I had read the other discouraging reviews and largely dismissed them as whining, but the unfortunate truth of the matter is this a game with some real potential which is ruined entirely by curious and questionable design. The odds are always against you. And normally I would accept that as a challenge. I don't use walkthroughs, I don't employ cheat codes, and I don't search for exploits. If I just wanted to see the end of a game without any effort, I could watch a Let's Play on Youtube. Hell I don't even save scum, in every game I play I keep but a single save game. I like having the odds against me, but until now, I had always taken it for granted that there was a chance for victory. This is a game of grating, and inevitable, defeat. This game employs a sanity metric by which you must race through each dungeon as quickly as possible, juggling the usual and uninteresting management mechanics which have become depressingly universal in games of this type: Food, Medicine, Health, Fatigue/Sanity etc. Even at the introduction enemies routinely hit for twenty to forty sanity per hit, fortunately, your peons begin with roughly 100 sanity. Better yet, there are mechanics in play by which to 'earn' sanity back, such as striking for a critical hit;. In the case of an enemy crit everyone on the team will lose between ten and twenty sanity, yet when your characters score a crit, that individual and perhaps another will receive between four and seven. But really, the sanity thing mostly works until you get mid game, and then you frequently see your entirely party driven out of their mind within minutes of starting a dungeon. You will grind out three levels and a couple thousand gold before your Crusader or Seeker can hit for twenty damage in a swing, but you will see crossbowmen routinely landing critical hits for those numbers from the third dungeon on. And by routinely, I mean a few time in any fight that lasts longer than three rounds. By the way? An 85% change to hit is really never better than 50/50, keep that in mind. Sadly, that sort of disparity applies to everything. Furthermore, there are a myriad of arbitrary pay-walls which keep one from using anything even remotely reminiscent of strategy or even tactics by which to eke out marginal successes. Try grinding out low level areas and improve your peons? Well, you will find after two levels they will grow "bored" and opt out until tasked to something their level, which is always beyond their capability since to keep them sane and at ease, a veritable fortune is required after every successful mission. Employ them like cannon fodder and simply replace them as necessary, investing in the infrastructure of your estate to possibly arm and train future recruits? You will find yourself boxed out of low level areas, and that those upgrades to your weapon and armor smithies cannot be applied to new recruits until they have gained some experience. Choice and consequence? Risk and reward? None of these things are here. Just a weighted RNG waiting to punish you for playing. The ambiance is nice, I would love to see where the story goes, but as an adult I just don't have the time to invest in playing the odds until finding the rare success run that would see me through to the end. Spend your money on DPRK treasury bonds instead of buying this game, I mean, if you are going to throw it away any way at least have a laugh doing it.
Unstable garbage. Graphic and animation issues rampant, though for the most part they are only peripherally distracting and are mostly minor. Game crashed twice on me before I could finish the Original Campaign. Totally unacceptable. First time it did so, I had not made a save for awhile and found myself losing a ridiculous amount of time, it was easier just to start over. Second time I was nearing the final battle and was in the middle of saving and it took my saved game with it. . .And the auto saves? Totally inadequate. Last auto save was before (SPOILER) the attack on the keep, couple hours or so previous. The game is alright, but the frustration of playing it far outpaces any satisfaction derived from the experience. Save your time, save your money, get Shadowrun or something which runs smoothly and without punishing people for not save scumming.
