Review from "TheRPGmakerAddict" from the RPG Maker.net homepage:
"Hello!
Today I play "Eheb Saga - Droughtlock", a game by Norpoleon made with Rpgmaker2003. Unlike the other games made by this author that I already played and reviewed, Khnocka Dorra, Swans in the Wallow and the wonderful Team JethKo - Knee Deep, this is not an adventure game with rpg elements. It's not even an adventure or an rpg, no it's an action game. And yeah, it's in Rpgmaker2003, probably the only point of contact with the other games mentioned previously EXCEPT for the use of edited/custom graphics.
In y "Eheb Saga - Droughtlock" we play as a female slave, a dead slave named Vinnagan. A short dream sections serves as a tutorial for the game that require using the numpad. Our heroine can attack, dodge, dash, block use healing items, interact with the surroundings and cast spells. But let's start from the beginning: the world the decadent and cursed Eheb desert where people are dying, a sort of apocalyptic scenario in which the bad guys, some evil gods won. Undead and feral creatures roam the lands, and few survivors live (or, better, survive!) among the ruins of a city in the desert.
The first mission is escaping the well in which the body was resurrected by a ghost, since our protagonist died while searching for water many years before. The second? Finding a mentor, and we've three possible options: an Immortal, a legendary ghost warrior, a Beduin, last surviving member of the race of nomad desert-dwellers, or a Ghoul, an undead that lives in the cemetery.
Each class has its own perks: Immortals can use heavy weapons and heavy armors, and have a spell that can make them effectively immortal for a short period and can pass through some walls, Beduins can climb some walls with a hook and use light armor. They can harvest medical herbs and are have a a good stamina and excellent attack value. Finally Ghouls start with a shield, can use grenades and medium armor and have three differenr spells. No matter which class you will use, all are better than the starting slave class, in the beginning in fact you can die really easily. So remember to use your potions and save often.
Saving is limited to save points that looks like fetishes: saving not only heal the protagonist but also restore the potions AND the enemies killed!
This is almost the equivalent of Dark Souls but made with rpgmaker (the system includes in fact not only dodging blows but also a stamina meter that means you can't just mash the attack button!)... even if it's true that as you level up and unlock new vendors and options things become a little easier.
Unfortunately not everything is good! Combat is... not so good: I mean it's not bad either, still I could not understand when the enemy did damage me since I entered the menu and noticed that I was wounded! But apparently no one did hit me, thanks to my hit-and-run strategy. Still it happened! Weird. Anyway this isn't a big issue after you upgrade a bit your hitpoints, just keep them in check!
Battles with bosses are another part I hated but ok, they're supposed to be difficult. Still I do not think that Rpgmaker2003 is a great engine for real time combat, so no matter how skilled is the developer, the final result is often meh. At best!
Visually I liked this game: it has style and music is good too, the only issue was the use of text in dark colors over a black background, not a good choice at all since reading was difficult.
I gave an average rating but Eheb Saga - Droughtlock is NOT an average game (I admit I hated and loved it at the SAME time!). It's instead a game that does many things pretty well and other badly. Let's start from the good things: the story, some of the art, the evocative setting and music, the presence of three different classes. What's bad? Well some of the art, combat and maybe the save point system with Game Over (even if the Game over screen is cool)... I'd have liked a "respawn" or automatic reload Dark-Souls style, since everything here screams "Dark-Souls" from the stamina system to combat but uhm ok. It's fine as it is, this is a peculiar game, and unfortunately the rm2k3 system does not translate real time battles into something pleasant. Pity, because everything else seems instead really inspired!"
3/5 stars!