Honestly, kind of disappointing. It's not that it's awful, it's a decent attempt at a throwback classical CRPG, but I don't feel like it's worth its current asking price.

I see a lot of people hating on the graphics, but the visuals are the first thing that drew me to the game. While perhaps blander than I would've hoped, they do scratch that nostalgic itch for me. My main issues are with the bugs, infuriatingly long loading screens, UI and repetitive/boring quests.

From what I've played thus far, the main story line is serviceable. It isn't anything groundbreaking but, then again, it doesn't have to be. The side quests, on the other hand... not so great. Fetch and/or kill the thing, congrats you killed and/or got the thing, do you wanna a reward? Yes? No? Aight, cool. Btw, there also might be this other guy that you can help. I also wish your companions would chime in more often. I don't feel like i'm a party; I feel like I'm leading a band of character archetypes that have little to no opinion on what's going or on what I'm making them do. Outside of pivotal story moments, the whole promise of "choice" doesn't feel like it's there.

I don't know. Maybe I'm asking too much from a game that's meant to be a throwback, but I don't feel gripped by anything that's going on and kinda wish I got a refund while I could.

Update: Yeah, after sinking some more time into it, I'm officially done with the game. Not only does almost everyone you meet have a fetch quest for you that's on the other side of the map, but the awful load times make this doubly as boring to do. Only buy this if you really, and I mean *really* crave something close to BG1 and BG2. For anyone else who's just looking for a fun RPG to play, don't bother.

Genuine props to the devs for what they've managed to achieve despite being a tiny studio. For a first attempt, it's definitely not awful - just doesn't do it for me.

I found Black Geyser by chance. I knew nothing about it and I was not aware of the team behind it. But the description of the game immediately got my attention. An isometric, party-based fantasy RPG inspired by genre classics. Nice. I'm a sucker for such games and I often get the Baldur's Gate itch. So an opportunity to scratch it, is not an opportunity I'm prepared to waste. The game was promptly purchased and found itself squarely in the top spot of my what-to-play-next list. Let's see how this went.

First of all, the premise of the game is indeed interesting. Yes, the protagonist's backstory is comically contrived, but the overall plot is fairly decent and the worldbuilding solid. The game places you in a rather standard fantasy kingdom that is experiencing a civil war. The main purpose is to navigate the intrigues of that civil war and try to influence with your choices the outcome. In addition, the world contains a fairly well developed mythology and out of that comes perhaps the most promising mechanic of the game. The curse of Greed. The concept here is that a malicious deity has placed a curse on the land that makes everyone greedier. The player can, with their choices, combat or accelerate the world's descent into a miserly, green-eyed fueled anarchy.

The problem is that this, otherwise enticing, idea is not really very well developed nor appropriately consequential. Spend the whole game being selfless and it will still be less effective than just donating your ill gains to the church later on. The effects of which are hardly felt anyway. This is not just restricted to the curse. Generally speaking the game is not anywhere near as polished as I would have hoped. In many cases, you could basically see the places where content should have been, but was cut. Missing companion quests, allusions to inexistent strongholds, questlines that simply go nowhere and so on. This is further exasperated by a woefully short overall duration. Only 25 hours for a full run. The game clearly needed more development time.

The gameplay is also not particularly impressive. The game claims to be inspired by Baldur's Gate, but I would say its primary inspiration is Pillars of Eternity. Or a very unpolished variant of that at least. The game has many mechanics that don't seem particularly well utilised such as brewing. There is also a painfully obvious lack of QoL. In fact, the game is outright obnoxious at times. An indicative example is a main quest that requires you to remove equipment from your inventory or risk losing it. Oh you want to proceed with this mission? Take off your jewelry, one by one, then place it on that box over there, one by one. You can retrieve it and put it back when done, again one by one. How hard would it be for that to happen via a script?

Still, all these flaws I could mostly excuse and be content to keep on playing. Unfortunately though, there is one more problem. A very nasty one. Loading times. The game has unreasonably long loading times. Every area you visit is locked behind a near minute long one. Couple that with the relatively small maps and a game design that forces you to constantly move around from one area to the other and the issue becomes simply unbearable. There were times, ie inside a dungeon, I'd need several minutes to get back out, as every level had such a loading screen. Why? Just why? I checked the forum for advice and the devs were saying get an SSD. I have a very fast one already. I can't even imagine how bad this would be with an HDD.

Overall, I'm afraid I can't recommend this game at this stage. Yes, the team did make an admirable effort on this niche genre. I do wish the team all the best and I don't regret playing it, however incomplete it may feel. Besides, it's not the lack of polish and content that bothered me the most. What breaks the camel's back is the loading times. That's what made my time with the game so frustrating. As it is, Black Geyser is only for those genre mega-fans that have already played everything else out there and are desperate for a fix.

This feels exactly like going back to 1998 and playing Baldur's Gate for the first time.

Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness is a singleplayer isometric RPG made by GrapeOcean as a tribute to classics such as Baldur's Gate 1 and Icewind Dale, and that's exactly what it offers : nostalgia. Maybe it's not the best choice for newcomers to the genre in 2022, but it's definitely a game I would recommend to CRPGs lovers. Ah, the memories!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2783564848

First of all, you should know that it is a small team with limited financial ressources behind this title, so don't expect anything such as Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity for example. Still, GrapeOcean has been working hard ever since the release, updating the game, fixing bugs regularly and I really appreciate the good response and communication from them (can't say the same about most teams...). I don't regret supporting them to make this dream come true and even if there are still bugs and room for improvement, the game remains a wonderful experience for genre classics fans.

Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness offers the choice between 5 races (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Feldegug and Rillow) and 13 different classes - and if you prefer, you can also multi-class. The combat stays true to the good old party-based real time with pause RPGs. The graphics - which might not appeal to every gamer I'm afraid - also contribute to the Baldur's Gate impression and are, in my opinion, fitting and even more colorful.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782513597

I won't hide the fact that I was concerned after finishing the first chapter - which is a short tutorial - in terms of story telling and progression. However, I gave it a chance and certainly don't regret it : it becomes more and more interesting and ultimately the story was for me one of the top strenghts of the game. I'll definitely replay it in a few months or years, making this time different choices and following the path of greed - an evil character, instead of a generous one, for a change. I've had the impression that your choices and actions might have consequences, especially in the last chapter - but I'll have to replay it to confirm my theory.

Black Geyser offers interesting mechanics that you probably won't see in other games, such as the greed system or the party cohesion bonuses. There's also potion crafting - which I didn't use enough to be honest - but differs from the usual ways and might peak the curiosity of the alchemist inside of you. I also appreciated having the choice between using a thief's approach or brute force to open locks, and especially the option that allows you to speed the game up so your characters move faster and the turns run faster as well.

When the game came out, the loading times made it barely playable: the more you played, the more you'd have to wait between areas. You would spend more time loading the map than actually exploring it. This issue has been mostly worked out and the loading screens are considerably shorter - although, in my opinion, sometimes still too long.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2810348719

If I had a complaint to make, it would be mostly about the companions : even if you have several companions that might accompany you, there is a real lack of dialogue and personality. The friendship exploration and evolution needs to be improved, so that we get the feeling that they are indeed living beings and we can care for them (or not). Same goes for the romances that feel like coming out of nowhere. Furthermore, even if it's the case in some other games, having the NPCs saying exactly the same thing can break immersion. However, I have no doubt they will keep polishing the game and its content, such as NPCs or companions talking to each other in a recent update.

Finally, achievement hunters will be pleased to know that there are 42 of them to collect. Be warned though: you won't be able to unlock them all in a single playthrough and some might still be buggy.

All in all I enjoyed my time on Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness greatly and would definitely recommend it to Baldur's Gate lovers - if not, you should probably wait for a discount on it. It is a refreshing experience, a game as we don't often see nowadays. I sincerely hope that more people will be drawn to this game, so that the team can keep updating and improving it, and even start working on Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness 2.

My very first RPG was BG1 followed by Fallout and Planescape:Torment. That feels like in another life.
Why I play RPGs? Because I like the nice feeling I get when I immerse myself in the game. I enjoy creating characters and playing them, I enjoy the stories. Later in life, I added other reasons: RPGs are my nothing box, my anti stress pill.

The first 5 to 10 gameplay hours tell me if the game is good or not so good. If I get a similar wow sensation as I got playing BG1, I know I am going to have a great ride playing the game.

This wow sensation made me write this review. This is not a triple A title, this does not have a famous studio behind it. But this game is AWESOME!

The team making this game deserves all the support they can get for the effort they put in the game. THIS game is very good and it looks like the team is doing their best to make it an absolute must play for the RPG audience. Buy this for the RPG experience and for future isometric RPGs from this team!

Truly admirable efforts by the team, thank you GrapeOcean.
Did enjoy this, and it was a solid throw back to much of what BG1 and BG2 inspired.

but... as other critics have also accurately stated, Black Geyser feels painfully unpolished in many respects and outright infuriating in some other specific cases.

What broke it for me was not just a few, but a *handful* of broken quests
... and the waiting. waaaaiting for loading screens. a LOT.

Reported the bugs using the reporter, but got no feedback, tried the forums and web, but no luck.
disappointing.

What really got under me riled up was that the main excuses for this were "simply ensure you have an SSD and other system optimizations" - please guys, we all know that's not the core reason for memory leak issues, catastrophically inefficient asset packaging and loading strategies, and a non-robust quest engine.

Other than those (major) gripes, it was still fun for a fan - but you'd have to be a fan of the genre to look past these critical issues and still enjoy the rest.

My main issue, which made me stop playing in chapter 2 was the lack of credibility of NPC behavior.
It destroys all immersion, no matter where I go.

You get encounters like a woman, running away from her family being slaughtered by elves. You encounter those elves and by simply saying somthing the like of "Please don't kill more people? (persuasion!)", they respond like "Oh, we never thought of this! Thank you for your valuable counsel!"

It's weird. As if the writing was done by a child. And this type of writing is everywhere. You get rescued from bloodshed and slaughter by a witch, and all she says to that is "go sleep for now.". As if anyone could sleep after that. The behavior of any NPC makes absolutely no sense.

The companions you can create by yourself, join you on the road - HOURS after a massacre on your loved ones. Not one single word about that. They are like: "Ho, long time no see. Want me to join!?". And that's all dialogue. It's just too unrealistic.

I could ignore all the bugs but the immersion is too important in RPG's. And this game has none.

This game boasts of being inspired by the RPG classics. Well, what does Boo think. He is a master of all things classical and RPG. He also loves the forest, the eyes of evil, and of course butt kicking for goodness. So, let’s give it a good shake and see what falls out………
Character Creation
Starting out, just like in the old stuff, making a character was simplistic. You are pretty much limited to the traditional options and it won’t take long to make a character. As far as the character development is concerned, it reminded me of Pillars of Eternity where you get skills that you invest in. In addition to this, there is Group Leveling. This is separate from individual leveling and provides special bonuses to the group as a whole. Another unique thing that effects character development, that’s still being worked on, is the Greed system. It operates very similar to the reputation system in Baldur’s Gate, but its more complex even effecting the very core of the game.
Combat
The combat here remains traditional . Its real time(with Pause) based on a homebrew system that’s reminiscent of the Dark Eye (European D&D). Combat skills depend a great deal on weapon or armor stats that enhance your own stats. For example, I had a bow that enhanced my accuracy and stabbing damage. Overall, it seems that there is some room for improvement in terms of speed. In the classic games combat was often swift. .
Lore
Let just say at the very start, I was taken to another world. For those that can remember, it was like going into Candlekeep for the first time. There is even a refence to chanting. The lore in this game is spot on. You will indeed feel immersed in another r realm. This is one the biggest things this game has to offer. They even have the lore books that you find in all the classical games that give you a glimpse into the world. In addition, they have the lore-based weapons that you find in the classic games that tell their own stories.
Story
If it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Just as it is in all the classics, it begins with you being in the midst of a world on the verge of being takin over by the powers of darkness. The Black Geyser has been unleashed upon the land whose ill effects will be commonly seen in the power of greed. Without giving too much away, your story revolves around discovering your identity in all this with an epic conclusion based on the choices you made in the game. (choices matter) Also, along the way you will meet several interesting characters who will assist you and that have their own quests that you help them on. Your influence among them will become vital and even leading to romance with some.
Other things of interest
One of the coolest features in the game is that you can adjust the speed. I used to dread walking from one place to another after being their countless times. In the classic Bioware games I would always use editors just to get the boots of speed early on to avoid the hassle. Glad, I won’t be doing that in this game.
Rouge lovers can rejoice, you get to plant items on people. I think the only time I ever did this in a RPG was in Skyrim. Those who love to be evil in games will be very happy. You can kill everyone in the game with the exception of the main plot characters.
Final Thoughts
Boo Approves. I wish they had miniature giant space hamsters in it. I guess I will have to wait for the mod support for that. Other than that, the story has sucked me in. I feel immersed in another world. This game has all the ingredients for a good RPG and delivers on its promises. I

I just finished my first run of the game, and having supported this game on Kickstarter, and having waited for it for so long - it is somewhat disappointing how the game was released.

I'll start with the good: The game has excellent world-building, very enjoyable writing most of the time, a decent plot and excellent graphics for its genre. These things are some important things needed in order to make a good RPG of this kind.

The problem is that while this has been a very ambitious project, it did not succeed in filling the wonderful world they constructed, and that feeling of emptiness exists both textually and mechanically: There is barely any banter between characters, the romance that was promised does not exist, there are too many generic npcs that repeat the same lines, whole dungeons where all of the different containers are empty, and while there are a bunch of character classes, they mostly feel the same as there are so few skills and abilities.

This may still become a good game after a few patches and perhaps after an expansion, and I think that the company may yet succeed in what it was hoping to do, perhaps with this game or in another game, but while they were aiming at the spiritual successor of BG II, they ended up with a weaker version of BG I.

I truly wish that they had taken the time to fix some bugs and add both more content and better mechanics to the game before releasing it - and I will play it again in the future, in hope that this game might become the game I was hoping for, and that the game developers appeared to aim for.

Cant recommend this yet. I have no problems with the usual early access stuff; broken game mechanics, bugged quests, and balance issues. Those are all easy to fix. However, I do have some main concerns that the small dev team may or may not be able to fix for main release:

1. Performance issues. Long load times and poor frame rates on high end machines with SSDs. Not acceptable from a game that looks like 1998. Since you get a loading screen every time you enter/exit an area or building, long loading times severely impact the overall experience. Pretty much every streamer who streamed this said the same thing.

2. Poor party and enemy AI.

3. Bland/boring story line that relies on fetch quests to level up instead of a compelling, engaging, and intricate main story line.

4. Crafting system is complete and total meh. Consists of drying leaves and boiling bugs. Nope, I'm not making that up. Uninteresting, not compelling, and not worth the effort to carry/sort ingredients. It's also unsatisfying; doesn't evoke the same epic feel of, say, pounding a hammer on an anvil and then wielding an improved weapon you wrought with your own sweat, or harnessing wild and untamed magic and infusing them into a mundane object to create something useful and memorable.

5. Leveling up feels empty. Other than leveling weapons and getting more hit points I didn't feel excited about adding points to anything else.
Brewing and Drying? Minor impact to outcome of combat, and takes too long (8 hrs) to make so few consumables that you can blow through in one encounter.
Skills to let you talk your way out of combat? Skipping combat also skips XP and loot.
Outdoor survival? Party seems to heal perfectly with rest with only a single rank.
Pick locks or force doors? They do the same thing. Pick one party member to focus on and the other can spend points on.... I dunno, basket weaving?

6. Gearing up your party relies too much on kicking in the doors of innocent peasants and robbing them blind instead of pulling useful items from the corpses of your enemies.

7. Greed system feels backwards. I can rob peasants and merchants blind with no affect on greed but when I accept a reward that was freely offered for helping someone, *now* the world careens towards chaos and anarchy?

I had high hopes because I love BG/IWD, POE, Pathfinder, et al., but so far this is a bland, boring and a poor addition to the genre.

EDIT: After more time I wanted to add:

8. UI is abysmal. I started a list of UI changes needed but it got so long that I realized the whole UI needs to start again from scatch.

This is a tough recommend. If you are hard up for a low fantasy CRPG in the vein of Baldur's Gate , then buy this. Support the very small dev team so they can make a sequel and finish the DLC.

The story isn't this title's strong suit. The performance is bad. The bugs are still plentiful. Plenty of poor pathfinding issues with NPC's and your party in general.

However, I still enjoyed myself. I can see the passion the developer's had for Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale but they never really captured that magic. The budget was small for this, which is fine. It's just he initial first few hours are rough.

Too many loading screens early on with LONG load times. You'll have to endure a 20 second load screen to then move 20 feet and load out to the world map, waiting again, for another 20 seconds. The map's are small.

Balance is poor. Level's 1-7 are easy mode. Afterward, you will encounter packs of enemies that far outnumber yours and do alot of damage. Alot of times 1 shotting your mage or thief. Magic is finally enjoyable at later levels past 7 due to encounters lasting longer than 4 seconds. So I had more fun in the early levels when fights were faster and not just clusters of pixels and exploding blood bags.

Audio balance is really poor. Voice acting is a mixed bag. The voice actor for Hamlin for example, you can hear background white noise every time he speaks. They didn't filter out the white noise for Hamlin. Everyone else sounds decent. Not as much white noise. Honestly I'll do voice acting for them for free if they asked and I think I sound pretty good and can actually act.

Only 56% of folks completed chapter 1 at the time of this review. Chapter 1....takes 20 minutes to complete. So what happened. I found the initial hour to be decent. The developers show you how to use crafting skills in a very organic way. However, I never bothered with crafting and I coasted through the game.

What did I like about this then? These folks gave this an honest effort. In my older years I'm giving things more thought that I never considered a few years ago. Things like...how hard it is to create something. So I try to appreciate every thing that people make. I dont need to like it but I appreciate the effort. Because I've created things in the past. It's incredibly difficult sometimes and you can end up getting nothing from it. So I appreciate these folks for making the effort because this was probably very stressful to make.

Also the graphics and music were outstanding. Armour and lighting effects are impressive for a 2.5 D classic Isometric game.

The developer is running into liquidity problems. Pay full price for this. These guys respond to comments quickly and still check bug reports.