Overall most helpful review

Posted on: May 28, 2015

Thanmarkou

Games: 131 Reviews: 6

A great addition to the CRPG family

A very hard, unforgiving, old school, real-time with pause party-based CRPG, very similar to Microprose's Darklands released in 1992. Graphics are pixelated so not a treat for the eye, but the game play and mechanics more than make up for it. There is a beautifully hand-drawn map, magic incantation creation, rune deciphering and potion creation. The enemies level doesn't scale to yours, which is a really rare thing for RPGs today. You should write everything to your own journal notes that's related to quests, puzzles and leads as you investigate. The game won’t hold your hand. There are some bugs right now, but i expect to be cleared in 1-2 patches time. Playtime is around 20-25 hours so it's a value for money purchase (1€ - 1 hour of game play rule). P.S Beware of foxes, they are very lethal in this game.. :)

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Posted on: May 31, 2015

SkullsAndRavens

Verified owner

Games: 700 Reviews: 1

Really, really good

I love the art, the music is very good, and the overall feel of it really suits my tastes. The story is original and interesting. There's a lot going on in the character creation process; I opted to incarnate the Moon Lord in a single form and take my chances with finding companions along the way, though you have the option to create a whole party (I'm not sure what the limit is on how many) of avatars at the beginning. I recruited the local acolytes my high priest recommended to me, opting to treat them as fellow travelers and not to bind their souls (but you can do that if that's the kind of god you are!) Once I got the hang of combat and how to use spells (not a difficult process, just a little different than other RPGs) I did some leisurely exploring of the first areas and was really impressed by the care this small dev team has put into the game. I felt genuine triumph after a tough fight with some bandits followed by the satisfaction of taking their gear and putting it to good use. There's plenty of things to discover and different strategies to adopt; I'm pretty sure some encounters I've had could have gone very differently if I had different skills, and I might have learned something important. I'll just have to venture on and hope for the best... or I could reload a previous save and try it a different way. I've played about ten hours so far and made some progress and I'm really enjoying it. I hope the studio does well with the game and that there will be more to come from them! Note: There have already been a couple of patch updates in the few days since it's been released, they didn't seem to actually get applied when I did the update through GOG, but when I downloaded them through the game (it prompts you to check for updates when you start it) and applied them that worked just fine.

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Posted on: June 1, 2015

Chiricana

Verified owner

Games: 288 Reviews: 30

Classless characters, free-roaming map

You can go anywhere you want, and build as anything you want. Almost no hints about what build is best, so the entire game I've been feeling a bit uneasy. That's the game atmosphere: dark, and you're always a bit on edge. Lots of bugs or I'd give it five stars. If you're reading this after it's been out for a month, there's a good chance those are fixed and it's a five star game. Harder than most RPGs I've played. Story is interesting and unusual. You're a detective looking for clues, and the next battle could be a cakewalk or the monsters could one-shot you. If you want a struggle, I highly recommend it.

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Posted on: June 20, 2015

Dimitriy

Verified owner

Games: 24 Reviews: 1

Must play for CRPG fans

Buy this game. Joe and Hannah, the two people behind this game, have managed to create a world that is very believable, doesn't have the annoying pathos of triple-A RPGs, and at the same time engages you like no other setting. Are you tired of your character being the Chosen One, every third NPC asking you to solve their rat problem, and unkillable plot-important characters dropping Bond villian-esque monologues on you? This game subverts all of that, in a way that actually makes you appreciate its characters and story for being very human. Speaking of the story, it is completely non-linear. Not in the sense that it changes drastically depending on your actions (although there are plenty of choices and consequences), but in the sense that it is completely up to you how you want to pursue the leads you have. This is the one game where information is more important than gear or stats - the people you talk to, the rumors you've heard, these connections you draw between the clues you found, as opposed to prophesies and quest markers. I've never played any infinity engine games (I was always more of a Fallout 1 & 2 and Arcanum guy), so I can't really comment on how the combat compares to the classics, except that it is quite tactical and rewards careful positioning and a good party composition (the game is brutal without a balanced party, which is good). There are some flaws - the balance between offensive and defensive spells isn't perfect (although certainly better than it was at launch), though unless you are Josh Sawyer himself this is hardly game breaking. Some situations also could've benefited from having more choice in how to resolve them. Lastly, there are some small bugs and typos here and there - again, nothing game breaking. To reiterate - give these guys (all of) your money. With a much smaller budget they've managed to make a better game than the mediocre titles pumped out after the 2014 kickstarter blitz.

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Posted on: June 16, 2015

demonbox77

Verified owner

Games: 337 Reviews: 23

An amazing dark RPG

You are a god, well an avatar to be honest, life should be easy right? Wrong in the Staglands you are no one, and the only ones that might know who you are... the ones you should fear most, welcome to the realm of mortals, have fun struggling to go back home. As others have pointed out this game is a hard, old style, real-time + pause and pixellated RPG. The game oozes charm, the music score, the art, the lore and the story are simply amazing, you are free to do whatever you prefer, no real "class system", a peculiar spell casting system (no such thing as "mana", you channel spells, but as for every attack, your skills and stats will interact with a good RNG system), be sure to check the environment, there are hidden treasures (or traps?), and be sure to take notes of your quests. I was starting to be a bit bored of the Witcher 3 (being me compulsive spent dozens of hours roaming around), decided to take a pause and bought this game, now I can't force myself to go back to the witcher.

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