Old school meets fresh and new ideas .. This RPG will suck you in an spit you out with a smile on your face.
First let's be honest. This is a Belgian game from a very small studio compared to Bioware. We are talking about a team of 40 people here. It's has some flaws and bugs (nothing compared with Risen, the gothic saga or 2 worlds, don't worry) and strange decisions that could bother the player that only approves perfection and can't stand that the story is not always Epic in a good guy, bad guy kind of way. We are talking about all shades of grey here.
I'll skip the graphics part and the sound part because they are amazing and this depends on your taste anyway. I'll just tackle what makes this game stand out.
- Free skill evolution. Create a Paladin, a Ranger, a Necromancer, a dual wielding cleric, a mage with a 2 handed claymore are just the tip of the iceberg. Every skill and ability is ready to be learned by you.
- Create your companion by assembling the body parts of your defeated foes. A fireball launching Goblin with blades instead of hands and a the face of a Boar … Check.
- Manage your Battle Tower. Get to rule and make decisions from the top of this imposing tower. Stash your loot, enhance your weapons, send your troops and much more.
- Be a freaking dragon. Yes, you can turn into a Dragon and rain death from above.
- Unusual quests with a lot of humor.
- Unusual plot that will make you wonder why you liked all those standard run of the mill characters from other games.
- Non auto scaled enemies .. thank you for this. I love to get owned in a place to come back later and smash everything to pieces.
- Intelligent dungeons with a lot clever puzzles. In this game you will have to read the books to discover clues that will help you become stronger.
- MINDREADING !!! ok, you can't abuse it because every time you'll read the mind of someone, it will cost you XP, but you can lower the cost. You can read the minds of every NPC you encounter. It's amazing. For example, try to read the mind of a ghost so you'll learn a new alphabet. By doing this, you'll be able to understand some books with very interesting info in them.
I could go on and on, but I'm going back to the game now. This game is not perfect, but it's such a breath of fresh air that I only can hope more people will follow their lead and come up with creative ideas.