Blackguards

If you're looking for a turn-based strategy game with brutal combat, and you're into managing resources for a team of characters, Blackguards is just what you're looking for. It's a gorgeous game with memorable battles. But because the game's focus is obviously on combat, no matter how pretty the towns are, they feel like backdrops for your character sheets and inventory.

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. The in-depth gameplay and the great dungeon design will give you tens of hours of entertainment and the morale system gives the game a lot of replay value. Blackguards is surely a game that will engulf you and will have you invested in its story for the entirety of the game, and it...

Blackguards is a wonderful tactics game with some rough edges. The core gameplay and character progression elements are easily some of the best in the genre, but as battles tend to drag on and more and more enemies scream “owAUGH,” the interest tends to fade. The story is easy enough to follow and interesting enough to keep players interested, so fantasy buffs should feel engaged the entire time. Even if the sound effects weren’t satisfying, the gameplay itself more than made up for that, and it’s easy to see that Daedalic Entertainment has a bright future ahead of them in the strategy sphere.

There’s also no way to grind out fights for more points so the ones you get from the main and side quests are the only ones you’ll get which means you have to spend them wisely. Investing points in a few poor spots won’t ruin your character, but making too many mistakes will. I’d recommend spending some time reading the detailed tutorial in the game and the videos the developers post on the Steam community page. Unfortunately the in-game tutorial and menus are a bit vague when it comes to certain topics and there’s no easy way to navigate it to find the one thing you wanted to refresh yoursel...

I wish that Blackguards' character progression system wasn't such a mess, because if it worked, I'd be delighted to recommend the entire low-fantasy role-playing package without hesitation. But character development is such an important and defining part of any RPG that this cluttered and confusing system has a big impact on what is otherwise an excellent tactical game with well-designed battlefields.

Having played a lot of role playing games over the years, I’m used to seeing a familiar formula:  you take on the role of a young hero (often with amnesia) who suddenly has the chore of saving the world from an evil force threatening to destroy or take over the world. The characters you would associate with would typically be the noble kind and would do anything to help you out.

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Daedalic Entertainment's Blackguards brings hex-based combat into this year's RPG mix, and not just from Aurelia's spells. Does it provide enough entertainment to RPGamers joining up with this motley crew?

If you’re looking for an interactive board game with role-playing elements, a ton of stats and moderately interesting writing you could do a lot worse than Blackguards. If you’re looking for a proper RPG, look elsewhere. Throw some turn-based combat and XP into Memoria and it’d be more of a Dark Eye RPG than this. 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 ...