I remorse not overlaying Skald Colon Towards The Black Priory when its developer informed us about it 2019. I would get to be so smug now.
Skald is terrific. I’ve tried to give you a intelligent angle on its journey, however all of them wind up saying the identical factor: For all its retro stylings (proper all the way down to get together portraits taking over an pointless quarter of the display always), it is an accessible, charming deal with, and one of the best modernisation of 80s RPGs that I’ve ever performed.
Whereas Ultima appears its clearest affect, Skald largely eschews its philosophical excessive camp, and offers us a shipwrecking on an archipelago beset by madness-inducing horror. It is a wonderful vibe; apparent sufficient that you already know what you are entering into, however slow-burn sufficient to make the reveals rewarding, and lends the setting and tone a bit of extra depth than the standard “Darkish Lord is evil shock”.
It’s, in fact, the Lovecraftian factor (as in, “pushed mad by mind-altering information and alien horrors past human comprehension”, slightly than, say, “there’s an Italian”), manifesting as corrupted wildlife, sinister fish cults, crowds erupting in orgiastic violence, and all method of scenes the place issues are clearly, clearly not proper right here however let’s examine how this performs out. Skald drops you proper into a well-recognized however properly realised world with out beating you over the top with (ugh) “lore” or tradition you’ll be able to loosely infer by context.
Past a plot-relevant childhood, you have a number of choices in character creation, levelling up the assorted preset get together members you will meet, and/or hiring customized characters to spherical out your toolset. You possibly can inform newcomers to shove off, and stash anybody at camp whereas reshuffling the get together. It provides a number of replay worth, even when the general plot can largely solely go a technique.
A simple d20 system dictates fight, with rolls to hit vs dodge, harm rolls vs “soak”, and a giant emphasis on positioning due to flanking bonuses, restricted fight area, and a scarcity of skill to move by way of friendlies. A D&D-ish motion economic system makes further assault feats very highly effective, however so too are roguey passive abilities like free disengage (freely stepping out of melee vary, which in any other case ends a flip) and swapping locations. Sadly I discovered magic a tad lacklustre, with my healer by no means touching eight out of ten of her spells, and my fancy fireplace mage largely relegated to Lore Nerd obligation. My rangers acquired a spammable “mark goal” ability that buffed the entire get together, plus low cost therapeutic that rendered the cleric/paladin much more benchable. However the fight MVP was “man with large hammer who hates nails”. His total transfer set was “hit it” and “hit it once more” and he by no means failed me.
However! I had a tonne of enjoyable with all of them. Levelling offers you factors to unlock class-based feats which can be organized in a number of separate chains. Some are open to a number of courses, giving a number of room to distinguish characters, and select your individual degree of specialisation vs flexibility. There is not any default, obligatory class lineup both, so there’s a number of replay worth, helped by a heap of magic gadgets for these with sharp eyes, excessive Diplomacy, or a willingness to liberate them from their shoply oppressors (at the price of elevated “suspicion”, elevating future costs). Look, in case you inventory a Hat Of Thievery what do you assume goes to occur?
I may in all probability discuss Skald’s techniques for a second complete evaluation, particularly the meal prep. You possibly can prepare dinner meals by combining components for particular meals to heal everybody once you camp out, which additionally asks you to set everybody to a easy process a bit like in Darklands (whose two-bar HP system Skald additionally borrows, and improves). Meals is so plentiful it was quickly irrelevant past half my carrying capability comprising omelettes and soup, and craftable potions grew to become equally ample, however each, plus most random encounters, might be disabled by way of a customisable issue system. At medium issue associates and enemies get one computerized reroll for the whole lot, stopping that tedious “retro” factor of watching everybody fail to hit one another for half a battle. Odds might be tipped both means, and I can see room for all method of self-imposed challenges.
You possibly can take all this description as enthusiastic. Please do, whereas I frown by way of a listing of bugs and annoyances: Data screens generally drop to about three frames per second (as did one battle). Nuisances like being unable to separate or promote partial stacks are a part of why I hoarded a lot meals (and having two an identical magic gadgets is nugatory as they do not stack and will not separate), characters sometimes turn into uselessly caught focusing on one enemy however refuse to assault them. There is a tendency for clicks to generally simply not register, and no order affirmation system so misclicks might be punishing (and it is generally unclear the place a spell is focused). You possibly can’t depart the levelling display to verify a personality’s stats, and I needed to bin a complete mage as a result of a bug skipped previous his spell choice menu. Fixable, certain, particularly the handful of trivial oversights which can be symptomatic of a tiny growth workforce, and maybe even by launch. However nonetheless a pest.
These are all of the sorts of annoyances that may characterise a sport, or flip it right into a “with caveats” suggestion, however in Skald’s case they’re totally overwhelmed by its attraction, from the bobbing once you stroll to the excellently crunchy fight sounds, the minimal animation contrasted with the gorgeously colored scene illustrations. There are quests that undoubtedly look like a nasty concept, and gadgets that do not seem mechanically cursed (in a Planescape-style, unremovable means), however nonetheless look like I’ll remorse dealing with them. Overhear me looking aloud: “Helmet of Consciousness? Ooh. Profane Necklace of Awar… wait, what.”. There’s even a man you’ll be able to promote quest gadgets to, and mundane instruments like shovels and picks or a jester’s hat that you would be able to actively use/put on, however do not do something… besides they undoubtedly do, someplace. It is not the most important of RPGs but it surely teems with the potential of secrets and techniques and penalties.
That they may be greater in my creativeness speaks to Skald’s biggest success: I am tremendous into it. It is crunchy however pleasant, playfully secretive, and acquainted in some ways however nonetheless refreshing. I misplaced half a day to “reality checking and screenshots” for sheer need to maintain enjoying, and some minor points apart, my solely actual drawback is that there is solely one among it.
This evaluation is predicated on a evaluation construct of the sport supplied by the developer.
