Guild of Darksteel Reviews

Really like this game so far. Thrown off by the combat system at first it got even more interesting when I understood it Really nice on steam deck

This is a short action game with relatively easy combat, very stellar pixel art, and a compelling enough narrative that would take around 3 1/2 to 4 hours to beat. The Backgrounds look very well detailed as the world around you grows dim, and decayed. and the combat mainly consists of parrying attacks to arrive at a window to unleash your combos. However, the soundtrack lacks a lot of variety and drags too much to be memorable. If you are looking for a short game to spend a couple hours waiting, I would recommend this game.

Beat the game in offline mode, hence only a few minutes on record (but see Achievements). I wanted to quit partway through because it's boring to play after the first few fights (of many), but could tell it would be short (it was ~3 hrs) so I stuck it out for the story, which unfortunately didn't deliver, either. [b]--Gameplay: 1/5--[/b] Unfortunately, there is a lot of boring backtracking, the combat mechanic is mind-numbingly simple and barely evolves at all, and the lack of information about which order the options at a juncture should be tried in is just disrespectful of your time. There are no puzzles. If you liked wandering around dungeons in the original NES Zelda then imagine if it was just a map-less maze with a single enemy in every room that you had to kill to open any door. [b]--The Story: 2, maybe 3/5--[/b] The question implicit in the game's title-- "What [i]is[/i] the Guild of Darksteel?" --presents the philosophical issue posed by the game, which is: "What would it really be like, if you had gained immortality at the cost of being a soldier forever?" It's a great premise that is naturally expressed by the respawn checkpoint system. Unfortunately, neither the story writing nor the mechanics do anything to engage or answer that question. Instead, the story turns into a shallow collision of medieval christian and c'thuhlu tentacle cult themes, but the references are generic and there aren't any compellingly unique spins on the standard tropes of either.

"Guild of Darksteel" is a short dark-fantasy adventure by a solo-developer with a nice and unique atmosphere and intriguing worldbuilding. The writing is solid, but there are some typos. Sadly the combat, while interesting at first, feels kinda repetitive later and the movement is a little janky. There are some minor bugs (some achievement-related) too. It is still an interesting albeit rough experience, which can be recommended on a discount.

A fairly neat experience. The lore and setting carry a fair bit of the game for me, but the combat is a nice balance of timing and skill that works well enough.

Worth your time on a deep discount. Mechanically, there's no real exploration of the map and no platforming: the game is a series of one-on-one battles with enemies. Occasionally, an enemy may be bypassed by simply going around it (there are no instances when this requires platforming skill) -- do this every time you can, there are no secrets to be found in such dead ends. The few times the path branches mean more boring backtracking and may cost you achievements -- tragically so, because the replay value of the game is nonexistent. Battles are easy if you found the healing ability but will grind down imperfect players if you didn't (you can always backtrack, but it's not even called "healing", good luck). If you've seen one monster of a type, you've seen them all. The game goes into "battle mode" when you touch an enemy, so there's no way for enemy attacks to interact and no danger of getting swarmed. Pixel art is pretty, with no weebshit. Characters are well-proportioned and beautifully animated. Despite how ridiculously overhyped the writing is on the store page, it's not actually terrible and only goes full retard once, in a scene that does not impact the story. The "living, breathing world" is unfortunately a lie. No bugs. Works great with my xbox controller. Most importantly the game doesn't punish you for playing, which is apparently something of a novelty these days. The protagonist's principal good deed is never taken away in a bout of drama!!!1!!, despite several convenient plot opportunities to do exactly that. Two thumbs up.

I really enjoy the artwork and dark fantasy setting a lot. The gameplay reminds me of Faxanadu for NES, but with more depth because of the combo system.

Enjoyable game! I like the fighting system, exploring new areas, and talking to people. It feels like a solid "thesis". Devs, I hope you continue to build on this blueprint in the future with your games! The plot was intriguing and the world building could have been dense, but it was easy to follow. I like the art style, although I wish some of the areas had been a little more distinct from each other. I like how it was always clear where to go next. It is not a long game, but it has a complete story. I wish I could play more, but I feel like it was worth the price. Combat is repetitive, but there was pleasure in finding the perfect combo of attacks+parries to take out each enemy type quickly and painlessly. Parrying has a GENEROUS frame which I thought felt good; weaving my combos and parries was satisfying. There is little challenge, but I was fine with that. A few things I wish were improved - an indicator that someone has something new to say would be helpful. It was hard to tell who was talking if I accidentally initiated a convo while standing too close. I wish I could have felt the improvement more when I leveled my skills up. Extra reasons to peek into corners of the map, like collectibles, would have been neat. Perhaps certain enemies could have taken advantage of the yellow/purple mechanic, and been weak to one type or the other. Another boss fight that let me show off my combo moves would have been cool, too. Achievements seem a little bugged, they all popped up after I turned the game off, and two of them didn't unlock even though they just seem like story achievements. Not a huge deal though!

If you're looking for a short story with a more unique combo combat style in a pixel art form, this is the game for you. Easy to pick up and get good at it, interesting short story and good gameplay. Only downside is the length which is pretty short, takes about 3-4h to finish.

The game is a little short but the scenario and the athmosphere are really worth it. As long as you discover the story, you want to know what's next like you're waching a movie or a serie. That's really the strong point of the title The combat system allows you to kill monsters in a multiple different ways trying to find the most efficient technique for each of them. You don't fin gear but level up your favourite combos, finding your own combat style between short and safe attacks or long devastating (but harder to place) combos. This game isn't for hardcore games at all, but I didn't feel a second I was wasting my time. If I must resume my feeling after finishing the game, I would say it was a short but nice surprize!