The Age of Decadence

After completing two full playthroughs of Age of Decadence I can happily say it is *arguably* the best cRPG ever made. It's more than just a game, in fact; it's a work of obsessive passion. As you play you will become enmeshed in the product of the authors' dedication. By rights AoD should be the cRPG GOTY for 2015, but of course that won't happen because Iron Tower doesn't have a huge investment company behind it to buy positive media coverage. I'll give you a little more specific information to help you decide whether or not you want to buy AoD. Essentially the game is trying to simulate a pencil-and-paper RPG experience using a computer, albeit for one solo player character. There are no "followers" or "companions." It's otherwise rather like Fallout 1 and 2, for reference, or the more recent Shadowrun games, or Wasteland 2, so if that's the kind of experience that appeals to you, you should try AoD, no question. Combat is turn-based and exceptionally good, although it can be hard until you learn how it works. On the other hand, you can play a weakling or a pacifist and avoid combat completely if you so choose. You will be forced to make difficult choices throughout the story, and the consequences of those choices can be profound. This is probably the most delightful aspect of AoD. You can re-play it over and over, backing different factions and different characters each time. Each time you will discover encounters and new outcomes. In fairness not everyone will like AoD. If you're looking for an action game where you play a superhero who can max out every skill and eventually wipe the floor with every enemy the universe has to offer, AoD is probably not for you. If you want a game that constantly tells you exactly where to go and exactly what to do when you get there, AoD is probably not for you.

An absolutely brilliant CRPG. I have not had so much fun since Witcher 3, and Morrowing before that, and Fallout 1&2 yet before MW. A very interesting story, immersive world, and I would say, totally unparalleled replayability. When you start with a different character with a different set of skills, you will be facing a _very_ different story. And yes, it makes you actually roleplay the character. A Gary Stu superman (or a Mary Sue supergirl) that is good at everything will not make it past the first fight. You have to specialise and understand how game mechanics work, and plan accordingly. This game makes you use your brains - this is where the fun comes from!

I enjoyed the original story, quality of writing and depth of the lore in Age of Decadence. The music brilliantly helps to create an immersive atmosphere. It's also a rare game where you control one character rather than a party. This allows to emotionally invest into the character and pay extra attention to character development. It's definitely a game to try out. Some good-to-knows: - Most quests are faction-based. I.e. depending on your alignment / background (loremaster, thief etc) you can only access so many dialogues and quests. Pro: High replayability. You can explore the world from a different angle every time you play. Con: Limited freedom of choice after you choose your alignment - some NPC encounters feel artificially staged. E.g. you come to a thieves' guild and talk to a guy at the entrance, and the only option is "Leave", because you are not a thief yourself. - Because it's faction-dependent / replayable, the total playing time of one run is much shorter than that of Fallout 2, for example. Which can be viewed as a good thing and a bad thing :) - Combat is super hard, and there's no way to grind / raise your combat XP in an easy way (e.g. in Fallout you can simply wander around the map and win random encounters). There are no combat companions either, so unless you have two combat skills (active and passive) at 6 or higher, combat doesn't make sense at all - which was a pity really. - It is extremely difficult to win all quests you get, since skill and stat checks are everywhere. One piece of advice is to distribute skill points on a needs basis. As for stats, as I know there's only one point in the game where you can permanently raise one of your physical abilities. But that's it. No pills that temporary boost your intelligence, strength etc. So if you miscalculated what stats your character needs at the start of the game, you'll find the game unforgiving. The next run will be much easier of course. - There are some minor bugs, including a couple quest issues I noticed, but nothing major. Camera control can be frustrating, but not critically. - All in all, Age of Decadence is a solid hardcore RPG that stands out for its story and atmosphere!

The Age of Decadence is upon us, life is brutal and the well of souls deep. Exceptional writing, bringing in tangents from thieves worlds, plane-scape and conan. Political backstories with different factions - where do you fit in? Divergent multifaceted gameplay that can only be seen through plaing multiple times with multiple character classes. Combat is DIFFICULT. This is old school your mums not here and its after dark kinda real deal combat. (In an isometric way) You might get mugged and stabbed and have your agency taken away. This is more elric and AD&D 1st ed than it is 5th ed. Remember, this is a labour of love from a small crew, its not fallout 4, and its not x-com. It is storytelling and trial - that is where indie excels.

I gave this game a chance since I really needed an immersive old-school RPG. I ended up playing it quite far and I had no problem with the combat difficulty, but I never really got immersed, sadly. None of the characters are memorable and neither are the locations. This is when I'm 10 hours into the game. The towns don't really feel alive and it just feels like the game could be text based and be exactly the same, since the graphics are very outdated. Fallout style isometric might even feel more immersive than this to be honest. Even good old Baldur's gate you have environments that pull you in, the sounds of nature etc. In this game there are pretty much zero environmental sounds and you just listen to the music and go from dialogue window to dialogue window without any extra sounds. But what really annoyed me were the very illogical choices by devs to include stupid things in quest solutions such as: - There being no alternate ways to do quests for combat characters. You simply get half-way in a quest just to realize that since you didn't put points in skill X, forget it. You might even get some item that helps with proceeding the quest, but then not passing a speech check halts the quest. For example: end up in a palace to rob it. Only after getting inside and already having fought off some guards (basically half-way to the quest), does the game show that actually you can't pass any of the skill checks required, so the only choice is instant death in dialogue, or the choice "leave the palace" and fail the quest. Who would ever think this is a fun way to design a quest? - Bugs such as getting into an area and talking in dialogue mode, then suddenly it skips the next dialogue window and I die instantly by dialogue choice I didn't make. Holy crap, this does not belong in a game of this age! There are just so many things in this game that are implemented in an amateurish way and it ended up being a disappointment.