The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep Reviews

The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is ranked in the 28th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
7 / 10
Oct 26, 2018

Overall, The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep gets a 7/10, it is an enjoyable adventure with engaging turn-based combat and puzzle solving but fails too harshly in other areas. Combat can become repetitive at certain points where you fight the same setup of enemies 5 times in a row when it doesn’t glitch out. Some puzzles are overly easy, while others are overtly vague without reason. The difficulty is great throughout, aside from some areas that take a drastic leap. The long list of glitches and bugs ruin an otherwise amazing experience as they plague every corner.

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65%
Sep 29, 2018

The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep couldn't escape the shadow of its predecessors and it also has some unnecessary technical flaws. Ultimately not just younger players that are used to modern games, but also the older players, won't be completely satisfied.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

6 / 10
Sep 21, 2018
6 / 10.0
Sep 26, 2018

Appreciable if you're a fan of the genre but that can be rough or boring for other players. A pretty decent visual and sound section.

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Oct 2, 2018

Barrows Deep is a shaky throwback that, despite occasional success in its stripped-down, straightforward approach, suggests that maybe simplicity and escapism has limitations of its own.

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6 / 10
Mar 21, 2019

The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a frustrating mix of brilliance and bad design. Future updates may elevate it to something more but right now it, sadly, suffers from some broken strings.

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6 / 10.0
Nov 24, 2018

I've been underwhelmed by inXile's previous nod to nostalgia, Wasteland 2, and everyone else in the universe seemed to adore it, so maybe it's me. Your mileage, as always, may vary. But if you're looking for a rock-solid, incredibly challenging nuts-and-bolts RPG with all of the quirky flair of the original trilogy, this isn't quite it.

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50 / 100
Sep 25, 2018

The Bard's Tale IV could be a fun — but seriously flawed — game if it weren't hamstrung by technical problems. Its frequent framerate drops, bugged combat abilities, and crashes are compounded by an archaic save system that makes it far too easy to lose progress. Though it features some great combat and challenging puzzles, they're not without their own flaws, and become extremely repetitive over the game's 30–40-hour playtime.

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5 / 10.0
Oct 8, 2018

The Bard's Tale 4 has some positives and a whole lot of potential but it's also dragged down by a number of design and technical issues. Hopefully, a revamp and optimization helps it realize the full extent of its charm.

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5 / 10.0
Sep 29, 2018

Despite the negatives I found with the game, The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep has incredible promise. The developers are actively responding to all of the customer issues and appear to take these concerns seriously with promptly made patches and ongoing support. I wholeheartedly believe that between constructive feedback from players and well thought out solutions from the developers that The Bard’s Tale IV can become the game it has every right to be.

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Oct 1, 2018

Overly linear and with a lackluster combat, Bard’s Tale IV is anything but an “old-school” RPG. Worth it if you’re deeply interested in puzzles.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

4.5 / 10.0
Oct 1, 2018

Listen, if you're reading this in the future, go and check the recent Steam reviews. My guess is that they will be rather positive on the game. A lot of the issues are tech-related: crashes, geometry bugs, load times, and framerate can all be fixed with patches. As of now? The interesting puzzles and fantastic music are not worth suffering through the bugs, lackluster models, and mediocre combat and skills. If your interest is piqued here, wishlist it and come back at a later time; I have no doubt that this game will reach its potential, but it's just not even close right now.

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GameSpot
Top Critic
4 / 10
Sep 30, 2018

You'll need a lot of patience to make it through InXile Entertainment's nostalgic RPG, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep.

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Sep 18, 2018

Without the bugs, The Bard's Tale IV is okay at best. With them, it's perhaps best to preserve your nostalgia and play the HD remaster of The Bard's Tale I to III instead.

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4 / 10.0
Oct 1, 2018

The poor save system and technical issues combine to create something more frustrating than the sum of its parts. Combat is decent and the music is fantastic, but overall not worth the time spent in the rest of the game. You can instead just listen to the OST.

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Ofisil
Top Critic
4 / 10
Oct 9, 2018

Without the problems that stem from the, evidently, rushed production, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a mediocre-to-good dungeon crawling RPG that's reminiscent of the genre's humble beginnings. With those problems added, however, this is downright annoying, and even unplayable.

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ACG
Top Critic
Buy
Sep 18, 2018
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep Review "Buy, Wait for Sale, Rent, Never Touch?" video thumbnail
Recommended
Oct 4, 2018

An eccentric and charismatic B-movie of a game. The Bard's Tale 4 is an ideal place to puzzle in.

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B-
Dec 11, 2018

Overall, The Bard's Tale IV, after a few updates, is a solid game. A well-done story backed by amazing voice acting and soundtrack makes this game a must for The Bard's Tale fans. Newcomers to the series should enjoy their time as well. Finding it on sale should help seal the deal.

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Not Yet
Oct 20, 2018

Despite taking place in a marvellously detailed, humorous, and lively world, the story of The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep is rather by-the-numbers, and a lot of the game’s design harkens back to the old games in the series in the worst, most rigid ways possible. Further to this, even after a few updates, the game is still fraught with technical issues, but it is slowly being patched, and inXile has a good track record for working on their games to improve them. And the good things that are still present in this game are excellent, like the fantastic writing, refreshing approach to puzzle designs, and beautiful music present throughout. The design could also be tweaked to remove the sting of a lot of the older design tropes that cause the most grief. As it stands, the game in its current state is rough as guts, but there’s a lot of room for improvement, and I’ve faith that it will improve. It will just take time.

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