I remorse not overlaying Skald Colon In opposition to The Black Priory when its developer instructed us about it 2019. I might 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 right down to social gathering portraits taking on an pointless quarter of the display screen always), it is an accessible, charming deal with, and the perfect modernisation of 80s RPGs that I’ve ever performed.
Whereas Ultima appears its clearest affect, Skald principally 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 realize what you are entering into, however slow-burn sufficient to make the reveals rewarding, and lends the setting and tone just a little extra depth than the standard “Darkish Lord is evil shock”.
It’s, in fact, the Lovecraftian factor (as in, “pushed mad by mind-altering data and alien horrors past human comprehension”, moderately 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 have a look at how this performs out. Skald drops you proper into a well-recognized however effectively realised world with out beating you over the pinnacle with (ugh) “lore” or tradition you’ll be able to loosely infer by context.
Past a plot-relevant childhood, you have quite a lot of choices in character creation, levelling up the varied preset social gathering 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 social gathering. It provides quite a lot of replay worth, even when the general plot can principally solely go a method.
A simple d20 system dictates fight, with rolls to hit vs dodge, harm rolls vs “soak”, and an enormous emphasis on positioning because of flanking bonuses, restricted fight area, and a scarcity of potential to go via friendlies. A D&D-ish motion financial 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 principally relegated to Lore Nerd obligation. My rangers acquired a spammable “mark goal” talent that buffed the entire social gathering, plus low-cost therapeutic that rendered the cleric/paladin much more benchable. However the fight MVP was “man with huge hammer who hates nails”. His complete 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 provides you factors to unlock class-based feats which are organized in a number of separate chains. Some are open to a number of lessons, giving quite a lot of room to distinguish characters, and select your individual stage of specialisation vs flexibility. There isn’t any default, necessary class lineup both, so there’s quite a lot 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 the event you inventory a Hat Of Thievery what do you assume goes to occur?
I might in all probability speak about Skald’s methods for a second complete evaluate, particularly the meal prep. You possibly can prepare dinner meals by combining elements for particular meals to heal everybody whenever you camp out, which additionally asks you to set everybody to a easy activity 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 turned equally plentiful, however each, plus most random encounters, could be disabled via a customisable problem system. At medium problem buddies and enemies get one automated reroll for every part, stopping that tedious “retro” factor of watching everybody fail to hit one another for half a battle. Odds could be tipped both manner, 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 via an inventory of bugs and annoyances: Data screens typically 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 similar magic gadgets is nugatory as they do not stack and will not separate), characters sometimes change into uselessly caught concentrating on one enemy however refuse to assault them. There is a tendency for clicks to typically simply not register, and no order affirmation system so misclicks could be punishing (and it is typically unclear the place a spell is focused). You possibly can’t go away the levelling display screen to examine 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, positive, particularly the handful of trivial oversights which are symptomatic of a tiny growth staff, and maybe even by launch. However nonetheless a pest.
These are all of the sorts of annoyances that may characterise a recreation, or flip it right into a “with caveats” advice, however in Skald’s case they’re completely overwhelmed by its appeal, from the bobbing whenever 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 thought, and gadgets that do not seem mechanically cursed (in a Planescape-style, unremovable manner), 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 you can actively use/put on, however do not do something… besides they undoubtedly do, someplace. It is not the largest of RPGs nevertheless it teems with the potential of secrets and techniques and penalties.
That they is perhaps larger 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 taking part in, and some minor points apart, my solely actual drawback is that there is solely one in all it.
This evaluate is predicated on a evaluate construct of the sport supplied by the developer.
