Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
This game is awesome! I am replaying it after a few months playing other games right now and giving the turn based system a try. it is great. the combat is different if you play turn based or real time with pause so you can experience two different game styles. i think that it would be a lot better if you had both in one play-through but then again by not having it they make different stats more important for different modes. like dex is more important in RTWP and is absolutely useless in turn based mode, unless you just want to go first every round.
– Real player with 460.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Party-Based RPG Fantasy Games.
One of my all time favorite games. A true modern rpg masterpiece.
– Real player with 233.6 hrs in game
Avernum: Escape From the Pit
This game used to be a charming experience where magic, fighting bows and fantasy came together in a unique way. The game is far butchered now compared to it’s older version.
Before: Up to three levels of spells in both priest and mage classes so that you can indulge in a magic fantasy playing the game. With secrets at every turn for your wizard to decode and dangerous territory where they have to show their wit in using their magic to upgrade their arsenal and using it creatively to beat the lords of magic themselves, the slitheraki or however you spell that…
– Real player with 448.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Party-Based RPG Indie Games.
Addendum: As of Nov 2016, I nominated Avernum for the “I Thought This Game Was Cool Before It Won An Award” Award.
Second remake of the classic Exile series' first part, Avernum: Escape From the Pit is classic roleplaying at its best! Basically, you play as a party of adventurers, who were exiled into a huge cavern, Avernum, far below the surface of the world. You have to find a new purpose here, which basically means doing all kinds of odd-jobs and quests for mayors, wizards and kings of the underworld and, while you’re at it, trying to escape your dark prison.
– Real player with 140.9 hrs in game
Avernum 6
Many more hours of game play than the other “Avernum” titles so far.
Challenging bosses and combat situations, tons of loot/spells, and (a few) outcome options along the way.
Intriguing story line which brings the nature of Avernum and all the involved powers (Human nations, Nephil, Slith, Spiral Pit, Vahnatai, Dragons, etc.) to a “conclusionist” scenario based on how the previous games have handled them thus far. It is similar in this regard with, and probably as qualified as, Avernum 3.
Personally, I wish there were more graphic options for characters. Sometimes the bosses can be a little too challenging without looking up walks-through. It is not possible to kill a dragon. But those are all the petty negative things I have to say.
– Real player with 373.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Party-Based RPG Indie Games.
I remember playing Avernum as a kid and have fond memories of it, now it appears that very little has changed.
If you want a nostaligia trip this is definately a game for you, however it’s grindy as hell and hasn’t aged all that well compared to other games of the genre.
The fact that not much has changed isn’t exactly a bad thing, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
The only problem I have is how clunky the UI is, in the fact that you could carve it onto a stone and it would still be intuative. It works, it’s just not very nice to look at for longer than half an hour at a time. Still enjoy it though.
– Real player with 141.1 hrs in game
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
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
Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
Kingmaker is rough around some edges, with a few changes to the tabletop rules that aren’t clearly stated to the player. (If you’re unfamiliar with Pathfinder, it is a variant of Dungeons and Dragons.) A large number of frustrations I have often come from either the interface not being great at explaining when something is different, or not explaining anything at all until you’re in another menu. (A game like Pathfinder really demands a character creation/level up screen that lets you preview your whole build from levels 1-20 just to get an idea of what you’re doing.)
– Real player with 255.9 hrs in game
As a cRPG this is an excellent game - great characters, great companions, great stories - main plot and companions - and a combat system that works.
As a game, it’s a mish mash of systems, ideas and a rigidly enforced ruleset that sadly overwhelms that content a little. It is a massively long game with 6 distinct acts that do not flow one after another, but intersperse themselves with a poorly explained Kingdom building mechanic that ultimately just doesn’t work and really, really gets in the way of the rest of the game. Making numbers get bigger doesn’t really make for a compelling experience, but if you don’t do it you’ll get yourself in a right mess and the game will end. It has no respect for your time as a gamer at all, and will test the very limits of your patience.
– Real player with 209.4 hrs in game
Shadoworlds
Deafening silence in the deep darkness of space.
The Magna 6 system is home to the most advanced weapons lab the universe has ever known. Two months ago, communications with the orbiting facility mysteriously went dead without any warning. If the cutting edge weapons in the station were to fall into the wrong hands, the results would be cataclysmic. Knowing that quick action is necessary, but unaware of what terrors might have caused the break in communication, you are called in to lead a small team of brave but expendable explorers through the imperiled space station with a mission to ascertain the fate of its crew.
Krisalis Software and Teque London’s gripping isometric squad-based sci-fi action RPG follows your team of four explorers as they trek through the dark environments of the Weapons Research Facility to uncover the mystery of what went wrong. Each member of the team is chosen by the player based on their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their personality and individual history. As the leader of the unit, you have full control over the inventories and actions of your squad, even down to deciding when to use headlamps to illuminate the darkness. But watch out – the inky blackness of space hides friend and foe alike.
-
Traverse the dimly lit corridors of the Weapons Research Facility and beam down to the planet surface for terrestrial excursions.
-
Craft weapons by combining interchangeable items found on your mission and use them to battle against hostile defense robots and other menacing threats.
-
Marvel at the real-time dynamic lighting powered by impressive Super Photoscaping lighting techniques. Watch lamps and explosions cast lights and shadows on the environment, and use your squad’s headlamps to illuminate puzzles along your route.
-
Take full control of your team of explorers as you manage their inventories, guide their individual actions, and keep tabs on their life-giving fluid levels.
Survive the Fall
A global cataclysm has brought an end to civilization as we know it.
Finally, after many years of darkness, sudden climate changes, numerous fires, extreme temperature fluctuations, an eternal has come over the planet and the conditions allowed you to try to explore the post-apocalyptic Earth.
As one of the survivors, you will have to survive in this hostile world, find other allies and with their help build a new settlement - for only as a close-knit community will you be able to survive these harsh, new times.
Not everyone will be friendly… the fight for the resources left over from the remnants of civilization can be brutal…
SURVIVE
Gather precious resources so you don’t die of hunger or cold.
Light fires, craft weapons and items, hunt and don’t get killed.
EXPLORE
Explore an open world full of dangers, secrets, and valuable artifacts. Admire the views and the wildlife that dominates the land. Be careful in the forests… it’s easy to get lost.
The asteroid left behind more than a big hole in the Earth… Beware!
BUILD AND MANAGE A SETTLEMENT
Create a new settlement that will grow and the resources it produces will help you in your missions.
Remember, only a good commander who wisely uses limited resources will be able to win the respect of others.
ASSEMBLE A TEAM
Assemble a team that will help you survive and support you in battle. Decide whether you want to go on missions with support, or if you prefer to leave your companions to guard and take care of the base. Take care of their health and condition.
AVOID DANGERS
Sneak around and, if necessary, face opponents in open combat. Remember, however, that ammunition is severely limited, medicine is scarce, and every companion is worth his or her weight in gold. Is it worth the risk?
Main Features:
-
a world full of secrets
-
a survivalist approach to gameplay
-
team and resource management
-
construction and development of the settlement
Archquest
Gather your party and venture forth to the city of Evertide, where invading monsters have risen from the ruins of the old city. Liberate the city block by block as you uncover the mysterious origins of the ancient city and what lies beneath.
-
Create your character - based on tabletop RPG rules. Choose your class, feats, skills, and spells, and then customize your appearance by selecting your hair, beard, and skin.
-
Explore the world in an immersive first-person view with grid-based movement. Each character in your party gets to choose an exploration activity, such as Search, Scout, Sneak, or maintain a Detect Magic spell.
-
Engage in tactical turn-based combat. Execute reactions like Attack of Opportunity. Smash your enemies with Power Attack. Apply status effects with spells like Sleep, Grease, or Color Spray.
-
Converse with your Diplomacy, Deception, or Intimidation skill against NPCs in a full-featured branching dialogue system.
-
Manage your inventory and equip yourself with a paper-doll system. Craft magic items by grafting Potency Runes to weapons and armor.
Avadon 2: The Corruption
I have to admit that I put this game off for far longer than I should of, it has been such a treat and such a good reminder that great games don’t always come in shiny packages . I have played hundreds of CRPG’s over the past 20+ years, on dozens of different consoles and this game really “did it” for me. Avadon 2 is no “Divinity Original Sin” but I still enjoyed it nearly as much, the game is a blast if not a little rough around the edges like me.
Avadon 2 is a rather large CRPG, is has a deep and intricate storyline which I found pretty original among CRPG’s. Avadon 2 has wonderful “original in style” character creation, character building systems and the game even has some secrets ??? : ). It has challenging combat which scales greatly depending what difficulty you chose and which takes place using a Grid Based, Turn Based, Action Point combat system. The combat in Avadon 2 feels very similar to the combat in the early Fallout games (1&2) but the fixed viewpoint is a little more Roguelike in nature. As I eluded to with the secrets comment earlier, exploration in Avadon is fun and there are fights, loot and secrets to be found by the patient and meticulous types of players.
– Real player with 288.7 hrs in game
Avadon 2 is the direct sequel to Avadon: The Black Fortress. You take control of a new band of heroes as you wield your might on behalf of Avadon.
Battles are turn based and are governed by action points, which are expended through both movement and use of skills. As expected, health and stamina bars are also present alongside four core stats - strength, dexterity, intelligence and endurance. Additionally each character also has resistances to four damage types and four possible status effects. Character builds are developed using a skill tree, which requires you to pump more points into particular branches if you want to reap the full benefits of a particular branch. There is a retrainer NPC who allows you to redistribute all your points if you are ever unhappy with your character build, but you need to reach a particular point in the game before they become available. There are five possible classes to choose from for your character, with Avadon 2 adding in a new class, the tinkermage who specialises in creating turrets and machines that can aid you in battle. The entire cast of characters comprises one of each class type so you will always have the potential strengths of each class at your disposal throughout the game. Avadon 2 features a standard grid based inventory management system, a junk bag for storing useless items so they can be sold en masse, several slots for character equipment, scarabs slots (magical items which confer statistical bonuses and abilities), quick use skills and items for each character. Overall inventory management is fairly painless however during extended periods of adventuring, managing the many scolls and potions you find can be a chore but compared to Spiderweb’s older titles it’s like a gift from the gods.
– Real player with 100.8 hrs in game
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition
Baldur’s Gate is truly a masterpiece. Despite it’s beauty, tactical depth and great story, the game does not take itself too seriously. This cannot be said of many other leading RPG titles, which I soon begin to find rather corny. If you like RPGs and have not played Baldur’s Gate, then this is an absolute must, you do not even need to waste your time reading this review but of course you are welcome to. If you have played the original BG and are curious about Beamdog’s boob job, I share with you my opinion.
– Real player with 425.6 hrs in game
Classics are often thought to be timeless for future generations to enjoy, but the same cannot be said for Baldur’s Gate—and it’s not because CRPGs are uncommon. To go blind into BG in 2016 is practically impossible because how modern expectations are at odds with the brutal accessibility of ’90s computer games.
Baldur’s Gate, simply put, is an sarcophagus; it is a coffin of a bygone time of design philosophies and of late ’90s player expectations, immersed in the counter-culture of D&D and of fantasy-fiction that is written in its code like hieroglyphics to modern eyes. The game’s reverence is both a nostalgic call-back as well as an appreciation of BG’s systems as a traditional role-playing experience.
– Real player with 203.9 hrs in game