill-equipped and embarrassed to the kingdom.

We repeat this until we eventually unlock all three biomes, and a fourth mystery zone with its final boss.

How’s it Feel?

Mythic Realms’ most interesting feature is its MR gameplay, which transforms whatever space the player is occupying into, well, a mythical realm!

At launch, the game prompted me to map my surroundings. This required walking around my living room for about 30 seconds. Then the game gave me the option of fine-tuning the spacial map for increased accuracy, or to manually add any furniture that the system may have missed. I chose to make no map adjustments for two reasons: I wanted to see how Mythic Realms and my Quest 3S would handle mapping the space on its own, and I’m lazy. Luckily, the auto-mapping worked great.

Within just a few moments, I launched into the game’s first biome. Here my living room transformed into a leafy forest. Trees sprouted alongside my basset hound’s bed. Ivy climbed over the top of the open walls and draped along my fireplace mantle. A treasure chest spawned atop my coffee table and delicate wildflowers sprouted from the seams of my hardwood floors.

The effect is simple, and it's not always perfect. Sometimes objects get clipped awkwardly, and occasionally things were misaligned. But there’s something special about the space you live in every day transforming into something magical and wild.

Three mystical emblems hovered in places around the room. Touching any of these emblems launches one of several different event types. For example, grabbing an axe or pick will cause a giant tree or rock to sprout somewhere in the play area. Approach these and slash with the pick or the axe and we can gather wood and ore. The fishing pole creates a magical spring full of fish; grab the rod and reel and we can enjoy a timing-based fishing mini game. A treasure chest gives up some gold, and emblems for shopkeepers and heroes offer their own special rewards.

Then there’s the most important event emblem— the sword! This begins a combat phase. Depending on the biome and how far along we are in our quest, combat phases present a variety of types and quantities of enemies. Early on, we may fight a single skeleton knight or a simple slime. Later, we’re swarmed by flying dragons, wraiths, and a team of skeletons all with different attack traits, and all at the same time. They materialize out of the air, or claw their way through the floor, or lurch incongruously from behind a couch.

The first time I saw a skeleton knight, I was startled. Though the game’s general aesthetic is whimsical and cartoony, the sheer size of the monster and the speed of its approach were daunting in ways that I didn’t anticipate.

Then I remembered I was holding a sword.

Combat is straightforward and engaging, with a few interesting wrinkles. Enemies approach, attack, and shield themselves in predictable ways, but a “critical strike” game mechanic adds depth and variety. These critical strike zones are marked with small targeting reticles, and by striking a goblin on its long, pointy ear or shooting a skeleton in the knee, for instance, that enemy may be staggered or stunned.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds, and combat quickly becomes hectic in later stages where the play area is simply swarming with enemies. I exercise daily, but halfway through my run through the first biome, I realized I was sweating. (Let's see you stay cool when a mage, knight, and archer are all trying to kill you in your living room.) Mythic never reaches Beat Saber levels of caloric burn, but there is some cardio burn to be found here.

Weapons come in three class types for melee, magic, and ranged, and each brings their own dynamics and tactics. These can be upgraded mid-run, or entirely new weapons can be bestowed on the player in special circumstances. My bow and arrow, for instance, were upgraded to dual-wield crossbows, letting me finally live out the Legolas-to-John Wick transformation fantasies I never knew I had.

Our equipment, HP, and stats are intelligently displayed in a hovering HUD along with a roadmap which shows our place in the biome, how many events we’ve completed, and how many must still be completed before we reach the biome’s boss.

This roadmap also displays symbols which give an idea of upcoming major events, including potential exit points from which we can flee to our kingdom, extra-difficult enemy events, shopkeeper spawn points, and more. This lends light strategy elements to the gameplay and creates a risk/reward calculation that’s critical to any good roguelite.

Do we stay and fight to gather that next rare item that we know is just a zone or two away, or do we get out while we can? Do we have enough HP to take down the boss, or would it be smarter to regroup and live to fight another day?

Mythic Realms Review - Final Verdict

Mythic Realms is a compelling MR combat game, a casual kingdom-building and item-crafting sim, and a moderately strategic roguelite all at once. It looks beautiful, sounds great, and transforms our everyday space into one which is magical and fantastic.

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