Ars Notoria

 
Ars Notoria is an open-world survival action-RPG that attempts to blend the base-building of Valheim with the character-swapping mechanics of Impact Genshin. Released into Early Access on November 27, 2025, by developer XRON Software (published by Lilith Games), it drops players into a high-fantasy sandbox corrupted by “The Enthralled.” While its scope is undeniably impressive—featuring faction management, procedural dungeons, and a unique “Soul Bind” combat system—it currently suffers from the classic “Euro-jank” roughness typical of ambitious indie RPGs in early access.
Soul Binds, Settlements, and Sorcery: Core Gameplay

The Soul Bind System: The game’s standout feature. You don’t just play one character; you play a “Binder” who can absorb and swap between four distinct adventurers instantly during combat. This allows for solo “wombo-combos”—you might launch an enemy into the air with a heavy warrior, switch to a mage to blast them with lightning while they float, and finish them with a rogue’s air assassination.
Faction Building: Beyond building walls and crafting tables, you are building a kingdom. You can recruit NPCs found in the world to live in your settlement. Unlike the passive thralls in *Conan Exiles*, these NPCs can be assigned active roles, from defending gates to researching new crafting recipes or automating resource gathering.
Six Schools of Magic: Magic isn’t just for combat; it interacts with the survival mechanics. You might use Fire magic to keep warm in snowy biomes or Nature magic to accelerate crop growth. Mastering the six schools requires hunting down specific spirits and “binding” them to your gear.
Procedural Dungeons: While the overworld is static and hand-crafted, the dungeons are procedurally generated. These act as the primary loop for high-tier loot, offering a roguelite flavor to the resource grind.
Survival Lite: The survival elements (hunger, temperature) exist but are less punishing than hardcore sims. The focus is clearly more on exploration and combat spectacle than on starving to death every 20 minutes.

Comment cela se passe-t-il ?
Ars Notoria occupies a strange middle ground between survival sandbox and party-based RPG.



Jeu
Principale différence




Conan Exiles
Both games feature thrall/NPC recruitment and base building. However, Ars Notoria leans heavily into high-fantasy magic and instant character swapping, whereas Conan is grounded in gritty, low-fantasy melee and singular character progression.


V Rising
V Rising focuses on top-down combat and boss hunting to unlock tech. Ars Notoria uses a third-person camera and focuses on “Soul Binding” spirits to enchant gear, offering a more traditional 3D RPG feel closer to Le dogme du dragon but with building.


Enchâssé
Both are voxel-based (partially) survival RPGs with skill trees. Ars Notoria distinguishes itself with the squad-swap mechanic, allowing you to be a “party of one” rather than being locked into a single class build.



Détails clés

Développeur : XRON Software.
Éditeur : Lilith Games.
Plateformes : PC (Steam).
Date de sortie : November 27, 2025 (Early Access).
Genre : Open World Survival Craft / Action RPG.
Vibe : Le dogme du dragon rencontre Valheim.

Pour qui ?

Incontournable pour altoholics. If you can never decide which class to play in an RPG, this game lets you play four at once. The ability to swap from a tank to a healer mid-fight scratches that itch perfectly.
Parfait pour builders who want a purpose. Recruiting NPCs gives your empty castles life. Seeing your recruits actually walking around and working makes the base building feel rewarding.
Sauter si you need polish. Animations can be stiff, AI pathfinding in settlements often breaks, and the UI is currently cluttered. It is very much an “Early Access” title that needs time to bake.

Pourquoi ça marche (et quand ça ne marche pas)
Il fonctionne grâce à la combat freedom. The “Soul Bind” mechanic solves the biggest problem of survival games: boring combat. Instead of just poking a rock with a spear for 100 hours, you are engaging in flashy, magical combat that feels active and heroic. However, it often stumbles under its own weight; with so many systems (building, recruiting, crafting, dungeon crawling), none of them currently feel as deep or polished as the games it is trying to emulate.