An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire

Battlespire is a first person free-look / free-movement dungeon crawler, and it's by Bethesda. This rare, rare genre - only appreciated by those that have fine tastes - is well catered for in this imaginative, challenging set of labyrinthine caves, towers, oubliettes and other dark places. Tough enemies, immersive atmosphere and solid combat make Battlespire a compelling experience. Though it has aged, I'd argue it has superior dungeon crawling to Skyrim. Very glad to see it on GOG.

I bought Battlespire new when it first came out in the Nineties. I had a blast playing it through. It's just as fun as I remember it, but it's a DOS game full of DOS game quirks. You do get caught on walls a bit here and there. You will die - probably often if you're new to it, so save often. Also the screen center doesn't appear to be optically centered and there is no crosshair, so it will yaw to the left or right a bit because staying centered while moving can be a bit difficult until you get the hang of it. My advice to new players: ALWAYS take the heal spell and spell point regeneration when you create your character or it is unlikely that you will survive. Kill monsters one at a time and heal up, let your spell points build back up, and save the game before tackling the next monster. Many of these old games require patience and perseverance to beat. I'm glad I decided to buy this and play it again! And the purchase includes Daggerfall, which is another one of my all time favorites.

Despite the intriguing and quality hand-crafted levels, despite the unique premise, setting and visuals, despite all the lore and fun it offers, for as much as I lament that it's the only level-based (i.e., not open world) Elder Scrolls RPG title, Battlespire is just too broken, too buggy and too undertuned and unpolished to be a good game, and thus, it's not game worth recommending. Again, I really can't overstate what a crying shame it is, because it can be fun, it has many good moments and cool characters. But unless you have bucketloads of patience and a willingness to start from scratch more than once, you probably won't get to those parts at all. If you're a patient, die-hard Elder Scrolls fan, a fan of Daedric lore, and a fan of old-school RPGs and dungeon crawlers, then by all means, go for it. I am all of the above and despite the frustrating mess this game can be, I did derive plenty of fun from Battlespire. Beyond that niche, however, I just don't think Battlespire is crafted well enough to be called a good game.

Battlespire is a total mess, extremely frustrating, with gamebreaking bugs galore. It is a fairly uninspired dungeon crawler with repetitive dialogue and unfinished gameplay. For goodness sake, one of the 6 branches of magic in this game has just one spell. The game lures you in with its reputation and admittedly charming aesthetic, but you'll likely soon find yourself having to reload saves against average combat encounters, or even restarting the game as you realize your character is built wrong or you made one of the many cardinal sins that plague this game. The reward? Well, I'll always take a memorable, frustrating game over a safe, mediocre one. The best thing you'll get from this game are the memories.

If you are a fan of the Elder Scrolls series, be aware that this game is NOT the same as the others. It's very much a linear dungeon crawler with no open world, trading, quests, etc. That isn't to say it's a bad game—personally I enjoyed it very much—but that you shouldn't expect the game to be of similar style to the rest of the series. - The story is interesting, especially for those who are already a fan of the Elder Scrolls lore. - Dialogue is humorous and 100% voice acted. You can talk to enemies, and sometimes you can convince them not to attack you! - There are 7 levels with different and interesting designs. In one level you partake in a 'hunt' and basically play through it while being chased by a horde of enemies, which I though was unique. - It's tough but IMO the challenge is what makes it fun. However, it certainly isn't perfect: - Sometimes your character will veer to the side when trying to walk forwards, which is particularly noticeable when you end up jumping in a totally different direction than you intended to, thus making you fall to your death. - The AI is very poor, and leads to enemies often zigzagging through small corridors, or getting caught on corners. Sometimes the enemy will try to use spells but hit the floor and accidentally kill themselves. - The game also crashes to DOS and restarts every time you die, which isn't a huge issue but still slightly annoying. - When the music stops there's a few seconds of silence before the track plays again, which was a little odd. - It's also worth mentioning that the manual lists skills under the wrong attributes. Despite all its quirks, I still had a great time playing it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge.