SKALD: Against the Black Priory

Great throwback and story so far is exquisite. If you loved Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds, You'll love this.

This game does what it's creator set out to do: invoke the feeling of the games that many of us grew up with. Not only that, but the storytelling is superb. I am shocked at how much time has passed by every time I sit down to play this. It really envelopes you.

Keep in mind, I'm not much of a CRPG fan. That's not to say I don't enjoy the genre--I love RPGs and hold no ill-will towards CRPGs. However, the amount of depth a single CRPG contains can be a bit overwhelming for somebody like me who prefers a simpler approach. Storytelling, that's the draw for me. A good story will carry me through no matter what. Even then, I prefer to not be overwhelmed by rules and mechanics. Skald keeps it simple. Don't take that the wrong way though, it's the good kind of simplicity. Easy to understand, with enough depth to allow for true roleplaying. I found myself in love with its approach towards character creation and character progression. You can create a truly powerful and unique character while not having to flip through a rulebook to understand what everything means. What kept me absolutely enthralled was the story, though. Gameplay is great: combat is quick and snappy without being confusing. But the writing is full of energy. Something as simple as picking up an item, thanks to the developer's electric writing style, is captivating. Admittedly, the plot isn't all too interesting. Standard fantasy RPG fare. However, the characters are lively--even if I wish they were fleshed out more--and the worldbuilding is extremely strong. The horror elements were awesome as well, and made the game stand out from other CRPGs I've played. One major criticism that I see brought up deals with the anticlimatic ending. Personally, I really enjoyed the ending, though I can see where people are coming from. With the amount of text in the game, and how flowery descriptions can get, I somewhat expected a lot of the game to be left up to my imagination instead of my skill as a player. Maybe that leads to some people disappointed at some boss fights, but I enjoyed picturing how everything went down in my head. I highly recommend Skald, and would urge you to play it at your own pace. There's a lot of cool stuff to find and details to uncover.

I deeply enjoyed this game. The story was engaging, and the art accompanying the text was very detailed - especially in the more gruesome scenes. Combat was challenging yet fun due random chance; however, could often be overcome with being more tactful about character placement and builds. Speaking of: character builds felt important given how powerless you feel in the beginning. I probably spent hours just looking at the different builds I could make with my party due to how diverse it is. Music was tasteful though perhaps a little bit repetitive. Overall, great experience beginning to end that warrants at least one playthrough.

If you don't care about pixel art graphics, in this RPG you will find all the good things about others with a bigger budget like Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity. Another point in its favor for me is that it has a well-written and interesting story with the right length , so as not to become tedious. Highly recommended