SKALD: Against the Black Priory

It's not a particularly long game, though at the $3.50 sale price I can't be angry at 21 hrs for a single playthrough. It's a good game for it's price. Feels like a love-letter both to lovecraftian cosmic horror and to an older genre of RPGs. That said, it's not riddled with infuriating moments unlike actual older games from the 80s-90s so that's good. The game is here to tell a story and let you stab monsters, not here to make you rip your hair out over a horribly-designed puzzle or terribly designed combat encounters (cough cough, unlike say Pathfinder: Kingmaker, cough cough), and similarly the controls/mechanics feel relatively intuitive and modern. Earlygame has a few challenging moments and the game will not hesitate to drive the point home when the tutorial tells you to use Kat's stealth to skip some encounters. The ending is... I don't want to spoil it but the genre is cosmic horror; mere mortals rarely meet happy endings in these types of stories. Still, the game does a good enough job telling its story and the gameplay was smooth enough that I don't feel cheated by the ending. I'd actually say the game's short playtime works to the storyline's advantage here: I don't think I'd be willing to say goodbye to this cast of characters in the way it happened if the game made me invest more time in this setting. I admit, when I first wishlisted this game my biggest concern was the graphics: I'd say the game looks much better than the storepage implies: the character in-game sprites are somewhat abstract, but the game makes up for that with some very, very detailed environmental artwork. The bottom of a grimy sewer does in fact look and feel like a different environment than the inside of a tavern or a robber-queen's treasure hoard, or a decadent wizard's tower full of--uhh--"artistic" depictions of the female form, or the inside of an HR-Giger-esque ancient tomb. I do recommend this game for anyone looking for an RPG to kill a few hours with. It's not here for a long time, but it's a good time. I don't think this game needed to be longer, but I would love the idea of a sequel.

The term "Lovecraftian" has been used to excess lately, but for this game, I don't think there are any other terms. The tone of the adventure is extremely similar to Lovecraft's stories, those not entirely centered on a descent into insanity, and the fantasy setting fits perfectly with the narrative. There is horror, violence, madness and no aspect takes precedence over the other. Horror is expressed through mystery and gore, but never excessive or unnecessary; the narrative crescendo is handled more or less well. I must admit that perhaps the ending is too rushed and sudden, but unfortunately, anyone who has read Lovecraft also knows that this is a peculiarity of his stories. There was never a moment where I felt bored or felt a quest or place or interaction was unnecessary. Everything is paced perfectly. The only way I can tell this game was released in 2024 is because I can use a mouse. This isn't a game made to look old with a few crappy effects or ugly textures; this is a work of someone who knows what they're doing. The spritework and music are exceptional, and the fact that it was all created by a single person is amazing. Combat is fast and brutal; for a turn-based game, it's extremely dynamic, and you're never sure you've won until the victory screen. This is not a “hide from the bad monster” kind of game, this game has violence, and a lot of it. The interface is clear, but the font can sometimes be difficult to read, and a missclick here and there will happen, this depends on your experience in this type of games and age. For those unfamiliar with this genre, you need to pay attention to details and explanations to find your objective or to solve puzzles. You need to read and, sometimes, you need a piece of paper to draw a map. There are no bad builds for your characters; the game is fundamentally simple, but you need to understand the mechanics well to master the characters. The characters have very little interaction, but in those few lines, they express strong personality and characterization. This is not a dialogue heavy game, if you have to read something, if a character speaks, it is important. There is no fluff dialogue, no silly drama or bloating. The only flaw I can find in this game is that it's criminally too short (even though the pacing is perfect), and I want more. This type of gameplay and game structure can be associated with literally any story, and I hope the developer has other projects in mind.