Blackguards - Review @ GameBanshee

GameBanshee has finally managed to post their review of Daedalic Entertainment's SRPG Blackguards. The reviewer comes to the conclusion he can't recommend it.

From my experience, turn-based games have always been pretty good, and I always figured it was because developers knew they were going to have an uphill battle convincing publishers to take their product seriously, and so they worked extra hard to make the game impressive.  But these days, with online retailers and Kickstarter campaigns, publishers aren't as necessary, and developers don't have to deal with as much interference -- which is good, usually, but not in the case of Blackguards, which is about as sloppy and frustrating a game as you're ever likely to encounter.

The premise behind Blackguards works pretty well.  You're presented with an intriguing murder mystery, and you're put in command of a disreputable band of outlaws to figure out what happened, which is different and fun.  Blackguards also has everything you'd like to see in a strategy-RPG hybrid, including well-written dialogue, lots of character options, and a big battle at the end, but there are just so many problems in so many areas (including stuff that never should have made it through QA testing) that the game is more irritating than fun.  I always came away from my sessions with Blackguards in a foul mood, and so it's not a game I can recommend, no matter how it's priced, but certainly not at the $40 mark where it is now.  Maybe in about a year when the price drops in half and the patches have come out it will be a better idea.