Drakensang: The River of Time
It started really well and I really began to enjoy this game, then the awful combat system kicked in during critical times, which can be a real pain. Though I like the pause and ensuing tactical planning elements, it does not always work. For example, I could be hit by ranged weapons and despite having high level ranged combat, I could not fire back despite pause, select targeting, etc. I could set the attack up and… waited… and… waited… Nothing happened, all the while I was getting hit until my party was decimated by three low level dwarfs with crossbows. No matter what I did or where I stood I could not fire back, yet they were in clear line of sight and within range. Whether or not I was being a numpty, I don’t know - it just seemed to spoil what is a good game from being a great game.
– Real player with 80.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure RPG Games.
Like Drakensang the Dark Eye, this is a totally underrated RPG imo, and almost all the bad reviews refer to it being “unplayable” on newer versions of Windows, although it only takes a few min online to find a fix. I have Win 10 and I typed -windowed and -novideo in the Steam preferences (rightclick on the game in Steam Library and select Properties - Set launch options) and it didn’t crash a single time, which is more than one can say for a lot of older games by non-defunct companies, so so much for that. The -novideo did actually disappear later, so idk if it did anything; so as is clear I have no real idea what I’m doing but still managed to get the game to run with next to no effort. There are few loading screens in spite of large areas and the loading times are fast, unlike some other games I could mention where I end up going online all the time as I get bored waiting.
– Real player with 77.2 hrs in game
Last Days Of Tascaria
Disclaimer: I personally know part of the team behind the game.
The game is a party-based roguelike (up to 4 characters) that features two different gameplay layers. One strategic, where you advance through different types of randomly generated regions composed of locations and one tactical, where the combat is resolved.
The Journey
At the strategic level, to get to the next region you have to reach the portal location. In your way you will be hard pressed to make choices: you are in the way of a horde of orcs making time a luxury you don’t have.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure Strategy Games.
I found it fun and engaging, specially the combat.
I’m a big fan of “Choose your own adventure games” and I really like how they integrated this genre with a very tactical combat.
I got this game in Early Access and I’ve seen how devs have enhanced things I complaint about, like polishing the story or improving music during combats.
Pros:
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Your decisions change the game
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Replayability
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Combination of attacks during combats
Cons:
- I’d like to be able to pick the other existing characters to start the game
– Real player with 21.0 hrs in game
The Dwarves
The Dwarves (also known as “Die Zwerge”) is a tactical-based RPG based on the novel series written by German author, Markus Heitz.
Story and plot premise:
The series takes place in the fictional fantasy realm of Girdlegard. The humans, whose primary deity is the goddess Palandiell, have seven kingdoms in the land, some of which house enclaves of magi who train famuli apprentices. The elves, who revere Sitalia, hide their kingdom of Alandur between the borders of two human kingdoms, Gauragar and Tabain. The dwarves, however, built their kingdoms around the mountain barriers of Girdlegard. Vraccas, their deity, ordered the dwarves to defend Girdlegard from orcs, ogres, and alfar (dark elves), all of which worship the dark god, Tion.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure RPG Games.
I’ll give this a thumbs-up, but only under the following conditions:
a) do not buy it at full price. 40€ after 5 years is overpriced! I bought at full price - I regret.
b) you should love~ 3 Games based around Dwarves
c) you should not be afraid of a lot of text - and if you are not afraid of a lot of text you should not expect a deep CRPG.
Why I love the Game:
Gameplay
It is a bunch of fun to guide the Dwarves (not those other dudes!) through combat. Build a line, crush the Orcs with Hammers and Axes. Even when they run and when enemies are close the Dwarves auto-attack, which is a bunch of to just push through the Hordes.
– Real player with 12.9 hrs in game
Aarklash: Legacy
Great title, considering the price. It’s sort of like Diablo and a turn-based squad game had a baby – Active pause lets you give orders to your squad of adventurers, and then things unfold in real time.
Pros: 1. GREAT atmosphere and novel setting. The STORY itself could be a bit more polished, but the characters have personality and variety. I thought not being able to create your own character (you choose from pregens) would be an obstacle but it’s NOT, the players are likable and learning their story is interesting.
– Real player with 50.5 hrs in game
Great game. I give it 8/10.
Pros:
-Puzzles to unlock goodies on about every level
-Awesome puzzles to complete storyline
-Good storyline
-Combat is intriguing and makes you think–must be very strategic.
-The number of companions that you can control and deck out with gear
-Pausing the game to plan out strategies
-Talent trees to cutomize for each companion; it adds a deeper level of gameplay
-Decent graphics
Cons:
-Game has some bugs–sometimes the abilities for a companion will not show up. Or, when you click on a companion, another companion’s abilities show up. When this happens, you have to restart the game to fix.
– Real player with 38.7 hrs in game
Roller Drama
A SITCOM?!?
In Roller Drama you (Joan) live together with five athletes as their coach and hopefully friend:
Anne, Portia, Pippi, Cordelia, and Juliet. They just formed a Roller Derby top team!
Portia is the property “guardian”, the others (you too) just squatted in the dilapidated building. You have to try to be the balancing factor as these top athletes develop close personal relationships and the group navigates rivalries, love stories, and sexual tension.
REAL-TIME FULL-CONTACT SPORT!
All this while playing Roller Derby-like full-contact matches, where in real time you have to give the right hints, decide strategies, and give orders. You’ll have arcade-like controls and power cards!
SURVEILLANCE
Daily life in the game’s world is not easy; political and environmental problems interfere with complex personal lives. The game’s universe is a slightly altered perspective of today’s world, with the same problems but… more explicit. It’s a dystopia that talks about our present (thank you Terry Gilliam).
KEY FEATURES
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Interactive narrative with meaningful game-changing choices
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Explorable universe
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Replayable narrative and matches: every championship is unique, several different endings
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Real-time match play, fully generative
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Deck-building mechanics determined by player choices and game results
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Beautiful, hand drawn art
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Full controller support
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Localized in nine languages
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Cloud saves
WHO ARE OPEN LAB GAMES?
We are four people making narrative sports games since 2017, based in Florence, Italy.
Serpent in the Staglands
A friendly reminder that taking on a pack of wolves with a kitchen knife, or single point in a first level spell is a bad idea.
Serpent in the Staglands is a modern ‘old-school’ style crpg in both look and feel. Gone are the arrows of patronization, the quest log, the terrible bland puzzles that a brain dead toddler could figure out, and in is a true return to form of open world crpgs bursting at the seams with love and attention to detail. For a game made by a team of two people, it is one of the gaming masterworks of this decade in my eyes.
– Real player with 39.6 hrs in game
Serpent in the Staglands starts of with you, the Moonlord, trapped in a mortal body.
With very little info you set out throughout the Staglands in order to put the pieces of what happened together.
From the get go the story pulled me in, I really liked the mystery and the continuous search for clues to figure out who trapped you and why.
Being in mortal form also strips you of your powers as a God and this is a very refreshing take on the genre: you’re not the typical hero which everyone asks for help, you’re just a peasant which most people ignore.
– Real player with 35.4 hrs in game
Palladium: Adventure in Greece
yes
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
It plays exactly like what the trailers look like.
The animations are wonky and low res.
The gameplay is fairly simple.
But there IS something charming about the earnestness with which this game is presented.
There are a couple of branching dialogue trees and the low res graphics don’t matter so much in a big stone labyrinth.
Check out the demo if you want to see what I am talking about.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
03.04
DYSTOPIAN MERRY-GO-ROUND
Even though a game’s flaws shouldn’t be overlooked on the account of how it was made, in this case it’s vital to begin by saying that 03.04 was created by only one person. This is key to understand and appreciate this game, which I can happily recommend.
Developed by Ivanov Mikhail a.k.a. JPEG of Pain, what struck me the most was the atmosphere, definitely its strong suit. Quite a bleak one at that, accomplished by keeping things simple, instead of the cynical, convoluted mess that most horror games fall into when trying too hard to be hip. The music by ApatiaKrai takes that cue and follows along with a very disturbing yet satisfying soundtrack.
– Real player with 6.1 hrs in game
If you’re a fan of old school survival horror where resource management and combat were a challenge, this may be exactly what you’re looking for.
Admittedly, I am bad at all games. Even says so on my profile. :P
I couldn’t get all the way to the end in this just yet. This reminds me of the old horror survivor games where you had to restart a few times because you want to manage your bullets or health boosts better. The game gets more fun as you improve because it’s really challenging.
Have I mentioned the puzzles yet? There are puzzles that are a little tricky, but once you get used to how the game is played they get a lot easier. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the messages on the cell phone that would pop up. Sometimes they were helpful, other times they would make me roll my eyes. :P
– Real player with 5.5 hrs in game
Drakensang
A party based RPG with great potential but quite unfinished and unpolished. Some people compare it to DA:O, NWN, BG, etc…(that being the reason I bought it) but that’s a big overstatement.
The bad:
1. The story/main quest - linear, blurry and uninteresting - does little to motivate the player to save the world.
2. The side quests are scarce, petty, uncomplicated and unrewarding.
3. The companions are plain, stereotyped and boring. They have no personal quests (except one), don’t develop with the progress in the game, rarely have something to say about quests/environment. Puppets with no personality, no conflicts, no banters, no life. The majority of them can be recruited too late in the game, so, for the first half, you will probably be stuck with the barking amazon and the cliché dwarf.
– Real player with 178.9 hrs in game
Ah, so this is where Dragon age origins stole all their ideas.. Of course that most likely isnt true. Judging by the release dates, the guys and gals over at Bioware were almost certainly unaware of the osbcure German title Drakensang, even tho Drakensang did come out first.
After beating Drakensang and enjoying it greatly, I couldnt help but notice similarities. Four member party- check. Pause and play tactical combat- check. Mages have magical skills and fighters get erm, fightery skills. Your archers stand back and sling arrows, you’ll need a rogue to open locks, disable traps and even smooth talk out of a situation or two. Its all done well, and made with obvious care, so if your into that sort of thing, your gonna like this.
– Real player with 138.8 hrs in game
Tower of Time
Tower of Time
Tower of Time is a squad-based dungeon crawler with predetermined character types whose attributes and skills can be leveled up occasionally and who fight in battles that require strategic and tactical thinking.
TL;DR
Though I felt the game got off to a slow and perhaps not so interesting start, after aquiring a few companions and getting down to level 5 it grabbed my interest and continued doing so as I progressed. I ended up enjoying the game quite a bit. This is one of those games that you need to get into a ways before you really start grooving on it. The fact that I bothered to write such a long review shows how much I liked this game, even with some stuff that bugged me.
– Real player with 81.6 hrs in game
In short:
AMAZING 50+ hours RPG with gorgeous graphics, an enticing story, tactical battles, balanced gameplay and original mechanics!
Summary
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Very smooth gameplay, with gorgeous graphics and scenery and non-claustrophobic dungeons
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Unintrusive interface, with sophisticated RPG mechanics
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Original take on RPG mechanics, specially regarding the battles
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The battles feel very tactical, due to the slow time feature. It is not turn-based, but it feels like XCOM, and has a lot of variation like diverse objectives and scenarios.
– Real player with 68.2 hrs in game