Paper Sorcerer

Well what the f means no grinding? I am grindig most of the time.... But still its very good game and for that price its awesom game!

Dripping with atmosphere, an art style reminiscent of Fighting Fantasy books.

Considering the size of dev deam and the price of the game, this is of excellent value. The UI was a bit annoying, but when I accepted it as a part of challenge, that I don't have full info what happened during combat round, and also when I'm selecting better gear, it was ok. Combat was a bit "weird" for me, as I'm mostly used to MM games, so having turn based combat was natural, but the way how different fights are partially connected with each other... that took a little bit of time to get used to it. But overall I found the combat mechanics quite fun, sort of balanced (playing on "hard" difficulty), although I think it depends strongly on thralls you use in your party. Some combinations must be insanely hard on hard, mine Sorcerer-Witch-Vampire-Minotaur was just fine. Linux: I run the GOG windows 2.4 version in wine, I did configure it trough PlayOnLinux GUI, with wine 1.7.x emulating WinXP, with DX installed. It's playable in this combination (I finished the game), but there's some graphics glitch, making some of the black background full of funny coloured noise. At first I thought it was "style of art", until I saw some youtube videos, where it was without this. As it doesn't affect gameplay in any way, I didn't bother to try other version combinations, whether some works better. Except the gfx glitch the game run very stable, I encountered only bug of the game itself, no linux problem.

The lack of first-person dungeon crawlers has made all new entries into this category seem better than they really are. While some games are truly great, others fall short. Paper Sorcerer is one of the latter: while neat as a short distraction from overwhelming worlds or top-down RPGs, it is still very rough at the edges and has the feel of an unfinished game. Paper Sorcerer has a few things going for it: * The production: graphics are very stylish, adding to the atmosphere. Soundtrack is quite good as well. I was surprised how well they work together: both as art and technology. This was one of the smoothest games I've played in a long time. * The story: quite unique, playing the bad guy. Party selection also worked for the game's favor. Unfortunately, the game seems far from finished. My three biggest gripes are: * The interface. Just the party and equipment menu is bad enough. However, I was sorely missing any kind of feedback during combat, on enemy statuses. * Bugs towards the end of the game. In the last segment of the game, some doors and chests didn't work. The game thus felt rushed at the end. * The end credits. Nothing short of Crtl-Alt-Del allowed me to escape the game once the never-ending (and looping) special thank-yous started rolling. Had a good user interface designer and a tester joined the team, this game had the potential to be great. As it is, it's just another independent game worth $5, but not more.

Paper Wizard is globally a good game. The graphical style is charming and efficient (when you get used to it, which comes very fast), the gameplay is simple but working for the 10/12 hours you will need to finish it totally (meaning, discovering most if not all the secrets). On the down side, some glitches with the interface and a uninteresting story which won't surprise you (except if it's the first RPG you play). Worth its price!