Is Karnage Chronicles the next Vanishing Realms?

We have to admit that we were incredibly late to the party when it comes to Karnage Chronicles. Maybe I heard about this game back in late April, but just wasn't paying close enough attention. Whatever, the case, I finally got my hands on the game, and I have to say that I made a huge mistake by not picking this title up back at launch. As a self-proclaimed Vanishing Realms fanboy, I've been hoping that a similar, but better experience could come along. I'm too early in this game to know for sure if Karnage Chronicles is really better than Vanishing Realms, but the fact that I'm even entertaining the thought says a lot about this games quality.

The graphics are extremely colorful and pleasing. The enemies are somewhat typical adventure / dungeon crawler type fare, but they sometimes show some very good A.I. These trolls and goblins can dodge your projections with an agility level that you seldom see. You have to really make sure you have them in your sights, if you're shooting an arrow at them. At first, I found the melee combat extremely frustrating. It didn't seem like my attacks would connect with the enemy, and it seemed as though I was blocking their shots against me, yet the shots were still damaging me. Luckily, I stuck with the game and finally learned how the melee combat works. You have to slash at the enemies in a particular way, and then you'll get a direct hit on them 90 percent of the time. You just have to get a feel for it. It's the same thing with the blocks. The blocks are all timing and placement. Even though your shield is relatively small, it does a great job at blocking their attacks if your timing and placement is perfect.

Now, that I've gotten a better feel for things, I'm really enjoying this game. Still too early in it to know for sure if this will replace Vanishing Realms as my No.1 RPG recommendation, but I must say that I'm thrilled to find a potential replacement. I was wondering how long it might take for somebody to come along and one up Vanishing Realms. Nordic Trolls may have pulled off a miracle here.