Monsters' Den: Godfall
Monster’s Den: Godfall is a tactical turn-based dungeon-crawler and an all-around improvement of the previous games in the series.
Unlike the previous games, Godfall offers an open-world conquest with lots of places to explore and dungeons to delve in. Dungeons can have special properties like “lost,” preventing you from seeing how many enemies you face before battle, or “ancient,” increasing the quality of loot. There are various prizes for completing the given dungeon objective, such as special class ability manuals to unique pieces of equipment.
– Real player with 253.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best CRPG Tactical RPG Games.
Just when you think this game isn’t deep… it opens a whole new dimension to you. Give it time, it’ll grow on you. I initially thought it was grindy but after upgrading my keep and unlocking a few classes, the “customization” depth started to open up. There are a lot of quality of life items/upgrades you’ll want to take. After that, you can just jump right into the action. Dollar for dollar, definitely a good time passer if you’re waiting for the next release or have a loot itch you can’t quite scratch.
– Real player with 189.0 hrs in game
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition
What an experience! I recommend it to anyone who likes crpgs but hates combat.
– Real player with 149.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best CRPG Story Rich Games.
Planescape Torment has a great story. The atmosphere of the game is really cool, and the soundtrack is really nice. The soundtrack for the city of Curst is my favorite. It is an old rpg, and a lot of the game is centered around dialogue options. I recommend it if you have the time to play a slower paced rpg. If you play it stat up Wisdom, Charisma, and Intelligence for expanded dialogue. It is not my favorite classic rpg in terms of combat and game play, but I’m glad I took the time to beat it and experience this classic. Great game that doesn’t just feed you the story, you have to pay attention and piece it together as you go or you might just miss the deeper meaning. What can change the nature of a man?
– Real player with 111.6 hrs in game
SKALD: Against the Black Priory
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1609100/Skald_Against_the_Black_Priory__the_Prologue
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1712620/SKALD_Against_the_Black_Priory_Original_Soundtrack_Vol_I/
You drag yourself from the black tides, across the corpses of drowned men, and onto the unwelcoming, craggy shoreline. Gulls cry overhead and the stink of seaweed fills your nose. By some miracle you have made it to Idra. It will take all your skill to survive and unravel the eldritch mysteries of the Black Priory. Pray your sanity holds.
About the Game
‘Skald: Against the Black Priory’ is an old-school roleplaying game that combines modern design and a fully realised narrative with authentic 8-bit looks and charms.
Delve into a dark fantasy world, full of tragic heroes, violent deaths and Lovecraftian, cosmic horror. Explore an engaging, branching story mixed with rich exploration and crunchy, tactical, turn-based combat that will seem familiar yet innovative to RPG fans, old and new.
Do you have what it takes to lead a company of broken heroes from the tainted shores of Idra to the gates of the Black Priory - and beyond?
Features
Lovingly crafted retro-style art:
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Experience a richly illustrated world of authentic pixel art using thousands of hand-drawn tiles and images
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A palette inspired by the legendary Commodore 64 computer.
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Optional CRT filter for that authentic old-school experience.
Deep character creation:
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Build your main character and recruit a party from among a dozen diverse characters, each with their own skill-set, agenda and personality.
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Choose from a dozen classes and backgrounds as well as heaps of feats, spells and equipment as you take your party from level 1 to 20.
Crunchy tactical combat:
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Engage in challenging, fast-paced, turn- and grid-based combat.
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Play it your way, with fully customizable difficulty and feedback settings. Or hit ‘auto-resolve’, lean back, and (hopefully) watch your party cleave a bloody path through their foes.
A richly detailed, living world:
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Explore the vast expanse of Freymark and the Outer Isles and watch your actions spell doom or salvation for the region.
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Focus on the rich, branching narrative… Or live the life of a mercenary and explore varied sidequests and encounters - the plot will wait for you.
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Manage your party as you make camp, recruit hirelings, travel by land and sea, and interact with powerful factions and their visions for the world.
Become part of a fantastic community:
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Skald was made possible by crowdfunding and already has a large, passionate and welcoming community that can’t wait to meet you.
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By joining Skald’s Early Access you’ll have a direct line to the developer, get sneak peaks and give feedback on forthcoming plans and help shape the game into a modern classic.
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We will publish the powerful tools used to create the game in an effort to support and encourage modding and content creation once the game has fully launched.
The Story of Skald: A Dream Come True
Skald is the dream-project of a lone Norwegian developer, AL.
AL missed the thrill of delving into grand, immersive games such as ‘Ultima’, ‘Magic Candle’, ‘Wasteland’ and the Gold Box series. When he noticed the lack of newer roleplaying games that combined the classic (early 90s) charm with more modern game design he decided to take matters into his own hands.
AL set to work crafting the game of his dreams.
A highly successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaign with 700 backers, and a fast-growing community of passionate fans proves he made the right call.
Collaborators
Despite being a one-man company, Scape-IT has been able to collaborate with some amazingly talented people in creating SKALD:
Danny Salfield Wadeson is a UK-based writer & narrative designer who has worked on BAFTA and TGA nominated narrative games such as Roki, Backbone and Duelyst
Twitter: @MadQuills
John Henderson is an experienced fine artist and illustrator and is also a teacher of Art. Whether using dip pen, oil paint or pixels, John’s work is easily recognizable as being highly atmospheric as well as lovingly created. Having worked on many publications and indie gaming projects he is also currently busy with his own project, Wild Wood for the C64.
Twitter: @JohnHen65953721
Scott Hartill UK based artist and game designer. More interested in pixels than anything else. Currently busy developing a PS1 style survival horror in his spare time.
Twitter : @cluly
Torgeir Fjereide is a Norwegian artist and illustrator. He loves painting mythological and medieval scenes and he’ll take any excuse to paint a bearded man.
Twitter: @TheBrushOfThor
Post Horn Public Relations is a pro-bono initiative created to support talented developers.
Twitter: @horn_pr
Rachael A Edwards hails from England and spends most of her days writing fantasy novels about morally grey characters in worlds filled with mythology, corruption and magic. An avid gamer, Rachael’s love for storytelling began at a young age. She is currently working on a YA fantasy novel and is represented by Rena Rossner of The Deborah Harris Agency.
Twitter: @RachaelAWrites
MementoMoree (formerly known as Paolo Pomes) has been creating art since his late teenage years. Proficient in most types of art, from pencil & paper to highly detailed 4k textures, he’s found solace and pleasure in the retro pixel art!
Twitter: @MementoMoree
Marco Pedrana is a digital and traditional art vagrant. He started as draftsman in advertising and comics, went on in illustration, then painting, then conceptual art. He doubled back on videogame design with Aeon of Sands, creating its graphic, story, and sfx. Lately he freelances as a 3D generalist for indie game and cinema productions.
He focuses on narrative art, regardless of the medium or scope.
Twitter: @marcopedrana
Romanus Surt is the main guy at Graverobber Foundation, the developer behind Das Geisterschiff and Der Geisterturm. He does music for SKALD.
Twitter: @surt_r
Edwin Montgomery is a composer and sound designer for games, films and performance. A long-time RPG obsessive, he wrote the soundtrack for inXile’s remastered 30th anniversary version of “Wasteland”. He has created music and sounds for a variety of fantasy game worlds, including Warhammer 40,000, Game of Thrones and Neverwinter. Edwin does sound design for SKALD.
Twitter: @edwinmyshkin
Read More: Best CRPG Lovecraftian Games.
Vaporum
I’ve just finished the game at 15 hours, and it was an enjoyable experience (mostly) throughout! I have a few gripes, but let’s start with a list of Pro’s and Con’s and go into more detail a little later.
PROS:
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Dungeon crawling is fun!
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Nice enemy variety!
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Difficulty is mostly fine, with hiccups.
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Price-to-playtime ratio is pretty good.
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Definitely replayable! Especially for secrets.
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Three unique ‘classes’ that are very distinct.
CONS:
- Some riddles are a little obtuse…
– Real player with 38.7 hrs in game
TL:DR - If you are looking for another dungeon Crawler of the Dungeon Master Variety, then I can recommend this product without hesitation. If you are wondering what separates this title from the rest of the options that are on the market now, then you will want to read a little further.
Bottom line, I can definitely recommend this title, as I have enjoyed the 6+ hours I have been entertained by, by the time of this review. I may have more to add to this review, when I finally complete the game. This review is entirely based around a 6 hour preview of the game title, and I am not sure how much longer I have to complete the game.
– Real player with 27.3 hrs in game
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
Gimle: Archlikvake Saga
Ragnarok has come …
On the ruins of the old world destroyed after the clash of gods and giants, Gimle is created - the place where humanity was reborn. The New World was described in the prophecies as free of wars, hunger and suffering. For thousand years it has been struggling with the forces of evil for an unknown reason. Meanwhile, another disturbing threat is coming - death will be only the beginning of the suffering of the fallen. Norse warrior Brand arises as the last hope of mankind - will he stand up to the fight and uncover the mystery of an unfulfilled prophecy?
Gimle is an isometric RPG inspired by the classics of the genre, enriched with beautiful pixelated graphics.
Begin your journey!
Explore the dark world of Gimle based on Norse mythology. Discover forest thickets and mountain trails, explore evil-ridden towns and villages, and mysterious tombs full of dangerous underground tunnels.
Defeat your enemies!
Master the dynamic combat system and face the threats of the New World using a wide variety of weapons - swords, spears, axes, bows and much more!
Tame the mighty power!
Learn unique abilities that are so much more than ordinary magic. Use your powerful gift and solve the mystery of an unfulfilled prophecy.
Collect unique items!
Use the possibility of gathering resources and trading, get powerful items and artifacts that will prove useful during your journey through the Dark Lands.
Improve your skills!
Become the legend of the Viking world! Achieve mastery in many areas through an extensive system of statistics, science and attributes.
Write the story of the New World!
Experience a ravaged world full of difficult, ambiguous choices and face their significant consequences.
Necore Tower - Redux Edition
What an awesome experience! Very cool retro game. Very well designed and very well written. The sounds are awesome.
Very, very well executed!
Well done.
– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
This is a very cool game by a very passionate and talented developer.
Great art and atmosphere with a deep story.
The way Necore is setup and designed, climbing up through the towers levels, keeps you playing more and more to see what’s next and revel the story as your progress.
I highly recommend you play it!
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game
Sorcerous
First Impressions
In Sorcerous you explore an interesting world with a band of engaging characters. Unlike most JRPG style games you’ll need to approach each battle a little more cautiously. Taking note of enemy weaknesses, different options provided by different equipment loadouts, what all the different items do and making sure to exploit every advantage as often as possible is key. Combat feels more inspired by Dungeons and Dragons rather than Final Fantasy. With a focus on difficult encounters managing HP and MP can be tense, but so far hasn’t been overwhelming. One potential downside to this is keeping track of what equipment offers what spells, which spells do what, and the various strengths and weaknesses against the different types of enemies.
– Real player with 16.6 hrs in game
So far its a fun game I just started but loving the music and the adventure.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
Shieldwall Chronicles: Realm of Madness
Gather a party of hardy adventurers and venture to the desolate wastes of northern Tarren, a realm ruled by the demon kings and their twisted champions.
Explore an open world freely while pursuing either the main quest or numerous side quests as may suit your fancy. Earn glory and riches as you lead your party into ancient ruins and face the monsters that lurk there.
Write your legend in the blood of your enemies as you face the corrupted denizens of a land steeped in dark magic. Your tactics, courage, steel and sorcery are your only allies in the northern wastes.
Choose from a host of varied character classes from among the many races found in the northern wastes. From men, elves, orcs and dwarves to outlandish creatures such as iron golems and even those possessed by the demonic. Each class has unique strengths, weaknesses and abilities that you must leverage to earn victory.
The northern wastes were warped beyond recognition by the foul magics released by the sorcerers of the elves and humans in their last great war. The unchecked and reckless use of sorcery tore the realm apart and corrupted its very nature. Worst of all, the magic brought the demon kings into existence … creatures of immeasurable power and malice. They rule the north now and their armies march ever southwards in their endless desire to bring war and death to the entire world. Holding back this tide, are the men, elves, dwarves and other races who now stand together, united by a common foe.
You will venture into this realm and face its horrors. You will gather a party of heroes that will battle and overcome the dangers of the northlands. Face braying beastmen, demonic champions and monsters formed of dark magic in tactical, turn-based combat.
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Explore an open world freely, pursue the main quest or one of the many side quests.
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Earn glory in tactical, turn-based battles.
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Face countless horrors as you explore ruined castles, fetid swamps, corrupted forests and dank caverns.
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Earn gold and loot from defeated enemies and use it to better equip and customize your party.
Shores Unknown
One of the best early access games on Steam!
The gameplay is fantastic, the dialogue is witty and funny, the lore of the game is pretty deep and it has super charming graphics. Very very few bugs, super smooth experience overall and most of the the little upgrades I thought the game could benefit from have been confirmed by the devs to be on their to-do list.
Game currently has 5-7 hours of gameplay with a final 20-30h planned. I should add that I’m 10hrs in and still have not finished the current Early Access content.
– Real player with 26.4 hrs in game
This is hopefully only a tempoary rating. I do like this game but right now I can’t recommend it.
Its suppose to be a strategy game. Yet it actively works against stretegy.
1. Why do my RANGED attackers, move almost to melee range. The enemies have abilities like Cleave and even my ranged characters like to perfectly group up, and you have 0 control over positioning. They should be getting some distance, not Move closer.
2. Characters change their targets. One of the most common strategies is to focus fire down one enemy. Sometimes they attack the enemy nearby, This might be about engagment, but I have 0 control of where the enemey moves, and I can’tposition my own characters.
– Real player with 21.0 hrs in game