Masquerada: Songs and Shadows
Masquerada: Songs and Shadows really took me by surprise, it really did. The game claims to be a RPG but there are very few elements to support that claim, especially given the fact that the story is quite linear and there are no choices for you to make, you’re basically just watching how everything unfolds. That said, there is a lot to say about Masquerada, both good and bad, and I believe it’s a game that went under a lot of people’s radar and I truly believe it deserves a lot more exposure and credit than it has received.
– Real player with 38.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Party-Based RPG Isometric Games.
Once again, this is the type of game where the “Yes” actually means “Yes, but-”, as in “Yes, but only if you like linear story-focused games with lots (and I mean LOTS) of reading”. Let’s get this straight: any mention of this game being an “RPG” is very misleading. There are no choices in the story at all; the protagonist (Cicero) is a defined character with his own personality and backstory, which I don’t think is a bad thing. There is very little exploration, aside from a few tidbits of lore and equipment sprinkled about, and since the game almost never lets you backtrack, it’s easy to lock yourself out of getting a certain lore entry or mask forever if you’re not careful. Pretty much the only RPG-like mechanic is the skills, masks, and enchantments you can pick between, so if you consider XCOM an RPG, then sure, I guess this game counts, too.
– Real player with 27.4 hrs in game
The Demon Rush: Legends Corrupt
The Demon Rush: Legends Corrupt is an action RPG with fast-paced combat requiring use of strong offensive and defensive mechanics across multiple modes (Story Mode, Endless Dungeon, Onslaught, Conquest, Heist). Fight your enemies up close, use buffs/debuffs/status ailments to gain an advantage or place effects like tornados, fire, water, death forests, black holes and more onto the battlefield.
The Mittu star system enjoyed a long period of prosperity, and was watched over by three powerful beings who shared their unique skillsets and technologies across three worlds for millenia. From out of nowhere, a Demon Army of immense power appeared suddenly and began invading these planets, slaughtering countless innocents and causing fear and paranoia in the godlike rulers of each world. On the planet of Altair, the first spacecraft in Mittu’s history has been constructed, with the hopes that its crew can find something in the Mittu star system to end the war against the Demon Army.
Read More: Best Party-Based RPG Dragons Games.
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 Party-Based RPG CRPG 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
Order from Caos
(Note: I will NOT judge this game based on its language. I don’t speak Portuguese, but I certainly understand what it’s like to have English as a second or third language. Just know that it is possible to understand everything that is said in the game, even though some things sound a bit strange to us. I take it as fun to try and figure out what the author initially meant to say in the first place, like a puzzle in a puzzle game!)
This certainly looked like an interesting game, so I decided to check it out! I also wanted to support the Developer since it looked like they put a lot of work into the game. It shows. The atmosphere, music, OST/SFX, and all the goodness are fun to play with and I wasn’t bored once! Sometimes you gotta grind… still wasn’t boring.
– Real player with 24.0 hrs in game
I still did not finish the game, but at the time of this writing, I’m about 15 hours on the story.
I’m really loving it! The story is captivating, the art design is quite charming and the original soundtrack is beautiful to hear.
The combat system is the classic turn-based combat. At this moment I’ve didn’t find any true difficulties (besides not staying low on mana), but it’s still quite challenging (and I’m probably still in the beggining). Trying to learn which type of spell is more effective against each monster was fun. And the spell animations are gorgeous!
– Real player with 16.6 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
Dungeon Crawler Daniel
Another winner rpg from Wolfs Moon Studio and Shane. This one is different than the others as there is only only one town with multiple dungeon levels. Dungeon levels are timed so have to be quick yet have to fight to build up all the characters you pick up (over 20) on your journey. Huge variety of monsters and bosses (optional ones also) and plenty of items and chests in the dungeons and the town has all the necessary stock needed to buy. Dungeon levels are very well designed and battles are most challenging. Characters are
– Real player with 18.4 hrs in game
another great game by Wolf’s Moon Studios!
– Real player with 16.2 hrs in game
Cartridge Monsters
i love this game, for being a pokemon style game with mythical creature twist makes the game more enjoyable!, i played from start to finish and from the visual attacks to the BGM for the regular fights and the bosses is very enjoyable, plus the visuals wasn’t to overbearing to the eyes, so for players just getting into vr i would say this game would be a good start, with it’s go at your own pace story,to taking the time to grind your monsters, so it doesn’t make you feel rushed to beat the game. it also really gives you the time to see the hard work put into a simple but enjoyable vr game.
– Real player with 29.7 hrs in game
The voice recognition was great the last time I played this. Instead of just saying “Earth Nova”, you could say “Earth Nova that b^#&*!” and it would still work.
Tip I wish I knew: You have to actually aim and hit stuff when shooting magic bullets. Shooting in the general direction of something won’t work if the bullet doesn’t actually hit it.
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
Demonblood
This is a game where you fight a large number of different demons and other creatures. You can play singleplayer or with your friends. Also there is a little story which you can explore. You can use up to 200 items in this game consisting of around 100 weapons.
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.
Dungeon Rats
Dungeon Rats is a pure combat game set in the universe of Age of Decadence. Like it’s predecessor, it promises to force players to make hard decisions and weigh every tradeoff.
The first thing you’ll notice when playing the game is the excellent, atmospheric music, almost perfectly complementing the game’s main menu screen. Most of the in game scenes, however, err towards too dark for easy visibility, even somewhat hindering playability.
While shallow in comparison, the conversation trees are highly reminiscent of Age of Decadence’s conversations; detailed, lore-heavy, full of unsaid implications, which were one of the best qualities of AoD. Unfortunately, as Dungeon Rats is extremely linear, it could not embrace the full scope of these conversations.
– Real player with 106.1 hrs in game
Important Note: I played through Age of Decadence several times before playing this game, so my experice may vary to yours. I only played this game on “Hard” (default difficulty) and “Solo Mode Hard”.
Overview:
The game consists of approximately 50 battles, which are set-pieces. There are no random encounters. This makes it a game about learning what the encounters are about. Playing the game for the first time was challenging and I did not learn my lessons that defense is more important than offense. I also learnt later that it is ok for some of the early companions to die (although you don’t want it to happen often).
– Real player with 93.6 hrs in game