Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion Reviews

This wouldn't be a terrible game, if not for the incessent loading to a cutscene, only to load to yet another cutscene, and sometimes, to load to yet another cutscene. If the cutscenes themselves weren't so aweful, that wouldn't be as big of a deal.

I'm so split on this one. I want to like this game. It has a nicely-tuned rock-paper-scissors tactical combat, every map is a new puzzle that has to be cracked, and quite often you are outnumbered and forced to weasel your way through to victory. And it also has a complex plot that spans for tens of hours. I wanted to experience this plot, because I greatly enjoyed [i]Witching Hour[/i]'s second game, a phenomenal linear CRPG [i]Masquerada: Songs and Shadows[/i]. But here... I just didn't want to play it for tens of hours, despite loving this kind of gameplay. [i]Ravenmark[/i] is a very good game despite being a mobile project, so I don't want to give it a thumbs down. It just doesn't have the [b]it[/b] to keep you playing. Unless the story really draws you in which sadly it didn't do for me. PS [i]Masquerada[/i], however, has all the [b]its[/b] in the world. Go to it, buy it and play it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/459090/Masquerada_Songs_and_Shadows/

If you want strategy and tactics with formations of medieval battlefield - pick Total War. This game has close to nothing in comparison. Every battle is a pre-made scenario in which your troops positions at the start is a complete and total fustercluck. If you [i]still[/i] want to give it a try for some inconceivable reason, keep in mind these things: - Formations of 2 units suck - [i]You[/i] have command limit. enemy [i]does not[/i] - If you told troops to pursue, they will pursue that exact unit, not a formation\group of units; if the unit you told to pursue is (usually via sudden critical strike) dead, your troops will just stand and do nothing like complete retards. Because battlefield is obviously a place where you just stand and do nothing. - There is no strategic layer. You just fight one battle after another. - Every battle is stacked against you. Every. Fraggin. One. (remember what I said about positioning?), and since there is no strategic layer whatsoever, there is no way to fight a battle in even somewhat favorable conditions.

Most of my play of this fantastic game was on iOS from when it was new in 2011. The PC Adaptation works flawlessly and the controls are just as effective with mouse as touch screen. The battles are hard, the battlefield tactics are solid and resemble a table top miniatures game. While there is a very interesting character driven story line with a host of characters and layers of intrigue, the story is told via cut scenes, this is not an RPG. The world created for this game is deep and very interesting. Its a shame this is the only game set in it. This world deserves a franchise. Its crying out for graphic novels and a TTRPG.

I'd recommend this game but only for those wanting an entry-level strategy game. Probably would have enjoyed it more as a kid than now. Now it's a bit bland to be honest.

If it's not on sale for $10 or less I really wouldn't recommend this game. Grand strategy and simplistic combat are not a great mix and that has never been more apparent than in Ravenmark. The game's greatest failure is its lack of ability to provide you information and logistics. You can win the day in a tough battle and the game wont tell you how many waves of enemy forces there are or what directions they're going to come from, allowing them to surprise your general with a random spawn of fast archers that move first and just execute him after he's become exhausted from beating back the last two waves. Your heroes are critical, if they die you lose the battle and start over. You get bogged down with these heroes, suddenly forcing you to baby sit half your army and work hard to keep them out of harms way because they're really not much stronger than standard troops. So now you have too many troops you can't afford to lose, and sometimes war is just about choosing which troops to sacrifice to win the battle. Here you don't have room for choice. Perhaps the biggest downfall of the game is the ass backwards attempt at formation fighting. At first it seemed like it would be an awesome concept, as similar units can be combined into larger formations. The problem is the formations are awful. Their ability to move, even around your own defensive obstacles, is non-existent. What's worse is that a formation just makes you massively susceptible to flanking, even by small half dead individual units. It doesn't matter if there are no enemies in front, back, or the other side, one tiny unit on your left or right automatically receives a flank bonus. As a formation, you are too bulky to likewise maneuver, and in every mission you're outnumbered by opposing hordes so even if you broke up your formation to use the same method, you don't have as many expendable infantry as the enemy. Perhaps the most infuriating thing about the game is that it lies to you. From the very tutorial you are told that all orders are given at the same time without knowledge of what your opponent is planning and then executed by individual unit initiative. So if you order two units to attack the same target, and the unit that goes first destroys it, your second unit cancels their order and stands their ground. This is important because you have a limited number of commands you can issue each turn. The computer ignores this rule. It can issue any number of commands, and they NEVER cancel orders. The computer always seems to give orders knowing what yours are going to be. You could move your cavalry into the most far reach and wildly unexpected order to trample enemy archers behind their own lines, and then suddenly all the infantry will about face as if they knew what you were planning. This coupled with an awful repetitive trumpeting soundtrack, and constantly questionable spawn points for your units, just makes the experience more work than fun. It feels like you are being punished for the game's inability to prepare you for what you can't see or for the fact that game's rules only apply to you and your units. There is no sense of progress. Surviving units don't seem to improve or gain any veterancy, there are no resources, no gold, no inventory, and no matter how many battles you win or heroes you have with you, the enemy armies of vermin and autistic speech impaired barbarians will always be able to issue more orders than you. Your only real reward for victory is continuing through a needlessly verbose and ham-fisted story.

Little, yet not too small fantasy tactical game with turn-based combat. Quite enjoyable for some time, just not take it too seriously, like an AAA-project. It's obviously not. Well, it looks cool enough, it plays cool enough - for some time given. The way I see things - it's worth its price. Especially with some discount or bundle. All the negative reviews comes from one major misconception, tied with the store tags for this game. It is not a RPG for one bit, and it is not a strategy game, but rather a tactical one. More to it, it's a mobile port, which means Ravenmark kinda simplified by gameplay, when lined with some obvious PC strategy top-sellers such as Total War. Yeah, there is no for any strategic impact, you do not call shots on the global map, or choose anything between missions. You just start a new map, with some units and some tasks given, win the day, and go for the next map. Sometimes during the missions, sometimes between them, you watch cutscenes, which are revealing the story, and other small things, like characters motivation or some game hints. Talking about lore and story, it's kinda nice, by fantasy standards - if you're really ready to pay any attention to it. If you're a "skip it" kind of guy, I don't know why you're still reading my review! Anyway, to get things going smoothly for players who don't like to actually read and get into things, there are cliches! So, Ravenmark is basically some early-medieval state, based on the Roman empire, with legions and such. They march through some wilderness, messing with some locals, who are looking much like the Celts from known history. But then, the Ravenmark getting some major problem from another empire-size state, which seems much teocratical and based on magicka-users. Oh, yeah, there comes magic! And elves! And even some "greycoats" with rifles, who seems much gnome-ish to me. But enough with lore stereotypes. Let's just say it's story-driven turn-based game with some units of different abilities, with typical weakness square "sword beats pike, pike beats cavalry, cavalry beats bows, and bows taking out the swords". You can assemble some columns of units, for more control or brute force, or use those units separately, to take advantages of mobility, flanking and using various terrain features. There is some challenge to beat the map tasks faster and cleaner - to get usual mobile "3 stars" and all achievements in the end. Or you can just switch on "daddy's little girl" mode, like so many impatient and inflexible low-skill players do, take some beating from AI, scream and downvote the game for being "too hard". Like I said already - the game is good enough for the price given. To enjoy it, you're supposed to patient, ready for turn-based tactical planning type of player. The story is also good enough, again, if you're patient and able to actually read and delve into. On my usual grid, it's somewhere like 7.3/10. Could be better, if the challenge wasn't always about speed and casualties, but, we eat what we can gather. There's always some lack of good turn-based games, and this one is certainly on the right side.

When I saw the videos and description of Ravenmark, I thought I had stumbled on another hidden gem like Valkyria Chronicles. Alas, there are not much hidden gems and most times you will just pick up another little pebble. Ravenmark is such a disapointment that looked good at first glance. A warning should have been the fact that Ravenmark is an iOS port. While that doesn't mean that it automatically has to be a bad game, there are still some implications that come along with it. Games for portable devices almost always don't want to bother the player with decisions that he made in earlier stages of the game. Concerning an RPG or strategy game, this effectively means that there are most likely no player choices to be made like specialising the skills of your units, upgrade units after a battle and carry it over to the next or RPG-choices that affect the course of the story. In short, you can expect that everything that adds salt and pepper to a RPG or strategy game will be left out. This, sadly, is the case with Ravenmark. The following list rates the different aspects of the game using a scale from very bad (---) to very good (+++): [b]Stability/Bugs: +++[/b] No bugs or stability issues encountered. Good job. [b]RPG-aspects: -[/b] The story is a railroad slideshow without any interaction or possibility to make choices by the player. The characters are flat and either unmotivated good, bad and/or naive. Sometimes there's a voice narration of the character's conversations, which is nice. [b]Tactical aspects: +[/b] You can give direct commands only to a maximum of six units during any given turn, while you will have at most times more than six units of yours on the battlefield. You can group units together and these new formations can be commanded with only a single command. Unfortunately, formations will often times not do or will not be able to do what you've ordered them to. All in all the tactical aspects are okay and the formation system adds a nice new idea to the genre. [b]Strategic-aspects: ---[/b] There are simply no strategic decisions to be made. You can't upgrade units or characters, you can't decide which units to bring into battle, you can't decide on which terrain to fight, you have no choices regarding infrastructure, unit supply, economics or whatsoever. [b]Price: -[/b] Considering the fact, that this is an iOS port, 15 € comes pretty close to a rip-off. With the lack of RPG-decisions and no strategic value, Ravenmark comes down to a casual game with some boring slideshow story. Honestly said, I wouldn't want to pay money for that no matter the cost.

Overall 6/10 Ravenmark is a turn-based tactical game in a fantasy setting. The player commands a small number of units battle after battle as a story unfolds in the background. Ravenmark is NOT an RPG, there are no role-playing elements whatsoever. Ravemmark is NOT a strategy game, as the player does not manage the army and does not make any decision out of the battlefield. Ravenmark is NOT an interactive story, as the player can only read the story, but cannot interact with at all. PROS: + The combat system has some nice elements to it (formations, facing, abilities, terrain) + There’s a good variety of units and maps, and it doesn’t get repetitive too soon. + It’s very easy to understand how it works, yet some battles present interesting tactical challenges. CONS - The player’s actions have no impact at all once a battle is won, all you get for a win is access to another battle, with a predetermined setup. - For a IOS port any price tag above 5$ is too much. - The story you get to read is uninteresting at best. - Little to none replayability. Overall: Tiny turn-based tactical game that should be taken for what it is: do you want to spend 15 minutes moving pieces on a chessboard-like map? This game does that. Anything else, look elsewhere.

First things first : it's a tactical game, it has no strategic layer whatsoever. You are facing predetermined set of tactical tasks to solve, with abundance of story and lore in and between. Pluses : + Polished. Works as it should, no crashes, glitches or errors at all. + Variety of scenarios. There are lots of different battle situations, including sieges, ambushes, survival, chases, 2-vs-1, terrain hazards, you name it. + Difficulty. Technically two difficulty levels present, Easy and Normal, but to get more achievements you can complete additional mission tasks, a-la Hard difficulty. It's very finely tuned and absolutely doable, but require certain planning and "save/load" trick in tight spots. + Writing. Lore itself is young adults dark-ish fantasy mashup, with steampunk and the dwarves and of course mad zealots. But it's exceptionally well written, with great attention to dialogues and the lore. Ravenmark is a joy to read! + Sheer amount of content. 59 missions total, that's a whole lot of gameplay. Minuses : - Production value. Yep it's a mobile game port, but still, oh how many times during the game I wished for some animation, voiceovers, etc. - War isn't over. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but finale leaves you craving for the sequel, and there's none at the moment. :( If you like to solve tactical puzzles Ravenmark definitely worth a try. Rich fantasy storyline included.