As you can tell by descriptions and other reviews, this is a "classic feeling" CRPG reminiscent of the Baldur's Gate/Pillars of Eternity type of games. One thing I didn't appreciate was that every time a party member died, I had to go back to the temple to resurrect them. So. Many. Times. I did finally acquire the Staff of the New Dawn, which is supposed to let you do that wherever you are, but I could not figure out how to use it. Very unintuitive.
However, since I am all about playing for the story, I switched to story mode, and I enjoyed it much more. The story is not amazing, but I found it to be pretty good. Overall, I had fun with this game, and I hope the developer makes more Black Geyser games.
I low-budget clone of BG1/2, made by a tiny team. Clearly every effort has been made to make the gameplay experience as close to Baldur's Gate as possible, including a lot of negative sides (they've avoided most improvements made to UX since 2000).
The story is actually fairly complex and rewarding, with lots of conspiracies and (possible) backstabbing. It also succeeds fairly well in presenting a "morally grey" world. However, the implementation of both the story and setting (i.e. the writing) is very variable and tends to be a bit pedestrian. The choices for your character is usually limited to more or less greedy (which is essentially the game's version of "evil"), but sometimes (rarely) you can do some fun things in conversations.
The rpg system (the mechanics of the game) are completely original, but in many ways (of course) designed to emulate the AD&D 2ed of the BG games. For example, magic is completely Vancian. However, unlike 2E, spellcasters (and rogues) truly get the short shrift in this game, and you'll find that melee/ranged usually is preferred. When you get a bit into the system you'll find that it has a lot of nuances however - for example they've (partially) solved the "minmaxing problem" of D&D in a very elegant way - far more elegant than the Pillars games in my opinion. As a small example, the "Physical" stat is strength and constitution together; so it increases both hit points, damage with weapons, etc, and is needed by all characters.
So, after putting 56 hours into it and completing the game, I ended up liking it a lot. It's FAR from perfect, but it has a lot of charm. You'd better love BG style gameplay though.
This is poor man's BG clone for better and for worse.
Black geyser is a rather linear RPG with real time with pause combat (RTwP), where you explore hub-based locations on an overlword map. The story throws you into the politics between 2 cities, which will use you as an errand boy to solve their issues. Not to mention that as usual, there is an "ancient evil" looming in the background.
The pros:
- Scratches that Baldur's Gate itch. This is the closest game to BG since BG2.
- Large enough map without being too big.
- Dialogue is well written, and is concise and to the point (the complete opposite of PoE...)
- In some cases, the sarcastic dialogue options are hilarious
- The game features a new ruleset (i.e, not D&D)
The cons:
- An unoriginal story.
- Mostly Linear quests (Kill someone / bring something). But some quests are decent (murder investigation...)
- RTwP combat is very hectic and it's hard to understand what's going on (but that can be said for all RTwP games)
- The game is very easy
- The ending is rather tedious and has a sharp increase in difficulty (but luckily, difficulty can be adjusted on the fly)
- The game mechanics are not well documented
To summarize, if you are a BG fan, I recommend this game as nothing came closer to the original BG experience in the last 20 years (not even BG3). If not, skip it.
I waited until full release because I don't care for unfinished products, and I am not disappointed with the game at all. It has a few experimental but not too weird mechanics. Voice acting is so-so, but I think the writing is very good. (I loved the time travel bit.) Some quests are mundane, but others keep me guessing, and even the mundane ones are realistic, with plausible background and dialogue.
The quests require you to read and figure stuff out with few hints. Use your DIY journal, because there aren't that many guides online to help you, and if you forget where your NPC was, you are out of luck. I may never again find Chief Davon to tell him about the illegal beasts he asked me to slaughter.
As others have pointed out, the game is a budget title and it shows. Would I recommend it at the current price, certainly not. Perhaps half price and if you really need another RPG to play.
It's not all bad but the writing has many holes in it, stack of fetch/ side quests that really need to be done or you can't get though the final areas. Brewing mechanic is different but more of a chore. Game balance is terrible especially at the end.
Currently still large load times and still many bugs.
Content taken out to be DLC later on down the road. Overall story isn't anything to write home about.
2/5 has some heart but negatives weight it down and with the terrible loading times and many scenes to go through you're going to be waiting in load a lot.
