Coridden may be one of the little indie gems of 2025. The first outing from developer Aftnareld, it’s a Diablo style RPG where you take on the forms of various beasts you encounter, and features a very fun and robust combat system.

While not too heavy on plot and some technical issues hurt the experience, it’s enjoyable gameplay and plentiful content for its size more than make up for its short comings. Especially if you have some friends to run through with.

The game sees you play as one of the Dayal siblings, a family of tech savvy thrill seekers fighting in an arena. As they begin a fight, a pair of gauntlets given to them by their father activates and gives them the ability to shape shift into various wild animals. They then journey to find a way to remove the gauntlets at the behest of an AI known as Maya, ending up in a world saving journey in the process.

Pros

Coridden’s greatest strength is definitely within its gameplay as it’s a fresh take on the Diablo formula. It has what you’d expect from this kind of game such as different character classes and a loot system where you equip weapons and armor found off of various enemies you kill. The 4 classes are the guardian, which turns you into a defensive tank, the hunter which focuses on range and stealth tactics, the hellion, a more glass cannon class, and surge which focuses on powerful electric attacks and buffs. There’s also a custom class which can take element from either of the 4 classes.

Each class is fun to play as and has a good amount of upgrades to get as you level up as there are 3 subclasses in each one. Abilities range from ones such as the hunter being able to turn themselves invisible to the surge being able to buff themselves and their partners. However where Coridden really comes into its own is with its shapeshifting combat. The game features 10 different types of animals to turn into, each with their own abilities and subclass of their own.

The animals all naturally give you better traversal as they’ll run much faster than your human form but each has their own unique stat to them such as the Panteliz, which are cat/canine hybrid types which feature the fastest run as well as the longest jump and the croclisk which are reptiles that can be used to traverse more hazardous waters.  They all boast their own abilities in combat as the Croclisk features water based attacks whereas as others like the Dragolem are massive tanks that can be used to clear groups of enemies in an instant.

Playing as both the beast and human is a blast, which is good since they have their own energy bars that deplete as you attack and forcing you to switch back and forth. This is far from a downside, however, as it’s possible to customize your playstyle in a way that your abilities as a human compliments your abilities with the animals.

On top of the combat, Coridden also has a good deal of replay value for a game of its size. It’s not too long, with the main story clocking in at around 10 hours, but there are plenty of side quests within the game and a mission board in the main town which has small battles that can be replayed. Each of the games locales are decently large and often have various caves to stumble onto.

Graphically, Coridden isn’t going to break any grounds but its art direction, especially with some of the animals does have a charm to it. They do remind me of an old fantasy comic book and the game does have something of a retro futuristic setting as it combines heavy sci-fi elements with something that sort of resembles the bronze age.

Cons

So while not the worst thing ever, and it does have some moments, Coridden’s plot is in large part forgettable. the four siblings do have different personalities, but I feel they didn’t get a chance to shine through enough as their own unique dialogue options don’t always show up that often in conversations. Outside the characters’ father and the AI Maya, a lot of other characters aren’t as memorable.

Another issue is that it’s also very easy to get overwhelmed quickly within the game, especially if you’re running solo, as enemies will often come in waves right after you clear one or sometimes in the middle of you fighting another. This led to a few deaths where my health bar just melted in seconds.

Lastly, Coridden did unfortunately suffer from tech issues such as very long load times and freezing which kept me from completing the game for a bit. However, I was reviewing this on steam deck, so I don’t want to harp on that too much as it could’ve been more of an issue related to that.

Final thoughts

Despite some tech issues and not having the most memorable plot, Coridden’s gameplay is so much fun that I didn’t care. While flying solo in the game can be a bit tough at times, its still a blast and even better when you team up with a few friends. I hope to see more from Aftnareld in the future as they crafted a fun and unique adventure here.

Coridden was reviewed on PC – Steam Deck.

We would like to thank the developers for sending us a review key.