The Age of Decadence

The start of "The Age of Decadence" is extremely promising, but then hits a tactical brick wall that is extremely frustrating to surmount. The RPG-elements are enticing and exciting, but end up proving to be third rate in comparison to a severe lack of tactics because of the limitations of map design and sensible tactical options. It becoms maddening to experience after reloading a scenario six or more times. Later in the game, one has to stumble around the map to find The Exact Single Sweet Spot in order to win a fight. This is NOT fun to experience, especially when one thinks that certain tactical approaches SHOULD work - it won't matter. Try it a thousand times, you'll lose untill you find The Magical Position, and THEN you'll win (oftentimes barely). I don't mind games that are challenging, but this title is imposing a harshness through the wrong means, as most of the time the maps APPEAR to offer up a range of tactical approaches, when in reality, they don't. It's evident that a lot of hard work went into producing this title. I appreciate the graphics, the sound effects, etc., but the combat system needs to be significantly revised to get it to a "4" in regards to its rating. I'd give this title a 2.5/5 stars, but the Rating System won't permit that. If you enjoy slamming your head into a wall of tactical limitations, then this title's for you.

+Great atmosphere +Interesting setting +Top-notch audio +Unique design vision -Has lots of railroading -Combat is brutally hard -Feels like playing a job interview in which you do badly...forever. Oh, you don't have this skill, or that skill, or that skill. No dialogue/actions for you, sorry. -Designed to be a time sink, building optimal character requires intimate knowledge of all NPCs and quests If you like being Mr. Badass in computer games, this game isn't for you.

It took me several years to play this game, and when I did I almost bounced off it - it's a game filled with hard skillchecks, and zero respeccing. Which means there are things you simply can't do in a given playthrough, and you are going to have to improvise and explore a bit to work around obstacles that seem to have a single solution. If you're OK with that, this is an atmospheric gem with an incredible world - there are always things in it that will destroy you in a glance, even in the endgame. You will never become a steamroller with maxed stats and infinite resources. It does the Fallout 1 thing better than any other imitator I've seen, but in a world that is its own, and nearly as interesting in its own way as Fallout's was - it's a hard world, and nobody in it loves you. Lovely Mark Morgan-esque OST as well, which really worked for me. Save often, save before spending skill points, and bank skill points until you hit a hard check you want to pass. Do not waste points on non-focus skills for your character. Jack of all trades characters are possible to play but much harder IMO, especially if you aren't intimately familiar with the game already. In my roughly ~15 hour playthrough as a Loremaster, I had maybe 3 combat encounters total. If you do not build a combat-focused character, you will lose combats. If you fight 3 people at once, you will lose.

Age of Decadence is an ambitious game which mostly achieves what it sets out to do. And it seemingly sets out to create a replayable RPG with meaningful choices and many outcomes (the number of endings is in dozens). However, such ambition is not without tradeoffs. Firstly, some skills are more useful than others. While there are no outright losers, not all of them are created equal. Secondly, the game is meaningfully short. It can be completed in about 10 hours or so. Nor is the number of NPC's overwhelming - there are relatively few things to do, and the locations are not really that big even if they seem otherwise. Thirdly, the world is rather limited, and, for the lack of a better word, can feel strange sometimes (but this can be said about an awful lot of RPG's). Overall, if anything, it is a spiritual predecessor to Disco Elysium, where multiple meaningful social checks keep things interesting, and the inability to get the best ending on the first run and relatively short duration keeps the interest in replays alive. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but once you get into the groove it plays well.

The amount of choices one can make in this game is amazing - the story is great - the combat is hard. Everything you do has meaning. Love it. Check out also Colony Ship RPG from the same creators! Amazing game!