The Good : - Well built and well written world. If you want a kind of Conan(Bronze Age and Steel Age vibe), Dark Fantasy and Post-Apo setting then this should satisfy you. Im the target audiance it seems because I'm charmed. - Stat checks are hard enough but not too hard, investing in a skill for them is definitly rewarding. - Risks-Reward&Quests : Explore a dangerous old ruin ? Unique dangerous or simple quests ? Good Xp and item rewards. Curious about the world and its folks ? Xp reward for every 10 codex entry gained or for unique events/dialogs. Very very good. - Exploration : Take M&Blades, adds ruins and gloomy bioms with sometimes stranges events(magic or not) on the roads or on nodes + very rewarding dungeons(those that I did were at least). - Factions : Rudimentary but they have well established background and philosophy+custom rewards. A bit tedious to raise reputation but you can do it pacificly or aggresivly. - Fights, character building, quests, tardings. MOST of the mechanics in the game are good. The "bad" : The games need debbugging(to be expected). Music and sound effects are good and yet too few for a game of this size, but its a samll dev' team so its okay I guess, I was listening a custom fantasy playlist instead. The REAL "BAD" : I WASTED precious points AND 20-30 hours maxing the hunting skill. Why ? Most of the hunting bonuses do not work(items and nods), only characters work, it also seems there is an artificial cap to how much your bonuses affect you chances of succes, even on very good nodes. What the hell ? I was not punished with the others skills. WHY WITH THIS ONE ? Worst, my team can track and hunt giant scoprions finger-in-their-butt(100% succes) and cannot hunt properly(60% at best) to feed the camp(basic activity at rest). If it is by design it's garbage and I stopped playing thanks to it¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AVOID the Hunting skill( just a few points for stat check). Rewarding, Hard, Vicious but Good, a true raw Gem worth its price.
One star is harsh i know. But you know what is harsher ? Bad game design by bad Dungeon Masters/RPGs creators. This game has been created by people that have a very strang idea of a good campaign/game. Want to know why ? Because certain path, choices and options to resolve quests ARE so railroaded and STUPIDLY designed it is plainful. For exemple you would expect a character with 10/10 Int, 8/10 perception and dexterity to be able to pass two thiefs guards in the slums. Seeing/hearing them(Per), escape them quickly(dexterity). Being smart enought to just find another way or wait midnight for some more cover ? No... You have to pass a forced charisma/impersonation check 2 F*****G METERS from them. Worse, I passed succesfully 2 bands of thugs from the same faction with the same skill earlier in the SAME slums. Now because the forced UNIQUE(understand "lack of other option") skill check im in for s****y combat. That REEKS of bad-design and incompetence. Was it so difficult to add boxes of text with more skill checked ? It seems so. Too many encounter of this kind for at least a good 25% of the game I played. I want to use my stats, not look at a guid on the internet because you forget to add a simple skill check. The overall ruleset is 50/50 for me. For exemple the primary stats do not directly influence your skills score but sometimes you still needs them for a check with a skill in which you have heavily invested. What was the point ? But its more a question of bad encounter/quest design than a bad ruleset 0Graphics : Fonctionnal OST : Cant judge, I did not finished the game. Writing : Outside the lack of choices I thing it is good to passable. Their are two kind of people on this earth, normal people and masochiste. Are you the latter ? Go on, take it for 2€. If you are one of the former then even for 2€ you will feel wronged. AVOID. Or better, take UnderRail(For the lack of diplomatic way in this one, at least it did the combats and suvival far better).
