Iratus: Lord of the Dead - Review @ PC Invasion

HiddenX

HiddenX

The Elder Spy
Staff Member
Original Sin Donor
Original Sin 2 Donor
Supporter
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
20,013
Location
Germany
PC Invasion checked out Iratus: Lord of the Dead:

Iratus: Lord of the Dead review - a wicked good time

Bwahahaha!

Iratus: Lord of the Dead felt like it shouldn't be as fun as it is. You may have heard it described as a reverse Darkest Dungeon. And it is, with a dash of Heroes of Might and Magic in there too, plus the whole dark lord shtick of Dungeon Keeper and Overlord.

The premise is Iratus was once an all-powerful necromancer on the verge of conquering the world with his undead legions. Unfortunately for the forces of evil, some big damn heroes showed up at the last minute to put him down and save the day. But Iratus doesn't stay dead. Our bad boy is back and mad as hell. So it's time to raise some minions and take over the world. Iratus is not a complex character, and there's not much story going on here apart from what's necessary to move the action.

What our villain lacks in subtlety, he more than makes up for in snark -- Iratus' contemptuous asides, directed at enemies and servants alike. His remarks are well-voiced and motivate the player to slaughter the "innocent" and not care too much about the minions. Because they will die. Again and again.

[...]

Iratus: Lord of the Dead is a side-facing tactical roguelike in which you play a necromancer leading an undead army to control the world. You'll need brains, in-game and out, to master this challenging title.


Iratus: Lord of the Dead tweaks the team tactics formula of Darkest Dungeon but cuts down on the management aspect to focus firmly on moving quickly from combat to combat. It lacks the narrative flair or emotional punch of its inspiration but makes up for it with satisfying tactical options and a balanced challenge level.

Score: 7/10
Click to expand...
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
20,013
Location
Germany
It can't be as good as Darkest Dungeon if there is no creepy narrator to emphasize your doom at every turns.
 
Joined
Jul 27, 2018
Messages
1,026
Location
France
Winterfart said:
It can't be as good as Darkest Dungeon if there is no creepy narrator to emphasize your doom at every turns.
Click to expand...

For me this is better than DD. DD is pure boring RNG. This game is different and more tactical and more fun in general without sacrificing the challenge. It has better art and there is a narrator in the game who is as good as the DD's narrator but with a hint of dark humor.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
102
I wanted to like this game but it has some pacing issues. Fights get pretty repetitive and with no supply management or exploration there is nothing else to really focus on. Worse there is no tension in the fights, most are trivially easy. There are harder difficulty modes but you have to win an entire campaign on the easier mode before you can do something challenging. And campaigns are LONG. I don’t know why they thought that was a good idea.

It’s also weird that the later minions you unlock are no more powerful than the early ones. I thought we were supposed to be looking for advanced parts to create more interesting monsters as part of the games progression. But a lich and a skeleton are equal in power level and both equally easy to make.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
fadedc said:
I wanted to like this game but it has some pacing issues. Fights get pretty repetitive and with no supply management or exploration there is nothing else to really focus on. Worse there is no tension in the fights, most are trivially easy. There are harder difficulty modes but you have to win an entire campaign on the easier mode before you can do something challenging. And campaigns are LONG. I don’t know why they thought that was a good idea.

It’s also weird that the later minions you unlock are no more powerful than the early ones. I thought we were supposed to be looking for advanced parts to create more interesting monsters as part of the games progression. But a lich and a skeleton are equal in power level and both equally easy to make.
Click to expand...

All games in this style become pretty repetitive at some point, it's a typical characteristic of the roguelike genre in general but at least this is more fun and playable than the RNG abomination that Darkest Dungeon is.
 
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
102
DarkOzric said:
All games in this style become pretty repetitive at some point, it's a typical characteristic of the roguelike genre in general but at least this is more fun and playable than the RNG abomination that Darkest Dungeon is.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree and I explained my issues with it in the last post. But if you hated Darkest Dungeon I can totally see why you’d like this game more given how much easier it is.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
fadedc said:
I have to disagree and I explained my issues with it in the last post. But if you hated Darkest Dungeon I can totally see why you’d like this game more given how much easier it is.
Click to expand...


Try to play it on hard difficulty and then come again and tell me that is casual. Darkest Dungeon wasn't tactically difficult, it was a glorified RNG simulator.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
102
RNG? You mean virtual dice rolls?

You like cRPGs but you don't like dice rolls? :rolleyes:
 
Joined
Jul 27, 2018
Messages
1,026
Location
France
DarkOzric said:
Try to play it on hard difficulty and then come again and tell me that is casual. Darkest Dungeon wasn't tactically difficult, it was a glorified RNG simulator.
Click to expand...

I can’t, the game won’t let you play on hard until you’ve won the entire very long and repetitive game on normal. I’d probably enjoy it more if I could play it on a harder difficulty. I imagine the developers will eventually change that, that’s got to have been one of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen.

But overall I’ve found the combat mechanics in Iratus to be heavily RNG based too. It’s just that the fights are so easy that you can have lots of bad luck and it doesn’t matter.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Winterfart said:
RNG? You mean virtual dice rolls?

You like cRPGs but you don't like dice rolls? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Seriously? You compare old school cRPGs with DD? In serious games who respect the players there is a limit to the RNG. In DD the progression is meaningless, there are no tactics, it doesn't matter if your character is level 1 or level 5, It's pure 100% RNG. Even terror from the deep had a more logical RNG than this shit…
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
102
fadedc said:
I can’t, the game won’t let you play on hard until you’ve won the entire very long and repetitive game on normal. I’d probably enjoy it more if I could play it on a harder difficulty. I imagine the developers will eventually change that, that’s got to have been one of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen.

But overall I’ve found the combat mechanics in Iratus to be heavily RNG based too. It’s just that the fights are so easy that you can have lots of bad luck and it doesn’t matter.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that you compare a 3 year title with a few days title. DD was released in 2016 and they still releasing patches up to this day… What did you expect? A perfect title on day 1 without flaws? It's a small team, they will patch it, eventually.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
102
DarkOzric said:
Don't forget that you compare a 3 year title with a few days title. DD was released in 2016 and they still releasing patches up to this day… What did you expect? A perfect title on day 1 without flaws? It's a small team, they will patch it, eventually.
Click to expand...

Yeah I definitely think it was released too early. Might be with checking out again in a year or so to see if they have fixed it.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Winterfart said:
RNG? You mean virtual dice rolls?

You like cRPGs but you don't like dice rolls? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

All around the world, people collect dice, people consider dice as their charm and do not want to roll any other.

It seems there is something different from rolling dice and clicking on a button in a cRPG.
 
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
6,265
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom