CitizenX3639 の最近のレビュー

Thank you to the developer and publisher Endnight Games for creating a game for us to explore, create and survive.

The Forest is the ultimate choose your own adventure game with multiple ways to play and despite some minor issues is an absolute must play for novices to the genre to the most hardcore of survivalist.

*For the best overall experience I recommend not knowing anything about the game. Do not watch reviews, previews or how to videos.

The Forest is a first person exploration/ survival simulation that begins with a plane crash. You awaken to see a figure covered in blood take your son and thus begins your adventure. As you start you will be told you need to eat and drink with meters shown in the lower right side of the screen. You will also gain an axe as you exit the plane and will force you to open your inventory. Here is where you will equip, combine and craft items. Experimenting is important as there are no instructions and while at first it is confusing it will quickly become intuitive. You can completely ignore the story if you want there is that much freedom but its crumb style trail will keep you wanting to know and learn more until you reach a decision based conclusion that is satisfying.

The real genius of The Forest is once you step out of the plane the world is your oyster. What you do next is completely up to you as there really are no quests per se or goals other than to find your son and survive. In the menu options there is actually a tab called rules which allows you to dictate your adventure such as allow regrowth of trees, use mods, ignore damage to buildings and you can play up to 8 player co-op. There is also a game mode that allows you to experience the story but there are no enemies in the game and on completion of the story a creative mode is unlocked for those wanting to just build. There are so many ways to role play from being a cartographer, hunter, cannibal to vegan its pretty crazy and one of the many reasons its very popular.

As you begin your journey in The Forest you will also quickly learn you are not alone. The natives of the island are scary, smart and aggressive. At first they are a little passive but the longer you hang around larger groups will form and start to harass you and anything other than one on one is usually death. The AI is very smart as when seeing some of their comrades fall they will retreat and some traps that were put down they were jumping over the trigger. The Forest is not about being OP in any way, its about knowing when to pick your battles and when to run and hide. Along with the regular natives you will also come up against some of the most terrifying looking things i think i have ever seen and while looks are one thing it is the sound that will make you jump and instantly run the other way. The one issue with enemies is they are too frequent as you see them every day and they sort of lose that intimidation factor. However due to their fast movement and unpredictable behavior their threat level never diminishes .

The sound in The Forest is truly immersive and amazing. I recall one moment where it was pitch black and it felt like a storm was coming as the wind was howling and the trees were blowing all over the place. All of a sudden this scream came out of nowhere and I literally jumped out of my chair. I felt like I had to go look outside because It felt so real and it is that way the entire game. This excellent sound carries into the dark caves that are a world of their own with only the sounds of water drips, echoing of steps or breathing of enemies its pretty awesome. There is very little music so the ambient sounds of nature will keep you company but its the screams of the natives that will keep you sleeping with one eye open.

Combat is very basic with only a few weapons such as axe, bow and spear but you will also gain the ability to make molotovs and bombs. Weapons come with stats of damage, speed and block and you can level these up but its a weird system that took forever and never seemed to have any effect from the base. As an example adding a feather increases speed of a weapon but i think that only equates to .1% increase each time. Also crafting armor pieces can sort of feel like a grind. You can wear up to 10 pieces of armor basically providing you with 100% damage protection for each piece. Each time you are hit you lose that piece of armor the problem is armor comes from either lizard skins, bones or skins from enemies. I think a more traditional degradation system or the ability to get bones from certain animals would balance this a little. Crafting other items is pretty simple but the inventory which is done by showing everything you have on a blanket can be cumbersome and no ability to drop weapons after you have crafted them sort of makes no sense. I also don't understand why a game that takes place a lot of the time at night or in dark caves i cannot make a torch. Your light source is a lighter or flashlight which are very dim. As for yourself, there is no traditional RPG level up system but you will see increases in your strength and stamina as you progress. Honestly as with weapons I never saw any difference except to be able to sprint farther.

One of my favorite aspects of the game is the ease to which to build though not all is perfect. Building is really easy(build anywhere) you open your survival book, pick a building or defense place and fill in with the needed resources. One issue is some buildings can take a lot of resources and there are a lot of buildings or tools that are not useful. The most disappointing are traps which only one is really of use. Its still one of the best systems I have used and reminded me of my Lincoln log set from when I was a kid. The only limitation to the building is really your imagination.

There is a really good menu list for graphic options as the game ran pretty good but every sunrise the FPS would tank sometimes to 20 FPS or lower. I also would experience the inability to access the inventory and the only fix was to reach a save point or restart a save. As much as I think this is some of the best AI I have experienced, their pathfinding can be comical watching enemies running in place stuck against a rock. Also some of the achievements seem to be a little buggy and I'm disappointed the list is short. I could easily add an additional 20 to keep the carrot on the stick for some of us needing that fix.

The forest is truly one of those early access success stories. It was at the frontlines of the genre's rise and it's not hard to see why it is so popular still today. It's one of the best choose your own adventure titles with so many ways to play. I can't believe I have over 100 hrs and even after finishing i'm still thinking about it for some reason. The story is good, the sound was amazing, the enemies were always scary and just building or hunting was sometimes relaxing. If you have been looking to try out the survival genre no game offers so much choice for everyone.

Reviewed playing on hard difficulty-solo/co-op
Vega 56/ 1440P max settings 70 FPS avg with a few bugs


Positives

Excellent choose your own adventure game
Menu options
Sound orgasm
Amazing AI
Exploration
Learning curve
Co-Op
Good list Achievements


Negatives

Bugs and jank
Enemies health
Upgrade system
No thunder?
Late game inventory
Lots of useless items and buildings
Needed more acheivments, buggy

Thank you to the developer and publisher of The Initiate, Deceptive Games ltd., for creating a good puzzle game for us to escape, think and enjoy.

One of my favorite new genres are these escape room/ observation puzzle games and The Initiate is a perfect example. It strikes a near perfect balance of time, difficulty and premise and for maybe one of the first times I can say is welcoming to newcomers of the genre as well as puzzle game veterans.

The simplest premise is presented in The Initiative as you wake up in a bedroom and are greeted by a voice explaining you are a candidate to join ? if you can make your way out of the house. There are some letters scattered as you explore to give some hints and the voice will drop in and out with some minor insight or more like insults. I really got Batman vibes for the story in a sense of being trapped by the Riddler or even Joker as the voice would make small cracks like, “O come on already” or “O good you found a key”. The voice actor does a really good job and I found the mystery to be just that a good mystery.

Gameplay in the Initiate is first person and is set in a very detailed house that feels like an actual house. Controls are very easy as you are just clicking on items to insert a key, turn a handle, open doors, place items, etc. Inventory is very manageable as you will only be usually dealing with 2 puzzles at a time and all notes are kept under a separate tab and are auto sorted to keep multi page notes together. At the start you will be given an item that will let you see hidden writings and markings all over the house and these will be key to finding clues and actual answers to puzzles.

There are about 30 puzzles(guessing) with a good bit of variety with only a few that left me scratching my head after I had solved them. I think this all works, the voice states at the start observe everything and its not wrong. I have 2 pages of notes with a map of the house and it was really helpful at the start but once i was in these locations for a while it was not difficult to know where something was located or where i should be going next.

As much as this game nails everything you want from game play, performance and fun the neglect in the graphics settings menu is disappointing. First, the highest graphics setting is 2560x1440 with no ultra wide support. The settings are limited to just a few effects and while the actual game ran flawless for myself, neglecting QoL options for PC players is unacceptable. Also, the save system is not perfect as it relies on using tape recorders throughout the house. On more than one occasion returning to the game it would seem to save only after you solved a puzzle, not at the time you save the game.

The Initiate is much better than I ever expected. It balances a good variety of puzzles, a very simple, fun story and it all works for everyone. For this genre in particular, that's a rare achievement.

Specs: vega 56/ 2560x1440 100+ FPS/ no issues

Positives

Good voice acting, mystery
Puzzle variety
Balance of game time and difficulty
Newcomer friendly

Negatives

Save system
Graphic settings
Few puzzles at the end can be confusing how you solved them

Thank you to the developer KeokeN interactive and the publisher Wired productions for providing an excellent adventure for us to escape, explore and enjoy.

Deliver Us the Moon is one of the best titles ever for anything and an excellent sci fi thrilling adventure from start to finish. It hooks you from the start and with just some questionable design issues at the end and some ? Why is….? story holes will have you digging through forums looking for answers.

The game of Deliver Us the Moon is told in first person(during weightless sections and drone control) and third person over the shoulder viewpoint. Its a solid story with the usual audio recordings, simple pictures or books to interact with and scanning of objects for backstory. The story begins with an expose of how the Earth has depleted all natural resources though how or why is not explained. A new energy source is discovered on the Moon and has been keeping Earth basically alive. In 2054 the beam of energy ceased to work and all communications with the Moons personnel ended. The Earth has now been in darkness for over 5 yrs and you are sent on a mission to restore the energy beam and find out what happened. All of this is pretty great from writing to solid voice acting and it all concludes with an epic scene movie directors all strive. The only negative is it will not provide all the answers you may want but luckily forums exist for those wanting to speculate on it all.

Like most space games the color palette does not really stretch beyond a lot of black, grey and white but the shadows and beautifully lighting make all of the locations immersive. I also want to recognize the simple red band on your helmet, though it is modest, add something to your character that I can't explain. The game looks incredible and ran very well at 1440 P with everything on Epic settings.The art design is also a highlight with a game world that feels real. Exploring the empty space station, abandoned colony or driving across the moon surface always leaves you tense, relaxed, curious and excited to see what comes next.

I am terrible at trying to describe sound but the soundtrack here is pretty awesome. It feels like a musical score from a movie and knowing when to stay quiet and ramp up during certain scenes adds to the immersion.

Gameplay for the most part in DUtM is very basic and it’s weakest element. Most puzzles are simply finding a key code, reaching a certain location or rebooting the computer. You will also gain access to a drone(who I called Wheatley of course) in the middle of the game who will fly through air ducts to turn on/off power for access to certain areas. These elements are by far the majority of the puzzles for the game until the last chapter. In a weird design decision the last chapter throws a lot of different (still simple) puzzles at you, that make sense, but why were they neglected earlier in the game? Also note there is no map nor indicator icons so there are a few puzzles you can ask yourself what to do next, my advice is always check the computer.

A beautiful somewhat haunting, emotional adventure Deliver Us the Moon delivered as promised with only some minor flaws it’s easily a recommendation to those wanting to escape.

Vega 56/ 1440P Ultrawide Epic settings 50FPS avg no issues ever

Positives

Beautiful and immersive
Good story and voice acting
Art design
Musical soundtrack

Negatives

Few plot holes
Weak puzzles
Sound design could be better
No save anywhere function

A beautiful collectible game in a world made of all types of fabric patterns Woven is relaxing as it is also infuriating. A design that should include simple quality of life options for the players who want to explore and collect everything are absent and makes the journey a little less fun.

In Woven you play as a stuffed animal named…. Stuffy who at the start stumbles across a mechanical firefly called glitch. Glitch for some reason needs to get to the moon and this is the adventure of Woven. The story embraces a lot of children's stories from the past as evil has polluted the land and its up to our heroes to save the world. The game is narrated in a Dr Seus like rhyme monotone and it works perfectly. The narration is sort of slow and I wish I could have skipped but no option is available and is just one of the many simple problems the game neglects to offer the player.

Gameplay is very simple in Woven, you enter an area and explore a way to exit the level. If you are not concerned with finding collectibles you can really breeze through the game in a few hrs and is honestly the best way to play right now. Once you enter an area you will find patterns which Glitch will scan. Glitch is also very helpful and will tell you what action to do when you are near something to interact. As an example you need to stomp near a flower to open it up to expose a pattern. Glitch in a word like bubble will show the stomp icon. Patterns can be simply taped along a wall, hidden in a flower or given as a reward completing a puzzle. You will explore 5 regions and along the way pick up blueprints of different animals that provide different abilities, solve some basic puzzles,find story elements, and collect those precious patterns. All of this works with no problem, however, to solve some of the puzzles and just explore you will need to use different character attributes and that will require constant back tracking to a sewing machine as there is no fast travel in the game, ugh. Another missing feature for a collectible game is the ability to return to an area or offer an end game option as the achievements are all made up for finding collectibles AND there is no warning of when you are leaving a point of no return. The first area alone has 3 points of no return and you will have no clue if you have everything.

As i mentioned above you will collect blueprints that will give you a new animal to stitch. These animals come with different attributes like stomp, fly, push button, jump, punch to name a majority. These highlight a few other issues, one the punch is just weak as your arm barely moves and the sound is like hitting a batch of feathers(ffff!). The most annoying attribute is jumping as you can only jump certain places that are marked on the ground. You select jump and your character goes into an animation. I dont know why its just not simple button press and its just really slow.

Woven is unique as it is beautiful with everything in the world made of patterns including animals, plants and the land. Being able to collect and attach your found patterns to your character was simple and fun and once you started mix and matching different parts for attributes your plaid looking parrot with a rhino green flower leg and pink cat arm will make you laugh. The game ran really well with no issues and there is a good set of graphic options for every system. The one issue is while it does include ultrawide the menu was semi cut off when changing fabrics so late in the game i had to change resolution to see all the patterns.

I would easily recommend Woven to players who just want to explore a unique world, but one of my main reasons for buying was the exploration and collectible aspect of the journey. I ended up playing through the game twice and using a complete guide for the collectibles, there are some late in the game that are impossible as they sit in shadows or blend into the environment. A few additional simple features get patched and I will change my recommendation but for those looking for a collectible/achievement journey be warned and look elsewhere for now.


Positives

Beautiful world to explore
Relaxing and simple game play
Good narration


Negatives

No ability to return to areas
No Map or fast travel
Some patterns difficult to see
Sound design is weak
Jumping
No ability to skip cutscenes or dialogue

Thank you to the developer Robot House and publisher Hammerfall publishing for providing a fantastic game for me to enjoy. Well Done

I actually find it funny that I picked up Rumu thinking it was a puzzle game but its actually a science fiction story touching on a lot of themes all the while you play the game as a vacuum cleaner. Yes, a vacuum cleaner.

As Rumu begins you are awakened(charged up) by a home electronic A.I. device named Sabrina.She tells you that you are to keep the house clean for the owners David and Cecily. Both home owners are tops in the field of A.I.research and development and their home is state of the art with Sabrina being in complete control. You will explore/clean the home with Sabrina as your guide while learning of the home owners struggles, success and goals. There are quite a few choice driven options but not sure if it affects anything, except maybe your relationship with Sabrina or alternate ending(After review I found out there is only one ending)? It's straight up a fantastic science fiction story that touches on a lot of themes and is pretty successful. I have some issues with the timeline but it’s strong writing, voice acting and mystery kept me playing from start to finish without stopping(took 4hrs).

The gameplay in Rumu is very simple, every day you will be instructed to clean a particular room(s). The rooms will have mess to clean but you will also get to interact with pictures, books, posters, appliances and other items that will fill in story elements. The main puzzle feature is controlling power flow in a room to power on a computer or remove a barrier. To do this you are given an xray like vision from Sabrina which will also highlight all items you can interact with. There are a few other puzzles like finding passwords but all are at the most basic of difficulty.

The game is done in an isometric view and looks and runs extremely well. There are a ton of graphic options in the main menu which is always appreciated. The musical score and sound are top notch but the 2 main things that stick out are the design of Rumu and voice acting of Sabrina.Rumu is just this small vacuum cleaner whose eyes convey its emotions and his R2-D2 responses just give it so much personality. Allegra Clark carries this narrative adventure with an emotional range from sweet and funny to dark and painful, it really is a powerful performance.

I dont know if a game has surprised me more than Rumu. Most of the time you know what you are getting as we have passed the years of anything new, but this one really hit me. Yes its a narrative driven game with mechanics we have seen for decades but story, characters, emotion and a mystery that made me care what happened until the end and that is rare.

Positives
Fantastic science fiction story
Allegra Clark performance
Pacing
Achievements are thoughtful, funny
Ada and Rumu day 8

Negatives
Issues with save system
Basic puzzle solving

Thank you to the developer and publisher Woodcrest games, LLC for providing an excellent game for me to think, escape and enjoy.

The escape room/ mechanical puzzle game library continues to grow with another excellent entry with the obscure name of Escape: The Brothers Saloon. A similar premise to others in the same genre, Escape provides excellence across all categories though highlights a concern I continue to see with games of this type.

In the game you begin by simply reading a short letter from your brother who has locked you in his saloon or more appropriately his man cave. Your goal, simply escape the room. To escape you will need to solve around 20 puzzles for one ending and 5 additional puzzles for the second. It's a solid challenging experience for veterans of the genre and you will not be disappointed.

The game is set in a man cave that is very highly detailed as are the puzzles. I never had any issue when deciphering or reading anything as it all looked fantastic.I played the game on my laptop 1080P Ultra settings getting 25-30 frames. As most of the time you are just looking at something it was not an issue. The sound in the game is very quiet with simple piano and guitar tunes with the constant tik-tok of the clock in the background.

There is a very nice diverse list of puzzle types you will need to complete. Some of the puzzles can be solved with simple observation and reading some pages but some will require absolute concentration and trial and error.This game is not recommended for beginners at ALL and make sure to keep pen and paper handy. I would say over half of the puzzles are fair while a handful could have used more info. This is an issue I continue to see in these types of games that could be solved by 3 options: 1. If you do not have all the pieces of info you can't interact with the puzzle. 2. A hint system or possible skip puzzle should be added. 3. Also just put items by the puzzle in question(some). Does putting weight in a plant make sense? These are simple options almost all HOG games provide and it should be something offered to the player. I have said it forever now, if I have to go outside the game for help something is missing.

Do not let the name fool you Escape: The Brothers Saloon is an excellent puzzle adventure game. Its solid from graphics, sound and most importantly puzzle diversity. It can be difficult with a few puzzle missteps but at a full price it's an easy adventure to recommend, are you up for the challenge?

Positives

Beautiful environment and puzzles
Puzzle diversity, some are very clever
Price is right
Addicting hard to put down once you start playing


Negatives

No help features
Some puzzles lack needed feedback/info
Items unnecessarily littered around the rooms
No friends to bounce ideas off to solve some of the hard puzzles

Thank you to the developer and publisher Daisu games for making a fun game for me to think, relax and enjoy.

Akabeth Tactics is one of those short experiences that can leave you wanting more. Its a solid game from start to finish in one of my favorite settings (Vampires, gothic) and only lacks one small, insignificant feature a majority of players expect today.

In the game you play as Liel a vampire who was betrayed by the King and your goal of course, is revenge. A very simple synopsis and it works well for context. All locations center around the King’s castle in which you will move along a defined grid. If you have played games such as the Hitman or Lara Craft Go series it is the exact same. As you move one space, all(some) enemies will move. There are only 3 enemy types, one of which you cannot kill, but it all works as planned. If you kill 2 enemies you will be given the ability to turn into a swarm of bats(i think) that is able to move through an enemy. This will be vital in order to get to some exits. There are only 15 levels and it can feel like you are just getting started but it ends the story and journey properly.

Anytime you purchase a game very cheap($2) you have a chance it can be a mess but this is actually, dare i say, polished? It works as intended, good animations, good graphics, solid musical score from start to finish which is so rare today. The only negative from players in discussion is the lack of achievements. That's not really a big deal to me but i guess that's a thing players i guess expect for any game today.

Positives

Good tactics game
Perfect laptop game
Solid game execution in all areas



Negatives

No achievements
A little short
Not very challenging

Thank you to the publisher and developer Digital Media Workshop for providing and creating a really good game to play, escape and enjoy.

One of my favorite settings for any game, movie or book is being stranded on a ship in the darkness of space. Prominence gives you that stranded feeling with a familiar story that gives its twist away too soon. Its still a solid adventure that sci fi and adventure fans will enjoy.

The story of Prominence really starts on the Steam page where it explains who and what is happening. I always find it odd when major story elements are found on the store page and not in game anywhere. As the game begins you play as the lone crew member who awakens on the ship and finds out the rest of the crew have all evacuated to a nearby planet due to a solar prominence and/or possible sabotage. As the story progresses you will find emails, audio and video recordings that will tell the story while also providing a lot of clues to puzzle elements. There are two possible endings and again while not original it's still entertaining and some questions go unanswered which left me going back and rereading emails and listening to some of the tapes.
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The gameplay for prominence is partially old school in its movement as you click forward and the scene moves but allows 360 degree viewing. The same goes for puzzles but in a much more logical sense. The game is not really flooded with items or objects so it keeps things as streamlined as possible. Early game is the most difficult as you will be on your own until you fix ANNIE, the Hal 9000 of the game. ANNIE is a huge help giving you objectives and basically telling you where to go. There are only a few real puzzles in a sense and due to no help can be somewhat confusing and yes i had to use a guide for some help.

I actually was surprised to see this game released in 2015. It looks really good and ran solid on my 1080P laptop BUT the option menu is basically non-existent with no graphic settings at all. The voice acting which is crucial for the story is strong as is the original soundtrack. However the emotional range for voice is weak. As an example, a crew member is told they will live for one or two days basically says, ok im going back to work like nothing happened. If anything this crew is dedicated to see the mission succeed.

The biggest issue/flaw for Prominence is the constant black loading screen you will see when going through any door. Its never ending and I can see a lot of people being turned off by this nuisance. It probably equaled close to an hr of playtime and I finished the game 1.3 times(restarted a save near end for second ending) in 9hrs. It's a shame as it really breaks immersion.

Prominence is a very high quality point and click adventure even 5 yrs later. Its production with sound, music and graphics is solid and the puzzles are logical and smart to be integrated into a lot of story beats. Its constant black screen transitioning from room to room can be annoying but a small price to pay for a good adventure.

I played the game on my MSI Apache 1080P 55-60fps with no issues

Positives

Good sci-fi adventure
High quality production voice, graphics, sound, music
Logical puzzles
Perfect game length
Areas not over littered with useless items
Interesting achievment list

Negatives
Main story synopsis is on Steam page not in game
Black screen transition
Emotional moments are weak
No fast travel
No in game hep
No graphic settings

Thank you to the developer and publisher Jason Godbey for creating a fresh and new experience for me to enjoy.

The Search is a very short, story driven experience that is very philosophical in its narrative with a very cool puzzle feature. The story revolves around an artist who is at a crossroads in their life. Her frustration comes within not being able to express herself as everything is laid out for her, via the wasteland. While the story is about an artist, we can all relate to the struggles of either following the safe route or taking the path less travelled. The voice acting is really done well as is the writing though it hinges on if you are a fan of Carl Jung who is quoted a lot, i mean a lot.

The gameplay in The Search is old school point and click where you see an arrow and click and the scene moves. The one puzzle element, which is really not necessary, is finding a brush, paint can, and canvas to create a scene or other object that will move you forward. Each of the 4 locations are very small so it's not difficult in any way and not the main purpose of the experience. The scenes themselves look almost photorealistic and environmental sounds and music add nice immersion.

This is a very short game, 90 minutes max, but I was able to get the game for free a few months ago. I think if you are someone who needs some inspiration, a kick in the rear end if you will, or just want a calming game experience The Search is one of the few that has good intentions, just make sure to catch it on sale.

Positives

Solid game execution
Beautiful photorealistic scenes
Cool puzzle element
Every person who has worked can relate

Negatives

Very Short
Overpriced even at $4

As my most anticipated game from 2018, not surprisingly, I knew it was worth waiting another almost 16 months before finally returning to Skara Brae and it did not disappoint, to an extent. The Bards Tale IV is a solid adventure game checking all the right boxes but stumbling with some new ideas, balance and basic quality of life tools.

Positives

Good story that keeps you always moving forward. The voice acting is really well done and its always fun to talk to the NPCs. Quests are also pretty good taking you to locations that will take hrs to complete.

A solid musical soundtrack full of celtic ballads, dance and folk hymns, it’s pretty amazing

HUUUUGGE world to explore but maybe too big. There is a good variety to the world and each location looks amazing.

The new innovations of the grid, turned based, 100% hit chance make combat so much more tactical. There is a good roster of enemies and the RNG of where they are placed on the grid at the start keeps each combat scenario interesting.

You are able to see enemies in the world as you explore and their level of difficulty. This offers a choice to avoid or engage.

You have the ability to buy or respect and build characters to your liking at any time with these special coins that are not rare which is nice.

While a grid based movement system is available, I loved the ability to free roam and look around making it feel more open world.

Good balance of combat and puzzles keeps the flow smooth until the last ⅓ of the game where it is almost 90/10 puzzles. Puzzle difficulty can range from simple to very hard with no hint system in game available.

As RTX is the new graphics buzzword, this game does one heck of a job faking it. It has the best reflections i have ever seen in a game and really adds to the lighting and fantastic art direction. I would like to have seen a day/ night cycle and some weather effects but its still impressive. The performance is also pretty good though enemy animations during combat will freeze on occasion but this never caused any crashes or failures to a combat scenario.

A ton of graphical and how to play options available.


Negatives

No budget was available for the team who did the character models. They are really bad.

Instead of a traditional RPG point distribution, each class picks an active or passive skill. It is really odd as there is not a whole lot of skills and you can almost max out every ability needed with each character and a lot of them I never found useful. I think each weapon needed its own tree and I think adding multiple tiers to some of the passives would have been better.

Depending on your roster most spells for your mage were never needed and I could not figure out how to fit the Bard in my party.

Combat can become monotonous. I think once i reached level 18 i was basically just doing the same thing to the end(lvl 34).

The game is pretty padded especially near the end with puzzles and respawning enemy types. I reached level 34 but there is not enough variety to loot, enemies or puzzles to justify its 60hr campaign

Most of the loot from either solving a puzzle or finding something off the beaten path never seemed to give anything that was better than I already owned.

No world map. You can only view what location you currently are present. This makes navigating some puzzles and quests confusing. Where is this?

The inventory system is horrible, maybe one of the worst i have seen in any recent RPG. Late in the game you will probably hit max capacity and vendors only have so much $ to buy so you will need to destroy items for space.

Code wheel is not in game

There is a lot of stuff in the game that is never explained

I found something near the end to solve a puzzle from about 15 hrs earlier, really?

Difficulty is all over the place. I highly recommend normal for a first play through but it seems no matter what difficulty, once you reach mid game any combat scenario will not be difficult.

Weapon puzzles are just bad

No DLC


Final thoughts

The Bards Tale IV is definitely not for every dungeon crawler out there. The inventory and poor map design made for unnecessary time consumption and some of the quests and puzzles are not simple to decipher. If you do accept this crawl expect some what the ?, where do I go, and sometimes Ah ha moments. The game really does disappoint as an RPG but is still a really good adventure that has me excited for the future of the series.



Played 2560x1080 Ultrawide high settings 50-110 frames

System: AMD Ryzen 5, MSI Vega 56, 16GB ram

My party consisted of a Bard, 1 Shield, 2 -two handed weapon, a practitioner and rouge. I finished my play through on normal difficulty at 64 hrs completing almost every quest available. I do not use guides or watch preview builds.