The Age of Decadence

That should have been the name of this game. I've restarted several times, trying desperately to find a build that will allow me to even play the game. I can make it to the 2nd city, but at that point, there is simply no way forward. A combat build can't pass the skill checks needed for the story; a non-combat build is forced into combat at every turn, and I have literally never won a single combat. Not one. It's impossible. I appreciate the effort to make a "new" kind of RPG - and I'm a veteran of many, many RPGs over the last thirty years - but this is just absurd. It's terrible, and it's infuriating. Don't waste your time with this. Two stars for at least the attempt at something different, and some people seem to have figured out how to play it... I just couldn't after 15 hours of playing it.

While it is undeniable that Age of Decadence has its flaws, what is also undeniable is that it is a fantastic cRPG. It has an amazing turn-based combat system, one of the best in any cRPG period (which is further expanded upon in the standalone campaign that is Dungeon Rats by the same developer. It's extremely cheap and a must buy!), a unique and interesting setting, quality writing, and some very memorable characters and quests. The game isn't the prettiest, and the engine takes some getting used to. It may at first feel a bit janky and unpolished, and I did bounce off this game my first time giving it a go, but if you can power through the initial discomfort, everything slots into place and soon the game will feel buttery smooth, and even the visuals will start to grow on you. Once this happens, just buckle up and enjoy the ride! Though there are sections where you have some leeway to do things the way you want in the order you want, the game is fairly linear, so be prepared. The game is also extremely replayable, and playing a trader will result in a completely different experience than if you play a mercenary. I will warn you know, specialize, specialize, specialize! I'd recommend looking up some resources online so you can get a decent understanding of how to create your character, but the gist of it is that if you plan on fighting things, you should be spending a lot (and I mean a lot) of your points on combat related stats and skills. If you skimp out on these skills, do not be surprised if some of the fights in the game are impossible. Ignore the crybabies who complain about this. If you want challenging and interesting combat, then it has to be punishing if you do something stupid. All in all, Age of Decadence is a fantastic RPG that does so many things right, the things it does wrong really cease to matter. Buy it and play it!

I'm going to be honest here: I hated this game. I hated it for the first 5-6 hours, during which no matter what I did or where I went, I failed. I must be a glutton for punishment, because I kept playing regardless. And I'm happy I did. As a CRPG aficionado, there is one thing one must realize and accept before trying this game: the player is not the center of the game, but merely another actor in the world. The game won't hold your hand or coddle you. This means that scenarios aren't designed with player success at the center. If you aren't prepared, odds are you will fail at whatever you're trying to accomplish. This can mean Game Over if you attack someone, but more often it simply means that situations will be resolved in a way that you didn't intend or desire - but your progress will generally not be blocked. I'm not giving it 5 stars for a couple reasons. First, the game looks hideous. Think uglier-than-NWN ugly. This is an engine thing because I actually like the art direction and the portraits and armor designs are gorgeous. The second reason is that sometimes the game is made to be artificially hard. Traps are one example. The other is that social skills are frankly redundant. Etiquette, streetwise, persuasion, impersonate and trading are checked seemingly at random and you will find yourself failing social checks because you didn't have *the* skill the writer thought was relevant. They could have rolled those skills into one or two and the game would be better for it. My final gripe with the game is that content is distributed rather unevenly between the three acts. All things considered, I'm going to recommend this to anyone who appreciates a text-heavy, old-school style CRPG. Exploration of interesting locations, meaningful C&C, a rich lore, fun (HARD) combat, and a ton of replayability. These are the elements that make AoD worth your time, in a CRPG landscape filled with fan servicing, ego-stroking, bland power fantasy titles.

Pros: just-right sized story, highly replayable, non-combat builds highly viable, intricate and original worldbuilding, real Actions & Consequences gameplay, cheap for what it offers. Cons: awful to look at, mechanics encourage savescumming, too few music tracks. This isn't a game all will enjoy and that's fine. Coming with the right mindset, you can get a ton of enjoyment out of AoD, as meta-knowledge you gather through subsequent playthroughs will let you crack this game open like a mollusk. Despite being released in 2015, AoD is not a modern RPG by any standards. It is built around an unforgiving but exploitable combat system (which you can choose not to interact with at all) and an intricate web of stat/skill checks in dialogue options and world interactions. In short: don't expect to roll any character and then experience every single quest the game has to offer. This isn't a Bethesda RPG. This is a choose-your-own-adventure book in a game form, so play accordingly: save scum to the extreme, save skill points and spend them only after learning what the thresholds are in particular interactions, then save over and continue only if you're happy with the outcome - and get (un)pleasantly surprised when said outcome has unforeseen consequences two or three acts later into the story. The game is also ugly as sin (and I find the text dumps hard to read, the font just doesn't vibe with my eyes), and somewhat janky, but the save system, by far the most important mechanic, has never failed me.

The story and setting really captivated me. I enjoyed that there was a variety of options to achieve quests rather than fighting. That being said, the combat is the best part of the game. It is a blast! I played the game entirely on Steam Deck by the way. My only complaint is if you don't build your character just right, you will fail certain skill checks and essentially be stuck in the main story progression! Beware of this, and always save before leveling up. I actually had to do console commands to adjust some of my skills and actually be able to finish the game. Maybe more experienced players don't have this problem, but first time through its my main and really my only gripe.