Posted on: July 25, 2020

mtpassd

Games: 24 Reviews: 1

Rough yet pricless gem worth trying

I have put around 50hrs into Staglands, and overall I've been very emersed in the dark and looming world it presents. The game is a similar experience to the Baulders Gate CRPG series, only more condesnsed on all fronts. The party based combat is quick, brutal, and visually satisfying for older CRPG fans. The character sprites have realistic proportions, and equipped gear changes their appearence. This aspect of the game looks better than any game of this kind I have played. Creating custom builds is very satisfying as well, and can be done in a reasonable amount of time, once you understand the system. Fair warning for those who are picky about unpolished games; you will most likely be very frustrated at times with this game. It is very strong fundamentally, but a game of this scale cannot be fully polished and debugged with a two person team. At least not within the five years the game has been out. I suggest all players keep that in mind when playing the game, because there are many minor bugs and control quirks throughout. This game is so good that is far from a deal breaker, and I continually ask myself how two people managed to bring such a solid CRPG to life, without more issues. Im glad I gave this game a chance, because it is one of my all time favorites.

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Posted on: November 5, 2016

nesphy

Verified owner

Games: 48 Reviews: 1

Loading in the Staglands

Game takes forever to load even when playing it in an ssd, and you will have to load really frequently. This is already reason enough to not play this, but there is more: Small amount of character sprites. No female sprites. Have to read a manual to understand the UI Lots of grinding Lack of camera panning with hotkey Unfair difficulty, which is a terrible combination with the long loading times. example: I got ambushed and killed when trying to travel. Which would be fine in any other game, but learning through death is not okay when loading times are so long. Aggro and combat works cheaply, favoring pulling enemies one by one, because they can't listen combat or see their friends attacking. Fov is unreasonably short. Pixel "art" in this game is just too small and confusing, I don't understand half of the sprites. The hitboxes for clicking enemies are weird, I have to pause to do it reliably and not accidentally send my party walking to their deaths, and if that happens guess what? have to load again!

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Posted on: December 18, 2019

Illyrac

Verified owner

Games: 176 Reviews: 2

Good, but not for everyone

This is a new cRPG with an old-school feel and a dark tone. Right from the beginning it leaves you as a baby, wondering what you should do and where should you go, without explaining much and without much guidance in the game. If you have no perseverance and patience, this game is not for you. The strong part of the game is definitely the character building and infinite varieties for different builds, with a lot of skills and a myriad of combination. Also magic is quite different from the classical RPG. Another thing I liked was the discovery element, left on your own in an unknown world and the dark feel. The pixelated graphics are quite good but can be a sore in some places as it can make you not notice important things. There are some flaws: you cannot ask for directions, you just get a general sense where things are or might be. Another negative of this game is the lack of memorable NPCs and the soundtrack is bland and uninspired most of the time. I would like to say that many of the negative reviews are unwarranted. With this game you receive exactly what the developers advertised. You'll need to read the manuals which are included in this game. It is not a hard game, it just requires more patience than your infinity engine cRPGs and other.

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Posted on: July 2, 2018

freeness

Verified owner

Games: 854 Reviews: 35

Far From the Greats

Serpent in the Staglands gets many of the hard things right: the setting is one-of-a-kind, the art is stellar, the casting system is fresh, and the music is moody, character creation is complex and yet intuitive. But every time the game tries to go in bold new directions, it seems to forget how to do the basics. There are bugs EVERYWHERE. Entire UI elements were broken my whole game. Combat is spammy and thoughtless. Although you get wrecked by a lone fox in the beginning, after the first few hours you'll only die if you nod off at your keyboard. Everything can be killed via tank and spank. The story has the best premise I've ever heard and they do absolutely NOTHING with it. The characters are 2D. The ending of the game is a total railroad for an expansion pack that may never see the light of day. It ends on a cliffhanger. If you've played all of the great cRPGs, this is the next one to play. If you haven't yet sunk the requisite 1,000 hours into the Infinity Engine games, your time and money are better spent elsewhere.

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Posted on: April 23, 2020

mrguy08

Verified owner

Games: 43 Reviews: 30

For specific tastes

This is another game I got from a random grab-bag thing that GOG was doing for a holiday event a while ago. Over the course of me playing various older games on GOG and Steam, I've started to realize a couple things about myself as a gamer. I don't think the graphics or visuals of older or indie games really bother me. A game can have a really compelling visual aesthetic from any era, and in any artistic medium. There are a lot of older games that hold up well visually and mechanically. However, there are a lot of little conveniences that are baked into most modern games that I take for granted now, and not having those built into older games does really bug me. Serpent in the Staglands is a modern game. It's an independent project by an incredibly small team and I applaud their efforts. This one seems to have flown completely under the radar for most people. It's hard to find any buzz about it anywhere online. The game is meant to be reminiscent of very old cRPGs. Not just in the visual style but in the mechanics as well. The game does not hold your hand or explain things at all. All record keeping must be done by hand in the game. It's very easy to miss things or to make choices that can completely screw you over mechanically. I thought I was better equipped to handle that sort of thing. But maybe I'm spoiled by modern games, or maybe I just have less patience for games as I get older, but it's not the sort of thing I really want to deal with nowadays. For the really hardcore cRPG enthusiast though, you may want to check this out.

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