Given a passing glance, Operencia: The Stolen Sun could easily be mistaken for another sprawling role-playing game in the vein of The Elder Scrolls series. In fact, spend a few minutes exploring the fantasy-flavored world of Zen Studio's dungeon dive and you could be fooled into thinking you’re visiting Skyrim, or perhaps another region of Tamriel.

Of course, the second you discover you're only able to move in four directions—as dictated by the game's grid-based mini-map—you'll begin to understand Operencia is something quite different, but no less special. A lovingly crafted callback to classic first-person dungeon-crawlers, it's clearly a work of passion for the Hungary-based developer primarily known for its impressive library of licensed pinball games.

While Operencia's grid traversal first signals its old-school inspiration, its self-contained levels cement the fact that you haven't been dropped in another vast open world. Tile-based movement and reined-in areas might sound restrictive, but in Operencia, these well-thought design choices have freed the developers to craft an experience without comparison.

Its 13 diverse levels, for example, are never barren or bloated with recycled assets, but rather feel like bespoke regions that truly transport you to different fantastical realms. This intimate approach means your typical lush woodlands and dimly-lit dungeons are traded for the likes of Operencia's Copper Forest, or an ancient sunken castle. With everything from its foliage to its rocky pathways brought to life with hues of gold and red, the former lives up to its name, while the latter is a visually-striking submerged fortress where a towering, mace-wielding toad king wants to make you a permanent resident.

Speaking of that amphibian boss baddie, the game's turn-based combat also recalls those classics that had you trading first-person melee and ranged attacks with an assortment of mythical monsters. But again, Operencia offers its own take, blending modern gameplay tweaks with enchanting, Unreal Engine 4-fueled aesthetics inspired by Central European folklore.

The result is deeply strategic, fast-paced encounters that find you swinging swords and slinging spells at an imaginative line-up of increasingly challenging foes, like Cursed Copper Soldiers— steampunk-y minions with buzzing saw blades for hands. Thankfully, the game has looting, leveling, and progression loops that ensure your adventuring party of four (selected from your own created hero and a small group of companions) is well-equipped to meet the business end of those blades—and much more

Speaking of story, Operencia's charm shines brightest through its character interactions and storytelling. Like every other aspect of the title, the narrative arc and companion exchanges draw more from folklore and fairy-tales than weighty medieval or high fantasy themes. Further elevated by fantastic writing and solid voice acting, the banter sounds like the sort of playful chatter a Dungeons & Dragons' party of misfits might indulge in.

The use of these scripted conversations—versus a choice-driven dialog system—offers further proof that Operencia's more directed and staged approach doesn't suffer for a lack of freedom. Rather, it soars as a thoughtful hand-crafted fantasy romp. If you'd like to be fully immersed in a well-told tale—rather than authoring your own—this refreshing revival of a forgotten genre is well worth its weight in puzzle-solving runes.