Key provided by the developer through curator TURN-BASED TACTICS | Click to follow and receive updates

More info below....

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3403900460

► Possesses a solitary linear ADVENTURE with a central story across x5 chapters, replete with a fair amount of parallel quests, that splits into a few alternative questlines midway through the game.

► Mammoth QUEST SYSTEM is awash with a substantial amount of optional side-QUESTS adding immersion, to distract the player with XP and loot gains. These are a mix of multi-step and simple errands supporting the story's narrative.


► The SETTING is distinct enough despite having familiar roots in the genre. It does its part well in generating the stage from which the journey takes place, contributing to the impressive immersion.

► The STORY is epic and the backstory very interesting to discover through digestible chunks of dialogue and logs. A lack of cutscenes is a shame. The WRITING is solid articulating important portions of the story with well-narrated exposition and curt exchanges of dialogue.

► The GAMEWORLD is amazingly detailed. As beautiful to behold as it is a joy to explore. Designed around a few core areas, flush with unique locations to visit. Quick travel points cut down on backtracking. NPCs, recruitable allies, healing shrines, tons of loot, respawning fauna and groups of foes make it feel alive. Satellite areas become available without the need to travel through areas of emptiness.


► The GAME LOOP is a repetition of adventuring and quest completion, interrupted by combat encounters and intermittent camping to recuperate. Levelling characters, crafting take place periodically as does returning to the hub to assign superfluous recruits strategic missions.

► As well as progressing the main quest, ADVENTURING is a perfect vehicle to reveal the wonderful backstory, gather XP and better inventory. ROLEPLAYING is very limited. The JOURNAL is a perfect mechanism to track the progress of all quests and what rewards they offer.

► TURN-BASED COMBAT is tactically light. Ability-led, dependent upon focus, energy and mana pools. With a variety of class dependent melee and ranged attacks, and defensive or offensive buffs/debuffs. Supplemented by potions. Abilities are restricted by range, so positioning plays a key role as free movement is limited, until it costs action points.

A nice touch is that nearby enemies will seamlessly join the fray. Initiative determines action sequence, but depending on equipment worn and stats the party very rarely acts first. No friendly-fire allows AoE spells to be used without penalty. The chance of retaliatory attacks and those of opportunity can trigger if moving near a foe. Extra damage is delivered while flanking or backstabbing.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412865994

► CHARACTER BUILDING is very lean with only a very limited skill tree available to each class. Skill points are limited so not all of them can be obtained. Though they can be reset for free. Wizards becoming more tanky than fighters can be perplexing.

► DUNGEON CRAWLING has some of the best engagement. The larger ones are breath-taking in size, spanning multiple levels. Blockades that require certain classes to be present are a great RP touch. Though items can be used instead for players who keep the same party.

► From chapter 2, unused allies can be assigned to the strategic actions of BASEBUILDING or MISSIONS. These reward the player with more recruits, inventory, resources or extra capacity to services like recuperating slots for fatigued allies.


► The diversity of ENEMIES is eye-popping. Made up of good old fashion fantasy fare and more exotic foes. Many have class variants. All use combat abilities. Encounters do not respawn. They come in a mix of group sizes though on normal tend to pit fewer numbers against the party, which can feel unsatisfying.

► The AI feels very generic with enemies that behave in the same way. Remaining static until the party encroaches or patrolling a fixed area before closing in to attack.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3403806292

🔶 DIFFICULTY - There are four difficulties. On normal most battles are easy to overcome. Since there is no permadeath it is possible for the party to take a mauling and recover. Its possible for the party to wipe. Experienced players should start on Hard.
🔶 PACE - Due to the need for a lot of travelling, the weight of quests and the constant chance of being ambushed, gameplay tends to be slow and methodical. Quick travel points help reduce time backtracking. While avoiding unnecessary sidequests will raise the tempo.
🔶 SCALING - Encounters seem to keep pace with level of the party for much of the game. The odd encounter can feel overwhelming, especially if the party has lower level characters. New equipment found keeps track with the level of the party.


🟨 REPLAY VALUE - Hurt by the linear story. Choosing alternate main quest branches will be the biggest reason to replay. Otherwise to complete missed achievements or untouched sidequests.
🟨 LONGEVITY - Lies mainly in using a different class (up to 9) for the main character, or running with an alternate party configuration. Achievements are mostly organic and counters easy to trigger. Not every one can be obtained in one pass.


🟣 QUALITY - Production is surprisingly high, if not to AAA standards. Polish is mostly good, but some elements are rough around the edges. There are a few isolated bugs, the worst being a very few sidequests that cannot be completed. SEE FULL REVIEW for more.
🟣 OPTIMISATION - Min specs require low visuals and FPS set to 30. Very long sessions suggest some slowdown, possibly from memory leak(s). Load times to core locations are long.
🟣 STABILITY - No crashes experienced.

Thank you for reading | Click to follow my curator THE IRREGULAR GAMER

An old school tactical RPG with a fascinating story. It reminds me of Larian's Divinity Original Sin 2, but lower quality, hence it is cheaper. Still, I find that it worth every penny for me. I like the beginning of the story and can't wait to see how will it develop.