Baelin's Route: An Epic NPC Man Adventure

Half an hour long, cliché story which feels more interesting than half the things Hollywood produces to be honest. And Rowan Bettjeman brings the character to Baelin to life while uttering only one line of dialogue.

At first, the choice of taking Baelin as the main character in a short seem a bit odd and underwhelming, but at the end, it works. Real fans will remember the depth Baelin has in Epic NPC Man, like when he's stuck on a bucket, he almost got me tearing up, or when he shows skills a fisherman shouldn't have. They had to play with the limitations of a NPC for Baelin's route, and they did well. I'm also happy we got to see Aly for the first time in Honey Wood. Ah, god, yeah, it's fan service at it's best, not gonna lie, but they did it so well, and it's so heartwarming. Now it's working for a short, I don't think I would have been that happy if it was a feature-length movie, who knows. I love Rowan, don't get me wrong, but I so missed Alan; let's hope the next one has the original duo as the main characters!! Now if you never seen Epic NPC Man and wonder if you should watch Baelin's route, I'd advise you to go on YouTube and try to enter the VLDL universe ,first, it won't be wasted time, I guarantee!!

An annoying NPC (Rowan Bettjeman) is on his daily walk when an adventurer recruits him and he ends up getting (a bit) self-aware and has to rescue a girl played brilliantly by Phoenix Cross. Also, Ben Van Lier deserves praise for his role as the player who really doesn't like this game anymore.

If you are familiar with Epic npc man you'll love this. If not check out epic npc man by viva la dirt league.

I don't understand some of the reviews that score this badly. This movie is based on what was a one dimensional character, Baelin the fisherman, who is a one line character without a backstop which you see often in games. They take this character ot of his comfort zone of walking the same route every day and throw him into certain danger in which he ends up on a quest replacing an actual playable character.

Rowan manages to pull off some amazing acting in this role, despite his character only having one line that he can repeat over and over you understand and feel what he is conveying every single time.

Then there's Phoenix, the newest addition to VLDL who is just lovable and fantastic. Despite not having many credits to her acting career she absolutely smashes this and carries the whole film from start to finish.

Some of the acting may seem off but its purposely done that way as it is a spoof of video games. For example, Hamish, the one being robbed, plays his part perfectly. Not an actual real reaction to being robbed but the comedic video game type spoof this is. This movie deserves 10/10 and its only letdown is that it was so short, but even then it fitted everything in it needed to.

Again, an amazing movie. Go watch it.

For the gamers out there, this short film represents a quirky story that's relatable, heartwarming and fun! Fantastic production with breathtaking scenery!

We need more of this in the world.