SKALD: Against the Black Priory

I had a lot of fun with this title. The highlights for me personally were the dialogue menu artworks and the descriptive writing. Skald has a very cool Lovecraft-ian story that will keep the player engaged as they continue to unravel its mysteries. I felt that the combat got kind of stale after a while, but that was more towards the end when I was facing combat encounter after combat encounter. Some of the party members also felt a lot more underdeveloped than the others. I played this on normal difficulty with all of the default modifiers. The few instances that I died were when I was either underleveled or fighting a boss, but on the whole this game was not difficult. One complaint that I have is that the game gives you an overabundance of food. Especially if you are holding down the shift key for most of your playthrough and picking up all of the ingredients that are littered on the ground and trying to explore all the nooks and crannies of the gameworld and complete all of the side quests, which is how I like to play RPGs. I ended the game with countless stacks of uncrafted ingredients and cooked meals in my inventory. You can also rest in a variety of places, so you shouldn't die that often while playing on the standard difficulty unless you are deliberately levelling up your character in an unoptimized manner and not managing your resources correctly. The puzzles were also not that challenging, but there was a moment in the final dungeon where there was an obscure door that I could not find for the life of me, and I had to resort to looking it up online. That moment frustrated me. Skald is a very enjoyable experience though, and I recommend it. I'm not quite sure that it leaves a lasting impression on the player, but it does represent that older 1980s style of computer role-playing game quite well, and it also has a really interesting universe inspired by the writings of HP Lovecraft, whose works are actually not often represented in video games.

About 7 hours in: Does a really good job of tapping into the nostalgia that it aims to simulate. Feels like a game from ye olden days, but with several quality of life updates and streamlined gameplay. Graphics are about as purdy as they can be, albeit somewhat muddy from time to time. Combat is entaertaining and seldom daunting. Some UI and menu actions seem a bit counter intuitive, but one gets used to it soon enough. Exploring is fun, although the level design (particularly in regards to art direction) may be a bit confusing. I'm mainly invested in the world and lore. The writing is solid and interesting, and I'm eager to see how the story unfolds. Might very well scratch the itch if you're in the mood forl this sort of old school crpg but realize that actual vintage crpgs usually don't hold up.

At first I struggled to get into the game, but am pleased that I persevered because I had a great time with the characters, story, and world building. The music is excellent and the pixel-art is rich and varied. The ending was harrowing, refreshing to see, and unique. I wouldn't say unexpected because there were hints throughout the game. For the convenience of focussing on the story, I played on a custom setting to eliminate having to rest after every battle and to be more successful in skill checks. There are a lot of settings for tweaking your run to your taste. Reasonably priced. My first playthrough was nearly 30 hours. I took my time and tried to be thorough. Fantastic achievement for a small team. Be warned though, this game is not for the faint of heart! [Shivers]

First of all, admittably only 4 hours in right now but I am enjoying myself thoroughly. The story might be a bit generic with its lovecraftian tendril monsters, sailors and mercenaries but written well enough for it to not bore you to death. Combat isn't too easy while still offering some challenge. Overall just a neat package. Maybe one critique I could say is that the fonts and the overall readability could maybe have done with a bit more polish. Playing on a 27" monitor doesn't hurt my eyes or anything but it does make me feel like this was playtested on an old 17" crt. Can't really say if this is the right game for a hardcore fan of this genre since I don't really consider myself as one but in all honesty I can say that I'm just having a good time with this. 4 stars because nobody is perfect.

It's nice to have a game with beautiful retro art from a time that doesn't get honored much (think mid-series Ultima) that ditches all the clunky user interface problems those games have. Almost everything in this game feels slick, easy to do and satisfying. Big crits that wipe out an enemy are my favorite, but everything feels fun and snappy. It's Baldur's Gate 3 with Ultima graphics, basically. The mood is dark and ominous, and while cliche the story is written very well. The music is a special highlight, it can get repetitive across 30 hours but it fits the game perfectly and works really well. There are a few problems that prevent me from giving it 5 stars however. Mages felt extremely weak at launch, and while a patch has increased their damage another core problem remains. You get very little mana (attunement here) and no cantrips, so you spend most of your time as a mage clicking skip turn (defend) until it makes sense to use what little mana you have between rests. Later in the game you'll have tons of resources and this is less of an issue, but early on you feel like you're just standing there. The game also has a very Gothic/Piranha Bytes problem where the first section is extremely difficult (on hard anyway) while soon after you'll be so powerful nothing ever challenges you again. The skill trees and such are also pretty simplistic, so at some point you really start getting a little bored without a challenge or character build decisions to make. The randoom loot can also cause issues, as my 2-handed weapon master never got a better weapon after that start in 30 hours of gameplay. All in all though the game is great, if it sounds up your alley then I would buy it without hesitation.