Pendragon

Pendragon puts you in the shoes of one of the characters of King Arthur´s legend (in the beginning Guinevere or Lancelot, but you can unlock other characters when you meet them in game), who is trying to get to Camlann in time to help Arthur in his confrontation with Sir Mordred. Along the way, the characters meets many enemies and a few potential allies that can be recruited. The game plays a bit like FTL in that there´s permadeath, the map is procedurally generated and you are almost always forced to press forward, so picking the next location at a crossroads also establishes the direction the characters will follow for a while. The focus of Pendragon is not so much on resource management (although there´s a hunger mechanics, which requires the player to look for food), but rather on combat. Combat is grid- and turn-based and it requires to exploit the terrain and how the various units can move in order to gain initiative on the opposing party: even if units have a number of life points, as soon as a unit is able to attack another the attacked unit is out of play, irrespective of their life point total: in the best case, it will be again available at the end of the combat (with one less life point), in other cases it will be lost for good. As the units move, they also speak, and sometimes combat can be avoided by picking the right dialogue option. Clearly, the game does not aim to surprise with graphical effects but it has a very coherent aesthetics which fits the theme of the game. It is also quite narrative heavy for this kind of game: overall I found the dialogue very good with a lot of nice touches, such as the characters telling tales in front of the campfire when they stop for the night. In summary, if you are looking for the kind of roguelike experience that I described above, Pendragon is a very solid pick. The game is clearly meant to be replayed, since each playthrough is not very long and it may unlock further characters and difficulty levels.

Pendragon is a neat little turn-based strategy game wrapped with the sort of narrative detail which Inkle excel at. The whole experience is designed to draw you in to repeated plays - whether that's to improve your strategy or to discover new characters and stories. Pendragon tells the tale of the Arthurian myth - starting at the point where Camelot has fallen and the Round Table has been broken. So immediately you're put in the right mood for a game where your heroes are flawed and at a low ebb - trying to find their way towards King Arthur who is seemingly on a suicide mission to confront St. Mordred in a battle to the death. You begin with two playable characters, with more being unlocked when you meet them during the game. And you'll want to build as big an army as you can, as the journey to Mordred is filled with peril. That's where the strategy game comes in. Each location is laid out in the style of a board. Your aim is to get across to the exit. There may be enemies to fight, friends to encounter and special moves to discover and utilize. Movement and combat is dictated by rules which aren't necessarily apparent at the start of the game but which you'll figure out as you play. Games tend to be short - a successful run to Mordred only takes an hour or so. But you'll not make it every time. In fact, you'll be dying - a lot. Initially it might seem unfair and frustrating that the game is killing you before you've really learned how everything works. But it's consistent with the philosophy Inkle have been taking with all their games in recent years - decisions have consequences and it's more meaningful to carry on a story when things are going badly than to keep spamming the auto-load button. Your reward for figuring things out and completing the game is to unlock harder difficulty levels. Pendragon is an intriguing and addictive mix of strategy and narrative and although I'm usually only a fan of the latter, I've enjoyed coming back to it again and again.

After some reviews, I was really looking forward to this game. Seemed like my cup of tea! Well, it's a mess. Between all the zooming and panning and UI elements appearing and disappearing, I was fighting more with the game than with the enemies. The game's systems are very opaque, too. For example you are making superficial story-choices all along which give you special abilities. Only you don't know which abilities you'll get and the new one replaces the old one. Right, only one ability, which usually is necessary to win battles and might be dependent on special terrain that isn't there. Oh, and you also got only one save game, so the whole thing is Iron Man. So all in all, this felt like having little agency neither concerning the UI nor the character build nor the story. I've heard the game is also very short. But to be honest, I couldn't bring myself to finish even one run.

Pendragon is a unique gem of a game combining a tactical battlefield with player-driven story choices. I've never played a game like this where your characters die, yet their companions carry on and their story lives after them. Challenging and fun tactical map too with an interesting combat system that rewards planning and not just hack and slash. Evocative overland map, so many places to go I fear I will not be able to see them all The art in Pendragon ties if not surpasses anything I've ever seen in a video game. Truly seems like a passion project from the heart. You feel like you're on a Grail Quest, stumbling through the woods, the rain keeps pouring down, there's a light in the forest ahead, dare I draw near....