This is one of those games that you can't quite play effectively without guides or manuals. I loved it at the time, nothing else I had seen was quite like it, and I can't downvote it. Even though battles are a bit repetitive and you can repeat charge, thrust, backpedal all day for 90% of the combat, it still has some open-endedness and exploring to it the just somehow draws you in. Some old-school features that make it a bit annoying to play: * Food is needed, light sources are needed. Both are consumable. You can generate both with spells before too long into the game or buy them for cheap, but it is a bit repetitive keeping up with that. * Spell system: put two or three runes in your slots and then cast. There is no hotkey for switching spells around or other easy way to select old spells you already know. You just have to fumble around with runes on the side in advance, and sometimes there's a minimum range requirement, meaning you can't really fireball a whole lot anyway. * Level-up system requires you to find a shrine and chant a mantra. These mantras are best looked up from a FAQ, but they can also be learned in-game if you just happen to wander to the right place. If you explore the entire massive world you'll eventually find all of them, but you have to read guides to get an in-depth description of what each one actually does, anyway. So... kind of fun for an in-depth game you play if you don't mind consulting guides a lot. There's a ton of exploring, and you can level entire towns with your rage if you feel like it; (it's only hard the first time, and then you loot everyone and gain four levels and then you can just stomp everyone for the rest of the game). But it's more rewarding to discover and complete quests. This game has a pretty big nostalgia factor going for it in most reviewer cases, but I sorta have to implore the rest of you to give it a fair try. It's the gogiest gog that ever goged on GOG, I swear.
