Notice: Black Moon Chronicles has an HTML manual available from the Start menu shortcut for the game.
Notice: Black Moon Chronicles has an HTML manual available from the Start menu shortcut for the game.
Posted on: June 7, 2017
Kamamura
Verified ownerGames: 1470 Reviews: 54
No FMV => No stars!
Sadly, this is a torso of a game, since the intro, outro, and no ingame cinematics work in the game. It feels like playing a cheap pirated copy. Since the store page does not mention the product is incomplete, this review hopes to supplement this information. I will change my review once the game is patched so that the FMV work.
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Posted on: July 19, 2016
Yannos.548
Verified ownerGames: 794 Reviews: 6
Fun but flawed RTS
I used to play this a lot when it came out mostly because I was huge fan of the comic book it was based on. However there are a few problems that can really hurt your enjoyment of the game. The good: - The music is absolutely fantastic. Some great sounding orchestral tracks that really add to the atmosphere. - The graphics are nice. - It's fun to see the comic book come alive and they did a pretty good job of it. -When the battles work as planned; they're fun to behold. The Bad: - THE FRIGGING PATHFINDING... This game seriously has the worst pathfinding I've ever seen. It doesn't help that your units are grouped together as small regiments (6 guys mostly) but they move independently causing ant-hill like chaos every time you move your army. Something simple like "Move all your entire army inside a castle" becomes a chore of epic proportions as your knights all bunch together at the portcullis and fail to move inside. Then again, sometimes the only way to win a map is by abusing the AI's pathfinding... - The balance between units is terrible. Simple units like footmen or archers are practically useless as they get turned into red mist by the legions of trolls, giants and wizards that you'll face. Don't expect to win battles by just using your army. Almost every battles starts out by your army getting rushed by the entire enemy horde and you trying desperately to use your heroes to knock out the stronger units before they one hit your dudes. - The difficulty can be pretty high but this is mostly due to the above reasons. It'd be fun to actually use your army instead needing to rely on your heroes in order to kite the enemy around and fireball 'em into oblivion. - Pretty buggy. I've seen armies walk through pallisade walls and ballista's failing to fire even one bolt even when in range. In conclusion; It can be pretty fun but the pathfinding is likely to cause some anger issues when your army stands around like morons for the 50th time :-)
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Posted on: July 7, 2016
Igraine
Verified ownerGames: Reviews: 38
Amazing game
Black Moon Chronicles is a Real Time Tactics game (with a small Turn Based Strategy element in the campaign screen) with good gameplay, excellent lore and worldbuilding, and amazing music. Developed in the days when Cryo Interactive made good games (after it made "Dune", and before it made "Franck [sic] Herbert's Dune"), it's based on the eponymous comic book series. This means a lot of lore and background story, placing the game in a medieval-Europe + magic + grimdark setting. While it might feel similar to Warhammer, it is because they draw on the same inspiration: European Dark Ages. The writing of the game is good, but it feels translated - and only adequately, at that. The gameplay is satisfying and fun, although the UI shows its age. What I like most about the game is the music - the instrumental and vocal quality give the game an amazing atmosphere, and make it feel Epic. The game isn't afraid to show this strong point - at all, in fact - so you might wand to lower the music volume.
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Posted on: July 8, 2016
jmbrosendo
Verified ownerGames: 397 Reviews: 2
Fantasy Strategy classic
I own a physical copy of Black Moon Chronicles, bought it without hesitation when it came out, and played the four campaigns, several times over. Black Moon Chronicles is a fantasy strategy that mixes real time battles, with turn based campaign map. Each campaign is played on a series of maps where your armies are deployed, which you then move to a series of objectives, purposely fighting or avoiding any enemy regiments present on the map as well. Each successfull battle nets you gold which you can use to buy units, build barracks and support buildings . The battles are either encounters with enemy armies, fought on a random map, or fought on a scripted scenario, these last ones progressing the story, or granting you extra gold, or having some effect in a future engagement. There is no limit as to how many units you can bring to a battle. This game's selling point were the huge battles you could have, and some I'll admit have that sense of epicness. A shame the AI is poor,not even managing formations well. You have four factions to take control each with their difficulty setting, and playstyle. Magic is present and very powerfull, as the AI is lackluster to say the least. Each faction has their own flavour and uniqueness, that requires you to change strategy. But overall the game is not hard. You can even easily tweak the game to your liking, by editing a few file with a text editor. For instance I would generally tweak the damage of the archers for my campaigns. As with all Cryo games, the visuals are stunning, holding up even today for my standards atleast. Storywise you will be lost unless you read the comic books where the setting is based from, but essentially you are the child of prophecy destined to become the next emperor. If you fancy strategy and would like something different give it a go. I have been secretly wishing to see this title on GOG for a very long time.
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Posted on: July 8, 2016
DarkEye123
Verified ownerGames: 87 Reviews: 1
This is awesome game!
I spent a lot of hours playing this during my childhood. Actually it was my first game ever I bought for my own money. Every campaign is unique and strongly differentiated by its level of difficulty. The actual gameplay feels very good and you have to actually think during the play on the map. Sometimes it is essential to know how to move with your army. Battles can be very massive and extremely fun. Only downside is that when your hero falls the game ends immediately (no chance to revive him etc). This is actually pretty logical -> but given the possible size of armies and following chaos on the map you will found out that it is very difficult to manage your hero and army separately. Some of the missions are extremely hard to finish. But the rewarding feeling after their completion is awesome :D. The game uses concept of heroes which are unique and have different abilities. Their usage is essential in the battle -> but also their death is fatal and it means end of the game for you. You have to think not only about their movement and health but about the actual timing of their special abilities and use them properly. There is also a quite good encyclopedia within the game. You can read some background information about characters, units and fractions. I would say this is the forgotten gem of the past. It is worth every penny for sure.
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