Blackguards Reviews
For the most part Blackguards is a pretty enjoyable and engaging time, but there are significant areas that hold it back.
January had quite a surprising amount of turn based strategy RPG's release and despite its slight flaws Blackguards is definitely one you should play.
Daedalic Entertainment have outdone themselves and Blackguards is one of the best adaptations of a pen and paper RPG that I have ever seen, transforming the original into an amazing digital version that still retains the heart and soul of a pen and paper, whilst getting rid of the inconveniences such a game implies.
Blackguards is a monstrous slab of ruthlessly tough yet massively rewarding strategy that fans of old-school RPGs will find impossible to resist. The more esoteric and chance-based aspects of its mechanics and presentation will put many players off -- not to mention a difficulty curve that makes The Shard look like The Shire -- but chances are you already know where you stand.
There's a lot of content in Blackguards, but memorable moments are few and far between. This is a game that feels like it has a lot of ambition, but it's held back sharply but budgetary constraints and, perhaps, an engine so unfamiliar to the development team that they couldn't compensate for its inherent flaws.
Blackguards is not not being recommended. In fact, it is being recommended. However, it is only being recommended to the right people. Those people are the true hardcore RPG fanatics - people who will put up with sadistic combat scenarios that will cause most other gamers to quit and load up something a little less painful.
The development team at Daedalic Entertainment has created an enjoyable experience, but one that asks players to accept its quirks if they are looking for hours of solid but unexceptional role-playing gameplay.
Great graphics, huge, varied and interactive battlegrounds and a quasi-intriguing story are drastically hampered by shoddy RPG systems, flawed combat and terrible customisation. There's a fairly good game here hidden underneath a mountain of broken gameplay mechanics.
Overall, Blackguards is a fun, tactical time waster with a throwaway fantasy RPG plot that does nothing new.
What it all comes down to is this: if you enjoy your RPGs as challenging as possible without being so difficult they are impossible, then Blackguards was made especially for you. If you have the patience to work hard at finding the correct strategy to win each battle and enjoy obsessing over character builds, you may have just found the gaming equivalent of the Holy Grail.
Daedalic may have had the intent to spin a tale of treachery and malevolence with Blackguards, but from the outset you'll find that each character has a conscience that is rarely tested, ultimately weaving an only slightly less-than-virtuous tale. That being said, every encounter is exciting and challenging, and the massive amount of class tailoring gives you plenty of reasons to replay the adventure and sample different character choices. It's a great foundation, especially for a game developer not accustomed to the genre, and I am eager to see if Daedalic can do anything more with the series, be it with a sequel, new content, or tools for players to create their own adventures.
Be in no doubt that this game is tough to play, and - in places - with see you reloading over and over and again as you figure out the solution to some of the more complex encounters. There's a significant amount of gameplay hours and multiple endings, which is reflected in the price, but I would argue that it represents value for money if you like turn based tactical combat.
Though I feel incapable of giving Blackguards the fair shake it would get with fresh eyes, that's ultimately nobody's fault but the developer's. Early access works for emergent play – games like Rust and Starbound where no play session is the same and every update changes the dynamics – but it's ill-suited to more linear, directed experiences.
If you enjoy the Dark Eye Pencil and Paper game, then you will most assuredly enjoy this game. If you are role playing gamer…you will find a lot to like here. With a well-established gaming universe to pull from Blackguards does the Strategy RPG world proud.
There is certainly potential beneath the many unrefined and unpolished layers, but Blackguards does not feel worth playing in its current state. Outside of the combat the game fails to impress in any way and often frustration at the user interface, the loading times or the embarrassingly jerky cutscenes drive the player away.
There is fun to be had and Daedalic have done their best to keep battles interesting, but often things can get very frustrating and it's hard not to come to the realisation that you're just doing the same things over and over again. Daedalic have made two excellent adventures out of The Dark Eye, but they've yet to make a good RPG.
A sort of diamond in the rough perhaps, in that Daedalic did a fine job with many aspects of Blackguards, yet a handful of problems, certainly some more crucial than others, and yet all patchable, keep the overall experience stunted.
Loading times and voice acting drag down a decent title.
Blackguards is a strong RPG with top-notch tactical combat that's let down by some needless complexity and less-than-convincing voice-acting.
While the game is still currently in development, there is more than enough time for the developers to tweak the mechanics and make this a wonderful title that I would gladly recommend to fantasy and strategy fans, but right now, this just doesn't cut it. Hopefully, Blackguards won't remain as a sea of untapped potential. It feels like trying to eat delicious soup with just a fork; it's going to take too long, and there are just no spoons anywhere.