Fireglow’s Stranger is a mix of various elements on a foundation of classic action role-playing, but our hands-on time with the game leaves us with a few concerns.

Through the course of the 30-plus hour campaign, you play as three characters banished to the dimension of Kront for supposedly wielding evil magic. The anti-heroes: Kagar, Steiger, and Mordlock, arrive in Kront separately and eventually run into each other. By teaming up, the three hope to find a way out of the dangerous dimension and back to their respective home worlds. Of course, finding a way home involves beating back all kinds of fantastic creatures imbued with magic such as giant spiders, powerful mages, and other dastardly creatures.

Each character brings unique abilities to the table; for example, Mordlock focuses on offensive skills such as vampiric regeneration, axe mastery, and haste magic. Steiger, on the other hand, possesses a more flexible combat style with abilities ranging from dispel magic to sword mastery. Gaining experience allows you to raise levels, which in turn lets you enhance a character's skills in melee combat or ranged weaponry or even item crafting. Additionally, at each level you're given feat points that can be spent on new abilities and spells.

Stranger continues the tradition of point-and-click role-playing games in the strain of Diablo and Titan Quest. A wholly original fantasy universe boasting a complex magic system has the potential to set it apart. Countering this, however, is a generic combat system and plodding pace. Whether or not a compelling story can be weaved amidst these likely shortcomings will play an enormous role in shaping Stranger's appeal.

Combat consists of little more than right-clicking on a target. Attacks automatically continue once you've selected a target, eliminating the need to hover over an enemy repeatedly clicking to attack. Not to worry, though, there are plenty of other opportunities to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. The game does offer something new to the genre in its magic system and tactical mechanics, but it definitely isn't at all a stranger to borrowing concepts from other role-playing games.

Learning spells is a must given how integral a role magic plays in Stranger. Along with being central to the story, magic must be utilized in combat otherwise you simply won't be able to proceed through the game. Magics are based on the three primary colors: red, green, and blue. Four secondary colors derived from combinations of those three include yellow, cyan, magenta, and white magic. Each color offers a distinct array of spells and effects; for example, green magic is geared toward healing whereas red spells offer offensive attacks.

Your ability to cast magic comes from crystals collected from defeated enemies. Various colored gems found through a level are stored in your inventory. In order to cast spells, you need to manage your stock by transferring crystals to your character. Moving red crystals over, for instance, enables you to cast those colored spells. Access to mixed color magic is done by attributing the right balance of primary colors. White magic, as an example, requires equal parts of all three primary colors. Once you've moved the necessary numbers of crystals over from your inventory, you're good to go. The system is unique to be sure, but awfully tedious. Having to micromanage a stock of crystals doesn't seem at all fun.