Blackguards Reviews

old school turn-based rpg awesome story.

This is bad in that, "We don't know how to make a game challenging, so we just send massive hordes of overpowered enemies at you repeatedly", way. I really tried to power through and finish this thing. The world is interesting and the premise of the story is good, but the writing is predictable and the game is just....bad. I will say that some of the voice actors are surprisingly solid. But only some. I have the sequel too and I'm not even gonna bother trying to finish this and play that. I'll be removing them from my steam library to remove the temptation of trying again. I do hope they keep trying and do something better down the road, but woof.

A review for people into single player story and character based games: Graphics/Art Direction: - Graphics are fairly middling, which I don't find to be an issue considering this is a budget game, but I didn't feel graphics were so bad as to distract from an enjoyable experience - Things that makes up for the lack of AAA graphics is the fact that almost every NPC has their own portrait work, and I really liked the portraits, each city has a beautiful artistic backdrop that is varied and makes it feel like you really are traveling a varied world environment with different cultures and people, and man of the monster designs were very well done, creating a lot of variability and fun without falling into the tropes many develops chase after like grotesqueties with teeth and eyes coming out of every orifice: I love Fromsoft enemy design but many developers that copy this miss the point completely. Gameplay/Game Mechanics: - The hex based combat system can be a bit slow, though I like tactical games, so this is something you should consider before buying. What I really liked is that environmental variety in combat. Every stage is hand crafted and has a completely different look and feel. There are constantly interactive elements within the combat environment including switches, puzzles, exploding barrels, falling chandeliers, holes to cover to stop enemies from respawning, traps, exploding swamp gas, mud holes, enemies can slip on water, etc., and this adds a lot of depth and variety to the game as no single battle ever really feels the same. - Gear can unfortunately feel a bit basic and lacks visual flare and variety. While most weapon types are very different in how they are used, the skills tend to fall sort of flat and are not very visually entertaining. Additionally, while you do find stronger weapons and armor, none of it really makes you feel like your character looks cool or becomes powerful. Even the rare and unique stuff I have found looks pretty generic. This is one area I would have liked to see improved - The overworld is a map and you select a location which moves the cursor to the location, reminiscent of older PC games, SMT IV, and so on, which is not very compelling unfortunately. This makes it sort of hard to remember what city or location you have already been to and can make navigation a bit confusing. This is compounded by the fact that the quest system tends to provide very menial direction and that overworld locations are frequently added and easily missed if you are not viewing the map regularly. - Many people do not like hand holding, but without a guide you are likely to miss a lot of sidequests, and this game has a lot of side quests to do. The problem is that each side quest is actually fairly compelling including dialogue from companions, unique locations and battles, and is the way to obtain most of the unique or rare gear in the game. I cannot say if any of this is permanently missable, but a bit more direction would have been helpful as I found the content of sidequests to be worth doing and did not like having to enter towns repeatedly to talk to people to see if a new quest may come up. Overall, if you're creating a compelling world to explore, and individually designed levels for every combat scenario, provide additional direction to help me find it all so I can experience it. Many people may not find this to be an issue, but when you get to a new region of the game, you may have 10 - 15 towns that open all at the same time, and this can be a bit tedious and confusing without added direction Story/Character: - I actually really like the story and characters. Scenarios and characters are well written and well voices, each character has a personality that feels multi-dimensional versus being a caricature like in many games, and they have interesting things to say in most scenarios. This is probably one of the only games I have played where your party is truly morally grey. You party up with a drug addict at one point for example: have to say that is the first for me. Final Score: 7.5 - 8.0 (I would say 7.5 for gameplay and 8.0 for the story/characters) Pros: - Interesting world setting with compelling well written and voiced companions - Beautiful and varied portrait work that distinguishes even generic enemies - Cities are varied and interesting with beautiful backgrounds offering a unique feel to each region and city you visit - Interesting battle scenarios that are each custom built for a unique experience including interactive objects that have direct impact on the tactical aspects of the game and can be used to your advantage - or against you if you are not careful - Many sidequests that are varied and meaningful to complete Cons: - Overworld map is very minimal - Gear tends to be underwhelming in appearance - Skills, while varied, are not vary interesting to visualize Overall, if you are skeptical/unsure, I highly recommend this game if you enjoy character driven stories with challenging and fun tactical combat. While a budget title, I honestly feel this game is underrated and likely dose not get the attention it deserves, despite the obvious love and effort that went into making nearly every scenario, character, and combat scenario feel fresh and different.