Bylina Review: When the Hero Couldn’t Defeat the Bugs

Bylina is a very strange case where the game first sells you on Slavic fantasy with soul, charisma, and a promise of something truly fresh, but then starts to fall apart in your hands after a few hours. We have an action-adventure from Far Far Games where we play as a young warrior named Sokolik. After being killed, he is brought back to life by a mysterious spirit; together, they must travel to the Faraway Kingdom to confront Koschei the Deathless. It all sounds great: Slavic myths, a dark adventure, leveling systems, magic, bosses, and puzzles—a combination that was hard for me to ignore. But then the problems begin.

Most importantly, Bylina knows how to stand out. The game is based on Slavic folklore, and it shows: various monsters, strange creatures, Koschei, a fairytale aesthetic, and a mood that is slightly dark yet very "meme-worthy" in places. Interest in the current situation has grown noticeably in recent years—just look at the best games based on Slavic mythology and folklore. This prevents games from feeling like just another bland fantasy RPG, and that vibe really holds your interest.

As the author, I also liked the isometric view and the general world exploration structure. You simply run around, fight mobs, loot chests, unlock abilities, collect gear, and gradually level up. In general, such projects regularly appear among new releases—for example, in collections like what to play this month. Plus, there are plenty of fun details that make the adventure feel alive, such as mini-games, traps, or the little house spirits (domovye) that boost your stats.

Gameplay-wise, it's fairly simple: you move forward, fight, gain new skills, and try different combat options. There are weapons, equipment, stats on gear, and even set bonuses. I wouldn't say it revolutionizes the genre, but it does make looting more interesting—much like the projects on the list of the most anticipated RPGs of 2026, where similar mechanics have already become standard.

I particularly liked that the game tries to break up the usual combat with various activities. There are puzzles, zone-holding challenges, traps, and locations with debuffs.

The plot feels somewhat fragmented. Formally, there is a hero's journey toward Koschei, but in the first few hours, the game throws you from event to event rather than building a cohesive drama. This is especially noticeable against the backdrop of the more cohesive stories of the best story-driven games. Events seem to be happening constantly: someone was helped, someone got somewhere, someone got into a fight and then ran on, but it’s impossible to get truly involved.

However, the atmosphere really saves it in some places. For example, a quest tells you to "politely ask the tree for apples," but in reality, you just walk up and kick it.

The voice acting left a pleasant impression. It makes this fairytale world feel more alive and relatable, and in successful moments, characters sound exactly as you’d expect. But it's not without flaws: sometimes the voice doesn't match the character at all, and immersion drops. For instance, when a monster sounds like an average teenager.

The trailers deserve special mention. They sell the game as more vibrant, vibrant, and cinematic than it actually feels. In the game itself, the visuals are noticeably duller, simpler, and don't produce the same wow factor, especially when the technical issues begin.

Unfortunately, Bylina has quite a few technical issues. While everything was fine at first (stable 60 FPS without lag), reaching the city brought drops that flickered in and out. In the second city, the game decided I’d had enough adventure: the FPS tanked, textures failed to load, and eventually, everything froze and the game crashed.

Performance isn't the only issue. Sometimes the image gets "blurry" for no apparent reason, and you literally run through visual jelly. Plus, the lighting works very strangely: sometimes you can't see anything at all in caves, and I never found a proper brightness setting. Finally, the small font becomes a problem; individual labels are very hard to read.

I didn't click with the combat system. It’s supposed to be energetic: different weapons, abilities, a shield, dodges, regular enemies, and bosses. But in practice, the character attacks in the wrong direction—a proper target lock-on is sorely missing—and the shield sometimes feels like it’s not working; damage still gets through.

The most unpleasant thing is the feeling of overall incompleteness. There was a moment when a character with an axe just stopped attacking properly. I also fell through textures, and in one trial, the background of an object didn't load at all. In the end, it feels like the beginning of the game was polished somehow, but the team lacked the energy and desire for the whole project.

In the end, Bylina is certainly not a masterpiece, but it’s not a disaster either—just a very uneven project with a solid foundation, a pleasant folklore setting, and a ton of technical issues. If you like the Slavic aesthetic, isometric action games, and are willing to put up with bugs, you can play it. But if you have a hard time with FPS drops, blurry visuals, and clunky combat, it’s better to wait for future patches. Updates with performance and bug fixes have indeed already been released.