The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep Reviews
Ultimately, The Bard’s Tale IV is a very good game, but it’s an old school launch in both senses.
The few performance issues aside, it's a game that's hard not to like.
The Bard's Tale IV revisits the classic dungeon-crawling formula from years past, simultaneously showing reverence for its history whilst not being afraid to change it up mechanically. Visually stunning with a wonderful Gaelic folk soundtrack to go with it.
The Bard's Tale IV is a game that puts "fantasy" in fantastic. With its rich atmosphere, charming visuals and medieval aesthetic, it affords a deep gaming experience.
An old-fashioned game in a shiny new package, The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep is a worthy addition to a classic series.
A thoughtful, deep and rewarding RPG, with some great puzzles and a story that may not be groundbreaking, but sure is fun.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a surprisingly deep and rich role-playing game steeped in some old lore. It has some big shoes to fill given the history of the series, and while I'm not familiar with it, I enjoyed what I played. Aside from the stuttering and short learning curve, I was impressed by the game and its overall gameplay. Although, even the learning curve is softened immensely by the excellent tutorial. I'm itching to try more and more of the game and see just what Skara Brae has to offer, and I suggest others do the same.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is certainly a game awaited by many of those who loved the original trilogy, and truly wants to keep the identity of the series in its core while making it modern and welcoming to all the people who have never heard of the saga, or even the genre. Whether or not they have succeeded at keeping the core of The Bard's Tale in this title is still up to debate for veterans, but it cannot be denied that at is price, it's an enjoyable experience that will bring you 40+ hours of entertainment.
The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a wonderful RPG that is immersive and grandiose. inXile Entertainment has done this incredibly well to update the series with modern conveniences while maintaining that classic PC RPG feel. It’s great to see a series return after three decades and be such an entertaining, beautiful, tactical, and strategic RPG that will have players of any skill thinking on their feet. Without having played the prior games to compare it to, its depth and length in every aspect is on par with what you’d expect. The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep will make new fans out of it, and old fans will rejoice in this fourth installment that hearkens back to the original games as if they never left.
Overall The Bard’s Tale IV is a great title. Well drawn environments, dialog and an awesome accompaniment of bardic music make it worth playing for long stints at a time. Adding in elements such as a customizable leveling up system in order to style your characters just right, and the rest of the adventure is simply waiting for you to explore it the way you want to.
At its roughest edges, The Bard's Tale IV shows its retro revival roots in some not so positive ways. It may not be special enough for me to easily overlook these technical shortcomings entirely, but it's an RPG that's brimming with enjoyable, challenging fights, elaborate and entertaining puzzles, and plenty of visual and musical flair. And that was more than enough to keep me humming along contentedly to its tune more often than not.
There are one or two missteps here and there, but The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a wonderful RPG that has to be explored to be understood for the gem it is.
With The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep, developer inXile does a great job of taking all the elements of a 30-year-old series and mixing it up with some modern era mechanics.
The Bard's Tale IV offers a modern delve into a classic RPG format, but sometimes-frustrating puzzles dim the dungeon dive
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is definitely for a specific crowd of hardcore RPG and series fans, and for those, it caters wonderfully. It features a fascinating world and one of my favorite turn-based combat systems in recent memory. That being said, it may not be as appealing to a mass audience due to its complicated nature and glitches. For a franchise that hasn't been seen in 30 years, that may not have been the wisest decision. However, I do hope The Bard's Tale series sticks around because the core experience is great, making the game one of the most interesting RPGs I've played in 2018.
The Bard's Tale IV isn't a game for everyone. Brian Fargo's new production is very old-school, but not archaic or outdated. It respects its heritage and the genre's rules. Still, the fans of modern RPGs could be unimpressed if they don't keep their expectations in check.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The Bard's Tale IV is a little retro pleasure that is hard to ignore. The characters are fun, its universe is rich and the game mechanics are deep. Unfortunately, the game is not up to par visually and looks like something that was released ten years ago.
Review in French | Read full review
Although it doesn't quite all come together, this RPG has some robust mechanics and comber that set it apart.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is not a perfect game by any respect. It's the first mainline sequel to a franchise that is over thirty years old, and this iteration certainly stumbles. However, what is here is a solid game with clever writing, strong characters, and a wonderful world of misfits and misadventures. The game needs patches, and an overall layer of polish, making it feel rushed and shoddy. If you're on the fence, give it some time to get its ducks in a row before you commit to a purchase.
The Bard's Tale IV is a mixed potion that can offer a very fun gameplay experience as well as seriously damaging your nerves! It offers more than 30 hours of gameplay for just 35 dollars, and when all elements are working, it can be fun and enjoyable. But then technical issues kick in and along with a very strange save mechanism, ruin your day! The Bard' Tale IV is surely a charismatic title and if you can cope with its flaws, you can have great fun; but it still has a lot of issues to address in order to be considered one of the elite titles of the genre.
Review in Persian | Read full review