Veredilia: The Sacred Forest

About Veredilia: The Sacred Forest

Veredilia: The Sacred Forest is a 2D platforming adventure game with 1v1 combat mechanics, crafted by Gigabyte Studios and released on September 30, 2026. Blending elements of classic Sonic-style platforming with Mortal Kombat-esque fighting, it tasks players with navigating a large forest world as one of three characters, each with distinct movesets and flashy combos. The story follows siblings Rein and Toronto and a kitsune named Vancouver as they hunt for fragments of a shattered sacred artifact to stop a dark overlord. Gameplay fuses technical platforming challenges with fast-paced combat, encouraging players to solve puzzles, uncover secrets, and master combo systems to progress. The game’s ambition lies in merging exploration with combat, offering a nostalgic yet ambitious indie experience.

Gameplay

Veredilia’s core loop revolves around navigating hand-drawn forest environments, battling enemies in real-time combat, and executing combo-heavy attacks. Players can switch between three characters, Rein, Toronto, and Vancouver, each with unique special moves and super abilities. A typical session involves platforming through levels, timing jumps and dashes to avoid hazards, then engaging in 1v1 fights against henchmen or bosses. Combat is fast and technical, requiring memorization of button combos and defensive mechanics like parries. The game emphasizes exploration; hidden collectibles and puzzle-based shortcuts reward players who backtrack. While the platforming sections lean on precision, combat zones demand quick reflexes and adaptability. Sessions often last 1-2 hours, balancing traversal, combat, and story-driven objectives.

What Players Think

Veredilia holds a 87% critic score and a 92% community rating on PlayPile, with 65% of players completing the main story in 12, 15 hours. 42% of players complete 100% of content, averaging 22 hours of playtime. Community moods are mostly upbeat (78% "thrilled"), though 18% cite frustration with combat difficulty. Review snippets praise its "creative combo system" and "vibrant art style," though some note "repetitive enemy AI." 32% of players unlocked all 120 achievements, with the hardest being "Defeat the Final Boss in Under 3 Minutes." The game’s Steam community hub is active, with 1,200+ guides and speedrun threads.

PlayPile's Take

Veredilia is a solid pick for fans of niche platformers and 2D fighters. Its combo system and art design shine, but combat can feel punishing for newcomers. Priced at $29.99, it offers decent value for completionists. With 120 achievements and 22+ hours of content, it’s worth trying if you enjoy games like Shovel Knight or Guacamelee. Skip it if you dislike aggressive difficulty curves or prefer open-world exploration over linear stages.

Storyline

Over 50 thousand years ago, a dark overlord has plotted a dark plan to invade and control the magical forest of Veredilia and its people. Across those thousands of years, he and his army have consistently attempted invasion but have failed due to the incredible diligence, bravery and courage of the Veredilian Resistance, lead by the almighty Caribou King, and thanks to a sacred artefact which keeps the Forest together and protected from the forces of evil. Many generations and thousands of years later into the present day, the dark overlord and his forces have this time located the sacred artefact and once again attempt invasion and fought to the death with the current Caribou King. As a failsafe to make sure this would never happen, he had shattered the artefact into multiple pieces, sacrificing his own life in the process. Now it's up to his two sons, Rein and Toronto the Caribou, as well as a young female Kitsune named Vancouver, to find the artefacts, defeat the dark overlord and his henchmen, and save Veredilia, the Sacred Forest, from eternal domination.