For some reason the game feels very old-school. Controls are janky, though mostly in an endearing way. Those of you who like jank might know what I mean. The game actually trusts you to figure things out, even the tutorial doesn't tell you exactly what to do. While figuring out what to do is not difficult, I was surprised that not every action you have to take is pointed out in excrutiating detail. It just covers the absolute basics as well, so you still have to learn the game yourself for the most part. Just looting everything is pointless and even counter-productive, because you will have so much clutter on the ground, that it becomes difficult to manage your resources. You actually have to be somewhat strategic about resource acquisition. Very contrary to the contempary 'grab everything' philosphy. There isn't really any story to speak of, at least so far. It's old-school in that regard as well. It's about the game, not about telling a terribly paced 'epic' story. Again, surprisingly refreshing. The game obviously isn't perfect, but it has soul. Something that is sorely lacking even in most indie titles these days. Most surprising of all, it is a German production, sponsored by the state. (Yes, I was surprised by a lot of things)
Although this game is praised by so many people, I never could get into it. The story starts very slow and isn't interesting at all to the point I played (around 5 to 6 hours). The combat system is bland and not at all challenging, character developement (gameplay wise) doesn't really matter and the side quests are your typical kill x things, gather x things etc. Add to that a not very immersive atmosphere and you got a generic "dark" fantasy rpg. Not my cup of tea.
