Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness

This is a great game for lovers of RTwP CRPGs. Has so much spirit and feel. If you know anything about the studio that developed it, with so much love dedication and limited resources, you will know better where it came from and where it's going. On a genre stagnating a bit again with so many clone types, this game really takes you back to the true essence of RTwP CRPGs like the Infinity Engine games and Pillars.

It's a fun game, very reminiscent of games such as Baldur's Gate, Tides of Numenera, etc. The graphics are nice, and the worldbuilding seems well on track. There's lots of small mechanics to add a bit of flavour to everything you can encounter, from managing your party and gaining feats from not switching around too much, to brewing and drying potions and powders, and more! I played this while it was in development, and what I was expecting was maybe missing features, or bugs but other than a few crashes during zone transitions (which are quite long) there isn't an actual finished story as of yet, unfortunately. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it progresses, I just wish I'd known it was *that* early in development.

Decent story, class and skill mix, with a familiar approach to the real time w/ pause combat. It has the start of a crafting system with potions and powders, but is missing any solid crafting beyond that.

I've been buying games on GOG for nearly 15 years, but this is the first time I've decided to leave a review. This game is great, and it deserves more recognition. I've played many isometric RPG's, but this is the first that comes close to repeating the experience of the original Baldur's Gate. It's a lot less linear than Pillars of Eternity and doesn't have the stupid time limits of the Pathfinder games. As I have no interest in religion, real or fictional, I was very pleased that the plot initially revolved around the player regaining his heritage and settling a dispute between two rivaling cities. Only later does it devolve into the metaphysical mumbo jumbo that's so common in fantasy games. The game is rather short, I finished it in under 30 hours. A quick travel option that allows returning to the quest giver after completing a quest helps to speed things up. The combat is very similar to BG1, but skill progression is quick and it doesn't take long till you can roast your enemies with powerful fireballs. The party members sometimes contribute to the dialogue, but mostly they stay silent after joining your party. That's the way I like it. I want to explore the world and solve quests, not talk about the feelings of my party members.

I've been playing Black Geyser since the start of Early Access. So far it is definitely early access (i.e. missing a ton of spells, buggy etc.) but the game is playable and is getting frequent updates that fix most of the bugs. Just based on what I've seen so far its a 4/5 but I can see the potential for a 5/5 depending on what makes it into the full release version.