This has to be the best CRPG I have ever played, and I only discovered this gem in 2024? How is this possible??

I have played them all..... D&D, Fallout(s) Underrail, POE, Atom, Encased, the list goes on.

In my first play through, I have easily sunk around 40 hours into. I owned this game from GOG but it was so damn good I decided to purchase it on steam for the community side of things.

What I love about AOD....

The level of detail that has been added to this game is insane. The lore and the story have me captivated. There are endless CRPG's that focus on fantasy and magic. There are very few that focus more on historical and real world narratives. The level of cynicism associated with the dark ages fits perfectly.

The game does not hold your hand and many character builds will veer you away from certain aspects of the story line. It has boundless Replay value. Not just in different builds, but in choices within each build at EVERY turn.

So many times you will see 'CHOICES MATTER' claimed by certain titles. This game wins this accolade hands down compared to all games in recent memory.

The game play was easy to learn and not that difficult to master once I had invested enough time in the tactics. You may at first, shake your head believing some fights are impossible. What I have found is that where there is a will, there is a way. I get a lot of enjoyment figuring those riddles out. Even If I feel the sharp end of a Spear, more often than not.

This game also looks fantastic on Steam Deck. I am now an instant huge fanboy of Iron Tower Studios. I even went ahead and grabbed Colony Ship.

The first few hours were indeed kind of brutal.
But after a while you begin to understand what the game wants from you and you can act accordingly.
This is when the game starts to unfold and show you it's beauty.

After having completed my first run as a Legionary I cant wait to see what's in store for me when I make a character that can communicate past unintelligable grunts.

10/10 would blindly follow Miltiades into abandoned huts again

This game

Atrocious UI and font.

Whole game is an eyesore.

Hard Core, Old-School, 40-year gamer here. Still gaming strong.

-Too Long; Didn't Read (TLDR): Age of Decadence is one of the best games of all time (and I've played hundreds). Fantastic Stories, amazing 'choice' system for character upgrades, I love all the equipment and ability to craft gear and potions. No grinding involved. I love the history/fantasy. Choices seriously matter. It made me think when I wanted it to and I could just 'knuckle-down' and 'rage' when I wanted to (bombs and firebombs anyone?). Amazing 'replay-ability'. So many hidden gems. Games like this give me some of the greatest enjoyment that I have ever had in life. I hope you enjoy it as well. Knighthawk.

-This is one of the greatest games of ALL TIME (unpaid/un-compensated review/opinion). I waited many years before writing this review, but the game just gets better each time I re-play.
-The experience is overwhelmingly-awesome. RPG, level-up system, storyline based on what path you choose. The ability to 'go around' a problem instead of fighting through it... or just bashing skulls for every solution. This game has it all... but the story...correction, the Stories are what makes this epic. It wasn't until my second playthrough, when I thought 'I can max this out and get my character to god status' (nope), that I realized I picked a different background and a different character and whole new paths/worlds were opened up to me. Do you realize how difficult it is to do this as a game maker? It is Epic. Not only that, you can't do EVERYTHING depending on your character, your backstory, your upgrades, the knowledge you have earned in the game. Plus, some things you can come back and do later, when you are stronger. However, and I mean 'holy cow' However, by play through three I was determined to be and do every single thing in the game (and I came darn close, but didn't quite get it done). Until you play basically every character and background and you get this god-like omniscient understanding on what you can do in this game, you won't even have the knowledge to try and pursue certain paths... and it makes this game LEGENDARY! I randomly 'dive deep' on another playthrough every year or so. You can't ask more of a game than what this game gives the players. I've never reached out to the makers, but I thank them with all my heart.
-It's a reader (for sure). It's definitely a fighting game. It has cool equipment and upgrades to find... but the lore and story is just unbelievably-awesome. I don't know if the makers read 'the tablets/lost books of Enki'. I don't know if they know of the Sumerian tablets from real life history, but I am an historian (Doctorate+ level) and I might start assigning this game as a class requirement (well, probably not, because it needs a computer, but I might incorporate the story to better describe the 'dark ages' after the fall of Rome {because it wasn't like the Sun just didn't come up one morning...}).
-I recommend the 'hybrid' path for all hard-core gamers, but both a charismatic 'talker' and an athletic 'fighter' can be very rewarding for most people (I am just an athlete, a geek, a nerd, and a part-time 'showman' and I just believe in being a Jack of All Trades and Master of Many in real life, so I try to do the same in my gaming).
-Using Steam, I almost never pay full price for a game (only Civ so my former wife could play), but I would totally pay full price for this game... and if the sequel ever comes out (not Dungeon Rats, that one is pretty good, too, but you need a really good understanding of the game mechanics), I would pay full price if these same makers, made an 'Age of Decadence 2'.
-Cons are few: I call 'rubbish' on some of the statistics/percentages given for hits/blocks/misses, but it is not excessive like other games and you can basically always find another solution. Also, they don't tell you when you are going to surpass a 'checkpoint/chapter ending' where the consequence is that you can't go back and finish/retry something. Also, the game mechanic for getting hit with blunt objects that lower your armor rating is overwhelmingly-frustrating (especially after you just used those last ingots or gold to do repairs), but that is just life in the game and in real life... I couldn't use my armor again after my ceramic chest-plates cracked as a Spec Ops commander... we had to buy new ones.

God and gods-bless the makers of this game. Thank you. Knighthawk.

i am going to leave a honest review, i saw this game on the youtube channel warlocracy, he made it look great, the truth is.... it is great lol, its crazy hard and you cant do everything so you gata get used to not being able to do half of the game on one playthrough so you gata break it up over many playthroughs. on my first playthrough i got the poisen and i was able to kill the god at the end of the legion story, not a easy fight, i went all in and enjoyed my time on this game. thank you youtubers for showing off games nobody knows about, i truly enjoyed this one. warlocracy seems to know the games like. this one and kenshi have been ledgendary. i recamend this game completly if you like a slog to the top and the reward of power being more foes to use it on.

I bought this game because I don't feel like I gave the developers enough money for Colony Ship.

Full review in time.

So good! Amazing setting & writing. Difficult until you get the hang of things for sure. Lots to do with different starts & endings.

Too many different opinions about that game. Sure thing is it is not for everyone. If you like pen and paper rpg it is probably good. Not much help, everybody say that, i know. So let's put it differently. Think of the following:
1. Turn based combat.
2. Immersion, realism.
3. Role play not only in combat but also out of combat.
4. Elements like politics, actual human societies, NPCs with personality and objectives.
5. Lot of text reading, paying attention to details as well.
If you like at least 4 of the above 5 just go. If you like 3 try out the demo.
I explain:
1. Turn based combat.
Not the best there is, but close. It will satisfy the most demanding turned based fans. It involves very
deep tactics. Luck is there, but not of high importance.
2. Immersion, realism.
Remember that hostage quest wait for you 3 ingame years for you to complete? Well here you go
immediately or there is no longer a hostage.
When you make a choice you make friends and enemies and there is an effect. No such thing as 'do all
quests n stuff'
No such things as 'kill 10 rats boy' quests
No magic, elves and dragons, Just humans like you.
3. Role play not only in combat but also out of combat.
Yes you need to fight using your best skills.
Yes, you can proceed without combat. With proper skills, you can talk out all situations, or better, avoid
them entirely. You can really progress combat-free and be surprised because it is actually easier than
fighting.
4. Elements like politics, actual human societies, NPCs with personality and objectives.
You are not the center of the world. NPCs act very naturally for their role. From kings to beggars.
5. Lot of text reading, paying attention to details as well.
You have to be into the story. You need to read the texts to know what is actually going on when the
exploration freezes and you enter dialogue mode. You also need to read texts and tooltips from skills,
items, actions etch.

A very good idea executed not so well.

Lets start off with the good:
Combat is fun, very tactical and satisfying to overcome scores of enemies, tough if you're not playing a combat focused character, but fair, enemies use the same rules as you do and you can overcome large numbers with good positioning, planning and equipment.
Although the fact you can't attack diagonally is weird and makes no sense from a gameplay or realistic perspective. Just turn 45 degrees?
Setting is interesting, the factions are interesting and there isn't a clear "good guy" which makes the world as a whole very believable.

And the bad:
Very forced story, lots of scenes where you only have a single dialogue option. The worst example is in the intro, where if you talk to an NPC called Cado you're forced to join his guild and give him 250 gold without any option to refuse, which is impressively bad quest design.
Skill checks seem reasonable at first, but there are scenarios where you'll need multiple skills to complete an objective, so if you're trying to sneak into a castle you might be forced to make a strength check, on a low strength, stealth/talker focused character.

The tutorial is odd because it explicitly tells you to avoid making versatile characters who are good at multiple things if you're inexperienced, but also tells you you don't have to min-max which seems contradictory?

The writing is also way too pretentious for its own good, because it's constantly telling you that this game is different and you're just an average joe over and over again where in reality you can wipe the floor with enemies if you go for a combat-focused build.

One thing I also hate is the inability to attack NPC's, takes away a lot of player agency (this game has very little of that).

I enjoy a game where you need to earn your status but for the love of god stop trying to tell everyone how different and quirky you are.