The Relic: First Guardian – A Honest Look at a Game That Could Have Been Great

TL;DR: The Relic: First Guardian wants to be the next big action-RPG like Elden Ring or Bloodborne, but technical problems, repetitive design, and confusing systems hold it back. The combat has flashes of brilliance, but almost everything around it feels broken or unfinished.

What Is This Game Anyway?

Imagine a game where you explore a dark fantasy world, fight monsters with careful timing, and uncover sad stories through notes left behind by dead people. That’s The Relic: First Guardian in a nutshell. It’s clearly inspired by games from FromSoftware (the makers of Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Bloodborne), but it doesn’t reach the same heights.

The Good Stuff (Yes, There Is Some!)

Combat That Feels Different

• Five unique weapons – Each has its own rhythm. You can’t just mash buttons; you need to time each swing.
• Skill trees for every weapon – Two paths per weapon let you play completely differently. Example: The Battle Staff can be a whirlwind melee weapon or a long-range spellcaster.
• Relic system – Special stones give you bonuses (more health, stamina, even cheat-death effects). Mix and match to build your own playstyle.
• Easy respec – Found a build you hate? One common item lets you refund all points and try something new.

Stories That Actually Hit Hard

• Side quests based on Korean folklore – Some are genuinely moving.
• One memorable tale: A wife waits for her husband to return from war. Their daughter plays with pinwheels. At the mountain top, you find only a field of pinwheels – the daughter stopped waiting. No boss fight, just heartbreak.
• Environmental storytelling (notes, broken carts, voice echoes) creates a breadcrumb trail that pulls you off the main path.

The Bad Stuff (And There’s a Lot)

Important Callout: The reviewer played ~30 hours and encountered game-breaking bugs, broken bosses, and systems that feel half-finished. This isn’t "rough around the edges" – it’s "shoddy and broken throughout."

Visuals That Hurt the Eyes

Technical Nightmares

• Getting stuck on random geometry (rocks, walls, stairs)
• Falling through the ground at checkpoints – waist-deep, unable to move
• Fast travel points embedded inside walls – completely useless
• Bosses that break: One stopped moving entirely. Another never spawned, leaving an empty room that occasionally fired projectiles. Had to reload entire session.

Loot System That Makes You Stop Caring

• Hundreds of shiny markers everywhere → almost all give 30–50 gold
• Chests (guarded or hidden) → ~600 gold
• By Act 3, you have more gold than you can spend
• Result: First game ever where the reviewer stopped wanting loot entirely

Enemies & Combat Frustrations

• No visible enemy stamina bars – you never know how close they are to staggering
• Enemies rarely flinch – you hit them, they don’t care
• Lock-on + camera = janky – in groups, you can’t switch targets fast enough
• Regular enemies become annoyances – not worth fighting for drops (just middling gold)
• Late game: You just run past everything

Boss Fights: Quantity Over Quality

• 75+ bosses (most optional)
• Some have cool attack puzzles and better designs
• But many rely on cheap tactics: environmental hazards, status effect spam, uninterruptible combos
• Technical bugs make them worse, not harder

Story & Dialogue: Lost in Translation

• Feels like machine translation with no human polish
• Dialogue never ends – NPCs keep talking clumsily
• Subtitles don’t match voice lines
• Voice acting ranges from flat to "how did this make the final cut?"

How the Progression System Works (Simplified)

1. No traditional leveling – No XP, no stat points on level up
2. Weapon Skills → Unlocked with Relic Points
   • Only from: Boss rewards, quests, or blue shrines (fixed locations)
   • Cannot grind them – finite supply
3. Relics (stones) → Equip for passive bonuses
   • Simple: +HP, +Stamina, +Defense
   • Weird: "Chance to reset cooldowns on hit," "Invincibility on fatal hit"
   • Poorly explained – e.g., "special attacks" referenced but never defined
4. Equipment → Passive effects with trade-offs
   • Example: 2H weapon lowers block stamina cost but raises dodge cost

Should You Play It? A Decision Guide

Play If You…

• Love janky, ambitious games and can laugh at bugs
• Want to see Korean folklore stories in game form
• Enjoy theory-crafting builds with relics/skills
• Don’t mind running past 90% of enemies

Skip If You…

• Expect polish (camera, collision, quest logic)
• Want rewarding exploration (loot is pointless)
• Hate broken boss fights that require save-scumming
• Need clear tutorials (game explains almost nothing)

Summary

The Relic: First Guardian is a game with a heart of gold and a body held together by duct tape. Its combat system has genuine depth – distinct weapons, branching skills, and a relic system that encourages experimentation. A handful of side stories hit emotional notes most AAA games miss.

But everything else drags it down: visuals that obscure rather than inspire, technical bugs that range from annoying to run-ending, a loot system that actively discourages exploration, and a presentation (translation, voice acting, UI) that feels unfinished.

Bottom line: If this game had 6 more months of polish and a proper localization pass, it could be a cult classic. As it stands, it’s a fascinating mess – worth studying, hard to recommend.

FAQ

Is this game like Elden Ring or Dark Souls?

Kind of, but not really. It copies the look and structure (bonfires = checkpoints, estus = healing, environmental storytelling), but lacks the tight design, polished combat, and world cohesion that make FromSoftware games special. Think of it as a "Souls-like" made by a small team with big ambitions and not enough time.

Can I fix the difficulty by grinding?

Nope. There’s no XP grinding. Relic Points (for skills) only come from bosses, quests, and fixed shrines. You can’t farm them. If a boss is too hard, your only options are: respec your build, find a new relic, or cheese it.

Are the Korean folklore stories worth playing for?

Yes, surprisingly. They’re the narrative highlight. Some are tragic, some subversive, and a few resolve without a forced boss fight. Just know the translation is rough – you’ll read between the lines a lot.

How long is the game?

The reviewer spent ~30 hours. With 75+ bosses (many optional) and lots of side content, completionists could hit 40–50. But technical issues may force replays of broken sections.

Is there a New Game+ or post-game?

The review doesn’t mention one. Given the state of the base game, don’t count on robust endgame content.