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Codex Preview - posted by Infinitron on Sat 14 February 2026, 17:00:20
Tags: Hooded Horse; MENACE; Overhype StudiosOverhype Studios' Battle Brothers is one of the most beloved tactical RPGs of the modern era, in general and especially here on the Codex. For that reason, although we usually ignore such requests, we just had to take a look at the preview build of Overhype's next title MENACE when we received a key from publisher Hooded Horse a few weeks ago. The task of previewing the game fell upon prestigious contributor Strange Fellow. By now many of you are already playing MENACE on Early Access and chatting about it on our forums, but I think this preview is still an important piece of feedback for the developers. According to Strange Fellow, while the game's combat engine is solid and satisfying, everything else - from the overarching strategy layer to the enemy roster to the setting and tone - just isn't good. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Preview: MENACE
The game doesn’t waste much time in getting you down on the ground and into tactical combat. Once there, you’ll find that in terms of scale MENACE places itself somewhere in between squad tactics and wargames. Each unit you control is made up of one squad leader plus up to eight faceless “squaddies”. More squaddies in a squad means more soldiers with guns which translates into more firepower and more total HP, as a unit is only out of action when every squaddie plus its leader has been killed. Presentation aside, they function much like singular soldiers in similar games – you can equip each squad with two different weapons as well as armour and utility items such as grenades or combat drugs. You also have squad leaders designated as pilots, and these let you bring vehicles like trucks, tanks or bipedal mechs on your missions.
On the battlefield, MENACE is clearly a squad tactics game at heart. It gives you a fine-grained level of control over a small number of units, with action points governing how much a unit can do in a turn. You’ll take into account movement costs, cover level, stances, weapon ranges and even turning costs for vehicles. All your typical X-Com stuff, in other words. And broadly speaking that’s the sort of experience you can expect. Combat is turn-based, but with a twist. Usually how it works in these games is that either all the units on each team take their turn at once (cf. X-Com, Jagged Alliance), or else there’s an interlaced initiative queue (cf. most CRPGs). In MENACE, however, teams take it in turns to move one chosen unit each, like chess except that all units have to take their turn each round. A second thing that separates MENACE from its peers is that there’s no overwatch mechanic of any kind. You can’t set your dudes to await an enemy approach or save up AP to interrupt the enemy. Certain units have an ability that lets them return fire if they’re shot at, but that’s the extent of it.
The combination of these two things makes the combat feel markedly different from what you’re probably used to from these games. You can’t simply set up overwatch traps and wait for enemies to mill into them like lemmings, or send one scout ahead while the rest hang back with sniper rifles and destroy anything he uncovers without the enemies getting a chance to react. The risk with this sort of setup is that neither side has any control of what the other is doing during its turn, which can easily lead to combat feeling static and boring. MENACE’s way of dealing with this is with a suppression mechanic. In addition to doing damage, each attack also builds up a suppression meter on the target, and suppressed soldiers have their AP and accuracy reduced. It’s possible to suppress squads to such an extent that they can’t do anything on their turn, and doing so is central to successful combat.
I’ve always been a big fan of this mechanic in games and find it strange that it isn’t used more. The implementation here is excellent. In general, enemy squads are fairly tough and take at least a few shots to go down, so the best strategy is usually to suppress them into uselessness to make sure they don’t retaliate as you grind them down. Enemies will do the same to you, of course, so combat is often a matter of suppressing the right enemies before they can lock you down. In addition to suppression and accuracy, each weapon also has an armour penetration value, and generally speaking any given weapon is good for at most two of these three things. Assault rifle and machine gun variants are typically good at suppression but do poorly against armour. Dealing with heavily armoured units requires weapons such as sniper rifles and lasers, which typically don’t deal much raw HP damage or suppression. The typical strategy is therefore to suppress with automatic weapons and manoeuvre your can openers around to where they can take down the cowering tin cans. However, since control changes hands between you and the enemy every time a soldier takes his turn, there’s always the danger of something unexpected interfering with your plan, which will force you to delay your suppress-and-destroy dance in order to make a response.
It’s a recipe that feels great to play with. The sense of give-and-go and shifting tides of battle is wonderful – the chess-like turn system means you don’t get to execute an entire plan without enemies getting a chance to respond, and this, in combination with the absence of overwatch as well as the suppression mechanic nullifies the tendency for the best tactic to always be alpha striking the opposition to death on first contact, which tends to plague games of this type. Instead, you get all the best elements of protracted fights where you have to respond to what the opposition is doing. Whether things go wrong or right, they tend to do so slowly, giving you time to turn the situation around or, as the case may be, to mess it up.
[...] If you’ve previously played the demo, most of the above will be old news to you. What’s new with Early Access is a proper campaign, where you wage war against enemy factions, negotiate with friendlies and upgrade your soldiers and gear as you go.
Let’s cut to the chase: it’s not good. There are numerous reasons why it’s not good, but the short of it is that it fails to challenge you, to provide you with tough decisions, to make you feel as though your victories and defeats matter, or to build a feeling of progression.
Firstly there’s the manner in which you take on Operations. There are three inhabited planets in the Wayback system, each with its own biome and each controlled by a different faction. At the start of the game, as soon as you get out of the tutorial, you’ll be presented with a screen displaying the Wayback system, and you’ll find that each planet offers you a single Operation. Choosing an Operation on this screen is what you’ll be doing all game long. It’s your only way of getting into fights, which is your only way of procuring more resources and XP, which is your only way of advancing the story. You don’t discover new Operations, or fly your ship around between the planets, or deal with periodical drains on your resources in the form of wages or loyalty scores or deal with other logistics of any kind. All of that is abstracted away. All you do is pick an Operation from one of the three planets and then you pick another Operation from one of the three planets, over and over again.
This is incredibly boring.
If you think I’m being unfairly reductive, allow me to expound. The missions that comprise an Operation will differ by difficulty level and enemy type, but they are randomly distributed across the three planets and all the random variables like objectives and rewards will be drawn from the same global pool. This means that pirates on the ice planet will look and fight the same as pirates on the forest and desert planets, they will pop up on each with the same frequency, they’ll drop the same stuff, and the mission objectives will be the same. In fact, the differences between the three planets can be summed up as follows: if you go to the ice planet the ground is white in colour, if you go to the desert planet it’s brown, and if you go to the forest planet it’s green. That’s more or less it. I mentioned earlier that maps quickly start feeling too similar. A large part of the reason for this is that all three planets are exactly the same, both in terms of the aesthetics of their architecture and in terms of map layouts.
There’s always around one to three missions available and the only thing to do is choose which of them to do first. You do this over and over and over for the entire game. Unlocking story missions on a specific planet? Unlocking new planet-specific mission types? No, nothing like that. Which colour would you like your mission in today, sir?
On the battlefield, MENACE is clearly a squad tactics game at heart. It gives you a fine-grained level of control over a small number of units, with action points governing how much a unit can do in a turn. You’ll take into account movement costs, cover level, stances, weapon ranges and even turning costs for vehicles. All your typical X-Com stuff, in other words. And broadly speaking that’s the sort of experience you can expect. Combat is turn-based, but with a twist. Usually how it works in these games is that either all the units on each team take their turn at once (cf. X-Com, Jagged Alliance), or else there’s an interlaced initiative queue (cf. most CRPGs). In MENACE, however, teams take it in turns to move one chosen unit each, like chess except that all units have to take their turn each round. A second thing that separates MENACE from its peers is that there’s no overwatch mechanic of any kind. You can’t set your dudes to await an enemy approach or save up AP to interrupt the enemy. Certain units have an ability that lets them return fire if they’re shot at, but that’s the extent of it.
The combination of these two things makes the combat feel markedly different from what you’re probably used to from these games. You can’t simply set up overwatch traps and wait for enemies to mill into them like lemmings, or send one scout ahead while the rest hang back with sniper rifles and destroy anything he uncovers without the enemies getting a chance to react. The risk with this sort of setup is that neither side has any control of what the other is doing during its turn, which can easily lead to combat feeling static and boring. MENACE’s way of dealing with this is with a suppression mechanic. In addition to doing damage, each attack also builds up a suppression meter on the target, and suppressed soldiers have their AP and accuracy reduced. It’s possible to suppress squads to such an extent that they can’t do anything on their turn, and doing so is central to successful combat.
I’ve always been a big fan of this mechanic in games and find it strange that it isn’t used more. The implementation here is excellent. In general, enemy squads are fairly tough and take at least a few shots to go down, so the best strategy is usually to suppress them into uselessness to make sure they don’t retaliate as you grind them down. Enemies will do the same to you, of course, so combat is often a matter of suppressing the right enemies before they can lock you down. In addition to suppression and accuracy, each weapon also has an armour penetration value, and generally speaking any given weapon is good for at most two of these three things. Assault rifle and machine gun variants are typically good at suppression but do poorly against armour. Dealing with heavily armoured units requires weapons such as sniper rifles and lasers, which typically don’t deal much raw HP damage or suppression. The typical strategy is therefore to suppress with automatic weapons and manoeuvre your can openers around to where they can take down the cowering tin cans. However, since control changes hands between you and the enemy every time a soldier takes his turn, there’s always the danger of something unexpected interfering with your plan, which will force you to delay your suppress-and-destroy dance in order to make a response.
It’s a recipe that feels great to play with. The sense of give-and-go and shifting tides of battle is wonderful – the chess-like turn system means you don’t get to execute an entire plan without enemies getting a chance to respond, and this, in combination with the absence of overwatch as well as the suppression mechanic nullifies the tendency for the best tactic to always be alpha striking the opposition to death on first contact, which tends to plague games of this type. Instead, you get all the best elements of protracted fights where you have to respond to what the opposition is doing. Whether things go wrong or right, they tend to do so slowly, giving you time to turn the situation around or, as the case may be, to mess it up.
[...] If you’ve previously played the demo, most of the above will be old news to you. What’s new with Early Access is a proper campaign, where you wage war against enemy factions, negotiate with friendlies and upgrade your soldiers and gear as you go.
Let’s cut to the chase: it’s not good. There are numerous reasons why it’s not good, but the short of it is that it fails to challenge you, to provide you with tough decisions, to make you feel as though your victories and defeats matter, or to build a feeling of progression.
Firstly there’s the manner in which you take on Operations. There are three inhabited planets in the Wayback system, each with its own biome and each controlled by a different faction. At the start of the game, as soon as you get out of the tutorial, you’ll be presented with a screen displaying the Wayback system, and you’ll find that each planet offers you a single Operation. Choosing an Operation on this screen is what you’ll be doing all game long. It’s your only way of getting into fights, which is your only way of procuring more resources and XP, which is your only way of advancing the story. You don’t discover new Operations, or fly your ship around between the planets, or deal with periodical drains on your resources in the form of wages or loyalty scores or deal with other logistics of any kind. All of that is abstracted away. All you do is pick an Operation from one of the three planets and then you pick another Operation from one of the three planets, over and over again.
This is incredibly boring.
If you think I’m being unfairly reductive, allow me to expound. The missions that comprise an Operation will differ by difficulty level and enemy type, but they are randomly distributed across the three planets and all the random variables like objectives and rewards will be drawn from the same global pool. This means that pirates on the ice planet will look and fight the same as pirates on the forest and desert planets, they will pop up on each with the same frequency, they’ll drop the same stuff, and the mission objectives will be the same. In fact, the differences between the three planets can be summed up as follows: if you go to the ice planet the ground is white in colour, if you go to the desert planet it’s brown, and if you go to the forest planet it’s green. That’s more or less it. I mentioned earlier that maps quickly start feeling too similar. A large part of the reason for this is that all three planets are exactly the same, both in terms of the aesthetics of their architecture and in terms of map layouts.
There’s always around one to three missions available and the only thing to do is choose which of them to do first. You do this over and over and over for the entire game. Unlocking story missions on a specific planet? Unlocking new planet-specific mission types? No, nothing like that. Which colour would you like your mission in today, sir?
Read the full article: RPG Codex Preview: MENACE
RPG Codex Review: Shards of the Realm
Codex Review - posted by Darth Roxor on Sat 13 December 2025, 18:25:03
Tags: Shards of the RealmReleased earlier this year, Shards of the Realm may not have taken the world by storm, but any tactics game will find its target audience here on RPG Codex. Bonus points if it also includes base management, destructible environments and mortal turn-based combat.
In fact, community member udm was so emotionally engaged by the game, he decided to review it for the rest of the class. Udm liked the bits that matter the most in this genre, including the general combat and partybuilding mechanics, praised the inclusion of ballistics and terrain destruction, but was less enthusiastic about the faction interplay and general usability. To quote:
But there's more than just these excerpts. To learn more about slaying demons and cultists for fun and profit, you would be wise to check the whole review!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Shards of the Realm
In fact, community member udm was so emotionally engaged by the game, he decided to review it for the rest of the class. Udm liked the bits that matter the most in this genre, including the general combat and partybuilding mechanics, praised the inclusion of ballistics and terrain destruction, but was less enthusiastic about the faction interplay and general usability. To quote:
Combat has a highly kinaesthetic feel to it. Your companions will not be standing around trading blows with the enemy. Instead, at the start, to minimise wounds and casualties, you’ll be employing a lot of guerrilla tactics, hitting flanks and keeping a distance from enemies with stronger attacks. Depending on your party composition, there are many options at your disposal. I greatly enjoyed using my cryomancers to perform hit-and-run attacks, slowing enemies down, then using my sniper (the bow-and-arrow archetype) to finish them off. My dark priest and protector would taunt enemies and distract them from going after my squishier companions. Meanwhile, my light priests took on a support role, regenerating the party's AP as and when necessary (I called them “portable AP chargers”).
(...)
The game is full of skills and features like that which synergise so well across the board. Sure, at the beginning, your guys are only going to be dealing a pittance of damage, but as they grow, they will be able to kill even the toughest monsters in one or two hits. The game gives the player a very satisfying sense of progression, so every level-up feels fresh and exciting.
Furthermore, the game lets you multiclass with no restrictions. Yes, you can mix and match any number of classes you want! Want to have a cryomancer decked out in full plate mail? Go right ahead. Or how about a light priest that wields a two-handed sword? You’re definitely allowed to do that. The game lets you experiment with many different builds that affect your party’s composition and synergy. If you enjoy “theorycrafting”, you’ll find few games that can rival Shards of the Realm.
(...)
Factions and racial differences only matter insofar as mechanical bonuses and superficial geographical advantages are concerned, but don't have any narrative impact (not counting the ending slideshow). For example, you can have orcs in your party but still raid orcish villages without your orc companions batting an eyelid. You can even slaughter innocent villagers from a rival faction just to gain reputation with your ally, and no one but the faction whose villagers you slaughtered will be negatively affected.
More's the pity that there are no diplomatic options, even ones as simple as those in Mount & Blade. Nor does the game make it clear that you need to take sides. You're just told that you need to find allies, and that it's implied the best way to do so is to slaughter innocents from an ally's rival faction; you could solely slay demons and cultists to gain reputation with a potential ally, but it's not as lucrative.
(...)
The game is full of skills and features like that which synergise so well across the board. Sure, at the beginning, your guys are only going to be dealing a pittance of damage, but as they grow, they will be able to kill even the toughest monsters in one or two hits. The game gives the player a very satisfying sense of progression, so every level-up feels fresh and exciting.
Furthermore, the game lets you multiclass with no restrictions. Yes, you can mix and match any number of classes you want! Want to have a cryomancer decked out in full plate mail? Go right ahead. Or how about a light priest that wields a two-handed sword? You’re definitely allowed to do that. The game lets you experiment with many different builds that affect your party’s composition and synergy. If you enjoy “theorycrafting”, you’ll find few games that can rival Shards of the Realm.
(...)
Factions and racial differences only matter insofar as mechanical bonuses and superficial geographical advantages are concerned, but don't have any narrative impact (not counting the ending slideshow). For example, you can have orcs in your party but still raid orcish villages without your orc companions batting an eyelid. You can even slaughter innocent villagers from a rival faction just to gain reputation with your ally, and no one but the faction whose villagers you slaughtered will be negatively affected.
More's the pity that there are no diplomatic options, even ones as simple as those in Mount & Blade. Nor does the game make it clear that you need to take sides. You're just told that you need to find allies, and that it's implied the best way to do so is to slaughter innocents from an ally's rival faction; you could solely slay demons and cultists to gain reputation with a potential ally, but it's not as lucrative.
But there's more than just these excerpts. To learn more about slaying demons and cultists for fun and profit, you would be wise to check the whole review!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Shards of the Realm
There are 26 comments on RPG Codex Review: Shards of the Realm
RPG Codex Review: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sat 29 November 2025, 19:00:42
Tags: Paradox Interactive; The Chinese Room; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2The Chinese Room's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been out for over a month now and it's safe to say it's been about as successful as everybody expected. Despite some who hoped otherwise, the game hasn't been a big enough deal to cause much in the way of entertaining drama or angst. Yet discussion of it on our forums hasn't quite died down, mainly thanks to a small but dedicated coterie of Vampire: The Masquerade enthusiasts who find the game's story intriguing. Among these is Codex staff member Roguey, who chose to break his habit of only playing games a year after launch in order to give it a spin. Those of you who have been following his posts won't be surprised by the summary of his review: Bloodlines 2 isn't much of an RPG and is a poor sequel to the original Bloodlines, but as a story-driven brawler set in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe, it has its qualities. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
Bloodlines 2 starts off with a linear tutorial that does a pretty good job of introducing and explaining the mechanics. It's not long until it becomes apparent how conservative they were with scripting; there was a section where I wasn't sure where to go for a few minutes, and it turned out that I needed to click on a door (that I didn't want to open because police were behind it) to hear a conversation that would introduce the next part of the tutorial. There are other places like this throughout the game, where you might try to sequence break, but the game won't let you; you have to follow the steps it designates. Additionally, when the map opens up, and you have your choice of which main quests and side quests to take, if you start a main quest, the other quests temporarily disappear until you see it through. You can't juggle more than one at a time.
Side quests are another disappointment. Bloodlines had a lot of memorable and unique side quests. Here, you have three different collection quests and three very basic tasks that update with nearly every stage of the main quest. There's one where you simply fetch or deliver an item, one where you use your vampire vision to track down a mortal to assassinate, and one where you go to a specific location and take down a vampire gang leader. They barely have any narrative content and feel like they could have been procedurally generated. There actually is a narrative payoff in the final set of tasks (and there's one additional assassination that ties into the main story about midway through), too bad the rest are phoned in.
As for the world itself, it appears as though TCR combined the hubs Hardsuit made in their version of the game into one open world. Seattle natives might laugh at seeing Volunteer Park right across the street from Pioneer Square; I doubt that's how it was set up originally. While traversing it is fun, I find the world much too large for its own good. There's just not enough content here to justify this map being as large as it is, other than the collection quests, which are as basic as filler content can get.
The interior levels are well-sized and involve a straightforward path with some wide-open arenas. A number of them, though fortunately not all, incorporate some verticality. It feels somewhat like the Batman Arkham games, only without the artificial-feeling distinction between stealth predator sections and brawling sections. The pace at which new enemies are introduced is pretty decent as well - you start off fighting thin-blood vampires who don't have much in terms of special abilities, gradually get introduced to stronger vampires with abilities similar to your own, and eventually well-armed hunters.
[...] As for narrative reactivity, it's not all that different from Bloodlines in that the main quest will always involve the same steps; you just get different reactions based on what you say, as well as a few lines related to your choice of clan. There's also one quest fork near the end; choosing to kill a character will completely change what you have to do in one follow-up quest. It would have been nice to have more of that. It also would have been nice if there were more than two choices in that decision; I would have liked to have the option to simply walk away. I believe it could have been implemented without adding too much additional work, given the particular circumstances.
Furthermore, there are six different outcomes for the fate of Seattle, which are handled solely through Fallout-style ending slides with narration. I've read some complaints from people who didn't get their preferred ending, but I managed to get the one I was working towards on my first try without any metaknowledge of how to obtain it. I recommend paying close attention to what the characters tell you in addition to thinking about the possible outcomes of your decisions. Don't be too surprised if trying to keep everyone happy results in an ending where you're not happy.
Strong character writing was one of the hallmarks of Bloodlines, and I found it strong here as well. To my surprise, I ended up more emotionally engaged than I thought I would be.
[...] Moreover, when it comes to the distinction between major and minor characters, one aspect of Bloodlines 2's story that I prefer over the first is how you interact with the major characters multiple times throughout the game. In the first, aside from LaCroix, Chunk, and an optional ghoul, once you completed someone's quest or questline, you were pretty much done with them. There were a few more characters you'd talk to a handful of times, that was it. This is a more character-focused story.
With regard to the plot, though Bloodlines fans will believe this sacrilege, I find the sequel preferable. Like I mentioned earlier, Bloodlines had some very strong character writing, but the chase for the Ankaran Sarcophagus through a Vampire theme park packed with as much Product Identity as possible ("kitchen sink design" as coined by the principal writer) orchestrated by an extremely powerful and ancient being beyond your comprehension who drops clumsy chess metaphors (the calling card of the pseudo-intellectual) didn't do much for me. Bloodlines 2 isn't more smartly written by any means, but it is more focused and personal. If you're familiar with the setting, you'll find that it does take some nontrivial liberties; Rule Zero is in effect. Additionally, in contrast to other recent games, it doesn't try to explain every aspect of the story, leaving many elements up to interpretation and speculation. Not every thread is tied neatly in a bow, and I prefer that approach.
Before you think me too positive, there is one aspect of the writing I found significantly worse than the first game, and that's the radio show. I didn't find it funny at all. It's written and performed by a left/liberal woman for left/liberal women, and I'm just not part of that demographic.
[...] To dust off an old phrase, Bloodlines 2 is good for what it is - a stealth action game with reactive dialogue - and bad at what it isn't - an RPG and a proper follow-up to Bloodlines. While I personally enjoyed the stealth action, story, music, art, and vocal performances, it's simply far too lacking in RPG systems, gameplay variety, and meaningful optional content. It would have been more dignified for Paradox to outright cancel or rename the project after Hardsuit failed to deliver; too bad for them and all the disappointed Bloodlines fans that the incentives weren't strong enough to do either. Oh well. As far as disappointments go, I'll gladly take one that personally appeals to me and hardly anyone else.
Side quests are another disappointment. Bloodlines had a lot of memorable and unique side quests. Here, you have three different collection quests and three very basic tasks that update with nearly every stage of the main quest. There's one where you simply fetch or deliver an item, one where you use your vampire vision to track down a mortal to assassinate, and one where you go to a specific location and take down a vampire gang leader. They barely have any narrative content and feel like they could have been procedurally generated. There actually is a narrative payoff in the final set of tasks (and there's one additional assassination that ties into the main story about midway through), too bad the rest are phoned in.
As for the world itself, it appears as though TCR combined the hubs Hardsuit made in their version of the game into one open world. Seattle natives might laugh at seeing Volunteer Park right across the street from Pioneer Square; I doubt that's how it was set up originally. While traversing it is fun, I find the world much too large for its own good. There's just not enough content here to justify this map being as large as it is, other than the collection quests, which are as basic as filler content can get.
The interior levels are well-sized and involve a straightforward path with some wide-open arenas. A number of them, though fortunately not all, incorporate some verticality. It feels somewhat like the Batman Arkham games, only without the artificial-feeling distinction between stealth predator sections and brawling sections. The pace at which new enemies are introduced is pretty decent as well - you start off fighting thin-blood vampires who don't have much in terms of special abilities, gradually get introduced to stronger vampires with abilities similar to your own, and eventually well-armed hunters.
[...] As for narrative reactivity, it's not all that different from Bloodlines in that the main quest will always involve the same steps; you just get different reactions based on what you say, as well as a few lines related to your choice of clan. There's also one quest fork near the end; choosing to kill a character will completely change what you have to do in one follow-up quest. It would have been nice to have more of that. It also would have been nice if there were more than two choices in that decision; I would have liked to have the option to simply walk away. I believe it could have been implemented without adding too much additional work, given the particular circumstances.
Furthermore, there are six different outcomes for the fate of Seattle, which are handled solely through Fallout-style ending slides with narration. I've read some complaints from people who didn't get their preferred ending, but I managed to get the one I was working towards on my first try without any metaknowledge of how to obtain it. I recommend paying close attention to what the characters tell you in addition to thinking about the possible outcomes of your decisions. Don't be too surprised if trying to keep everyone happy results in an ending where you're not happy.
Strong character writing was one of the hallmarks of Bloodlines, and I found it strong here as well. To my surprise, I ended up more emotionally engaged than I thought I would be.
[...] Moreover, when it comes to the distinction between major and minor characters, one aspect of Bloodlines 2's story that I prefer over the first is how you interact with the major characters multiple times throughout the game. In the first, aside from LaCroix, Chunk, and an optional ghoul, once you completed someone's quest or questline, you were pretty much done with them. There were a few more characters you'd talk to a handful of times, that was it. This is a more character-focused story.
With regard to the plot, though Bloodlines fans will believe this sacrilege, I find the sequel preferable. Like I mentioned earlier, Bloodlines had some very strong character writing, but the chase for the Ankaran Sarcophagus through a Vampire theme park packed with as much Product Identity as possible ("kitchen sink design" as coined by the principal writer) orchestrated by an extremely powerful and ancient being beyond your comprehension who drops clumsy chess metaphors (the calling card of the pseudo-intellectual) didn't do much for me. Bloodlines 2 isn't more smartly written by any means, but it is more focused and personal. If you're familiar with the setting, you'll find that it does take some nontrivial liberties; Rule Zero is in effect. Additionally, in contrast to other recent games, it doesn't try to explain every aspect of the story, leaving many elements up to interpretation and speculation. Not every thread is tied neatly in a bow, and I prefer that approach.
Before you think me too positive, there is one aspect of the writing I found significantly worse than the first game, and that's the radio show. I didn't find it funny at all. It's written and performed by a left/liberal woman for left/liberal women, and I'm just not part of that demographic.
[...] To dust off an old phrase, Bloodlines 2 is good for what it is - a stealth action game with reactive dialogue - and bad at what it isn't - an RPG and a proper follow-up to Bloodlines. While I personally enjoyed the stealth action, story, music, art, and vocal performances, it's simply far too lacking in RPG systems, gameplay variety, and meaningful optional content. It would have been more dignified for Paradox to outright cancel or rename the project after Hardsuit failed to deliver; too bad for them and all the disappointed Bloodlines fans that the incentives weren't strong enough to do either. Oh well. As far as disappointments go, I'll gladly take one that personally appeals to me and hardly anyone else.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
There are 234 comments on RPG Codex Review: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
RPG Codex Preview: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
Codex Preview - posted by Infinitron on Fri 10 October 2025, 13:08:38
Tags: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era; Hooded Horse; UnfrozenIn an attempt to revive the Might and Magic franchise after nearly two decades of diminishing returns, last year Ubisoft announced that they were producing a new Heroes of Might and Magic game harkening back to the series' roots. Developed by Unfrozen, the studio behind Darkest Dungeon-like Iratus, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era takes place in the original setting of Enroth rather than Ubisoft's own Ashan. In fact, at some point Ubisoft appear to have dropped the game entirely and handed publishing rights over to indie publisher Hooded Horse. Sounds promising, right? Well, two weeks ago Hooded Horse sent us a preview key for Olden Era. Our chief content officer himself, the esteemed Darth Roxor, volunteered to check it out and report his findings. In his thorough preview, Roxor finds that while Olden Era does include a few interesting new features, its procedural map generation is currently badly tuned to the point of breaking the game and its art direction is an uninspired mess. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Preview: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
Now, with the table set with your hero, army and kingdom, we can proceed to what combines these individual parts and makes the series for me – the big map exploration and conquest.
Unfortunately, this is by far Olden Era’s biggest and most critical problem. The map design is unbelievably bad and it negatively impacts all of the aspects mentioned before. Granted, the demo has only randomly generated maps based on three templates, but they are all awful, which would suggest that either the procgen algorithms are flawed, or they’re based on terribly flawed assumptions, or both.
The primary reason for this is that there’s simply way too much crap to collect, fight and tag. You can’t move three squares without running into a cluster of resource pickup + some kind of location + neutral stack on the map. There’s millions of them, jumbled together with no rhyme or reason, and the locations appear to be completely random, encompassing single-time resource boosts, hero stat boosts, creature dwellings, creature banks, or even multiples of those.
To put things into perspective, I calculated the number of certain map features in my starting areas, and I ended up with the following in two templates: A total of 20 creature dwellings, with 6x T1, 10x T2, 3x T3, 1x T4. This doesn’t include creature banks where you can get T6-7 units after defeating some guards, and these are also very common. Add to that 10 skill or stat boosts for your heroes, not counting +1k XP runestones. Then consider that nearly every single feature is protected by a neutral stack, typically composed of T1-3 creatures of various factions, and the neutral stack numbers are also ludicrous. In one game I had a mob of 210 skeletons and skeleton archers guarding a sawmill at the start of week 2.
This oversaturation with features breaks every single aspect of the game. It’s very hard to gauge the economy when you’re surrounded by millions of free weekly resource generators. Hero development, which I named as a better part of Olden Era, likewise becomes completely pointless when you raise a level 20 demigod with tons of extra skills and stats before even leaving your starting area. And most importantly, the game is simply tiresome with all this crap to take care of – you know things are bad when it turns out that even the AI opponents can’t be bothered to collect everything around their capital cities two months into the game when you start knocking them out. It’s likewise bad when you leave your starting area, get another city in a new one, and your first reaction is to groan that you’ll have to sweep the countryside of the hundreds of features again. It’s just not fun. The random generation would require cutting at least 50% of the stuff spawning on the map for the game to be in any way enjoyable. As it is now, it feels more like a neverending shopping list rather than a conquest, as you clear out the same hundred creature stacks over the same hundred locations.
The final nail in the coffin is the awful visual design, which comes back with a vengeance as regards the lack of map readability. Many map features, primarily resource pickups, are completely hidden behind others, while some are so nondescript that they meld perfectly into their surroundings. You learn very fast that relying on your sight alone is not an option, and that your only hope for collecting all the available stuff is to have the ALT key pressed all the time to highlight map features.
[...] To sum up, while I see some potential in Olden Era, I did not enjoy my time with the demo, and I can’t call it a good game in its current state. Parts of it can be fixed to potentially make it a nice time-waster, but I don’t think it’ll live up to its classic predecessors even if I’d be glad to be proven wrong. The flaws and oversights in various abilities and general numbers should be the easiest to improve, the art style we’re unfortunately going to be stuck with, but the maps will be the critical thing for the developers to handle.
That is because whatever enjoyment will be possible to derive from Olden Era will hinge primarily on the final map design. Since there’s supposed to be a map editor with the Early Access release, we can probably expect campaigns with actual handmade maps, which by nature can’t be directly compared with the random ones in the demo, but the flawed principles of the generation algorithm don’t inspire confidence. One thing that may also elevate the campaigns a little is their potential for non-linearity, as the tutorial in the demo uses the campaign structure, and given that it has short scenarios on advanced mechanics that are called “side missions”, maybe optional levels as known from Heroes 2 are in for a comeback. It remains to be seen whether any of that can make Olden Era worth playing.
Unfortunately, this is by far Olden Era’s biggest and most critical problem. The map design is unbelievably bad and it negatively impacts all of the aspects mentioned before. Granted, the demo has only randomly generated maps based on three templates, but they are all awful, which would suggest that either the procgen algorithms are flawed, or they’re based on terribly flawed assumptions, or both.
The primary reason for this is that there’s simply way too much crap to collect, fight and tag. You can’t move three squares without running into a cluster of resource pickup + some kind of location + neutral stack on the map. There’s millions of them, jumbled together with no rhyme or reason, and the locations appear to be completely random, encompassing single-time resource boosts, hero stat boosts, creature dwellings, creature banks, or even multiples of those.
To put things into perspective, I calculated the number of certain map features in my starting areas, and I ended up with the following in two templates: A total of 20 creature dwellings, with 6x T1, 10x T2, 3x T3, 1x T4. This doesn’t include creature banks where you can get T6-7 units after defeating some guards, and these are also very common. Add to that 10 skill or stat boosts for your heroes, not counting +1k XP runestones. Then consider that nearly every single feature is protected by a neutral stack, typically composed of T1-3 creatures of various factions, and the neutral stack numbers are also ludicrous. In one game I had a mob of 210 skeletons and skeleton archers guarding a sawmill at the start of week 2.
This oversaturation with features breaks every single aspect of the game. It’s very hard to gauge the economy when you’re surrounded by millions of free weekly resource generators. Hero development, which I named as a better part of Olden Era, likewise becomes completely pointless when you raise a level 20 demigod with tons of extra skills and stats before even leaving your starting area. And most importantly, the game is simply tiresome with all this crap to take care of – you know things are bad when it turns out that even the AI opponents can’t be bothered to collect everything around their capital cities two months into the game when you start knocking them out. It’s likewise bad when you leave your starting area, get another city in a new one, and your first reaction is to groan that you’ll have to sweep the countryside of the hundreds of features again. It’s just not fun. The random generation would require cutting at least 50% of the stuff spawning on the map for the game to be in any way enjoyable. As it is now, it feels more like a neverending shopping list rather than a conquest, as you clear out the same hundred creature stacks over the same hundred locations.
The final nail in the coffin is the awful visual design, which comes back with a vengeance as regards the lack of map readability. Many map features, primarily resource pickups, are completely hidden behind others, while some are so nondescript that they meld perfectly into their surroundings. You learn very fast that relying on your sight alone is not an option, and that your only hope for collecting all the available stuff is to have the ALT key pressed all the time to highlight map features.
[...] To sum up, while I see some potential in Olden Era, I did not enjoy my time with the demo, and I can’t call it a good game in its current state. Parts of it can be fixed to potentially make it a nice time-waster, but I don’t think it’ll live up to its classic predecessors even if I’d be glad to be proven wrong. The flaws and oversights in various abilities and general numbers should be the easiest to improve, the art style we’re unfortunately going to be stuck with, but the maps will be the critical thing for the developers to handle.
That is because whatever enjoyment will be possible to derive from Olden Era will hinge primarily on the final map design. Since there’s supposed to be a map editor with the Early Access release, we can probably expect campaigns with actual handmade maps, which by nature can’t be directly compared with the random ones in the demo, but the flawed principles of the generation algorithm don’t inspire confidence. One thing that may also elevate the campaigns a little is their potential for non-linearity, as the tutorial in the demo uses the campaign structure, and given that it has short scenarios on advanced mechanics that are called “side missions”, maybe optional levels as known from Heroes 2 are in for a comeback. It remains to be seen whether any of that can make Olden Era worth playing.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Preview: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
There are 106 comments on RPG Codex Preview: Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sat 20 September 2025, 19:29:24
Tags: Hero's HourHero's Hour is a Heroes of Might and Magic-inspired strategy RPG released back in 2022. Distinguished by its lo-fi pixel art and autobattler-like real-time combat, the game doesn't seem to have made that much of an impression on the Codex at the time. One of our users who didn't quite get it at first was the esteemed lukaszek, but eventually something clicked for him and he became a fan. His review of Hero's Hour may explain the game's appeal, which has a lot to do with the sheer breadth of its mechanics, with tons of factions, classes, units and abilities. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Hero's Hour
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The map is turn-based like in HoMM, however battles are RTwP. Your armies have a mind of their own and your role is mostly limited to their placement before combat starts, where you can freely divide stacks and place them on your half of the battlefield. Then you are limited to basic commands like attack/defend for your whole army. Lastly, the game pauses when you're casting spells or giving orders like grabbing nearby combatants and having them advance towards a specific position.
Mind you, this is not a HoMM manager or autobattler, your choices matter and you can learn it quickly during a special mode - Skirmish - and I’d suggest doing at least a few scenarios as a tutorial. By the way, there's a bug with Skirmish where your progress is not saved and you must load and save a regular game to keep it.
Skirmishes take the form of puzzles where you can see the enemy roster and then you are given money to assemble a winning team. It will not be easy as there usually is just one valid answer, with units in this title following a rock-paper-scissors paradigm. In the above example, Goblins quickly close the distance, thus rendering your archers useless, while Halberdiers get bonuses against leaping creatures.
Basic/common types to think about are melee/flying/ranged. Ranged are extremely strong and melee guards will easily intercept anyone charging to disrupt them. Slow enemies might never reach archers as they will backpedal while raining arrows and there are even units like Cannons that feature knockback, thus creating damaging forcefields from a safe distance. Meanwhile flying units will quickly reach enemy formations and lift low-HP enemies into the air to then drop them. However, fliers tend to be rather squishy and one needs to be careful to prevent their loss.
There is a whopping number of 77 such abilities (according to the wiki, might be outdated) and reading them is quite crucial during battle planning. For example, there is a whole aquatic faction whose units don't drown and who have a big advantage during naval combat as they can go through water into enemy ships, and they don't die when pushed overboard into the sea. Normally during naval combat, vessels slowly get into boarding range but ship-hopping is quite limited early on.
There is also a balance to be struck with large creatures vs. armies of small dudes. Nec Hercules contra plures and the best example brings a Delirium unit to mind – a big flying eye horror thingy, which tends to swoop quickly into the middle of enemy ranks where it just as quickly dies. It’s able to attack single targets so big damage numbers are wasted, and in general, that unit requires quite a bit of careful management (which is limited). To mitigate it, many large units get AoE that allows them to deal with crowds, or the likes of the Hydra which can attack everyone nearby. Undead heroes can grant their armies a special skill that allows for overflow DMG to be passed onto nearby enemies. However, going wide isn’t the answer either since if you deploy a swarm of skeletons, the majority of them won’t be engaged in battle most of the time, forever trying to reach the front lines. On the other hand, the iconic Black Dragon is best, a special unit that is not linked to any faction and is big, has large AoE and DMG, and can fly in the middle of a skeleton swarm and burn everyone before they can even reach melee range.
There is a limit to units fielded and it depends on your hero skill, which you will reach within the second or third week and it will start combat with reserves. As your units die, reserves will gradually join. I’d say the unit limit is too high as my enjoyment from those tactical skirmishes is replaced with:
Impossible to issue commands or know what’s happening, really. As such, the only abstractions that still matter are flying/archer/melee, perhaps large/small. Later into the fight, archers and fliers tend to get eliminated so you are limited to a chaotic melee like above and the best way of knowing who is winning is by checking who gets pushed backwards. Technically, there is a bar on top showing unit strength, but it can be misleading. You need to act on being pushed back quickly as defensive positions tend to crumble and you'll likely need to reload and start with different positioning.
It's almost like playing a different game in small vs. large maps (small vs. big army sizes), but even then, I could find enjoyment by running it as a HoMM manager and focusing on how I can break the game.
Mind you, this is not a HoMM manager or autobattler, your choices matter and you can learn it quickly during a special mode - Skirmish - and I’d suggest doing at least a few scenarios as a tutorial. By the way, there's a bug with Skirmish where your progress is not saved and you must load and save a regular game to keep it.
Skirmishes take the form of puzzles where you can see the enemy roster and then you are given money to assemble a winning team. It will not be easy as there usually is just one valid answer, with units in this title following a rock-paper-scissors paradigm. In the above example, Goblins quickly close the distance, thus rendering your archers useless, while Halberdiers get bonuses against leaping creatures.
Basic/common types to think about are melee/flying/ranged. Ranged are extremely strong and melee guards will easily intercept anyone charging to disrupt them. Slow enemies might never reach archers as they will backpedal while raining arrows and there are even units like Cannons that feature knockback, thus creating damaging forcefields from a safe distance. Meanwhile flying units will quickly reach enemy formations and lift low-HP enemies into the air to then drop them. However, fliers tend to be rather squishy and one needs to be careful to prevent their loss.
There is a whopping number of 77 such abilities (according to the wiki, might be outdated) and reading them is quite crucial during battle planning. For example, there is a whole aquatic faction whose units don't drown and who have a big advantage during naval combat as they can go through water into enemy ships, and they don't die when pushed overboard into the sea. Normally during naval combat, vessels slowly get into boarding range but ship-hopping is quite limited early on.
There is also a balance to be struck with large creatures vs. armies of small dudes. Nec Hercules contra plures and the best example brings a Delirium unit to mind – a big flying eye horror thingy, which tends to swoop quickly into the middle of enemy ranks where it just as quickly dies. It’s able to attack single targets so big damage numbers are wasted, and in general, that unit requires quite a bit of careful management (which is limited). To mitigate it, many large units get AoE that allows them to deal with crowds, or the likes of the Hydra which can attack everyone nearby. Undead heroes can grant their armies a special skill that allows for overflow DMG to be passed onto nearby enemies. However, going wide isn’t the answer either since if you deploy a swarm of skeletons, the majority of them won’t be engaged in battle most of the time, forever trying to reach the front lines. On the other hand, the iconic Black Dragon is best, a special unit that is not linked to any faction and is big, has large AoE and DMG, and can fly in the middle of a skeleton swarm and burn everyone before they can even reach melee range.
There is a limit to units fielded and it depends on your hero skill, which you will reach within the second or third week and it will start combat with reserves. As your units die, reserves will gradually join. I’d say the unit limit is too high as my enjoyment from those tactical skirmishes is replaced with:
Impossible to issue commands or know what’s happening, really. As such, the only abstractions that still matter are flying/archer/melee, perhaps large/small. Later into the fight, archers and fliers tend to get eliminated so you are limited to a chaotic melee like above and the best way of knowing who is winning is by checking who gets pushed backwards. Technically, there is a bar on top showing unit strength, but it can be misleading. You need to act on being pushed back quickly as defensive positions tend to crumble and you'll likely need to reload and start with different positioning.
It's almost like playing a different game in small vs. large maps (small vs. big army sizes), but even then, I could find enjoyment by running it as a HoMM manager and focusing on how I can break the game.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Hero's Hour
RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sat 6 September 2025, 17:38:06
Tags: Aspyr Media; Neverwinter Nights 2; Obsidian EntertainmentAfter Aspyr's Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition was announced back in June, it quickly became obvious that this was going to be a low effort release that gamers had little to expect from. Judging by the game's reviews on Steam today, they probably weren't wrong to dismiss it. One man who continued to take the prospect of the Enhanced Edition seriously was the Codex's resident Neverwinter Nights expert Gargaune. Continuing his series of reviews of recent Neverwinter Nights products, he has contributed a thorough examination of NWN2 EE's merits and flaws. The bottom line is that while Aspyr's re-release does actually somewhat improve NWN2's notorious camera, it also drastically increases the game's loading times thanks to a mostly pointless graphical upscale. Here's an excerpt from the review:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition
But enough about all this, let’s get to that one topic you’ve all been waiting for – “have they fixed the camera?!” Bear with me here, we’ll have to break this down piecemeal… Concerning the camera generally, NWN2 suffered from a notorious bug where the longer you went between power cycling your PC, the more character animations would stutter. But even after addressing this (with a restart or the NWN2 Client Extender or the Jade Empire Stutter Fix mod), the game’s camera still suffered from occasional micro-stutters in more resource-intensive scenes, “catching” and hitching as you pivoted the view. While this wasn’t a deal-breaker, it was a persistent drag and so I’m pleased to report that NWN2 EE’s camera is butter-smooth in motion, that part feels great!
The Exploration Mode camera is your main workhorse through NWN2, providing a comfortable way to traverse maps and deal with most encounters. It follows your currently controlled character from an elevated pseudo-isometric perspective with screen edge turning, very similar to the first NWN’s default view, but with two significant distinctions – first, NWN2’s Exploration camera doesn’t just pivot when hitting the vertical screen edges, but also pitches with the horizontal edges; and second, NWN2 omitted having a speed slider for screen edge turning. The latter was a small but persistent annoyance, as the default speed for turning with the screen edge was simply too sluggish.
NWN2 EE addresses this by also linking screen edge turn speed to the slider that controls mouse turning (while holding a button). I don’t know whether this was intentional or accidental, but I’m very grateful to Aspyr because the improvement is major – you can now set the slider to a speed you find comfortable and quickly pivot the Exploration camera, the same way it was in NWN1 and should’ve been in NWN2 from the start. But there’s a problem, and it’s to do with NWN2’s added screen edge pitch… The speed slider affects the mouse turn as well as both screen edges (naturally) and the result is that you’ll often hit the vertical edge by accident, dramatically pitching your camera because you’ve set a high turn speed for your pivot. The fact of the matter is that turning the camera needs a higher speed because you’re usually adjusting for large pivots of 90° or more, whereas adjusting the pitch happens in a much smaller range, just a nudge here and there, and therefore needs a slower speed. So what comfort you gain in turning the camera around is regularly hamstrung in bumping the pitch by mistake.
Which means the Exploration camera is better but not quite there yet. Aspyr, on the off-chance any of you read this, split the turn speed slider into three: one for mouse hold, one for vertical edge turning and one for horizontal edge pitch. For the latter two, make the minimum speed setting actually be zero, as an off toggle, because some players may actually prefer NWN1’s pivot-only camera. It’s a simple fix which would allow players to fully configure the Exploration camera for comfort, making it effectively perfect for your NWN2 EE.
[...] So when assessing NWN2 EE’s graphical spruce, the texture upscales are largely wasted on environmental visuals. From the typical pseudo-isometric perspective, putting CE and EE screenshots side by side invites plagiarism accusations from The Office – they’re the same picture. Yes, the new textures are sharper and you can just about register that when you go in with a magnifying glass, but you’re simply not going to notice much in play. Honestly, I suspect you could’ve gotten similar from a light sharpness shader. And in some isolated cases, looking too closely can even backfire as the resized normal maps sometimes highlight tiling patterns or even compression artefacts in the originals, such as in cobblestone maps. Aside from texture work, NWN2 EE does feature one other visual change with the updated renderer itself – it’s rather subtle, but the new processing usually results in nicer colour grading and scene shading. The deeper contrast can swing the other way in select cinematic lighting conditions but I’d argue the softer diffusion overall provides a more valuable visual improvement to environments than the resized texture maps, and it does so at no practical cost.
The upscaled textures make a bit more of a difference in close shots, particularly with some details on objects and characters – NWN2 features a lot of cinematic dialogue zoomed in on the characters and the EE’s crisp upscales can look a little better in minutiae where the original’s were muddied, like chainmail or decorative patterns on armour. Unfortunately, Aspyr didn’t also bite the bullet on new character head meshes to go with, so you’ll probably still want to use the NWN2 Facelift Pack mod by Xaltar. It’s a missed opportunity because there wouldn’t have been that many pieces in need of remodelling and it’s the one part of NWN2’s meshwork that could’ve really used an update.
But hey, maybe you don’t care about install sizes, you only download it once and you have tons of storage space so it’s all cool, right? Wrong. Because it’s not just the storage needs that have increased, but also the loading times… The game’s startup is just the beginning and, having extensively tested back and forth between versions, I can say that the EE's load times are conclusively bonkers. I've compared the CE and EE like for like on the same hardware and while it might slip past you when starting the OC or MotB, once you hit the larger segments of the game it becomes painfully obvious. For an example, loading cold from the main menu into the Neverwinter Docks area in the OC takes me approximately ten seconds in the CE and some twenty-five in the EE. And the same goes for in-session area transition, as entering Duncan's inn takes three seconds on the CE and ten in the EE, whereas going from the Gates of Mulsantir into town takes five seconds in the CE and twenty-two in the EE. Dropping texture quality to Low curiously changed absolutely nothing, but what did make a partial difference was the recently-published Faster Loading EE mod which replaces some of the upscaled packs with original CE assets, clocking seventeen seconds cold loading into the Neverwinter Docks and fourteen seconds on the area transition into Mulsantir.
In any case, what we’ve got here overall is a graphical upscale that adds precious little in visual quality while tripling load times, give or take. I’m not actually opposed to the idea of an automatic upscale rather than a redesign because it preserves the artistic direction of the original while only making things sharper for modern resolutions, but perhaps the process should’ve better accounted for the impact and where those extra pixels could be seen without squinting. As it stands, the effort isn’t just wasteful but counterproductive and my biggest bugbear with the EE, one that may be more sensitive to address post-launch than some of the other issues I’ve outlined. NWN2 was certainly a resource hog back when it launched, load times and all, but it’s hard to stomach going back to my 2006 experience with 2025 hardware when the game still looks like its 2006 self for the most part.
The Exploration Mode camera is your main workhorse through NWN2, providing a comfortable way to traverse maps and deal with most encounters. It follows your currently controlled character from an elevated pseudo-isometric perspective with screen edge turning, very similar to the first NWN’s default view, but with two significant distinctions – first, NWN2’s Exploration camera doesn’t just pivot when hitting the vertical screen edges, but also pitches with the horizontal edges; and second, NWN2 omitted having a speed slider for screen edge turning. The latter was a small but persistent annoyance, as the default speed for turning with the screen edge was simply too sluggish.
NWN2 EE addresses this by also linking screen edge turn speed to the slider that controls mouse turning (while holding a button). I don’t know whether this was intentional or accidental, but I’m very grateful to Aspyr because the improvement is major – you can now set the slider to a speed you find comfortable and quickly pivot the Exploration camera, the same way it was in NWN1 and should’ve been in NWN2 from the start. But there’s a problem, and it’s to do with NWN2’s added screen edge pitch… The speed slider affects the mouse turn as well as both screen edges (naturally) and the result is that you’ll often hit the vertical edge by accident, dramatically pitching your camera because you’ve set a high turn speed for your pivot. The fact of the matter is that turning the camera needs a higher speed because you’re usually adjusting for large pivots of 90° or more, whereas adjusting the pitch happens in a much smaller range, just a nudge here and there, and therefore needs a slower speed. So what comfort you gain in turning the camera around is regularly hamstrung in bumping the pitch by mistake.
Which means the Exploration camera is better but not quite there yet. Aspyr, on the off-chance any of you read this, split the turn speed slider into three: one for mouse hold, one for vertical edge turning and one for horizontal edge pitch. For the latter two, make the minimum speed setting actually be zero, as an off toggle, because some players may actually prefer NWN1’s pivot-only camera. It’s a simple fix which would allow players to fully configure the Exploration camera for comfort, making it effectively perfect for your NWN2 EE.
[...] So when assessing NWN2 EE’s graphical spruce, the texture upscales are largely wasted on environmental visuals. From the typical pseudo-isometric perspective, putting CE and EE screenshots side by side invites plagiarism accusations from The Office – they’re the same picture. Yes, the new textures are sharper and you can just about register that when you go in with a magnifying glass, but you’re simply not going to notice much in play. Honestly, I suspect you could’ve gotten similar from a light sharpness shader. And in some isolated cases, looking too closely can even backfire as the resized normal maps sometimes highlight tiling patterns or even compression artefacts in the originals, such as in cobblestone maps. Aside from texture work, NWN2 EE does feature one other visual change with the updated renderer itself – it’s rather subtle, but the new processing usually results in nicer colour grading and scene shading. The deeper contrast can swing the other way in select cinematic lighting conditions but I’d argue the softer diffusion overall provides a more valuable visual improvement to environments than the resized texture maps, and it does so at no practical cost.
The upscaled textures make a bit more of a difference in close shots, particularly with some details on objects and characters – NWN2 features a lot of cinematic dialogue zoomed in on the characters and the EE’s crisp upscales can look a little better in minutiae where the original’s were muddied, like chainmail or decorative patterns on armour. Unfortunately, Aspyr didn’t also bite the bullet on new character head meshes to go with, so you’ll probably still want to use the NWN2 Facelift Pack mod by Xaltar. It’s a missed opportunity because there wouldn’t have been that many pieces in need of remodelling and it’s the one part of NWN2’s meshwork that could’ve really used an update.
But hey, maybe you don’t care about install sizes, you only download it once and you have tons of storage space so it’s all cool, right? Wrong. Because it’s not just the storage needs that have increased, but also the loading times… The game’s startup is just the beginning and, having extensively tested back and forth between versions, I can say that the EE's load times are conclusively bonkers. I've compared the CE and EE like for like on the same hardware and while it might slip past you when starting the OC or MotB, once you hit the larger segments of the game it becomes painfully obvious. For an example, loading cold from the main menu into the Neverwinter Docks area in the OC takes me approximately ten seconds in the CE and some twenty-five in the EE. And the same goes for in-session area transition, as entering Duncan's inn takes three seconds on the CE and ten in the EE, whereas going from the Gates of Mulsantir into town takes five seconds in the CE and twenty-two in the EE. Dropping texture quality to Low curiously changed absolutely nothing, but what did make a partial difference was the recently-published Faster Loading EE mod which replaces some of the upscaled packs with original CE assets, clocking seventeen seconds cold loading into the Neverwinter Docks and fourteen seconds on the area transition into Mulsantir.
In any case, what we’ve got here overall is a graphical upscale that adds precious little in visual quality while tripling load times, give or take. I’m not actually opposed to the idea of an automatic upscale rather than a redesign because it preserves the artistic direction of the original while only making things sharper for modern resolutions, but perhaps the process should’ve better accounted for the impact and where those extra pixels could be seen without squinting. As it stands, the effort isn’t just wasteful but counterproductive and my biggest bugbear with the EE, one that may be more sensitive to address post-launch than some of the other issues I’ve outlined. NWN2 was certainly a resource hog back when it launched, load times and all, but it’s hard to stomach going back to my 2006 experience with 2025 hardware when the game still looks like its 2006 self for the most part.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition
There are 61 comments on RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition
RPG Codex Review: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Mon 18 August 2025, 00:49:26
Tags: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint; Trese BrothersCyber Knights: Flashpoint is the first proper PC-style tactical RPG from the Trese Brothers, the culmination of 15 years of refining their craftsmanship. In the run-up to its release back in June, with meaty development updates published on an almost daily basis, the game began to amass a following on our forum, which is always an impressive feat for a primarily tactical combat-oriented title. But for those who didn't follow its development, it's a complicated game to summarize, and the first thing many will notice about it is its somewhat garish generic cyberpunk visual style. Esteemed user Zanzoken volunteered to take on the task of describing the highs and lows of this indie gem to the masses. According to his extensive review, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint excels when it comes to tactical scenarios and character building, but its overarching strategy layer is not as strong, somehow both overengineered and incomplete. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint
Finally, when softer methods of infiltration fail, your team falls back on combat (or runs like hell, which sometimes is the right choice). The combat mechanics in CK:F are not what I would call groundbreaking, but they are exceptionally well designed and polished. Fitting with the theme, the action is punchy and decisive, with weapons doing quite a bit of damage relative to typical HP values. It may only take 3 or 4 shots for one of your mercs to be gravely injured, and permadeath is on by default (though with a generous chance to roll a death save). You don’t get an infinite supply of recruits, so avoiding being shot is a higher priority than in most games, especially early on. There are cover mechanics to help with that, allowing good tactical positioning to reduce (but not eliminate) your odds of being perforated.
Though the core gameplay loops detailed so far are competently designed, they would ultimately fall flat without our mercs being able to interact with them in interesting ways. Luckily, CK:F features an excellent character system that allows us to do just that, and creates the foundation for CK:F to call itself a proper RPG (as opposed to just a turn-based tactics game). There are 8 classes total (with more on the roadmap), each with its own unique tree and a bevy of combat, stealth, and/or hacking talents that are available to unlock. These talents form the foundation of each character’s build, and you can invest additional points into a talent to improve its effectiveness. The game also offers multiclassing, allowing you to flex your creative muscles and look for fun synergies. And to top it off, you can also invest in cyber implants that give major buffs, and in some cases, new abilities. These implants are expensive and require your mercs to suffer some downtime while they recover from surgery, but eventually you can have a team of heavily augmented cyborgs who operate above and beyond the normal limits of human capability.
All of the aforementioned features make character building one of the most interesting aspects of the game. No character can be excellent at everything, naturally, and to succeed at the variety of missions offered you'll need mercs who can tackle a breadth of stealth, combat, and hacking challenges. When leveling I found myself thinking in terms of what role each character needed to play in order to maximize the team's capabilities and long-term success. You begin the game with a crew of 6 mercs, and have the ability to add as many as 12 more as new recruits become available through story missions, recommendations from your crew, and (eventually) a base upgrade that allows you to hire on demand. So unless you run your team through a meat grinder, you should have enough hands on deck to allow for specialist builds that may only be viable for certain mission sets, but will excel in their niche.
And where a character fits into your overall strategy is not purely a decision of what class to take, because most classes (aside from perhaps the Soldier) have a competitive mix of stealth and combat talents to choose from. For example, the Agent EX class has access to talents allowing him to disable security, hide bodies, and throw smokescreens... or he can be a spray-n-pray SMG damage dealer whose bullets rip through enemy armor. CK:F offers you tremendous flexibility, but is closefisted enough with talent points that you'll need to think carefully and prioritize selecting and improving the talents that most benefit each character's intended use.
Finally, this would be an appropriate time to mention the titular Cyber Knight, who serves as your main character and team leader. What turns a normal merc into a Cyber Knight is a rare and unique implant known as a “quantum rider”. Knights are famous in this world for their enhanced abilities, and in practice the class has access to powerful support talents that no one else does, like manipulating the turn order, hastening the entire party, or taking another character’s talents off of cooldown. Knowing when to use the Knight’s talents to tip the scales in your favor is a key aspect of the game’s tactical complexity and something you’ll almost certainly be doing quite a lot of.
In terms of level design, each map is handcrafted and high quality, and there is an impressive number of them. Even though the majority of missions are procedurally generated, the game has a sufficient variety of templates to pull from, with different objectives such as finding items hidden in the level, hacking a secure Matrix terminal, or escorting a VIP to safety. The game will give you a general idea of the level of violence to expect (i.e. "mixed stealth / combat" vs "combat required") and whether you'll need a hacker for the job. But you can't see details like a map or enemy setup, so you have to rely on intuition and instinct to determine whether it's best to try to sneak through or go in hot, and choose your team / plan accordingly. In effect, I was dozens of hours in before I started to feel any sense of the missions becoming repetitive, which is a laudable achievement.
Though the core gameplay loops detailed so far are competently designed, they would ultimately fall flat without our mercs being able to interact with them in interesting ways. Luckily, CK:F features an excellent character system that allows us to do just that, and creates the foundation for CK:F to call itself a proper RPG (as opposed to just a turn-based tactics game). There are 8 classes total (with more on the roadmap), each with its own unique tree and a bevy of combat, stealth, and/or hacking talents that are available to unlock. These talents form the foundation of each character’s build, and you can invest additional points into a talent to improve its effectiveness. The game also offers multiclassing, allowing you to flex your creative muscles and look for fun synergies. And to top it off, you can also invest in cyber implants that give major buffs, and in some cases, new abilities. These implants are expensive and require your mercs to suffer some downtime while they recover from surgery, but eventually you can have a team of heavily augmented cyborgs who operate above and beyond the normal limits of human capability.
All of the aforementioned features make character building one of the most interesting aspects of the game. No character can be excellent at everything, naturally, and to succeed at the variety of missions offered you'll need mercs who can tackle a breadth of stealth, combat, and hacking challenges. When leveling I found myself thinking in terms of what role each character needed to play in order to maximize the team's capabilities and long-term success. You begin the game with a crew of 6 mercs, and have the ability to add as many as 12 more as new recruits become available through story missions, recommendations from your crew, and (eventually) a base upgrade that allows you to hire on demand. So unless you run your team through a meat grinder, you should have enough hands on deck to allow for specialist builds that may only be viable for certain mission sets, but will excel in their niche.
And where a character fits into your overall strategy is not purely a decision of what class to take, because most classes (aside from perhaps the Soldier) have a competitive mix of stealth and combat talents to choose from. For example, the Agent EX class has access to talents allowing him to disable security, hide bodies, and throw smokescreens... or he can be a spray-n-pray SMG damage dealer whose bullets rip through enemy armor. CK:F offers you tremendous flexibility, but is closefisted enough with talent points that you'll need to think carefully and prioritize selecting and improving the talents that most benefit each character's intended use.
Finally, this would be an appropriate time to mention the titular Cyber Knight, who serves as your main character and team leader. What turns a normal merc into a Cyber Knight is a rare and unique implant known as a “quantum rider”. Knights are famous in this world for their enhanced abilities, and in practice the class has access to powerful support talents that no one else does, like manipulating the turn order, hastening the entire party, or taking another character’s talents off of cooldown. Knowing when to use the Knight’s talents to tip the scales in your favor is a key aspect of the game’s tactical complexity and something you’ll almost certainly be doing quite a lot of.
In terms of level design, each map is handcrafted and high quality, and there is an impressive number of them. Even though the majority of missions are procedurally generated, the game has a sufficient variety of templates to pull from, with different objectives such as finding items hidden in the level, hacking a secure Matrix terminal, or escorting a VIP to safety. The game will give you a general idea of the level of violence to expect (i.e. "mixed stealth / combat" vs "combat required") and whether you'll need a hacker for the job. But you can't see details like a map or enemy setup, so you have to rely on intuition and instinct to determine whether it's best to try to sneak through or go in hot, and choose your team / plan accordingly. In effect, I was dozens of hours in before I started to feel any sense of the missions becoming repetitive, which is a laudable achievement.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint
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Codex Review - posted by Darth Roxor on Fri 18 July 2025, 19:49:53
Tags: Moral Anxiety Studio; RoadwardenThe recent influx of all sorts of interactive fiction games ("games", haha) posing as RPGs has brought the community at large various entries to love or hate. One of them, which may have evaded our attention a little judging by the lack of newsposting, was 2022's Roadwarden. Fortunately, this is no obstacle for putting up a review of it as the first mention of the game on the front page.
Courtesy of community member PorkyThePaladin, we're happy to present you an analysis of what sucks and rocks about Roadwarden. The good news is that Porkins is satisfied with the actual interactivity and gameplay to be had in this production, which may just set it apart from the various aforementioned RPG impostors. To quote:
But wait, there's more! To learn everything about Roadwarden and its particularities, you'd be wise to check out the entire piece, as linked below.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Roadwarden
Courtesy of community member PorkyThePaladin, we're happy to present you an analysis of what sucks and rocks about Roadwarden. The good news is that Porkins is satisfied with the actual interactivity and gameplay to be had in this production, which may just set it apart from the various aforementioned RPG impostors. To quote:
So at this point, if you have played Disco Elysium before, you might think this is all very similar, minus the setting. But there are key differences, as mentioned before. While I loved Disco Elysium, it always felt like it was much more about excellent writing than about gameplay (similar to Planescape: Torment, another game that's mostly about the quality writing). But in Roadwarden, gameplay is just as important as the writing, and plays a much more prominent role. You can't just walk around and talk to everyone or interact in other ways as you please, due to the time limit mechanism mentioned earlier. Since you only have 30 days to complete everything on higher difficulties, and because Roadwarden has a lot of key actions that take time (e.g. resting, traveling, etc), there is no way to travel everywhere and do everything at your own pace. Instead, each action and each traveling action become important decisions: do I take five hours to travel to that village in the northwest where I really need to talk to that dude about 'the secret to the hidden tribe', or do I instead travel south for four hours and talk to the grand druid? This has to be weighed against the time of day (if there are only three hours left of daylight, you need to make sure you are near some settlement with walls by nighttime, or there will be hell to pay), some NPCs' wishes (some of them will only see you during certain times), and so on.
Furthermore, with you being a roadwarden, the element of roads plays an important role in all of this. As you explore more of the Dragonwoods, you find various roads and pathways between settlements. Some have to be cleared of obstacles, or of monsters, some have to have some work performed on them, and some have to be opened up by nearby people. Over time, as you perform various missions for the NPCs, and discover new paths, a whole network of roads will appear on your world map, and change how you travel around. So for example, clearing a road from a fallen tree can now allow you to take a shortcut to the settlement near it, and take three hours to get there, instead of the seven it took to reach it the long way around. Finding a hidden path through the woods and unlocking the gate there will allow you to move across the map in lightning-fast fashion. All of these things change your calculations of how to travel around, and play an important role in how you play the game.
Furthermore, with you being a roadwarden, the element of roads plays an important role in all of this. As you explore more of the Dragonwoods, you find various roads and pathways between settlements. Some have to be cleared of obstacles, or of monsters, some have to have some work performed on them, and some have to be opened up by nearby people. Over time, as you perform various missions for the NPCs, and discover new paths, a whole network of roads will appear on your world map, and change how you travel around. So for example, clearing a road from a fallen tree can now allow you to take a shortcut to the settlement near it, and take three hours to get there, instead of the seven it took to reach it the long way around. Finding a hidden path through the woods and unlocking the gate there will allow you to move across the map in lightning-fast fashion. All of these things change your calculations of how to travel around, and play an important role in how you play the game.
But wait, there's more! To learn everything about Roadwarden and its particularities, you'd be wise to check out the entire piece, as linked below.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Roadwarden
RPG Codex Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sat 29 March 2025, 16:25:02
Tags: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II; Warhorse StudiosKingdom Come: Deliverance II was possibly the Codex's most anticipated title of 2025, but then The Leak happened. What followed was a 200 page feeding frenzy that required the forum to be reorganized in order to properly contain it. Compared to that, the game's actual release nearly two months ago was almost a low key event. The game was a commercial success of course, and most of our users who actually played it don't seem to have hated the experience. But focusing on whether Kingdom Come 2 is fun enough to compensate for being "woke" obscures some important questions: Is it a well-designed title? Is it an improvement over the first game? Our reviewer, the indispensable lukaszek, seems to have approached the game with those questions in mind. His answer, in short, is "not really". While packed with all sorts of features and activities, Kingdom Come 2 is ultimately an unchallenging mass market action RPG, with a railroaded story that doesn't really work despite a massive amount of cinematics. He does seem to have had a blast trying to exploit its systems, though. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Stats/skills/perks are all similar in their mechanics to KCD1, although the whole system has been simplified. Attributes are the same. While new skills governing polearms were added, a bunch of returning ones were merged, the overall numbers went down. Feels like there are fewer mutually exclusive perks too.
You won’t notice it at the beginning, but the curtain will fall down fairly quickly. There’s just no planning. All your stats go up quickly, and by the time you leave the Trosky region to finally witness Kuttenberg you will be 20/30 across the board. Reaching the maximum of 30/30 is not a big deal, and in fact you can quickly get to an effective 30. In every skill. In general increases up to 15 feel significant (especially combat ones) and much less so further down the road. If you switch to axes after leveling sword to 15 you will find yourself dead due to not being able to land hits/parry. Meanwhile the difference between 15 and 30 is mainly about dmg output.
Not only can you go the jack-of-all-trades route – you should. Perks in one skill often give bonuses to another. For example, the horsemanship perk Saddler gives bonuses to pickpocketing and repairing shoes. The only exception are weapon skills, so you can just pick your favorite. Spoiler alert – like in every self-respecting RPG, swords are the only choice. Although after reading this paragraph you might wonder if it can be called an RPG at all. Listing systems and cool interactions is what I like doing most, yet I can’t be bothered to even list them all here. I wonder why the devs bothered to implement a potion resetting your perk choices. If you can’t sleep because your horse spends 5% less stamina on roads compared to off-roading – there is hope for you in the final act where said drink can be acquired.
You will acquire every perk by the end of the game. To make matters worse, most of them are not very inspired. Pick whatever gives you flat bonuses. Very few give you actual new actions. The ones that do are mostly in the Houndmaster tree.
Compared to the first game, some skills were expanded - Maintenance became Craftsmanship. Henryk has learnt how to forge swords! Which brings us to another pet peeve of mine: how come your average adventurer becomes the best craftsman in the land? Through magical genetics, you have inherited your foster father’s genes and can forge the best weapons in the entire kingdom. Yes, this barely adult chap is the only entity capable of forging Tier 4 weapons, which bring quite a substantial boost, as can be seen in the screenshot below. Here is the best one-handed sword you can obtain in the game. And you can get it early in the first act, at a point when even Tier 3 items are extremely rare.
[...] My Henryk found his first duo of bandits within 15 minutes of free play by following a curious trail of booze by the road. I snapped the neck of one of them and easily dispatched the other. He was wearing full plate armor while I had nothing. This is a quick introduction to how combat difficulty was lowered and how the economy was screwed. Just like in medieval times, arms and armor is expensive and single merchants are unlikely to buy much from you. I got into the habit of carrying around expensive jewelry/swords to use them as payment instead. Thinking about it, it’s kind of like in Morrowind, where a single piece of expensive equipment can empty a merchant’s pouch. Except here there are more daedric pieces scattered around than you can carry.
If I were to name the best way of making money early on (without meta knowledge), it would be archery competitions: they make money and raise your strength, agility, warfare and archery all in one go.
Still, one should cherish those moments when you’re figuring out the world and striving for better equipment. For me, this is the best part of the series. Even if you want to, there are no shortcuts like running to Ghostgate and stealing 80% of the glass equipment set.
There are 2 sandboxy areas: the Trosky and Kuttenberg regions. All the fun to be had is in the first one when you’re still growing and can run into challenges. Once you reach Kuttenberg you’re an unstoppable powerhouse. What do you do when there’s nothing else to achieve, no room to improve?
For example, in BG3 you start Act 3 and see the glorious titular city. You are max level, fatigued from many hours spent in Acts 1 and 2, but people don’t drop the game there. Powerful equipment is waiting to be acquired, the story becomes more epic, dragons remain to be slain.
There’s no such thing in KCD2. Sure, there’s better armor to be found, but you’ll fix that within a few minutes of hitting a shop. And it’s not going to be that big of an improvement anyway. Writing is nothing to be excited about, and you’ve already had your fun with all the sandboxy activities in the Trosky region (which is huge). Kuttenberg is much larger, though. As a result, I finished nearly 100% of Trosky, while in Kuttenberg I just rushed the main storyline.
You won’t notice it at the beginning, but the curtain will fall down fairly quickly. There’s just no planning. All your stats go up quickly, and by the time you leave the Trosky region to finally witness Kuttenberg you will be 20/30 across the board. Reaching the maximum of 30/30 is not a big deal, and in fact you can quickly get to an effective 30. In every skill. In general increases up to 15 feel significant (especially combat ones) and much less so further down the road. If you switch to axes after leveling sword to 15 you will find yourself dead due to not being able to land hits/parry. Meanwhile the difference between 15 and 30 is mainly about dmg output.
Not only can you go the jack-of-all-trades route – you should. Perks in one skill often give bonuses to another. For example, the horsemanship perk Saddler gives bonuses to pickpocketing and repairing shoes. The only exception are weapon skills, so you can just pick your favorite. Spoiler alert – like in every self-respecting RPG, swords are the only choice. Although after reading this paragraph you might wonder if it can be called an RPG at all. Listing systems and cool interactions is what I like doing most, yet I can’t be bothered to even list them all here. I wonder why the devs bothered to implement a potion resetting your perk choices. If you can’t sleep because your horse spends 5% less stamina on roads compared to off-roading – there is hope for you in the final act where said drink can be acquired.
You will acquire every perk by the end of the game. To make matters worse, most of them are not very inspired. Pick whatever gives you flat bonuses. Very few give you actual new actions. The ones that do are mostly in the Houndmaster tree.
Compared to the first game, some skills were expanded - Maintenance became Craftsmanship. Henryk has learnt how to forge swords! Which brings us to another pet peeve of mine: how come your average adventurer becomes the best craftsman in the land? Through magical genetics, you have inherited your foster father’s genes and can forge the best weapons in the entire kingdom. Yes, this barely adult chap is the only entity capable of forging Tier 4 weapons, which bring quite a substantial boost, as can be seen in the screenshot below. Here is the best one-handed sword you can obtain in the game. And you can get it early in the first act, at a point when even Tier 3 items are extremely rare.
[...] My Henryk found his first duo of bandits within 15 minutes of free play by following a curious trail of booze by the road. I snapped the neck of one of them and easily dispatched the other. He was wearing full plate armor while I had nothing. This is a quick introduction to how combat difficulty was lowered and how the economy was screwed. Just like in medieval times, arms and armor is expensive and single merchants are unlikely to buy much from you. I got into the habit of carrying around expensive jewelry/swords to use them as payment instead. Thinking about it, it’s kind of like in Morrowind, where a single piece of expensive equipment can empty a merchant’s pouch. Except here there are more daedric pieces scattered around than you can carry.
If I were to name the best way of making money early on (without meta knowledge), it would be archery competitions: they make money and raise your strength, agility, warfare and archery all in one go.
Still, one should cherish those moments when you’re figuring out the world and striving for better equipment. For me, this is the best part of the series. Even if you want to, there are no shortcuts like running to Ghostgate and stealing 80% of the glass equipment set.
There are 2 sandboxy areas: the Trosky and Kuttenberg regions. All the fun to be had is in the first one when you’re still growing and can run into challenges. Once you reach Kuttenberg you’re an unstoppable powerhouse. What do you do when there’s nothing else to achieve, no room to improve?
For example, in BG3 you start Act 3 and see the glorious titular city. You are max level, fatigued from many hours spent in Acts 1 and 2, but people don’t drop the game there. Powerful equipment is waiting to be acquired, the story becomes more epic, dragons remain to be slain.
There’s no such thing in KCD2. Sure, there’s better armor to be found, but you’ll fix that within a few minutes of hitting a shop. And it’s not going to be that big of an improvement anyway. Writing is nothing to be excited about, and you’ve already had your fun with all the sandboxy activities in the Trosky region (which is huge). Kuttenberg is much larger, though. As a result, I finished nearly 100% of Trosky, while in Kuttenberg I just rushed the main storyline.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
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RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Doom of Icewind Dale
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Fri 21 March 2025, 23:30:27
Tags: Beamdog; BioWare; Creative Titan Limited; Luke Scull; Neverwinter Nights; Neverwinter Nights: Doom of Icewind DaleBack in 2021, Ossian Studios designer Luke Scull announced that he intended to create an episodic series of Neverwinter Nights modules called The Blades of Netheril that would be a sequel to the game's original campaign starring the Hero of Neverwinter. Its development ended up taking a much longer time than expected, during which Luke also produced enhanced editions of his classic modules from the 2000s, Siege of Shadowdale and Crimson Tides of Tethyr. The decision was made to split the Blades of Netheril campaign into smaller parts, the first of which would be called Doom of Icewind Dale. It was finally released last month, as a new official DLC for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition rather than a free download as originally expected. Our resident Neverwinter Nights expert Gargaune wasted no time giving it a try. In his review, Gargaune finds Doom of Icewind Dale impressive, but not a masterwork on par with Tyrants of the Moonsea. It's clearly the first episode of a larger whole, with some curious choices made with regards to continuity with the original Neverwinter Nights campaigns. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Doom of Icewind Dale
So you arrive in Targos a penniless refugee accompanied by your first henchman, Kinnuki, an elderly Reghed Priest of Tempos (or Tempus to people who bathe) whom you met on the Bremen docks. While not under siege at present, Targos is under lockdown for fear of the monstrous threat to the Ten Towns, giving you an opportunity to explore the place, meet some shopkeepers and companions, and catch up on what’s menacing the Icewind Dale this time. However, this is not the same sort of setup you encountered in Darkness over Daggerford, Targos has relatively little content to explore and you’ll only need to complete one token quest – an opportunity for Luke to hand you some consolation money after stealing your riches – before you’re set loose on the main plot. You depart Targos with twin objectives: tracking down a local hero on behalf of Speaker Kemp and, for yourself, pursuing rumours of a mysterious masked woman seen haunting Maer Dualdon as bodies keep washing up on its shores, ultimately leading you to face down the latest threat to the Icewind Dale and picking up the scent of the Alazander Series' underlying conspiracy by the end.
As has been typical of Scull’s prior work, DoIWD’s worldbuilding boasts an abundance of Forgotten Realms lore and a comprehensive panoply of iconic characters from various related works. The moment you hit Targos, you’ll start running into a plethora of individuals who either reference events or have themselves taken part in the NWN OC, and the module gives you every opportunity to introduce yourself as the Hero of Neverwinter. You’ll forgive me if I spoil one or two minor moments in the very beginning to touch on your party and, aside from the aforementioned hunter-gatherer, you’ll quickly have the option of recruiting Aarin Gend, demoted from Nasher’s former spymaster to your personal thief, or once more enjoy the haughty company of Sharwyn the Bard. Your last henchman you may (or may not) discover later – Blizzard, a mage and secondary character through TotM. There’s one more, but only for the final battle and we need not spoil that. However, your choice of sidekicks will be mostly mechanical, since their journal entries don't progress as quests (only one packs a twist) and they seldom interject in dialogue. Aside from the NWN material, you may additionally mingle with a bunch of characters from Black Isle’s Icewind Dale series and R.A. Salvatore’s novels set in the same region. Those looking for cliffnotes will also be relieved at the return of in-game booklets summarising the events of relevant prior modules.
This is all well and good, DoIWD draws upon source material to provide the player with a rich and familiar setting to its benefit, but then carries on to bring even more references and cameos into the fold, even going so far as to feature a certain “Neomi”... To the writer’s credit, it never gets too much, but there are a couple of moments when it teeters on the edge and meeting a particular fiend mid-game did actually make me mumble “So you’re here too, huh?” You can only include so many before the player starts questioning how seemingly everyone who is anyone has started converging on the frozen arse-end of the Realms for some thrice-damned reason.
[...] Moving on from combat, skill and ability checks feature with some regularity in dialogue interactions and can lead to different narrative and mechanical outcomes, though I’m sad to say I kept Charm memorised through the whole adventure and never got a chance to use it in dialogue like at the Bron’s tower in TotM. Most agency faces limited, immediate consequences, such as avoiding a fight or extracting additional pay, though some can access or terminate additional plot and quest opportunities – for example, stiffing the mage Jaluth on her optional task will close off a follow-up quest involving the dragons in the next area. Another interesting affordance consists of roleplaying options to murder a couple of mages, which will also provide you with spellbooks that Blizzard can use to swap her repertoire, but at the cost of losing merchants and possibly other repercussions further down the line…
Of course, just because you can talk yourself around a fight doesn't necessarily make it the most profitable solution. When tasked by the Red Wizard Marcos to "gently" evict a meddling duergar's party from his lair, I chose to try Persuasion on a lark, seeing as my skills were middling in that department. Shockingly, I succeeded, netting me a bonus 250XP and the duergar left peacefully, but Marcos complained that hadn't been our deal, awarding me another 1500XP while withholding the promised magical item. Since I hadn't actually intended on persuading the dwarf, I took the liberty to reload and began blasting – not only did I get Marcos' full reward, but I butchered more than 250XP from the enemy corpses plus turned up a small treasure trove of useful gear. So always remember that the RP in RPG stands for roleplaying, but the G stands for greed!
The module also features automatic Search checks here and there as you roam around, and passing them may reveal a tucked-away chest or a fresh corpse for you to rob. I’m chuffed to say DoIWD does this correctly, like in Swordflight or Pathfinder: Kingmaker, meaning the hidden object is only discovered on a successful check and will otherwise give no indication of its presence so as not to invite the player trying to game the system. And yes, that was a stab at Baldur’s Gate 3. Aside from that, a thorough explorer will be rewarded in knocking on every door they come across, as the odd hut or barn may turn up a valuable item on inspection, although the game shows no rolls here.
[...] What Scull's been strong at in the past – worldbuilding, dialogue, art direction – is similarly superb in DoIWD, but what didn't necessarily excel before is much the same and one or two aspects would bear course-correction. Going forward in TBoN, I’d like to see proper dungeon-crawling make a return, perhaps a slightly more modular scope to open-world exploration, and I’d advise treading lightly around the continuities of related adventures. Where we go from here is interesting – as a series of fan modules, TBoN was originally intended to comprise of seven smaller installments, though the author’s suggested a publishing deal might require consolidating DoIWD’s follow-up content into two larger chapters instead. Personally, I feel like a broader chapter scope could accommodate a more open structure if the narrative allows and I’d prefer it that way, but in any case, I hope we won’t have to wait as long to find out given where DoIWD leaves things. Whether the completed series can steal that “definitive single-player NWN experience” accolade I awarded TotM is still in the running, and with the artistry already in such good shape, I suspect the answer will hinge primarily on matching gameplay fortes.
In summary, Doom of Icewind Dale is an exciting adventure delivering strong plot-driven action with a high grade of aesthetic polish and, while just this opening chapter can’t bowl me over the way Tyrants of the Moonsea or Darkness over Daggerford did, it’s absolutely worthwhile on its own and generously indulges that certain nostalgia for a beloved piece of D&D history. As a fan-module-turned-DLC, it doesn’t meet the scope and production values of the flagship expansions, but it pulls ahead of other Premium Modules like Wyvern Crown of Cormyr or Pirates of the Sword Coast and the €8 RRP is fair value for the quality and runtime of content on offer. For my part, I came away well impressed and eager for the next installment, and if you care to follow suit, Doom of Icewind Dale is available on any storefront of your choosing, so long as it’s either GOG or Steam.
As has been typical of Scull’s prior work, DoIWD’s worldbuilding boasts an abundance of Forgotten Realms lore and a comprehensive panoply of iconic characters from various related works. The moment you hit Targos, you’ll start running into a plethora of individuals who either reference events or have themselves taken part in the NWN OC, and the module gives you every opportunity to introduce yourself as the Hero of Neverwinter. You’ll forgive me if I spoil one or two minor moments in the very beginning to touch on your party and, aside from the aforementioned hunter-gatherer, you’ll quickly have the option of recruiting Aarin Gend, demoted from Nasher’s former spymaster to your personal thief, or once more enjoy the haughty company of Sharwyn the Bard. Your last henchman you may (or may not) discover later – Blizzard, a mage and secondary character through TotM. There’s one more, but only for the final battle and we need not spoil that. However, your choice of sidekicks will be mostly mechanical, since their journal entries don't progress as quests (only one packs a twist) and they seldom interject in dialogue. Aside from the NWN material, you may additionally mingle with a bunch of characters from Black Isle’s Icewind Dale series and R.A. Salvatore’s novels set in the same region. Those looking for cliffnotes will also be relieved at the return of in-game booklets summarising the events of relevant prior modules.
This is all well and good, DoIWD draws upon source material to provide the player with a rich and familiar setting to its benefit, but then carries on to bring even more references and cameos into the fold, even going so far as to feature a certain “Neomi”... To the writer’s credit, it never gets too much, but there are a couple of moments when it teeters on the edge and meeting a particular fiend mid-game did actually make me mumble “So you’re here too, huh?” You can only include so many before the player starts questioning how seemingly everyone who is anyone has started converging on the frozen arse-end of the Realms for some thrice-damned reason.
[...] Moving on from combat, skill and ability checks feature with some regularity in dialogue interactions and can lead to different narrative and mechanical outcomes, though I’m sad to say I kept Charm memorised through the whole adventure and never got a chance to use it in dialogue like at the Bron’s tower in TotM. Most agency faces limited, immediate consequences, such as avoiding a fight or extracting additional pay, though some can access or terminate additional plot and quest opportunities – for example, stiffing the mage Jaluth on her optional task will close off a follow-up quest involving the dragons in the next area. Another interesting affordance consists of roleplaying options to murder a couple of mages, which will also provide you with spellbooks that Blizzard can use to swap her repertoire, but at the cost of losing merchants and possibly other repercussions further down the line…
Of course, just because you can talk yourself around a fight doesn't necessarily make it the most profitable solution. When tasked by the Red Wizard Marcos to "gently" evict a meddling duergar's party from his lair, I chose to try Persuasion on a lark, seeing as my skills were middling in that department. Shockingly, I succeeded, netting me a bonus 250XP and the duergar left peacefully, but Marcos complained that hadn't been our deal, awarding me another 1500XP while withholding the promised magical item. Since I hadn't actually intended on persuading the dwarf, I took the liberty to reload and began blasting – not only did I get Marcos' full reward, but I butchered more than 250XP from the enemy corpses plus turned up a small treasure trove of useful gear. So always remember that the RP in RPG stands for roleplaying, but the G stands for greed!
The module also features automatic Search checks here and there as you roam around, and passing them may reveal a tucked-away chest or a fresh corpse for you to rob. I’m chuffed to say DoIWD does this correctly, like in Swordflight or Pathfinder: Kingmaker, meaning the hidden object is only discovered on a successful check and will otherwise give no indication of its presence so as not to invite the player trying to game the system. And yes, that was a stab at Baldur’s Gate 3. Aside from that, a thorough explorer will be rewarded in knocking on every door they come across, as the odd hut or barn may turn up a valuable item on inspection, although the game shows no rolls here.
[...] What Scull's been strong at in the past – worldbuilding, dialogue, art direction – is similarly superb in DoIWD, but what didn't necessarily excel before is much the same and one or two aspects would bear course-correction. Going forward in TBoN, I’d like to see proper dungeon-crawling make a return, perhaps a slightly more modular scope to open-world exploration, and I’d advise treading lightly around the continuities of related adventures. Where we go from here is interesting – as a series of fan modules, TBoN was originally intended to comprise of seven smaller installments, though the author’s suggested a publishing deal might require consolidating DoIWD’s follow-up content into two larger chapters instead. Personally, I feel like a broader chapter scope could accommodate a more open structure if the narrative allows and I’d prefer it that way, but in any case, I hope we won’t have to wait as long to find out given where DoIWD leaves things. Whether the completed series can steal that “definitive single-player NWN experience” accolade I awarded TotM is still in the running, and with the artistry already in such good shape, I suspect the answer will hinge primarily on matching gameplay fortes.
In summary, Doom of Icewind Dale is an exciting adventure delivering strong plot-driven action with a high grade of aesthetic polish and, while just this opening chapter can’t bowl me over the way Tyrants of the Moonsea or Darkness over Daggerford did, it’s absolutely worthwhile on its own and generously indulges that certain nostalgia for a beloved piece of D&D history. As a fan-module-turned-DLC, it doesn’t meet the scope and production values of the flagship expansions, but it pulls ahead of other Premium Modules like Wyvern Crown of Cormyr or Pirates of the Sword Coast and the €8 RRP is fair value for the quality and runtime of content on offer. For my part, I came away well impressed and eager for the next installment, and if you care to follow suit, Doom of Icewind Dale is available on any storefront of your choosing, so long as it’s either GOG or Steam.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Doom of Icewind Dale
There are 81 comments on RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Doom of Icewind Dale
RPG Codex GOTY 2024: Results & Cool Graphs
Community - posted by felipepepe on Sun 16 March 2025, 11:32:34
Tags: GOTY 2024Here we are again, it's time for the RPG Codex best RPGs of 2024!
This is our third year going back to a Codex-only vote, on a 1-5 scale. In total, we had 268 votes (as opposed to 430 last year), voting on 179 RPGs (162 last year).
For those of you who just want the TL;DR, here are the winners:
RPG CODEX'S 2024 GOTYs:
#1 - SKALD: Against the Black Priory
#2 - Drova - Forsaken Kin
#3 - Felvidek
For the full results and fancy graphs, just follow this link:
Read the full article: RPG Codex GOTY 2024: Results & Cool Graphs
This is our third year going back to a Codex-only vote, on a 1-5 scale. In total, we had 268 votes (as opposed to 430 last year), voting on 179 RPGs (162 last year).
For those of you who just want the TL;DR, here are the winners:
RPG CODEX'S 2024 GOTYs:
#1 - SKALD: Against the Black Priory
#2 - Drova - Forsaken Kin
#3 - Felvidek
For the full results and fancy graphs, just follow this link:
Read the full article: RPG Codex GOTY 2024: Results & Cool Graphs
There are 247 comments on RPG Codex GOTY 2024: Results & Cool Graphs
RPG Codex Review: Caves of Qud
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sun 22 December 2024, 00:17:05
Tags: Caves of Qud; Freehold GamesCaves of Qud is a roguelike by developer Freehold Games released earlier this month after 17 years of development. The Codex has never really been a roguelike-oriented community, but Qud nevertheless managed to become an anticipated title among the genre's fans on the forum throughout its years in beta and Early Access. Or at least it was until a a couple of, uh, events in recent years marred its reputation. Some however pay less attention to such things, among them esteemed member buffalo bill who decided to write an extensive review of the game. Like other roguelikes of its type, Caves of Qud is packed with interesting features, but what makes it stand out is its Gamma World-esque post-apocalyptic science fantasy setting. It sounds like a good entrypoint for genre newcomers. Here's an excerpt from the review:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Caves of Qud
Caves of Qud (‘CoQ’ henceforth) is an open-world roguelike RPG made by Freehold Games, and was released on December 5, 2024 after fifteen years of development. The only other release from this studio is a game called Sproggiwood from 2014, but Caves of Qud seems to have been their primary focus. As a roguelike in the traditional sense, this game features a top-down perspective, simultaneous turn-based action, deep mechanics, a great deal of player agency, procedural generation, and minimal graphics. I love traditional roguelikes like ADOM, and have been playing the EA version of CoQ for several years, so I have been looking forward to its full release for a long time.
The game styles itself as a “retro futurist fantasy”, and clearly is inspired by tabletop RPGs like Gamma World or certain GURPS settings. It is set in a long-in-the-future post-apocalyptic Earth. Unlike the desolate post-apocalyptic settings of Fallout or Dark Sun, which depict uninhabitable and barren landscapes, in CoQ the natural world is thriving, and intelligent and non-intelligent mutant creatures have evolved to fill the void left by a nearly-eradicated humanity.
You frequently come across remnants of the old world in the form of ancient high tech gadgets (“artifacts” until identified), robots, and computers. Sometimes the computers and robots are worshipped by NPCs, such as pygmies (“Naphtaali”) who are led through the jungles by their chrome idol, or the Mechanamists who throw artifacts in a well or worship a deep-underground computer. Mutated creatures are everywhere, and often have strange abilities. For instance, the twinning lamprey (or the more dangerous trining lamprey) come in pairs, and killing just one of the pair causes a new lamprey to materialize near its brethren.
Among the mutated creatures are familiar genre staples like giant bugs and lizards and hyenas and frogs and baboons, but also stranger beings like boulder giants (“Cragmensch”) who hurl pieces of themselves at you and sometimes bleed gemstones, barbarous and often psychic goatfolk, Dune-inspired cyclopean worms which roam the desert, plants and fungi of various levels of intelligence and mercantile interest (the “Consortium of Phyta” faction is a group of trade-obsessed plants), quilled albino cave bears, a tree of somewhat-hive-minded crystalline leaves, and so on. By my count, the number of broad types of NPCs is sixty, with each broad type typically composed of many specific creatures with unique stats and abilities and behaviors. For instance, just the insects have twenty three specific creatures.
The faction system allows the PC to befriend or make enemies with anyone in the game. Higher reputation leads to less aggressive behavior by the members of that faction, and lower reputation leads to more aggressive behavior. Factions have holy places which they will not let you into without violence if your reputation is too low. The PC can increase reputation by performing the “water ritual” with legendary creatures, which involves offering that creature your water (water also serves as this world's base currency, and must be consumed to stay alive). You can also offer secrets in exchange for a gain in reputation.
You can obtain secrets, or ask the legendary creature to join you, or learn psychic powers, or normal abilities, or food recipes, or crafting instructions, in exchange for loss of reputation. Some secrets (like the locations of certain legendary items or the “Cradles” of some of the ancient titanic agents of the apocalypse) are almost impossible to obtain without trading for that secret from a legendary creature of a relevant faction, and sometimes it is very hard to increase reputation with that faction (I’m thinking of trolls in particular, which have exactly three legendary creatures in the game). Killing a legendary creature costs reputation with its faction and factions who like that creature, but gains reputation with factions who hate that creature. Like nearly all of CoQ’s systems, this system is quite deep and unique.
The gameworld consists of a mix of handmade and procedurally generated locations. One issue I have with the game is the procedural map generation. Compared to some roguelikes like DoomRL or Infra Arcana, maps in CoQ sometimes feel a bit too random and relatively less interesting in layout. However, the procedural map generation is much better in plot-critical locations like Golgotha, which consists of a series of conveyor belts and different sorts of dangers as one descends, or Bethesda Susa, which has four floors that are always the same, and overall a unique feel in the gameworld compared to other dungeons. Most of the major cities are handcrafted rather than procedurally generated.
The game styles itself as a “retro futurist fantasy”, and clearly is inspired by tabletop RPGs like Gamma World or certain GURPS settings. It is set in a long-in-the-future post-apocalyptic Earth. Unlike the desolate post-apocalyptic settings of Fallout or Dark Sun, which depict uninhabitable and barren landscapes, in CoQ the natural world is thriving, and intelligent and non-intelligent mutant creatures have evolved to fill the void left by a nearly-eradicated humanity.
You frequently come across remnants of the old world in the form of ancient high tech gadgets (“artifacts” until identified), robots, and computers. Sometimes the computers and robots are worshipped by NPCs, such as pygmies (“Naphtaali”) who are led through the jungles by their chrome idol, or the Mechanamists who throw artifacts in a well or worship a deep-underground computer. Mutated creatures are everywhere, and often have strange abilities. For instance, the twinning lamprey (or the more dangerous trining lamprey) come in pairs, and killing just one of the pair causes a new lamprey to materialize near its brethren.
Among the mutated creatures are familiar genre staples like giant bugs and lizards and hyenas and frogs and baboons, but also stranger beings like boulder giants (“Cragmensch”) who hurl pieces of themselves at you and sometimes bleed gemstones, barbarous and often psychic goatfolk, Dune-inspired cyclopean worms which roam the desert, plants and fungi of various levels of intelligence and mercantile interest (the “Consortium of Phyta” faction is a group of trade-obsessed plants), quilled albino cave bears, a tree of somewhat-hive-minded crystalline leaves, and so on. By my count, the number of broad types of NPCs is sixty, with each broad type typically composed of many specific creatures with unique stats and abilities and behaviors. For instance, just the insects have twenty three specific creatures.
The faction system allows the PC to befriend or make enemies with anyone in the game. Higher reputation leads to less aggressive behavior by the members of that faction, and lower reputation leads to more aggressive behavior. Factions have holy places which they will not let you into without violence if your reputation is too low. The PC can increase reputation by performing the “water ritual” with legendary creatures, which involves offering that creature your water (water also serves as this world's base currency, and must be consumed to stay alive). You can also offer secrets in exchange for a gain in reputation.
You can obtain secrets, or ask the legendary creature to join you, or learn psychic powers, or normal abilities, or food recipes, or crafting instructions, in exchange for loss of reputation. Some secrets (like the locations of certain legendary items or the “Cradles” of some of the ancient titanic agents of the apocalypse) are almost impossible to obtain without trading for that secret from a legendary creature of a relevant faction, and sometimes it is very hard to increase reputation with that faction (I’m thinking of trolls in particular, which have exactly three legendary creatures in the game). Killing a legendary creature costs reputation with its faction and factions who like that creature, but gains reputation with factions who hate that creature. Like nearly all of CoQ’s systems, this system is quite deep and unique.
The gameworld consists of a mix of handmade and procedurally generated locations. One issue I have with the game is the procedural map generation. Compared to some roguelikes like DoomRL or Infra Arcana, maps in CoQ sometimes feel a bit too random and relatively less interesting in layout. However, the procedural map generation is much better in plot-critical locations like Golgotha, which consists of a series of conveyor belts and different sorts of dangers as one descends, or Bethesda Susa, which has four floors that are always the same, and overall a unique feel in the gameworld compared to other dungeons. Most of the major cities are handcrafted rather than procedurally generated.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Caves of Qud
RPG Codex Review: Svarog's Dream
Codex Review - posted by Darth Roxor on Wed 25 September 2024, 20:52:14
Tags: Svarog's Dream; VI Game ForgeSuka blyat, all stand to attention! Is game of Eastern European origin, and RPG Codex has review of it!
Thanks to the priceless input of comrade BosanskiSeljak, you can now learn of the ultimate slavic experience presented by Svarog's Dream, a deep and complex RPG (because that's what they always are) made by two people you've never heard about.
Comrade reviewer praises the game's many satisfying aspects, such as the world design and reactivity as well as the unorthodox approach to character death, but seems less enthusiastic about the combat and general production values, as the entire budget was a crate of vodka and five kilograms of potato. In his own words:
Klassikal literary works are unnecessary as long as I can reincarnate as Yuri Gagarin and conquer the unknown world. But still more important information is included in the review, and you would be wise to read it. Or else!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Svarog's Dream
Thanks to the priceless input of comrade BosanskiSeljak, you can now learn of the ultimate slavic experience presented by Svarog's Dream, a deep and complex RPG (because that's what they always are) made by two people you've never heard about.
Comrade reviewer praises the game's many satisfying aspects, such as the world design and reactivity as well as the unorthodox approach to character death, but seems less enthusiastic about the combat and general production values, as the entire budget was a crate of vodka and five kilograms of potato. In his own words:
The standout feature of Svarog’s Dream is its ever-changing world, which reacts to random events and player choices, extending beyond the main narrative. Each playthrough will have unique scenarios, and I could easily provide multiple examples for every small action that causes a reaction just from a single (experimental) playthrough. There are several systems incorporated into the game to achieve this.
(...)
While the actual mechanics of combat in Svarog’s Dream are average, the system benefits greatly from the well crafted world and character building. Isometric action combat with auto-attacks, occasional kiting and active abilities running on cooldowns is the quick synopsis on what to expect. An additional mechanic is the spirit form, which allows you to leave your body and scout out an area (while you remain vulnerable). Death is a massive penalty in this game so the use of the spirit form is essential to many builds for a reason that will soon come apparent. This provides a small boost to somewhat lacking combat and lets you prepare and position yourself for fights.(...)
If your character dies, you’re returned to Veles who sends you out to inhabit a new body, giving you three new choices. Virtues and character level remain intact, while Attributes & Talents are replaced by the next character you choose. Your previous character's corpse remains on the map permanently with your old inventory, and looting it will leave the nude corpse behind as you carry on with your mission. There is no way to game the system as death-scumming is discouraged by design. Consistently dying does buff the attributes of your next character choices, but has unforeseen consequences on the world, raising the difficulty as a result.(...)
This is a very consistent game across the board, but as with any ambitious project by a small team with a lack of budget, there will be some misses. Visually, Svarog’s Dream is lacking, and while the sound design alleviates that to some extent, there are lackluster moments with combat being the main culprit. I do not get close to the same feeling walking through villages here as I did with The Witcher, the most atmospheric non-Western fantasy game I've played to date. Additionally as previously stated in the story section, there are mistakes and it's written by a non-native speaker so you won’t find a classical literary work here, which hampers the flow of dialogue.Klassikal literary works are unnecessary as long as I can reincarnate as Yuri Gagarin and conquer the unknown world. But still more important information is included in the review, and you would be wise to read it. Or else!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Svarog's Dream
RPG Codex Review: Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is like the best goddamned game ever made
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Tue 3 September 2024, 00:03:56
Tags: Dandylion; Troubleshooter: Abandoned ChildrenWe could easily have missed the Korean crimefighting tactical RPG Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children when it was released back in 2020, hiding over there in the JRPG forum with its anime graphics and dodgy online features. But we didn't, and the game made its mark, earning the prestigious third place in our GOTY poll for that year. Troubleshooter's landmark feature is its incredibly elaborate character system, which is based on collecting abilities from defeated enemies as item drops. Even forum veteran Grunker, an inveterate hater of anime aesthetics in all their aspects, found the game to be a masterpiece of system design. He contributed this review after spending a cool 308 hours playing it.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is like the best goddamned game ever made
The beating heart of Troubleshooter’s interconnected web of system design is Masteries. At their base level, Masteries function much like feats in Dungeons & Dragons - that is, as your character gains levels, you pick more Masteries and add them to your character sheet. Unlike feats, though, masteries have a point cost, can be switched in and out almost freely at any point outside of missions, and each belongs to one of five types (Basic, Attack, Ability, Support or Defense). A character’s training points determine how many masteries they can equip – so, say, a character with 10 training points could equip Breakthrough (3 points), Final Blow (3 points) and Mutant (4 points). Furthermore, each character has a Property Limit for each type of mastery. If our character with 10 training points from before had an Attack Property Limit of 5, he wouldn’t be able to equip both Breakthrough (3 points) and Final Blow (3 points) despite having 10 training points, because they are both Attack masteries, sum up to 6 points and his Attack Property Limit is only 5.
Each mastery adds unique effects to your character – for example, the aforementioned Breakthrough halves the Block rating of anyone trying to defend against your attacks, while Mutant turns every single debuff affecting you into a random buff at the end of your turn – but the real twist here is that if you combine certain sets of four masteries, you activate a Mastery Set. These special sets add their own effects to your character which can be anything from just granting you a flat HP bonus, to modifying one or two of the masteries that activated it, adding entirely new abilities or passive effects to your character. These mastery sets are not shown anywhere until you discover them for yourself, and I highly encourage you to play Troubleshooter blind here – at least for the main game – as there’s a very puzzle solving-like joy in identifying and finding powerful mastery sets on your own.
To draw another parallel to D&D, Mastery Sets are kind of like if you picked four feats in D&D and picking those specific, four feats added an additional, fifth feat to your character.
In addition, most of the masteries in Troubleshooter come from a shared pool of 'Common' masteries that can be equipped by any character with no prerequisites. There are class-, race- and type-masteries, but beyond those, masteries are a complete free-for-all.
Building any character in Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is therefore a sprawling buffet of endless possibilities and combinations. You’re always chasing that perfect dream of activating the mastery sets you want while still having room for individually powerful masteries all the while having to obey property limits and spending your total, allotted training points. There’s no more inherently Troubleshooter feeling than missing just one mastery to activate a final set, meanwhile knowing that pulling out anything you’re already fielding is likely to start a domino-effect of deactivating synergies you’ve already put onto your mastery board. What any sensible person does in that situation, of course, is start completely over because if you just tweak that thing you considered before, then surely..?
It also means that you can build virtually any character in virtually any you want. Want to make the game’s default, squishy healer into your main tank? There’s almost certainly a way to do it – and in fact, the game will probably support it with a ton of masteries that enable weird and wonderful synergies exactly like that.
Yet even with all this freedom, a character’s base stats, core active abilities and masteries specific to their type will make sure that even though everyone shares this massive pool of hundreds (and hundreds, and again hundreds) of different masteries, they will still be unique. In fact, every character must choose from a whole host of class-specific masteries and advanced class masteries (which are selected from one of the two advanced classes your character can pick), as well as type-specific masteries - like Spirit masteries for Spirit-users or Fire masteries for Fire-users. On top of this, characters must choose one out of three individual, passive abilities and have base class- and advanced class passive abilities which are not part of the mastery board themselves, but which further individualize characters.
Each mastery adds unique effects to your character – for example, the aforementioned Breakthrough halves the Block rating of anyone trying to defend against your attacks, while Mutant turns every single debuff affecting you into a random buff at the end of your turn – but the real twist here is that if you combine certain sets of four masteries, you activate a Mastery Set. These special sets add their own effects to your character which can be anything from just granting you a flat HP bonus, to modifying one or two of the masteries that activated it, adding entirely new abilities or passive effects to your character. These mastery sets are not shown anywhere until you discover them for yourself, and I highly encourage you to play Troubleshooter blind here – at least for the main game – as there’s a very puzzle solving-like joy in identifying and finding powerful mastery sets on your own.
To draw another parallel to D&D, Mastery Sets are kind of like if you picked four feats in D&D and picking those specific, four feats added an additional, fifth feat to your character.
In addition, most of the masteries in Troubleshooter come from a shared pool of 'Common' masteries that can be equipped by any character with no prerequisites. There are class-, race- and type-masteries, but beyond those, masteries are a complete free-for-all.
Building any character in Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is therefore a sprawling buffet of endless possibilities and combinations. You’re always chasing that perfect dream of activating the mastery sets you want while still having room for individually powerful masteries all the while having to obey property limits and spending your total, allotted training points. There’s no more inherently Troubleshooter feeling than missing just one mastery to activate a final set, meanwhile knowing that pulling out anything you’re already fielding is likely to start a domino-effect of deactivating synergies you’ve already put onto your mastery board. What any sensible person does in that situation, of course, is start completely over because if you just tweak that thing you considered before, then surely..?
It also means that you can build virtually any character in virtually any you want. Want to make the game’s default, squishy healer into your main tank? There’s almost certainly a way to do it – and in fact, the game will probably support it with a ton of masteries that enable weird and wonderful synergies exactly like that.
Yet even with all this freedom, a character’s base stats, core active abilities and masteries specific to their type will make sure that even though everyone shares this massive pool of hundreds (and hundreds, and again hundreds) of different masteries, they will still be unique. In fact, every character must choose from a whole host of class-specific masteries and advanced class masteries (which are selected from one of the two advanced classes your character can pick), as well as type-specific masteries - like Spirit masteries for Spirit-users or Fire masteries for Fire-users. On top of this, characters must choose one out of three individual, passive abilities and have base class- and advanced class passive abilities which are not part of the mastery board themselves, but which further individualize characters.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is like the best goddamned game ever made
The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)
Community - posted by Infinitron on Sat 24 August 2024, 17:54:48
It's that time again! In 2019 the RPG Codex voted to determine the Top 101 PC RPGs of all time. 5 years have passed, and many new RPGs have been released, so it was time to update the list. This list covers over 40 years of RPG history, and includes a variety of sub-genres, so it's got something to piss off everybody!
We used a slightly different format this time around. In addition to the Top RPGs list, we compiled a list of hidden gems, so that (hopefully) even seasoned RPG veterans may find something new and interesting. The voting thread can be found here. Thank you to all who voted and submitted reviews. Now, on to the list!
Read the full article: The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)
We used a slightly different format this time around. In addition to the Top RPGs list, we compiled a list of hidden gems, so that (hopefully) even seasoned RPG veterans may find something new and interesting. The voting thread can be found here. Thank you to all who voted and submitted reviews. Now, on to the list!
Read the full article: The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)
There are 323 comments on The RPG Codex's Top 70 PC RPGs (And Some Hidden Gems)
RPG Codex Interview: Monsters of Mican
Codex Interview - posted by Infinitron on Sat 8 June 2024, 20:35:23
Tags: Blankitt Productions; Monsters of MicanMonsters of Mican is an unusual-looking Might & Magic-inspired indie dungeon crawler with a "whimsical" sense of humor released on Steam back in March. It's the kind of game that surely would have remained in complete obscurity if it hadn't been randomly spotted last month by our own JarlFrank, who as a fan of all things eccentric gave it a try and found that he liked it. In fact, he liked the game so much that he decided to contact its developer, a gentleman who goes by the name of Skittzo, to learn more. In the interview, Skittzo tells us what led him to create such a game, his thoughts about bespoke content vs procedural generation, and also about his plans for an open world follow-up called Magic of Mican. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: Monsters of Mican
2. Monsters of Mican is very whimsical. Pretty much every piece of writing contains a joke and the majority of monsters are visual puns. What made you decide to go for this tone? Is it because funny monsters are easier to create with a limited budget? A lot of them feel cobbled together from various asset packs.
My writing style has always leaned heavily on humor and more particularly puns. I blame/cherish the QFG series for instilling that in me. Also as I noted above I was also using Dragon Quest for inspiration, which is also known for excellent monster puns.
Even if I had a larger budget and better modeling skills I think I would've used the same style of monster design. I have modeled a few from scratch before, and they'd all still wind up named Tyrannosaurus Specs (a dinosaur with glasses) or Raybee (a bee that shoots lasers from its stinger). A light, jovial tone is just something I've always appreciated in games that really resonate with me.
As for how these monsters were made, I would actually say that did more to inform the story of this game than it did the tone/sillyness. I started off under the presumption that most of the monsters I made would be placeholders until I could secure funding to contract artists, but I kept having so much fun combining and editing things that it made the story concept of the "amalgam anomaly" just click into place. I had always planned on there being an ancient event that brought all the monsters to the world but the way I designed this game is what really inspired me to write it in the way I did.
3. My favorite part of the game is its variety. Every dungeon level is different, with unique traps and puzzles and boss fights. How did you approach the level design for this game? Did you have any major inspirations to draw from (other RPGs, pen and paper modules, etc) or were most of your ideas original?
I approach game design as a player first, so I always look at what I've made and say "if I was playing the game would I enjoy this?" To that end one of my biggest gripes with RPGs specifically but a lot of games in general is the lack of meaningful variety in both combat and exploration. Sure, you can happen upon some aesthetically cool area in Skyrim like Blackreach but you'll still wind up traversing it the same way you would any other area. Or, in Breath of the Wild you'll see a new enemy but it's just a stronger reskin of the same thing you've been fighting over and over.
I wanted to make sure you never have that kind of feeling in my game. The variety needs to actually be meaningful- one level introduces collapsing floors, then the next powerful water currents, then lava fields and crushers. It serves both the effects of keeping the gameplay fresh and also actually reasonably reflecting the world/area you're supposed to be in. A mine can have collapsing floors, that makes sense. It probably won't have lava, and probably not pirate ships making waves. So save that for other levels!
Many of the actual features were my original ideas. Obviously a minecart ride is something that's been done (and I just wanted for the quick thrill of it) but that pirate ship idea, or freezing the water in the kraken lair, or giving the Zebrarian boss literal plot armor (made of books) were my original concepts.
4. Avoiding repetition is a worthy goal, and I feel like your dungeon design achieved that quite well. It's a great approach to level design especially in today's gaming world where procedural generation is being used more and more by both indies and larger companies - think of Skyrim's radiant quests and the flood of roguelikes and roguelites released nowadays. What do you think of this popularity of procedural generation among developers? Is level design becoming a lost art because of it? In my opinion, procedurally generated levels always feel the same, there's no variety because it's just an algorithm recombining the same elements over and over, unable to think outside of the box. Do you think we can fight back against this trend by developing games with excellent hand-made level design?
I tend to agree that procedural generation can be looked at as one of the root causes of games becoming stale and repetitive, but I don’t think it’s necessarily always the case or the only cause. Specifically for something like Skyrim, I believe the scope of the game is more to blame- you have hundreds upon hundreds of dungeons and NPCs and quests, and only a limited development team, so it is just a necessary fact of development that you’ll need to repeat certain themes, mechanics and elements. So in this instance I think the issue is more the scope of most bigger games from AAA publishers- the amount of content they think is necessary for consumers (rightly or wrongly, I can’t say for sure) drives the need for repetition.
That’s something that is mostly not an issue in the indie space. An exception as you mentioned is with roguelikes, and while I don’t necessarily agree that they always get repetitive (personally I think Binding of Isaac is one of my favorite indie games of all time) you can run into that trap. But here’s something I didn’t really understand fully until I started developing my own game:
Hand-made level design is hard!!! Like, really really hard!
Taking a completely blank slate and deciding on a theme, mechanics, gimmicks, and then eventually putting all the pieces together is an incredibly overwhelming and draining experience. It’s no wonder why procedural level generation is so popular, because it removes so many of the pitfalls and difficulties with this.
I’ve played with the idea of using procgen to come up with a base map, and then just editing that to match an idea in my mind, but even that can begin to feel repetitive and predictable for players, so I did wind up just making everything by hand, piece by piece, and I think I plan to do that for the next game too. Hopefully (for my sake) I can make a few custom tools that help make this process a bit faster to actually carry out, but mentally it is still quite draining trying to fill a blank slate like that.
My writing style has always leaned heavily on humor and more particularly puns. I blame/cherish the QFG series for instilling that in me. Also as I noted above I was also using Dragon Quest for inspiration, which is also known for excellent monster puns.
Even if I had a larger budget and better modeling skills I think I would've used the same style of monster design. I have modeled a few from scratch before, and they'd all still wind up named Tyrannosaurus Specs (a dinosaur with glasses) or Raybee (a bee that shoots lasers from its stinger). A light, jovial tone is just something I've always appreciated in games that really resonate with me.
As for how these monsters were made, I would actually say that did more to inform the story of this game than it did the tone/sillyness. I started off under the presumption that most of the monsters I made would be placeholders until I could secure funding to contract artists, but I kept having so much fun combining and editing things that it made the story concept of the "amalgam anomaly" just click into place. I had always planned on there being an ancient event that brought all the monsters to the world but the way I designed this game is what really inspired me to write it in the way I did.
3. My favorite part of the game is its variety. Every dungeon level is different, with unique traps and puzzles and boss fights. How did you approach the level design for this game? Did you have any major inspirations to draw from (other RPGs, pen and paper modules, etc) or were most of your ideas original?
I approach game design as a player first, so I always look at what I've made and say "if I was playing the game would I enjoy this?" To that end one of my biggest gripes with RPGs specifically but a lot of games in general is the lack of meaningful variety in both combat and exploration. Sure, you can happen upon some aesthetically cool area in Skyrim like Blackreach but you'll still wind up traversing it the same way you would any other area. Or, in Breath of the Wild you'll see a new enemy but it's just a stronger reskin of the same thing you've been fighting over and over.
I wanted to make sure you never have that kind of feeling in my game. The variety needs to actually be meaningful- one level introduces collapsing floors, then the next powerful water currents, then lava fields and crushers. It serves both the effects of keeping the gameplay fresh and also actually reasonably reflecting the world/area you're supposed to be in. A mine can have collapsing floors, that makes sense. It probably won't have lava, and probably not pirate ships making waves. So save that for other levels!
Many of the actual features were my original ideas. Obviously a minecart ride is something that's been done (and I just wanted for the quick thrill of it) but that pirate ship idea, or freezing the water in the kraken lair, or giving the Zebrarian boss literal plot armor (made of books) were my original concepts.
4. Avoiding repetition is a worthy goal, and I feel like your dungeon design achieved that quite well. It's a great approach to level design especially in today's gaming world where procedural generation is being used more and more by both indies and larger companies - think of Skyrim's radiant quests and the flood of roguelikes and roguelites released nowadays. What do you think of this popularity of procedural generation among developers? Is level design becoming a lost art because of it? In my opinion, procedurally generated levels always feel the same, there's no variety because it's just an algorithm recombining the same elements over and over, unable to think outside of the box. Do you think we can fight back against this trend by developing games with excellent hand-made level design?
I tend to agree that procedural generation can be looked at as one of the root causes of games becoming stale and repetitive, but I don’t think it’s necessarily always the case or the only cause. Specifically for something like Skyrim, I believe the scope of the game is more to blame- you have hundreds upon hundreds of dungeons and NPCs and quests, and only a limited development team, so it is just a necessary fact of development that you’ll need to repeat certain themes, mechanics and elements. So in this instance I think the issue is more the scope of most bigger games from AAA publishers- the amount of content they think is necessary for consumers (rightly or wrongly, I can’t say for sure) drives the need for repetition.
That’s something that is mostly not an issue in the indie space. An exception as you mentioned is with roguelikes, and while I don’t necessarily agree that they always get repetitive (personally I think Binding of Isaac is one of my favorite indie games of all time) you can run into that trap. But here’s something I didn’t really understand fully until I started developing my own game:
Hand-made level design is hard!!! Like, really really hard!
Taking a completely blank slate and deciding on a theme, mechanics, gimmicks, and then eventually putting all the pieces together is an incredibly overwhelming and draining experience. It’s no wonder why procedural level generation is so popular, because it removes so many of the pitfalls and difficulties with this.
I’ve played with the idea of using procgen to come up with a base map, and then just editing that to match an idea in my mind, but even that can begin to feel repetitive and predictable for players, so I did wind up just making everything by hand, piece by piece, and I think I plan to do that for the next game too. Hopefully (for my sake) I can make a few custom tools that help make this process a bit faster to actually carry out, but mentally it is still quite draining trying to fill a blank slate like that.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: Monsters of Mican
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RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Darkness Over Daggerford
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sat 13 April 2024, 00:38:08
Tags: Beamdog; BioWare; Neverwinter Nights; Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford; Ossian StudiosLast month, we published a review of Ossian Studios' Tyrants of the Moonsea module for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition by our resident Neverwinter Nights expert Gargaune. I'm happy to report that Gargaune decided to follow that up with a review of Ossian's other Enhanced Edition DLC module, the Baldur's Gate-ish adventure Neverwinter Nights: Darkness Over Daggerford. Unlike Tyrants of the Moonsea, the original free version of Darkness Over Daggerford was basically complete when it was released following the cancellation of the NWN premium module program back in 2006. Its 2018 Enhanced Edition rerelease offered mainly audio/visual improvements and bugfixes, which normally wouldn't be significant enough to merit a review. However, since we never actually published a review of the original module, it's a fine opportunity to finally give it the attention it deserves. Without further ado:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Darkness Over Daggerford
Per Ossian themselves, their ambition for Darkness over Daggerford was to recreate a Baldur’s Gate-like experience, referring to the BioWare title’s open-world structure in particular. And to that end, Miranda’s little studio delivered a feature that was sorely lacking in the original release and one that remains among NWN’s standout post-launch additions – a true and proper world map! Indeed, DoD is the most “open world” NWN module I’ve played to date and Ossian genuinely succeeded in recapturing that original BG feeling of roaming the countryside looking for trouble. After being set loose from Daggerford itself, situated in the northern part of the map, you’re free to explore a large, semi-contiguous region stretching out to the south, along the Trade Way heading to Baldur’s Gate. The world map in DoD isn’t just a nice visual flourish on your destination list like in the later TotM, but consistently involves discovery – e.g. to reach the Wild Hills for the first time, you’ll have to travel in its direction from the Western Farmlands, Gillian’s Hill, or the Wild Pastures, but you can’t just hop over from the Eastern Farmlands unless you’ve already visited the Wild Hills before. Quest destinations will reveal some major locations on the map, while others you’ll discover as proximate to your current location.
Daggerford isn’t the only civilized settlement in this area either, as you’ll also visit the hamlets of Gillian’s Hill and Liam’s Hold, while veering off from the Trade Way to either the East or the West will reveal farmlands, wilderness and the odd surprise. As a nice touch, the developers also took a moment to make Daggerford and Liam’s Hold seem more alive with ambient NPCs who shut nearby open doors and clear the streets after dark, replaced by torch-bearing watchmen, though it’s a purely cosmetic affair and won’t afford any special gameplay opportunities. Each map location has its own quests and encounters, and the designers crisscrossed objectives over the world map efficiently, such that you can expect to be doing some regular back-and-forth and getting to know Daggerford’s environs quite well. Areas don’t respawn, but travelling from one to the other has a chance of triggering one of a number of repeatable random encounters which also net a little bonus XP. Additionally, DoD is the originator of the fatigue system I mentioned in my TotM review: going for more than 36 in-game hours without resting will afflict you and your henchmen with a -1 to all Ability scores, unless you’re immune to Ability Drain, and have characters play a tired animation (which will bug you when you’re trying to swap gear while exhausted). DoD’s map scope and travel times are (unsurprisingly) well suited to seeing this mechanic in action with some regularity, particularly when you’re first unlocking locations on the map, though leaving from a random encounter area results in an auto-rest. As became the standard post-HotU, resting advances the clock by 8 hours and doing it in dangerous locations has a chance of spawning a hostile encounter right on top of you, so you have a theoretical incentive to make use of your room at the Happy Cow or other local accommodations.
But if everything I’ve said so far sounds pretty good, it’s time to change gears for a moment because DoD doesn’t put its best foot forward. Whereas the open world has plenty to get excited about, you’ll have to clear Daggerford before you get to it… While none of its content is bad, it’s nonetheless a rather drab affair and DoD’s weakest stage by far. Along the main plot, you’ll be chasing up some leads for Amara and you’re also given ample opportunity to load up on side quests that you’ll be tackling later on, once you’re actually free to leave town, but it just drags on for a bit too long. The town of Daggerford consists of roughly two rows of buildings in a rectangular courtyard, opposite the ducal palace, and a small, separate docks area, and it’s just not a very inspiring locale. There’s enough quest content to keep you going and even the odd unmarked opportunity, but you’ll quickly find yourself pining for more even on your first time, let alone replays.
Mercifully, once the plot progresses and you’re free to come and go, you’ll be introduced to the world map and find that DoD’s various areas have a solid amount of thematic and quest variety. The thrill of exploration should soon follow and it’s hard to overstate just how different an experience it is from NWN’s mainstream linear modules like HotU, let alone the drudgery of its original campaign. From peaceful farmlands to a besieged castle perched atop the Blade Cliffs, from a swampy Lizardfolk village to a wizard’s tower looming over an impassable chasm, “I wonder what’s going on over there” is a recurring thought for the rambling player. Sometimes it’s the regular adventuring fare, others it’s surprisingly creative, such as the aforementioned Lizardfolk village, which you’ll be infiltrating disguised as a scaly critter yourself, courtesy of a hag with a chip on her shoulder. Another quest will have you undertake a quaint little investigation at a wake with your choice of amusing resolutions. As for the looming wizard’s tower I brought up, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise you to learn it’s puzzles all the way to the top, and not the lean variety, get ready to break out some pen and paper! There are puzzles and secrets in a few other quests and locations, but this is clearly where that one guy on the dev team went “okay, my turn to mess with the player!” And all of these examples are optional side content, the sort you pick up through organic exploration or get brought to your attention under no obligation to complete.
[...] When Beamdog first announced they were publishing the EE version of Darkness over Daggerford, I was fresh off the PM edition a couple of weeks prior. It was early days for NWN’s Enhanced Edition and the big player-side improvements were still to come, but I was chuffed enough with Ossian's work and their sporting decision to release their cancelled project all those years ago that it yanked me right off that fence.
Darkness over Daggerford’s EE treatment added a coat of QA and audio/visual polish to complete the project and it does that very well, bringing it up to a full and proper commercial standard. That said, we have to be fair and recognise some missed opportunities as well. I grant that developing whole new quests and levels might’ve been costly propositions for what was already a complete module, but restoring that cut dragon attack to the stronghold questline or fleshing out the henchmen situation could’ve been some great and affordable ways to add value. I was also surprised that more comprehensive alignment reactivity wasn’t added, though clearly that was a design oversight rather than a budget constraint, since Ossian did undertake an extensive review of conversations and associated scripting. Darkness over Daggerford was already bigger and better rounded than most PMs, indeed it’d have likely been the best of the bunch had Atari given it its commercial release, but there was still room to grow. The final package is good value notwithstanding, but the EE revision comes across as a more modest commitment than Beamdog’s and Ossian’s later collaboration on Tyrants of the Moonsea and the focus seems to have been to fill in the PM’s blanks in quality control and production value rather than revisit and expand its development.
Bottom line, DoD caters to some RPG fans more than to others. If you're looking for a dungeon crawl, this isn't the module for you. If you're in it for a grand, sombre plot, it ain't that either. But if you want something to recapture that Baldur's Gate-like sense of exploration, of roaming the countryside in search of adventure and curiosities, it doesn’t get much better than Darkness over Daggerford for NWN or many other contenders. It’s a charming and lively open-world adventure, which is equally true for the new EE revision with its polished production values (for sale on GOG, Steam, or directly from Beamdog) as it is for the old PM release (available at the Neverwinter Vault). Either package is well worth checking out if that speaks to you, but the EE version will certainly yield the best experience if it’s within your budget, and if one good turn deserves another, Ossian absolutely did NWN fans a solid back in the day.
Daggerford isn’t the only civilized settlement in this area either, as you’ll also visit the hamlets of Gillian’s Hill and Liam’s Hold, while veering off from the Trade Way to either the East or the West will reveal farmlands, wilderness and the odd surprise. As a nice touch, the developers also took a moment to make Daggerford and Liam’s Hold seem more alive with ambient NPCs who shut nearby open doors and clear the streets after dark, replaced by torch-bearing watchmen, though it’s a purely cosmetic affair and won’t afford any special gameplay opportunities. Each map location has its own quests and encounters, and the designers crisscrossed objectives over the world map efficiently, such that you can expect to be doing some regular back-and-forth and getting to know Daggerford’s environs quite well. Areas don’t respawn, but travelling from one to the other has a chance of triggering one of a number of repeatable random encounters which also net a little bonus XP. Additionally, DoD is the originator of the fatigue system I mentioned in my TotM review: going for more than 36 in-game hours without resting will afflict you and your henchmen with a -1 to all Ability scores, unless you’re immune to Ability Drain, and have characters play a tired animation (which will bug you when you’re trying to swap gear while exhausted). DoD’s map scope and travel times are (unsurprisingly) well suited to seeing this mechanic in action with some regularity, particularly when you’re first unlocking locations on the map, though leaving from a random encounter area results in an auto-rest. As became the standard post-HotU, resting advances the clock by 8 hours and doing it in dangerous locations has a chance of spawning a hostile encounter right on top of you, so you have a theoretical incentive to make use of your room at the Happy Cow or other local accommodations.
But if everything I’ve said so far sounds pretty good, it’s time to change gears for a moment because DoD doesn’t put its best foot forward. Whereas the open world has plenty to get excited about, you’ll have to clear Daggerford before you get to it… While none of its content is bad, it’s nonetheless a rather drab affair and DoD’s weakest stage by far. Along the main plot, you’ll be chasing up some leads for Amara and you’re also given ample opportunity to load up on side quests that you’ll be tackling later on, once you’re actually free to leave town, but it just drags on for a bit too long. The town of Daggerford consists of roughly two rows of buildings in a rectangular courtyard, opposite the ducal palace, and a small, separate docks area, and it’s just not a very inspiring locale. There’s enough quest content to keep you going and even the odd unmarked opportunity, but you’ll quickly find yourself pining for more even on your first time, let alone replays.
Mercifully, once the plot progresses and you’re free to come and go, you’ll be introduced to the world map and find that DoD’s various areas have a solid amount of thematic and quest variety. The thrill of exploration should soon follow and it’s hard to overstate just how different an experience it is from NWN’s mainstream linear modules like HotU, let alone the drudgery of its original campaign. From peaceful farmlands to a besieged castle perched atop the Blade Cliffs, from a swampy Lizardfolk village to a wizard’s tower looming over an impassable chasm, “I wonder what’s going on over there” is a recurring thought for the rambling player. Sometimes it’s the regular adventuring fare, others it’s surprisingly creative, such as the aforementioned Lizardfolk village, which you’ll be infiltrating disguised as a scaly critter yourself, courtesy of a hag with a chip on her shoulder. Another quest will have you undertake a quaint little investigation at a wake with your choice of amusing resolutions. As for the looming wizard’s tower I brought up, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise you to learn it’s puzzles all the way to the top, and not the lean variety, get ready to break out some pen and paper! There are puzzles and secrets in a few other quests and locations, but this is clearly where that one guy on the dev team went “okay, my turn to mess with the player!” And all of these examples are optional side content, the sort you pick up through organic exploration or get brought to your attention under no obligation to complete.
[...] When Beamdog first announced they were publishing the EE version of Darkness over Daggerford, I was fresh off the PM edition a couple of weeks prior. It was early days for NWN’s Enhanced Edition and the big player-side improvements were still to come, but I was chuffed enough with Ossian's work and their sporting decision to release their cancelled project all those years ago that it yanked me right off that fence.
Darkness over Daggerford’s EE treatment added a coat of QA and audio/visual polish to complete the project and it does that very well, bringing it up to a full and proper commercial standard. That said, we have to be fair and recognise some missed opportunities as well. I grant that developing whole new quests and levels might’ve been costly propositions for what was already a complete module, but restoring that cut dragon attack to the stronghold questline or fleshing out the henchmen situation could’ve been some great and affordable ways to add value. I was also surprised that more comprehensive alignment reactivity wasn’t added, though clearly that was a design oversight rather than a budget constraint, since Ossian did undertake an extensive review of conversations and associated scripting. Darkness over Daggerford was already bigger and better rounded than most PMs, indeed it’d have likely been the best of the bunch had Atari given it its commercial release, but there was still room to grow. The final package is good value notwithstanding, but the EE revision comes across as a more modest commitment than Beamdog’s and Ossian’s later collaboration on Tyrants of the Moonsea and the focus seems to have been to fill in the PM’s blanks in quality control and production value rather than revisit and expand its development.
Bottom line, DoD caters to some RPG fans more than to others. If you're looking for a dungeon crawl, this isn't the module for you. If you're in it for a grand, sombre plot, it ain't that either. But if you want something to recapture that Baldur's Gate-like sense of exploration, of roaming the countryside in search of adventure and curiosities, it doesn’t get much better than Darkness over Daggerford for NWN or many other contenders. It’s a charming and lively open-world adventure, which is equally true for the new EE revision with its polished production values (for sale on GOG, Steam, or directly from Beamdog) as it is for the old PM release (available at the Neverwinter Vault). Either package is well worth checking out if that speaks to you, but the EE version will certainly yield the best experience if it’s within your budget, and if one good turn deserves another, Ossian absolutely did NWN fans a solid back in the day.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Darkness Over Daggerford
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RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Tyrants of the Moonsea
Codex Review - posted by Infinitron on Sat 16 March 2024, 00:02:55
Tags: Beamdog; BioWare; Luke Scull; Neverwinter Nights; Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea; Ossian StudiosOf all of Beamdog's Enhanced Edition rereleases before they switched to making DOA multiplayer games, Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition was probably the most poorly budgeted and least hyped. Ironically, it might be the Enhanced Edition that ended up providing the most value to the game's legacy. In part, thanks to its belated recognition of Ossian Studios' cancelled premium modules from the 2000s. One of these was Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea, an adventure set in the Forgotten Realms' Moonsea region which was finally completed by its creator Luke "Alazander" Scull in 2019 as an official DLC for the Enhanced Edition. In the years since then, Luke has continued to remaster his other classic modules for free while working on his upcoming Blades of Netheril sequel campaign and appears to have earned a good reputation on our forums. Yet it's not clear how many Codexers actually played Tyrants of the Moonsea. As I recall, many users were unhappy about having to buy Beamdog's version of Neverwinter Nights in order to play it. One of our resident Neverwinter Nights connoisseurs, the esteemed Gargaune, feels the module never got the attention it deserved. I suspect his outstanding review might persuade some of you to give it a second look. Here's an excerpt:
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Tyrants of the Moonsea
Structurally, the module can be split into three main segments. The sequence that takes you from Voonlar through Hillsfar and two major locations after that is a fairly linear progression despite already presenting you with a beautiful world map, a feature that Ossian first brought to NWN with the original release of DoD. You’ll have a good supply of optional side content to engage with but, by and large, you’re on a straight path taking you from one place to the next, Icewind Dale-style. Once you’re through with that, however, and have experienced a couple of plot twists to boot, you get access to a ship that puts you within striking distance of the four other major destinations you get in the Moonsea – Mulmaster, Thentia, Melvaunt and Zhentil Keep. At this point you’re told to tackle them in whichever order you like, digging up leads on your quarry, picking up side quests and, naturally, hitting the shops. Each one of the Moonsea’s urban centres will have a couple of quests to be started in them, some resolved locally, others requiring travelling to other places, and an optional dungeon of some manner. Aside from this, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of serendipitous exploration, as the odd unmarked location can turn up questless combat encounters and, naturally, loot! The format here is similar to Baldur’s Gate 2’s non-Athkatlan locales (think Trademeet or the Umar Hills), each city has one or two main areas and a tidy amount of content but none of them are massive mainstays to explore nor does TotM ever set you loose on a contiguous countryside, like Darkness over Daggerford or the original Baldur’s Gate. Once you’ve had your fill of the open world and turned up some key leads for your main plot, you can chase up those directions and get nudged (albeit not exactly shoved) into the adventure’s climax, and I can honestly say it’s a pretty epic affair!
But if the plot demands you visit all city hubs, is it a TRÜE open world? Sort of... Per the old BioWare formula, you'll find yourself strung along to all the major locations at some point or other, but the game won't force your nose into every nook and cranny and some significant things can change depending on how you prioritise certain steps. In other words, there is a point of no return which can lock off an amount of side content, a point which may be intuited but isn't necessarily signposted. I'm being coy because I don't want to spoil stuff for you, and if you want to experience TotM completely blind, you should stop reading this paragraph right here and move on to the one below (seriously, right here!). If, however, you want to be sure you maximise content on your first playthrough, I'll give you the slightest hint - make sure you wrap up all your sightseeing before you go galloping across any wilderness, you'll know when you get to it.
I’ve mentioned dungeons and TotM has a healthy supply of them. Ossian’s other NWN entry, DoD, was quite lacklustre in this department, so it’s a relief that this module alternates open wilderness and proper dungeon areas regularly, with the usual variety of traps and bespoke encounters. The biggest criticism I can level at them is that they don’t tend to be particularly labyrinthine – some are large enough to accommodate a couple of forks and traversal loops, though quite a few come down on the smaller and more linear side. But while none of them could make a claim to being branching “mega-dungeons” filled to the brim with secrets and puzzles, and you’ll find much more impressive constructions in other modules, TotM’s spelunking sessions aren’t five-minute affairs either, they’re well-paced and well-stocked and should be able to hold your interest for the duration. Puzzles aren't all that plentiful or memorable, either the dungeon or quest sorts, but they are present and range from rote "find the four thingamajigs to slot in here" to more organic affairs, e.g. some players will know what's up when told they're to fight a Magic Golem, the rest had better explore available dialogue or they're in for a nasty surprise.
Difficulty-wise, TotM is pretty much along the lines of vanilla NWN content like Hordes of the Underdark, which is to say it isn’t especially hard while also not a walk in the park. Grizzled Swordflight veterans are unlikely to find anything particularly challenging, but regular gamers can be well served by playing on D&D Hardcore Rules, meaning the steady string of trashmobs will be effective as a source of progressive attrition, softening you up for some boss encounters which can genuinely put you through your paces, and controlling for disabling factors like Fear or save-or-die abilities is meaningful. The game swaps enemy palettes regularly and with wide variety, you'll fight undead in one place, cultists and demons in another, goblinoids over there or even hostile adventuring parties and so on. There's enough variety that you could make good use of all the different specific enhancement bonuses offered by the Altar of Blessings if you cared to, but most trashmobs aren't difficult enough to warrant it. This is common for Epic-range 3E D&D, as the power curve past level 15 tends to favour the player and it becomes challenging for designers to guard against all moving parts while also not making the game impenetrable to the average consumer, and I probably wouldn’t advise playing on low difficulty levels unless you’re new or really struggling for some reason. The module’s generous with special utility loot, trinkets like Gems of Seeing, Ioun Stones or magical rods, which will expand a given character’s abilities beyond their natural competencies and provide that additional versatility in tackling various battlefield situations. Personally, this is more up my alley and I found TotM to be gratifying in terms of general challenge, but hardcore min-maxers aren’t likely to break a sweat.
I suppose this would also be the appropriate time to remind people of Beamdog’s upgraded Party Control feature – this isn’t a TotM system, it’s an (unfortunately hidden) engine-level option that was added to NWN:EE, but it can make a big impact on the quality of your gameplay. Basically, these new controls allow you to manually select one or more party members (including your own PC) and issue precise instructions to “move there” or “attack that.” To enable it, go into \Documents\Neverwinter Nights\settings.tml and change the value of player-party-control to true. Then, in-game, you can select one or more party members by holding down Ctrl while left-clicking them or their portraits (or you can even hold down Ctrl and click-drag a marquee selection) for a blue circle highlight, then hold down Shift while left-clicking a target location or enemy. Note that a single click is “walk to” while double-clicking is “run to”, and you may want to issue a Stand Your Ground order beforehand if you don’t want henchmen to come right back. Restricting it to movement and combat might seem short of modded solutions (e.g. Balkoth’s Minion Control) but it also means it’s applicable to all NWN content, limiting the potential to break properly-scripted modules, and while it’s not a panacea for the game’s obstinate AI, it’s more than enough to make a huge difference in play. All classes will benefit tactically, but especially ranged and mage types (also endowed with spellcasting AoE indicators in the EE), who can now enjoy more build variety safe behind a leading warrior.
[...] Looking back to the Infinity Engine and even many of its contemporary peers, Baldur’s Gate 2 is king (no matter how much that might make some of the local fauna seethe), but why? Icewind Dale had better combat, the first Baldur’s Gate had better exploration, Planescape: Torment had better writing etc. – all of that is true, but Baldur’s Gate 2 was pretty darn good at all of it. That's what gets it top billing and the same qualities apply to Tyrants of the Moonsea for NWN – you should easily find other modules, official or fan-made, that do better in various individual respects, but Ossian's title scores high on all counts and if you enjoy NWN at all (if you don't, you should never admit it!), passing on TotM would be a big mistake.
Now, if the byzantine brandings and histories have left you confused, allow me to make it simple – Tyrants of the Moonsea is for sale on GOG, Steam and the Beamdog Client. If you also want to check out its prior episodes in the Alazander series, they're free on the Neverwinter Vault as Siege of Shadowdale Enhanced Edition and Crimson Tides of Tethyr Enhanced Edition or in NWN:EE's integrated content browser. For historic purposes, links to the Diamond Edition distributions of those two modules are on their respective Vault pages under Related Projects.
So there you have it, I've led you to the water, I've even forced your snout in, the rest is up to you. Drink and you'll get the full flavour of competent writing and design, solid production values and artistic direction, fun combat and exploration… To put it simply, Tyrants of the Moonsea is, at this time, the definitive single-player NWN experience.
But if the plot demands you visit all city hubs, is it a TRÜE open world? Sort of... Per the old BioWare formula, you'll find yourself strung along to all the major locations at some point or other, but the game won't force your nose into every nook and cranny and some significant things can change depending on how you prioritise certain steps. In other words, there is a point of no return which can lock off an amount of side content, a point which may be intuited but isn't necessarily signposted. I'm being coy because I don't want to spoil stuff for you, and if you want to experience TotM completely blind, you should stop reading this paragraph right here and move on to the one below (seriously, right here!). If, however, you want to be sure you maximise content on your first playthrough, I'll give you the slightest hint - make sure you wrap up all your sightseeing before you go galloping across any wilderness, you'll know when you get to it.
I’ve mentioned dungeons and TotM has a healthy supply of them. Ossian’s other NWN entry, DoD, was quite lacklustre in this department, so it’s a relief that this module alternates open wilderness and proper dungeon areas regularly, with the usual variety of traps and bespoke encounters. The biggest criticism I can level at them is that they don’t tend to be particularly labyrinthine – some are large enough to accommodate a couple of forks and traversal loops, though quite a few come down on the smaller and more linear side. But while none of them could make a claim to being branching “mega-dungeons” filled to the brim with secrets and puzzles, and you’ll find much more impressive constructions in other modules, TotM’s spelunking sessions aren’t five-minute affairs either, they’re well-paced and well-stocked and should be able to hold your interest for the duration. Puzzles aren't all that plentiful or memorable, either the dungeon or quest sorts, but they are present and range from rote "find the four thingamajigs to slot in here" to more organic affairs, e.g. some players will know what's up when told they're to fight a Magic Golem, the rest had better explore available dialogue or they're in for a nasty surprise.
Difficulty-wise, TotM is pretty much along the lines of vanilla NWN content like Hordes of the Underdark, which is to say it isn’t especially hard while also not a walk in the park. Grizzled Swordflight veterans are unlikely to find anything particularly challenging, but regular gamers can be well served by playing on D&D Hardcore Rules, meaning the steady string of trashmobs will be effective as a source of progressive attrition, softening you up for some boss encounters which can genuinely put you through your paces, and controlling for disabling factors like Fear or save-or-die abilities is meaningful. The game swaps enemy palettes regularly and with wide variety, you'll fight undead in one place, cultists and demons in another, goblinoids over there or even hostile adventuring parties and so on. There's enough variety that you could make good use of all the different specific enhancement bonuses offered by the Altar of Blessings if you cared to, but most trashmobs aren't difficult enough to warrant it. This is common for Epic-range 3E D&D, as the power curve past level 15 tends to favour the player and it becomes challenging for designers to guard against all moving parts while also not making the game impenetrable to the average consumer, and I probably wouldn’t advise playing on low difficulty levels unless you’re new or really struggling for some reason. The module’s generous with special utility loot, trinkets like Gems of Seeing, Ioun Stones or magical rods, which will expand a given character’s abilities beyond their natural competencies and provide that additional versatility in tackling various battlefield situations. Personally, this is more up my alley and I found TotM to be gratifying in terms of general challenge, but hardcore min-maxers aren’t likely to break a sweat.
I suppose this would also be the appropriate time to remind people of Beamdog’s upgraded Party Control feature – this isn’t a TotM system, it’s an (unfortunately hidden) engine-level option that was added to NWN:EE, but it can make a big impact on the quality of your gameplay. Basically, these new controls allow you to manually select one or more party members (including your own PC) and issue precise instructions to “move there” or “attack that.” To enable it, go into \Documents\Neverwinter Nights\settings.tml and change the value of player-party-control to true. Then, in-game, you can select one or more party members by holding down Ctrl while left-clicking them or their portraits (or you can even hold down Ctrl and click-drag a marquee selection) for a blue circle highlight, then hold down Shift while left-clicking a target location or enemy. Note that a single click is “walk to” while double-clicking is “run to”, and you may want to issue a Stand Your Ground order beforehand if you don’t want henchmen to come right back. Restricting it to movement and combat might seem short of modded solutions (e.g. Balkoth’s Minion Control) but it also means it’s applicable to all NWN content, limiting the potential to break properly-scripted modules, and while it’s not a panacea for the game’s obstinate AI, it’s more than enough to make a huge difference in play. All classes will benefit tactically, but especially ranged and mage types (also endowed with spellcasting AoE indicators in the EE), who can now enjoy more build variety safe behind a leading warrior.
[...] Looking back to the Infinity Engine and even many of its contemporary peers, Baldur’s Gate 2 is king (no matter how much that might make some of the local fauna seethe), but why? Icewind Dale had better combat, the first Baldur’s Gate had better exploration, Planescape: Torment had better writing etc. – all of that is true, but Baldur’s Gate 2 was pretty darn good at all of it. That's what gets it top billing and the same qualities apply to Tyrants of the Moonsea for NWN – you should easily find other modules, official or fan-made, that do better in various individual respects, but Ossian's title scores high on all counts and if you enjoy NWN at all (if you don't, you should never admit it!), passing on TotM would be a big mistake.
Now, if the byzantine brandings and histories have left you confused, allow me to make it simple – Tyrants of the Moonsea is for sale on GOG, Steam and the Beamdog Client. If you also want to check out its prior episodes in the Alazander series, they're free on the Neverwinter Vault as Siege of Shadowdale Enhanced Edition and Crimson Tides of Tethyr Enhanced Edition or in NWN:EE's integrated content browser. For historic purposes, links to the Diamond Edition distributions of those two modules are on their respective Vault pages under Related Projects.
So there you have it, I've led you to the water, I've even forced your snout in, the rest is up to you. Drink and you'll get the full flavour of competent writing and design, solid production values and artistic direction, fun combat and exploration… To put it simply, Tyrants of the Moonsea is, at this time, the definitive single-player NWN experience.
Read the full article: RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Tyrants of the Moonsea
There are 74 comments on RPG Codex Review: Neverwinter Nights – Tyrants of the Moonsea
Lucky Number 2 - RPG Codex Editorial on Matters Most Pressing
Editorial - posted by Darth Roxor on Wed 6 March 2024, 21:33:02
Tags: Deus Ex; Divinity: Original Sin 2; ELEX; Fallout 2; Fallout 4; Prey (Arkane Studios); Shadows over Loathing; South Park: The Fractured But Whole; South Park: The Stick of Truth; Space Wreck; Streets of Rogue; The Witcher 3; West of LoathingRPGs rely on a variety of factors, some of which include combat, storytelling, exploration and simulationism, in combination or otherwise. Many of these aspects are based on design elements such as dice rolls and worldbuilding, and this is exactly what esteemed community member lukaszek decided to analyse in his latest editorial.
Or well, at least to some degree that's what he's discussing there. As the introduction puts it:
Go ahead and dive right in to find out why RPGs aren't actually going down the toilet as much as you'd expect them to be. Satisfaction guaranteed. Just remember to flush and wash your hands once you're done.
Read the full article: Lucky Number 2 - RPG Codex Editorial on Matters Most Pressing
Or well, at least to some degree that's what he's discussing there. As the introduction puts it:
Rolling 19 feels bad – so close to critical success! This is probably the reason behind the introduction of weapons with critical ranges. Pick the right one and you’ll be graced with big numbers more often.
On the other side of the spectrum is number 2. I guess players are more relieved that they didn’t roll 1 – it’s so close after all. And while that’s true for several RNG implementations, it’s not how physical dice work: 7, 19 and 13 are where the close calls are at.
Still, it never received the treatment that 19 did, and I felt that it was time to appreciate it a bit more.
Obviously, I’m talking about functional toilets in RPGs, and through these pages we’ll be plunging into the depths of restroom interactions and hygiene.
On the other side of the spectrum is number 2. I guess players are more relieved that they didn’t roll 1 – it’s so close after all. And while that’s true for several RNG implementations, it’s not how physical dice work: 7, 19 and 13 are where the close calls are at.
Still, it never received the treatment that 19 did, and I felt that it was time to appreciate it a bit more.
Obviously, I’m talking about functional toilets in RPGs, and through these pages we’ll be plunging into the depths of restroom interactions and hygiene.
Go ahead and dive right in to find out why RPGs aren't actually going down the toilet as much as you'd expect them to be. Satisfaction guaranteed. Just remember to flush and wash your hands once you're done.
Read the full article: Lucky Number 2 - RPG Codex Editorial on Matters Most Pressing
There are 31 comments on Lucky Number 2 - RPG Codex Editorial on Matters Most Pressing
RPG Codex GOTY 2023: Results & Cool Graphs
Community - posted by felipepepe on Sat 24 February 2024, 05:35:29
Tags: GOTY 2023Beat the drama drums, it's time for the RPG Codex best RPGs of 2023!
This is our second year going back to a Codex-only vote, on a 1-5 scale. In total, we had 430 votes (as opposed to 364 last year), voting on 162 RPGs (157 last year).
For those of you who just want the TL;DR, here are the winners:
RPG CODEX'S 2023 GOTYs:
#1 - Jagged Alliance 3
#2 - Baldur's Gate 3
#3 - Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game
For the full results and fancy graphs, just follow this link: RPG Codex GOTY 2023: Results & Cool Graphs
This is our second year going back to a Codex-only vote, on a 1-5 scale. In total, we had 430 votes (as opposed to 364 last year), voting on 162 RPGs (157 last year).
For those of you who just want the TL;DR, here are the winners:
RPG CODEX'S 2023 GOTYs:
#1 - Jagged Alliance 3
#2 - Baldur's Gate 3
#3 - Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game
For the full results and fancy graphs, just follow this link: RPG Codex GOTY 2023: Results & Cool Graphs
There are 969 comments on RPG Codex GOTY 2023: Results & Cool Graphs
