Introduction
Basic information
Developer Name: Voron Studio
Full Name: Voron: Raven’s Story
Release Date: Early Access/Beta build
Released on: PC
Cross Play: No
Initial thoughts
Going into Voron: Raven’s Story, I was expecting a carefree experience where I could soar freely across islands, smack into a few rocks like an idiotic bird, and enjoy a casual, quirky adventure. At the start, the game genuinely gives you that feeling, unlimited flight, open skies, and the sense that you can drift, dive, and explore however you like. That first impression is fun, hopeful, and exciting. Unfortunately, as the true game begins, a series of limitations and structural weaknesses begin to show, and the excitement shifts into bafflement at how restricted and unfinished everything feels.
Story and setting
Plot overview
The story opens with surprising strength, presenting a mystical world and a raven protagonist with plenty of potential. The environments, the lore elements, and the introductory narrative beats seem to suggest something heartfelt and adventurous. But as the gameplay loops take over, the story slowly fades into the background, not because it’s poorly written, but because the gameplay systems don’t support it properly. The setting remains charming, but the storytelling struggles under the weight of design limitations that prevent the player from engaging with it meaningfully.
The basic premise follows your raven as it explores floating islands, uncovers ancient puzzles, and interacts with the remnants of a forgotten world. On paper, it’s a promising outline. In practice, the plot is barely allowed to breathe due to the restrictive stamina system, the incomplete environments, and the constant ability to skip the intended progression entirely.
World building and immersion
Palettes and ideas are present, floating islands, mystical puzzles, serene skies, but immersion breaks quickly. You glide through entire chunks of terrain, clip past walls that were supposed to confine you, and watch the world unravel as textures fail to connect. It feels like a creative vision still in incubation, not yet ready to support the story it wants to tell.
Character development
The game attempts a character-driven approach through its raven protagonist, but development feels almost symbolic rather than mechanical. You sense there should be growth, but the progression is overshadowed by limitations and bugs. The story never receives enough stable gameplay context to truly flesh out the raven’s journey.
Emotional impact
The emotional delivery is light but pleasant early on. There’s a peacefulness to gliding freely and a charm in the early story moments. However, once the restrictions take hold and the world becomes more broken than functional, emotional engagement quickly dissolves. It’s difficult to feel invested when the structure collapses underneath you.
Rating for story and setting
I have visited multiple aspects of the story, and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with a 5.5.
Gameplay and mechanics
Core gameplay mechanics
At the beginning, the infinite flight mechanic gives you genuine freedom, the kind of freedom that makes you believe the game could become something special. But once the game actually starts, you’re suddenly locked behind a tiny stamina bar that kills the fun instantly. Instead of encouraging exploration, the stamina system works against it, forcing you into grounded, slower progression that feels completely misaligned with the premise.
Difficulty and balance
With flight restricted and puzzles mandatory, the game tries to enforce structure. However, due to how broken the physics and collision systems are, I managed to skip every puzzle anyway, gliding through weak textures, clipping through walls, and bypassing entire sections. Difficulty becomes nonexistent not because the game is easy, but because the game cannot stop you from breaking it.
Pacing of the game
The pacing suffers heavily. The opening freedom feels great, but once the stamina restriction hits, momentum dies. Combined with puzzle skips and environmental glitches, the intended pacing becomes irrelevant.
Innovation and uniqueness
The concept of being a raven flying through mysterious islands is fresh and fun. The execution, however, is so unstable that the uniqueness shines only in the first few minutes.
Controls and user interface
Controls feel decent during free flight but clunky during restricted sections. The absence of a good map interface makes navigation frustrating, especially when the intended paths become unclear.
Microtransactions
None, thankfully. Given the current unfinished state, their absence is a relief.
Rating
After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing, and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 4.
Graphics and art style
Quality of graphics and art direction
The general style is distinct and fun. Floating islands, bright palettes, and stylized designs create an appealing atmosphere. Unfortunately, the artistic beauty is overshadowed by technical issues: textures that don’t connect, seams that create unintentional holes, and visual shortcuts that become obvious the moment you try to glide along surfaces.
Technical performances
The performance is inconsistent; glitches, wall clipping, stuttering, and missing collision are constant companions. It often feels closer to a prototype than a beta.
Environment and design uniqueness
Despite the issues, the setting is still unique. Flying islands and mysterious ruins create charm, but it’s a charm that needs much more polish to shine.
Rating
It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with a 5.0.
Sound and music
Music score and how it contributed to the game
The music is calming and atmospheric, enhancing the early sense of peaceful flight. It contributes well to the tone and offers a pleasant backdrop.
Sound effects quality
Functional but limited. Nothing stands out, but nothing grates either.
Voice Acting
There is little to none, but for this style of game, that isn’t a major issue.
Rating
After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with a 7.
Replayability
Game Length and content volume
The actual amount of content feels short once you realize you can bypass most of it accidentally or intentionally.
Extra Content
Extra content exists, but it feels more like unused potential than actual expansion. The world wants to be deep, but in its current state, it’s more of a demonstration.
Replay value
Once you’ve flown around everywhere and glided through every broken seam, there’s nothing left to return for. Maybe once the game works properly with invisible walls.
Rating
After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of Voron: Raven’s Story with a 3.5.
Suggestions and comparisons
Suggestions and feedback
My most important suggestion is simple: fix the texture seams, fix the invisible walls, and remove the stamina bar entirely. Reinstate infinite flight and build puzzles around exploration, not restriction. Add a map interface with proper markers, and strengthen collision everywhere. If the foundation becomes solid, the game could evolve into something special.
Comparisons
Compared to other early-access exploration titles, Voron: Raven’s Story feels unusually fragile. Games like AER: Memories of Old or The Falconeer showcase what flight-based adventures can achieve when polish supports vision. Voron has heart, it just needs stability.
Personal experiences and anecdotes
Once the tutorial ended and the stamina bar appeared, the game quickly lost its charm. The world felt less like a playground and more like a set of unfinished obstacles. Breaking the game became easier than progressing normally, gliding through walls, skipping puzzles, bypassing intended routes. It was amusing for a while, but not in the way the developers intended. With proper fixes, though, this could transform into a genuinely fun game.
Rating
Taking in all the personal experiences with Voron: Raven’s Story, I give it a personal rating of 4.
Last words
Pros
- Great concept with unique flying potential
- Fun and charming early-game flight
- Pleasant music
- Interesting world layout
- High potential for future updates
Cons
- Stamina bar destroys the core fun
- Invisible wall clipping
- Loose textures everywhere
- Entire puzzles can be skipped
- Broken collision mechanics
- Lack of proper map and markers
- Structural gameplay restrictions
- Weak pacing
- Inconsistent performance
- Feels more like a prototype than a beta
Voron: Raven’s Story is a hopeful and imaginative game trapped inside an unstable beta shell. The potential shines brightly, especially during those early minutes of unlimited freedom, but the technical issues, restrictive mechanics, and breakable environments prevent it from reaching its promise. With strong updates and a shift toward embracing open exploration for every island, this could one day become something memorable. For now, it remains a fascinating but flawed work in progress.
FINAL RATING
4.2
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