Recent reviews by Brother Bulpitus

Ever wanted to play as a Space Marine charging into death with the Ultramarines 2nd company?

This game is for you.

Seriously, one of the best games I've ever played. Saber have done an incredible job.

This has all the makings of a superb game considering it's budget. The voice acting and story is actually well done, it looks good, runs smoothly and the gameplay is logical and fun. Even on the "normal" difficulty, AI will exploit your mistakes and its easy to make errors that will cost you dearly. The unlock tree also looks good, forcing you to double down on specific play styles which also adds a good layer of replayability. Armies are chosen pre-battle with a points and unit cap system, so there is a lot of strategy in choosing what you bring to the battle.

Overall, looks like a very solid game so far.

Graphics 9/10 - really polished and beautiful landscape, also runs smoothly on my ageing PC.
Gameplay 6/10 - concepts are great but needs some ironing out, such as pathfinding and more things to do. More punishments for being low on food / storms / famines / fires etc would be good. Also the AI needs to be harder.
Replayability 2/10 - I spent 4 hours on the two story missions and one normal game, after that I think replayability really drops off.

Overall considering this is in Early Access, it's a great core start. However I am going to refund and check back later once the game is finished, since many small developers do not have a good track record with sticking with games.

I finished the game on "normal" difficulty in 23 hours, with many many quicksaves used. The game provides a good challenge in both stealth and combat, and "hard" more without being able to save mid-mission I expect would be a nightmare, as even a milisecond of wrong timing will get you all killed.

Overall, this is a low budget indie game that has clearly been made with passion. I didn't notice any bugs, other than some Steam achievements not firing properly, though parts of the game could use more polish and depth. Ultimately this is a good game worth it's current pricetag.

OI GITZ, ITS TIME FOR DA KRUMPIN'! WAAAAGH!

Had this on my wishlist for ages but was turned off by mixed reviews at launch. Picked this up after the 2.0 patch, and loving it. Very solid ARPG and for a 40k fan it's just perfect.

THE EMPEROR PROTECTS

TL;DR very strong DLC. If you are a dedicated TW and history fan like me, it's worth a buy at full price.

This review really is in two parts; the free Ancestral game update, and the Rise of the Republic DLC. Ancestral brings back the family trees, overhauls the skill tree system and the fleshes out faction politics. Whilst there are inevitable teething problems this does actually add a new and important layer to the game; rather than just steamrolling the AI you now live in the very real fear of a civil war breaking out. Managing Party loyalty is actually challenging and adds far more depth to your charectars.

As for the DLC; I've played Rome on Legendary and Syracuse on VH. Rome I rage-quit in less than 10 turns because I messed up and was obviously about to die. Rome starts as one of the weakest factions on the map with sub-standard infantry fighting in the Greek tradition. It won't be until much later that you get an early version of the Polybian manipular system (Hastati, Principes etc). This makes you see Rome in a new light with the very real military problems at the time.

Syracuse by comparison is much more well established in Sicily and has a unique pool of very exotic mercenaries at your disposal. This is balanced out by their exorbitant cost, which can be reduced with late-game traits and technology. Carthage are represented only by one province around the City plus a town on Sicily, but are the regional super-power and will start throwing invasion forces early game. However the pathfinding AI still needs work as their ships can't seem to figure out how to run a co-ordinated invasion.

The AI still has it's usual TW issues and stupidity, but the only bug I have seen so far is that ships (both player and AI) seem to struggle to beach properly.

Overall I'm very glad that CA are still working on this game and giving it some love. For TW die-hards this is one of CA's better ones.

Firstly, if you are expecting a triple A title, do not buy this game.

If, however, you are prepared to suspend your judgement a bit, and want to play a game that has clearly been made with love by a small studio that is trying something that hasn't really been done before, then for £40 you will have a lot of fun with KCD.

KCD has a number of flaws; some of the graphics are superb but other times the rendering seems to fall short. Animations are often brilliant but don't always gel with the scenary. Dialogue doesn't always flow, there is the occasional bug, etc.

However the narrative is excellent and quite original. You don't play "The Chosen One" but rather a totally normal peasant. 12 hours in and I have only just got to the title sequence; because there is so much content to explore, read and learn. The limited saves in particular make the playthrough seem more generic as you can't just reload the autosave if a choice you make doesn't go so well.

Combat is genuinely interesting, and you sit on the edge of your seat from each sword swing. The five-point targets are simple to use once you master it and no matter your level both melee and archery takes some skill on the part of the player. This seems to be attracting a good mod community so hopefully with time this will keep being polished.

KCD seems to "aim small, miss small". It has a clear mission and doesn't try to do too much, and instead returns a quality game that is fun to play. I don't know yet what replayability or the endgame will be like, but so far, I am very happy with the £40 I spent, and if it supports a small developer then I consider it a good investment.