REVIEW – This marks my first time putting an Early Access title under the microscope, and I’ll admit: it’s a tough one to pin down. Developed by the independent Tekden Studio, Ertugrul of Ulukayin is tricky to categorize in its current state. At moments, it brims with promise; the next, it reminds you just how far it has to go before that potential can fully shine.

This third-person action RPG draws heavily from Turkish history and mythology. The story kicks off in the 13th century, during a time when the peaceful life of the Kayı tribe is thrown into chaos by Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes. Stepping into the boots of Ertugrul, your mission is to defend your people at all costs – a duty that quickly becomes a fight for survival. Adding a personal twist, your brother mysteriously disappears, pushing you to track him down. The journey takes you through brutal encounters and introduces a secretive Order shrouded in mystery. Two additional playable characters, Turgut and Meryem, join the fray, each bringing unique combat styles and abilities. The current Early Access build offers around two hours of gameplay, with the full release promising a 15-hour experience spread across two semi-open world maps.

Like an Online Date: The Pictures Oversell It

I know you want the verdict, but the truth is, even I’m not sure where to place this game yet. It’s like swiping right on Tinder – the photos look perfect, but the in-person reality doesn’t quite match. To be clear, for an indie project it’s far from bad, but after comparing my own playthrough with the gameplay clips online, I couldn’t help but feel a little let down. Had I gone in blind, maybe I’d be saying, “You know what? This looks pretty good!”

One of the bright spots is the animation work. Aside from Meryem’s slightly awkward walk cycle, movement in general feels polished. Whether it’s pulling back a tent flap or executing one of the occasionally over-the-top finishers – like skewering a Mongol with your blade – I found myself smiling more than once. Facial animation, however, still needs work; the lack of readable emotion dampens the impact of the story moments.

AAA, AA, or Indie? Sometimes It Can’t Decide

Even knowing the answer (and you do too, if you’ve read this far), I caught myself wondering more than once in the opening hours: what exactly is this trying to be? At times it reaches beyond its grasp, and you can feel it. That said, when it hits, it impresses – especially in presentation and HUD design. Notifications, tutorials, and crafting menus are clean and stylish, easily fitting into a big-budget title. Cutscenes are frequent and action-packed, featuring clever moments like slow-motion arrows, last-second parries, and cinematic executions – all of which show the developers have a clear vision. Unfortunately, the execution sometimes stumbles, as if the ideas were a step ahead of the game’s technical capabilities.

When It Clicks, It’s Great – When It Doesn’t, It Misses Hard

Ertugrul of Ulukayin’s combat system is ambitious. You’ve got dodges, blocks, interruptible attacks, and a color-coded system to indicate the correct response to incoming strikes. Successful hits and parries fill an action bar, letting you unleash powerful unlockable abilities. When everything comes together, it’s satisfying: a perfectly timed parry, a swift counter, and a flashy finisher. Special kudos for making enemies actually react to your blows – unlike in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, where hits can feel weightless, here a few solid strikes will drop an opponent. The downside? Combat isn’t always consistent. Being swarmed can throw off your rhythm, parry timing sometimes feels erratic, and more often than not, dodging is the safest bet.

Death can be punishing in the wrong way. The game occasionally respawns you far back, sometimes before an unskippable cutscene, which kills momentum and makes repeated attempts frustrating.

Training Wheels Off – With Bruises

The tutorial does a decent job introducing blocking, dodging, and attacking before throwing you into a real fight. The problem is your health doesn’t replenish afterward, so any damage taken during practice carries over into the actual battle. Lose, and you’re sent back to redo the entire training section before trying again. This gets old fast, and one of Tekden Studio’s top priorities for early updates should be adding more – and better-placed – checkpoints.

There’s also a horse system, letting you summon, tether, lead, groom, and feed your mount at designated spots. It’s a nice touch for immersion, but right now, it adds little to the core gameplay. The opening chapter doesn’t encourage much exploration beyond the main path: the world feels empty (admittedly fitting, given the invasion theme), and loot or lore entries almost always sit exactly where your quest marker points. Hopefully, later chapters deliver on the promise shown in promotional screenshots, which depict lush, lively landscapes begging to be explored.

Verdict – Promising, But Half-Baked

Ertugrul of Ulukayin is an ambitious effort with genuine potential, but it’s still a long way from being something I can recommend wholeheartedly. The combat foundations are solid, yet inconsistency and poor checkpoint placement drag it down. The animations are striking, the cutscenes imaginative, but the story hasn’t gripped me so far. That’s the nature of Early Access – there’s a lot of road ahead. I’ll be keeping an eye on it, because the developers clearly have big ideas and the skill to realize some of them, but right now, it’s far from its final form.

-Herpai Gergely “BadSector”-

Publisher: Tekden Studio
Developer: Tekden Studio
Genre: Action RPG
Release: Available in Early Access