Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness

If you loved BG1 at the time, don't miss this one, especially on sale. When you reach the mines you will feel like home.

i can safely say that Black Geyser is closest to the IE games. The main story keeps you motivated and guessing and actually branches depending on your decision. I’ve finished nearly 50 quests and recruited 8 companions who have their own background stories and quests. You can choose to play a greedy or generous char depending on how you choose to be rewarded upon finishing quests. This greed system will be fully integrated upon the full release of the game. Enemy AI is decent insofar as the enemies drink potions, change targets and throw powders at you but it shall be further improved. Speaking of powders – that and special abilities like waylay or prolonged berserk add to meleers tactical possibilities. Resolving combat is more akin to IE games since it plays more like RTS than other modern isometric rpgs and combat, pacing and scope of the game most resemble Icewind dale. A novelty is brewing and drying components so that you can produce your own potions and powders during resting. This system will be improved for easier use in the final release. Already in the EA i did found unique items/weapons mainly from looting (which has no influence on the greed level) or even finding parts of unfinished weapons which could be assembled by special npcs. Spells include healing, status effect spells, summons, silence etc. including invisibility. So far, though, the enemy AI doesn’t use them much and mostly status effects are too short to be worth countering but it is to be expected that enemy AI and encounters will get a closer look by the devs. Char skills amongst other offer additional dialogue options. Class skills vary from purifying cursed items to faster casting to new ones like plant items on enemies. While the game has typical unity issues like longer loading times and pathfinding those shouldn’t be worrisome. Selecting targets in combat could work better as the 3d models are sometimes getting in the way but apart from that i didn't have any issues worth mentioning.

When I play fantasy RPGs, I want to dive in the lore. I want to feel like living in this authentic world. For now I have to say, that Black Geyser does NOT DELIVER this feeling. I did not play as long, as I usually would, before rating a game... it's just that I have a hard time taking this world for real, since there is only little effort in trying to give a authentic feel. First off the companions: you don't need to put in any effort to recruit them. It's like they are waiting in line just to get picked up. The dwarf you meet at this bloody crime scene?! Why not taking him in your party after the first hollow phrase?! I just met you at this bloody mess, but wanna be friends?! Okay... And this continues for the following companions. Very immersion breaking after all... but actually it cannot break an immersion, that has never been there from minute one... I would actually give it 2,5 out of 5, since they really managed to create a game, that totally feels like Baldur's Gate... with all the unconfy controls, that are just not contemporary any more and have not been the last 20 years. It finally gets 3 out of 5, because I backed this on Kickstarter ;)

this game really makes me remember the fun times of baldur's gate when it orginally came out

First of all, KUDOS to DEVs, who obviously put enourmous effort into this game. Unique RPG system, colorful and wide world, nearly giving the feel of 'living world'. This is by definition, one craves for when on hiatus from RPG games, especially cRPG games. On other note, I cannot comprehend the technical reason, I must wait 10~20 seconds between maps on a gaming rig in 21st century. I remember this from Baldur's Gate, which I played on a bit slower machine than recommended, so apart hours of installation from 5 CDs, I also learned to wait several or even dozens of seconda (sometimes minute or two) during various loading screens. But now, circa 20-30 years later, I don't get it. The game tells a good story and is well playable with patches that cover most bugs, so give it a try, but don't expcet having goose bumps from it.