AoD je krásná hra. A nemyslím tím grafikou, která je spíše nevzhledná a nenabídne žádné dechberoucí scenérie ani bohaté palety barev (převažuje pouštní hnědožluť). V doslovném smyslu to neplatí ani o příběhu, protože svět hry je v rozkladu a postavy, které ho obývají, do jednoho větší či menší hajzlové. Liší se v podstatě jen tím, za jakým cílem si ten či onen jde. Nějaké ohledy? Ty nebere nikdo na nikoho. Přesto je to svět, který mne do sebe dokonale vtáhnul a u kterého jsem rád, že jsem mohl na sebe vzít roli podílníka na jeho osudu.

A tady se objevilo klíčové slovo "role", které hře dodává největší část její krásy. V tomto světě totiž musíte dobře vědět kdo jste a co chcete, jinak zhebnete. Nedá se tu jen tak toulat, tuhle píchnout do toho, tamhle do onoho. Tak se nikam nedostanete. Chcete zkoumat tajemné pozůstatky z bájných vrcholných let civilizace? Dělat vojenskou kariéru a účastnit se epických bitev? Bouchat kačky jako prohnaný obchodník? Nebo by vám sedělo něco jiného? Vyberte si co chcete, ale ujistěte se, že na to fakt máte a jděte si za tím tvrdě. Já si na první průchod hrou vybral vojáka v naivní představě, že bojem to půjde projít snáz. Jenže se mi nechtělo úplně obětovat inteligenci a sociální schopnosti, tak jsem stvořil tak trošku hybrida. Ouvej, svět je zlý, bitky těžké a ty body ušetřené na bojových schopnostech prostě chyběly... Ale i to dlouhé hledání životaschopné postavy mě bavilo! Jednak je příjemná výzva objevovat a učit se ovládat zručně vystavěné mechanismy hry, jednak jsem se hrozně chtěl dostat dál, protože mě zajímalo, jak se co v ději vyvrbí. AoD je totiž hodně dobře napsaná hra - s živými a osobitými postavami, zajímavou historií, přehršlem záhad k objevení a silnou atmosférou světa na pokraji definitivního zmaru.

Ve hře je spousta zajímavých situací, do kterých se můžete dostat a většinou i dost způsobů, jak je řešit. A hodně se mi líbí, že obojí je závislé na tom, jakou postavu si nadesignujete. Zatím jsem AoD dohrál jednou a do dalších možných cest jen nahlédl. Už z toho je ale zřejmé, jak citelně se různé průchody mohou lišit nejen v obsahu a ději, ale hlavně v pocitu ze hry. Hry ve smyslu hraní si. Protože s Age of Decadence si člověk může vyhrát vážně skvěle.

I have to admit on first glance this game does not seem appealing due to many factors but after deciding to give the game a go I have to admit it is one of the most broad RPGs ive seen in a long time.
To explain what I mean by broad, at the start of the game you chose to play one of roughly 8 classes and then build your character with combat skills and civil skills.
For an example you can build a mercenary who is actually a lover not a fighter, an merchant who responds to denial with an axe to the face and many other combinations.

One of my favourites is playing a grifter/con man and taking the skills impersonate, streetwise and persuasion.
With that character I was roaming around town and conning people into thinking I was the messiah, a noble, a merchant lord, a soldier, an imperial envoy, some friendly stranger and pretty much anything I need to be.
Your class and skills dictate how you need to play the game as you cannot be a little of everything, for example with my grifter if I ever went into combat I would die in 2 rounds since he was not well suited for combat.
But if I dressed as a bandit, convinced the leader to parley, went to the lord of the area and told him about a possibility to kill 2 birds with one stone then went back to the bandit leader and convinced him to attack an enemy of the local lord getting both sides killed in the process to find the bandit leader still alive in the end begging for his money just to slit his throat makes up for the fact that my grifter couldnt actually fight.

This game can be very cruel to people who are the usual goody-2-shoes, in fact the game hates that architype and out right punishes you with unwinnable fights, people backstabbing you every second until you are finally broken and ready to look after yourself and do what you have to do to survive.

So if you enjoy Fallout (1 and 2) like games with tons of replayability and many ways to survive be it masquerading, lying, killing, poisoning, backstabbing, talking your way out of trouble or just plain paying other people to do your dirty work then I would highly recommend this game especially if you ever wanted to RP a social character and actually never have to fight anyone in the game.

I have to preface this review by saying that I LOVE this game, but chances are 80% of the current gaming population wont like The Age of Decadence. As such its important for anyone interested in this game to have a good idea of what they are getting themselves in for - which is a proper hardcore RPG.

Combat is turn based and initially very hard. The creators have tried to recreate the real life danger of fighting and pretty much nailed it. Your fledgling character is able to take on one opponent at the start of the game, but fighting multiple people will more than likely get you killed. Luckily the game has multiple solutions to the problems you will face and combat is not the only path for your character.

The game has a good solid story and there are plentiful dialog options which are linked to the social skills of your character. This of course means that you could potentially play through the game as a smooth talking character with minimal combat skill. The game doesn't hand hold you in terms of what you should put your skill points into, but common sense will get you through (eg if your playing a Thief character sneak, lock pick and disguise might be useful..).

There are multiple character backgrounds which modify the story including Loremaster, Thief, Assassin, Merchant and so on. Some times the characters overlap at points in the story, so it can be interesting to see things play out from a different perspective. Even though the game is not complete (at the time of this review) the different backgrounds give replayability to the game.

Finally the setting is based of post roman collapse, which is a unique setting for this type of game. Don't expect to see spells and magic flying around typical of fantasy RPGs, but there are wondrous items and locations which can be visited from a bygone era in the games lore.

Overall if your sick of "baby's first RPG" and are hungry for a solid learning curve and dangerous combat in a unique setting I recommend The Age of Decadence.

(Note; At the time of writing there are a number of crash issues that the game is experiencing, hopefully everything will be ironed out for the final release).

I don't normally review games but since Age of Decadence is a bit of a niche title then maybe this will help out. In short, AoD has been an awesome gaming experience for me and maybe it will be for you too.

What you have to realize going in is that AoD has a learning curve -- even if you play a lot of RPGs -- because the philosophy behind it is unusual in today's market. It's not designed for your character to be good at everything all at once. Rather, your character is supposed to play a specific role in the style of classic RPGs.

There's a basic dichotomy in play here, and it goes like this. Your character can be a good Fighter or a good Talker -- but not both.

At least not on your first few runs. You may eventually be able to utilize both of these skillsets on a single character -- at least to some degree -- but not until you have a lot of experience with both the combat system and how choices & consequences work in the game world. Don't try to play a hybrid character in the beginning or you will fail spectacularly.

Let me repeat -- if you start out trying to play a character who can both fight and talk, you will get your ass handed to you. So pick one or the other and your initial experiences with the game will be much more pleasant.

Now that that's out of the way, let me explain why there is a great game here.

The combat system is very deep and one of the best I've seen. Your stats and skills have a huge impact on how your character plays, which opens up dozens of possible builds. Tactical options abound and the encounters are difficult enough that you'll need to utilize every possible advantage. And one aspect I really appreciate is the "feel" of combat -- it's cruel and unforgiving, which is totally appropriate for a post-apocalyptic setting. You'll have to think and push yourself hard if you want to survive, which to me is really satisfying.

The game also offers pathways for "talky" characters via the use of skill checks. With the right build you can charm, manipulate, and scheme your way through the whole game without ever picking up a sword. It's a much lighter experience than playing a fighter and offers a refreshing take on the RPG genre.

The story is good but -- like most other aspects of the game -- different than most other RPGs. There are seven major factions in the world of AoD, and which faction you choose to align with will have a drastic role in how you perceive and experience the game's events. You have to play characters from several different viewpoints in order to really get a complete sense of what's going on, which gives replay value beyond what most RPGs are capable of.

The last major point of emphasis is the role of choices & consequences. The world of AoD is harsh and most of its inhabitants will happily cut your throat if it suits their interests. But if you are smart -- or just good enough at committing violence -- the choices you make can dictate the rise and fall of guildmasters, generals, nobles, and even the supernatural. You have to work hard to get ahead, but that just makes it more rewarding when you do achieve results.

There are a few negative aspects that are worth mentioning. Technically the game feels rough and unpolished. This is mostly due to the game engine showing its age, though, and you shouldn't encounter many bugs.

I also think the quality of the faction questlines is a bit uneven. It's worth playing through them all but there were definitely some I enjoyed more than others. I can forgive this easily enough because when you have this much content some things are bound to shine a bit more than others.

Lastly, there really is no true "independent" questline, meaning you can't progress through the game very much if you're not aligned with an existing faction. It would've been neat to have a way to build your own little empire to compete with the others, but this isn't really a knock on the game -- just a feature that might've been cool.

So hopefully this review gives a good sense of what Age of Decadence is like. The game is innovative, complex, and a lot of fun. If you're still reading then you're obviously interested, so go ahead and take the plunge. And remember, you're about to die and we salute you! :)

Hrateľnosť: 7/10
Príbeh: 10/10
Zvuky: 6/10
Grafika: 5/10
Dĺžka hry: 8/10
Finálne hodnotenie: 8/10

Klady: Dobre spracovaný drsný svet a skvelý príbeh
Dobrá znovu hrateľnosť a možnosť niekoľkých koncov
Veľká variabilita ako vyriešiť a pristupovať k úlohám
Prepracovaný strom schopností

Zápory: Občas bugy (grafické aj herné)
Slabšia audiovizuálna stránka (monotónna hudba, chýbajúci dabing, priemerná grafika atď.)
Pri špatnom rozdelený bodov u postavy sa môže značne skomplikovať alebo znemožniť postup hrou

Zhrnutie hry: The Age of Decadence (AoD) je skvelé hardcore RPG s ťahovým štýlom boja od vývojárov z Iron Tower Studio. Ide o ich prvú hru ktorá vyšla v roku 2015 a v rovnakom univerze je zasadená aj ich druhá hra Dungeon Rats.

Hrateľnosť a príbeh: Hra je zasadená do post-apokalyptického sveta, ktorý je inšpirovaný rozpadom Rímskej ríše v kombinácii z prvkami nadprirodzena a mágie. Na výber je tu osem tried postáv - assassin, thief, praetor, loremaster, grifter, drifter, mercenary a merchant. Za každú z nich sa vám naskytne jedinečný uhol pohľadu na príbeh a postup hrou. Okrem tried sú v hre samozrejme aj frakcie a to obchodný cech, cech zlodejov, cech vrahov, cisárska garda a tri rody - Aurelian, Crassus a Daratan. Ku frakciám sa môžete pridať počas hry alebo u nich začnete podľa triedy vašej postavy.

Vašou náplňou bude jednať a vychádzať s ľuďmi a frakciami okolo vás. Budete sa snažiť prežiť a rovnako tak aj ostatní vo svete plného politiky, intríg, sprisahaní a zrád, kde platí právo najsilnejšieho. Ani zďaleka nebudete chodiaci terminátor ktorý bude všetko a všetkých likvidovať bez väčšej námahy ale práve naopak. Keď nedáte pozor zomriete a to veľmi často. Ľahko sa vám stane, že si vyberiete zlú stranu a poviete niečo zle, alebo vkročíte niekam kam ste nemali a pustí sa do vás celá skupina.

Vaša postava bude mať základné atribúty - sila, obratnosť, odolnosť, všímavosť, inteligencia a charizma. Body do týchto atribútov si budete môcť určiť len pri tvorení postavy. Počas hry až na pár výnimiek ich nebude možné zlepšiť alebo meniť. Strom schopností u postáv je celkom komplexní a rozdelení do dvoch skupín - bojové a civilné schopnosti. Počas postupu hrou podľa hrania dostávate buď všeobecné, bojové alebo civilné body. Zatiaľ čo všeobecné môžete minúť do oboch skupín tak bojové a civilné pôjdu len do pre nich určené. Budete tiež môcť používať alchýmiu a vyrábať si zbrane, brnenie a ďalšie veci pokiaľ na to utratíte body schopnosti. V hre je niekoľko druhov rôznych brnení od ľahkých až po ťažké. Zbrane sa delia do základných typov – dýky, meče, sekery, kladivá, kopije, luky, kuše a vrhacie zbrane. Každý typ má potom ešte okolo 5 druhov - napríklad niekoľko jednoručných a obojručných mečov. Kvalita zbrojí aj zbraní závisí od materiálu z akého sú vyrobené a kováčskych schopností.

Veľmi teda záleží za akú postavu hráte a podľa toho je potreba rozdeľovať body. Napríklad za obchodníka je potreba sa sústrediť hlavne na civilné schopnosti a vylepšovať tie ktoré sa mu budú hodiť pre jeho povolanie. U žoldniera ide zasa hlavne o boj, a teda o bojové schopnosti. U zlodeja to bude primárne zakrádanie, okrádanie a otváranie zámkov. Odporúčam vám na začiatku pri tvorbe postavy neutrácať žiadne body do schopností a nechať si ich až do hry, kde si ich môžete po začiatku rozdeľovať ako budete potrebovať pri postupe hrou. Jediné čo si je treba zvoliť je trieda, atribúty a vzhľad. Atribúty si tiež dávajte z rozmyslom, pretože je potreba ich mať na určitej úrovni pre špecifické akcie - napríklad mať dostatočnú silu na rozrazenie zablokovaných dverí, obratnosť na prenasledovanie nepriateľa, všímavosť na nájdenie tajných dverí atď..

Príbeh je veľmi dobre napísaný, svet je dobre spracovaní a má obsiahlu históriu. Celé to má veľmi dobrú atmosféru a život v hre pôsobí naozaj neférovo a kruto. Postavy ktoré sa nachádzajú v hre sú premyslené a majú dobre spracované osobnosti. Vaše rozhodnutia majú vplyv na príbeh a tým čo a ako spravíte sa dopracujete k rôznym koncom. Hra má asi okolo 13+- možných koncov.

Grafika: Vizuálna stránka hry nie je nič prelomové. Animácie nie sú zlé a to hlavne u zbraní. Počas hrania sa u mňa občas naskytol grafický bug a hra začala blikať.

Zvuky: Zvuky sú štandard, hudba je monotónna a moc jej tam nie je. Postavy nemajú žiadny dabing čo je veľká škoda.

Záver: AoD je skvelá hardcore RPG hra ktorej príbeh aj svet sa s vašou postavou maznať nebude. Každá chyba vás bude stáť život a u vylepšovaný postavy budete musieť rozdeľovať body schopností z rozmyslom. Určite odporúčam hru často ukladať, pretože ak si zle rozdelíte body môžete sa zaseknúť s postupom v príbehu. Na začiatok sa snažte držať rád ktoré vám poskytne sama hra už pri tréningu alebo vo forme tipov počas tvorby postavy a hrania. Pri prvej hre sa sústreďte hlavne na schopnosti potrebné pre vašu triedu postavy. Ak hľadáte RPG s dobrým príbehom, prepracovaním svetom a nevadia vám zložitejšie mechaniky a ťažšia obťažnosť tak AoD len odporúčam.

In brief: AoD ditches many of the genre long established staples to focus on the roleplaying, and this it does amazingly well; there really is nothing quite like it out there. The EA version is very much playable (there are less bugs than in many releases). The combat, which has been much the focus of attention due to its difficulty, is not awesome, but it gets the job done and it is optional.

***Since for some reason Steam has decided to implement a character limit to user reviews (what's up with that Gabe?), you can read my whole review here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/666827315713399977/, but below is a very long extract:

AoD is a turn based cRPG set in a post-apocalyptic low magic/low tech world. So naturally one might think that this is something like Fallout in a “fantasy” (as opposed to sci-fy) setting. But it’s not and both games suffer from this comparison.

So, if it’s not Fallout in a low fantasy setting, then what is AoD? The best way to approach this is by considering that cRPGs tend to be very long games, with the first playthrough taking at least 20-30 hours. A first playthrough of AoD EA version, which according to the devs contains about 60% of the final content of the game, can take anywhere between an hour and 5 hours. However, while in the typical cRPG you see about 80% of the content in the first playthrough, in AoD you see anywhere between 5% and 15%.

This has a huge impact on how you are meant to play the game, the importance of which cannot be understated. It took me a long time to realize this, despite warnings from other players and the devs on the forum. You are not meant to constantly save the game and load it when you die or when something goes wrong. If you do this, paradoxically, the game becomes much more difficult and frustrating than it is, particularly when it comes to combat. This is because you can’t compensate through luck “bad” playing character stats, as AoD gives very little margin to luck. The problem is that at first it might seem exactly the opposite, because even though the to hit chances (expressed as a %) are low, you think “if I get a bit lucky with a couple of hits, I can pull this off”. But the outcome is not decided by a few very lucky rolls: you have to be consistently better than your opponent (e.g. not like in Fallout, where you can finish or disable an opponent with a single lucky shot). But, not realizing this at first, you save before a combat and reload when you fail, which you will do again and again. I’ll return to the combat in AoD in more detail later.

So how does the game play? Essentially you move your PC around in a fully 3d isometric view. Combat is never automatically triggered; it is always preceded by a dialogue window, more often than not giving you the chance to avoid it. You can talk to NPCs, examine some objects in the environment, or very occasionally pick up “loot” on the map. You don’t “hunt” for containers, checking every pixel for chests, drawers, bag, barrels, etc. You don’t worry about enemies spotting you, you can’t “turn on” sneak, there are no traps, pool of poisonous green goo to avoid, etc. The main view is, so to speak, just a convenient tool for showing how the world is and what is around you, allowing for some exploration and generally getting the character from one place to another. You can also use a map for convenient quick travel, and many times in a dialogue you have the option to appear directly in the place you want to go to. The meat of the game is in dialogues with NPCs, text adventures and combat.

As to the dialogues and the text adventures, their outcome depends a lot on PC stats, to a lesser degree on prior game choices and occasionally on equipment. And they are very good! Actually, they are so good that it is very rewarding to play a PC who doesn’t get into a single combat (yes, you can definitely play through the whole game without having any combat encounters at all). They are generally very well written (minor criticism: the swearing arsenal seems limited to the f word, which makes me miss Annah and Morte from Planescape Torment), the NPCs descriptions, motivations and actions are very solid and follow an iron logic action-consequence pattern, the PC has many different options when approaching them and more often than not they allow for a lot of roleplaying and expressing how your PC is. The mechanics themselves are unremarkable, but what AoD manages to accomplish through them is brilliant.

A warning though: because the outcome of both dialogues and text adventures is largely determined by skill checks (e.g. you must have a persuasion of 4 to convince an NPC) and as a player you have no way of knowing what level of skill you must have to pass it (it’s not shown in the text and you can’t possibly derive the exact number from the context), at first you might feel very frustrated that you don’t get the best outcome (or even fail, which in some cases means outright dying) because of something so silly and arbitrary. But it’s part of the game design that every PC can only get the best outcome in some cases and that you die a lot. Remember that each playthrough is relatively short; this is not Dragon Age where you invest 50 hours in building a PC. AoD is meant to be replayed many-many times, and the story and the world come together as you replay the game following different paths and failing in many of them . I can’t stress this enough: you gain insight into the story, the NPCs and the setting when your PC fails/dies, thus losing is an integral part of playing AoD.

As to combat, as I mentioned earlier, there is very little luck involved. If you face an opponent against whom your stats and equipment compare unfavorably (not in absolute, but relative terms, i.e. your stats and equipment don’t allow you to have an advantage over your opponent) you will lose. Again and again and again. The room for tactics in combat is also quite limited: there is positioning (counterintuitively, this usually means getting yourself into a corner where you are attacked by the fewest number of opponents at the same time), armor, quite a few different attacks (but ultimately not that different between them) and some variations between weapons of the same class and some auxiliary thingies you can use (like nets and alchemy bombs, but not much more, at least in the current version). Breaking it down, I think it would be fair to say that the outcome of combat depends mostly on the stats and equipment, somewhat on tactics, and very marginally on luck.

Personally, even though now I feel quite comfortable with combat in AoD (I better, after sinking so many hours into it) and I don’t find it too difficult or frustrating, I’m not thrilled by it. It does get the job done and it’s important to realize that without a very serious investment in AI, the most practical way of making combat hard (as is part of the game design) is to make it dependent on stats and populating the world with opponents with high stats. If tactics played a larger role, a human player would have a huge advantage over the AI controlled NPCs, which would go against the whole philosophy of the game.

Fortunately, you can play AoD without ever getting into combat. To avoid it you just have to be cautious in your dialogues and text adventures, which means as a rule of thumb behaving as you would in a real life situation (e.g. if you see some thugs, don’t approach them; if they ask you for money, give it to them). The best thing that can be said about combat in AoD is that it does succeed in making combat a very dangerous business that one should avoid unless very confident about his or her martial skills. (..,)

Odporúčam! Fakt výborné RPGčko!

Dej je umiestnený vo fantasy svete pripomínajúcom Rím v rozklade, kde sa nad troskami ríše snaží prevziať moc niekoľko frakcií. A vy sa do toho zapletiete.

Najväčším plusom hry je variabilita. Možností ako vyriešiť questy je vždy niekoľko. S tým súvisí úvodný výber postavy, čo výrazné ovplyvní postup hrou. Ako bojovník sa z problémov poväčšine vysekáte a ako obchodník vykeciate. Znovuhrateľnosť a vyskúšať si výberom iného povolania iné rozhodnutia je mimoriadne lákavá.

+++ príbeh, ohromná variabilita rozhodnutí, niekoľko koncov
++ výborne navrhnuté taktické boje na ťahy
+ originálny svet inšpirovaný Rímskou ríšou
+ primeraná dĺžka hry
+ opisy a dialógy

- slabá audiovizuálna stránka, grafika je tak na úrovni r. 2000-2005
- absentujúci dabing

Aktuálne robia v Iron Tower na Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game. Verím, že pôjde o ďalšie kvalitné RPGčko.

You hear much talk lately about the cRPG revival and I’m fairly confident that The Age of Decadence will come to be counted favorably among that swell and deservingly so. But I don’t think it's enough to just say that we have here another good revival title. Though it's look and feel will be familiar to fans of the genre, The Age of Decadence strains so impressively against the reins of what we have come to expect from a game that it may just land us at the leading edge of new territory.

Sure, all of the staples are here. Nice isometric view graphics paint the adventure around you...check. Stat and skill based character creation allowing for a nice variety of playstyles...check. Compelling storyline with strong writing...check. Immersive world lore...check. A world crafted specifically for revealing it's secrets to you as it builds your character into a world saving hero and providing you with believable illusions of consequence...che……..no. No. The world reveals nothing to you for free. You are not a hero or a special snowflake. And you are not pampered by mere illusions of consequences to your choices. You are served very real consequences. And that’s a special thing.

The Age of Decadence provides a wonderfully immersive world. And it respects the player enough to not bend that world’s consequences in a way that favors our character. It's a harsh place full of backstabbing, intrigue, and power plays. And the game says, hey player, act as you want and I will show you what happens to a character like yours when they do those things. If you play the role well you may find that you excel in your ventures. Play the role poorly and you'll quickly discover that you’re just another subpar assassin or merchant that gets to die in the gutter like all of the other hack jobs out there whose aspirations outweighed their qualities.

The decisions are tough. Make an ally here, create an enemy there. The narrative consequences that unfold due to your actions and choices are, to my knowledge, unparalleled in gaming. And Age of Decadence does something really fascinating. You WILL NOT see all there is to see in one play through and that is because each faction/alliance playthrough is served it's on unique view into the story that is unfolding. Honestly, I am not one to replay cRPGs but The Age of Decadence compels you to do so. There’s almost a Butterfly Effect in that as you explore these parallel story lines you get to see just how consequential your actions were when you served that other factions interests.

There are many ways to play the game but however you play it, you'll want to stay true to that character concept. If you’re a smooth talking merchant that’s avoided physical conflict your whole life honing your silver tongue, then exercise all of the caution that character would when things look like they could get physical. The game isn’t going to coddle your poor decisions. Get in the head of that character and respect the world around him or her in the same ways that they would. Playing a talker, you will learn very little about how combat works. Play a physical character and you will be playing a whole new game as you plumb the depths of the rewarding combat system.

The Age of Decadence won’t be for everyone. It's unforgiving nature will be a downer for some. But if you like the idea of real choice and consequences, richly written dialogue and plot, and a gritty brutal setting...then you owe it to yourself to give it a try. And there’s a demo, so try that first!

Túto hru som mal vo wishliste už dávno, a komentáre typu "ruky preč" som ignoroval.
Veľká chyba.
Nejaké to RPG už mám za sebou, no táto hra ma po 8 hodináh hrania doslova prestala baviť a rozladený som ju zmazal. Prečo?

Úvodný oznam že hra je tvrdá a náročna som prijal s radosťou, takéto hry hrajem večšinou na tvrdú úroveň. A preto som sa tešil na výzvu. Nie však dlho.

Postavu som tvoril asi na 5 krát, po tom čo som zistil že sa ďalej ako z úvodneho mesta nedostanem.
Nakoniec som sa zmieril s tým, že nie všetky questy môžem dokončiť, kvôli chýbajucim skillom. Vlastne v hre môžete iba to čo vám sama dovolí pre vašu postavu. Ak nemáte nejaký skill ktorý je potrebný pre pokračovanie vedľajšieho questu ste nahraní. Žiadna alternatíva neexistuje. Tie sú zrejme vyhradené pre hlavnú dejovú líniu.
Nové lokácie na mape sa pridajú iba cez questy a konverzácie, ktorých je mimochodom ako šafránu.
Takže ak začnete blúdiť v kruhoch a hľadať kde píchnuť aby ste získali Skill pointy potrebné na zvýšenie rečnickej dovednosti (alebo inej nerelevantnej pre vašu postavu), ktorá je potrebná na dokončenie rozpracovanej misie, budete flustrovaný a to ešte viac ako z bojov.

Ách boje, tvrdé boje, veľmi tvrdé boje. Pri presile, 3 a viac nemáte takmer šancu.
Ešte šťastie že sú ťahové, a môžete si chvíľku poplakať nad nelogickosťou a divným prepočtom.
Zbrane na na ďiaľku sú neužitočné a v stiesnených priestoroch je smrť nevyhnutná.
Skill bodov je málo a pridávať ich na inú zbraň nablýzko je riziko, pretože tak bude postava slabá.

Najviac ma rozčaroval hneď prvý quest pre gildu zlodejov. Odstrániť dvoch týpkov v opustenom dome.
Po tom ako s nimi skoncujem a idem celý šťastný uložiť, moju akciu preruší nascriptované okno a v tom sa zjaví v dverách ďalší, ktorý ma pekne už načatého dorazí. Samozrejme ukladanie počas boja neexistuje, dokonca sa nemôže ani len liečiť.

Prekvapenie prišlo keď som chcel boj začať vlastnou iniciatívou, nemôžete.
Takže banda žobrákov v jednej veži, ktorá ma ošmekla o par zlatých, zostane nepotrestaná.

Hra ma však prekvapila ešte viac, v prvom hlavnom queste. V ktorom som mal špehovať druhú rodinu v nejakej bani. Po príchode do lokácie sa mi podarilo cez lore skill dostaťl až dnu (samozrejme cez nascriptované okná, bez možnosti prieskumu alebo uloženia) kde sa mi podarilo opraviť nejaký stroj.
Získal som si priazeň vedátora, ktorý ma zaviedol za hlavou rodiny v inom vzdialenom meste (samozrejme cez nascriptované okná, bez možnosti prieskumu alebo uloženia)
Hurá, konečne zmena.
Ale iba v náročnosti.
Žiadne nové zbrane alebo brnenia samé ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ako v úvodnom meste.
Sklamaný že sa nemôžem lepšie vybaviť, naškudlil som nejaké skill pointy a rozdelil som si ich s predstavou že takto dokončím aspoň úvodné misie v prvom meste.

Ops, to vážne? Zobrazí sa hláška že opustením mesta sa zrušia všetky doterajšie prebiehajúce questy.
No čo už veď som ich nemal tak veľa. Po návrate už však bolo všetko zmenené a questy stratené.

Takýchto príkladov je v hre veľa.

Technická stránka? 3D hrám chýba detail a rôznorodosť. Netýka sa to iba tejto hry. No dokážem sa cez to preniesť ak je príbeh a spracovanie dobré.

Čo ma najviac irituje je keď po posune myškou, kurzor dorazí na miesto so sekundovým oneskorením.

Škoda že tvorci nedotiahli niektoré herné aspekty, alebo nenajali priemerného game dizajnéra.
Táto hra mohla byť dobrá a zábavna.

Varoval som Vás.

Ruky preč.

Možno stojí za vyskúšanie keď bude v akcii za 1-2 doláče.

I've had this game on my radar for a while and purchased during the last Steam sale. Recommended for fans of the genre with some caveats (ergo, on sale).

+ Well written...really well written.
+ Interesting new world story-wise, complete with history.
+ Skill tree: you will need every skill point.
+ Can go minimal combat without having to sneak/stealth.
+ Combat is very challenging.
+ Alchemy; not just a an add-on, but necessary to kill without strong combat skills/weapons/armor.
+ At times I needed AoD or went through withdrawal.
+ No grinding or fetch quests.

- Graphics: weak to beging with; tiny character portraits removes immersion, makes it feel like a text adventure game.
- Controls for navigation: frustrating moving around towns due to having to rotate, blocked by buildings, etc.
- Crafting: I couldn't get a schematic to craft anything I couldn't easily buy (crafting skill 6)
- Cannot win the game unless certain skills at certain levels. The game ended abruthly and was very unsatisfying; I didn't have enough skill points to overcome the lore/crafting failures needed to progress (lore 7, crafting 6, but even lore 8 insufficient; had I known this, I wouldn't have spent skill points on block or critical and probably not crossbow).
- Music: monotonous, limited; the main town has a track about 20 seconds long that loops endlessly; nearly drove me mad.
- Too chaste. AoD world is full of mature content...but sexuality/senuality curiously missing.

7/10 Would kill the Crossbow Kid again.