Hard to be a God - Preview @ 2404
 

2404.org has a preview of Burut's Hard to be a God. Unfortunately, the short article spends a lot of time on graphics and sound, leaving little in terms of digging into the actual gameplay:
More information.

I'm playing HtbaG now, my chatacter is level 13 I think - which mean I have played quite a few hours. My impression: the game is a lot of fun. I've been waiting for a game like this to hit the shelves.

I agree with the reviewer as far as the little flaw in the combat system is concerned (character steps forward with every swing of his sword) - it can be a little annoying at times but it's really a minor issue. As far as the graphics are concerned: I like them a lot. The developers really did a good job I think. The game mechanics work quite well too. Horse riding, combat from horseback, interaction with NPCs and objects etc. all works perfectly. The story is compelling and I personally like the voice acting (I've heared much worse than this in any case). I can recommend this game to anyone who likes action RPGs with a good story and is tired of playing the 1000th dumb Diablo-clone.

PS.: On my machine the loading times aren't long at all.

Is this thing linear or a free-roamer?

I always find this distinction difficult as in the end all games are linear in some way I think - event the ones that are labeled "non-linear". Although HtbaG feels quite linear you have the some degrees of freedom in many quests (lay down your weapons of fight, stuff like that). I don't know if different answers to NPCs can trigger different quests in the main plot - maybe I'll notice some differences when I play it a second time.

What I can say is that you have have enough quests and sidequest, and you have to look around to find the latter. The story evolved at a slow pace and takes quite a few twists and turns. Enough to make me wana play on. Btw. where was I… ah yes buy some healing potions…

I use a one handed weapon without shield and I don't take a step forward but when I tried to use double weapons I took a step forward when attacking which is annoying.

The guy didn't even mention the disguises which allow you to infiltrate different groups and if you where the thief disguise you won't be attacked by bandits. I like to disguise myself as a bandit and get in the midst of a group then attack at the right time.

PS. Along with the disguises you don't have to fight very much in this game if you don't want to since a large majority of your experience comes from completing quests and you get very little from enemies and you can steal your equipment and things to sell to get equipment.

Now that's what makes the game interesting for me. There's so many role playing games out there that allow you to reduce the amount of combat / fighting and choose to play a real thief or diplomatic character … When will it hit the international shelves?

Just to add on to that there has been 2 quests that require combat so far so it is still a somewhat combat driven game but far less then other games.