Blackguards

 PC
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 256 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 143 out of 256
  2. Mixed: 69 out of 256
  3. Negative: 44 out of 256

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  1. apokalipto
    Aug 19, 2023
    8
    Very good game. I enjoyed playing this game a lot. I strongly recommend this.
  2. 3t3rnal
    Dec 21, 2021
    3
    Bland representative of its genre, that is nevertheless somewhat enjoyable at least at first, mostly due to some interesting characters and an intriguing, if pretty predictable story. However, the game balance, that is at first passable, devolves into absolute crapfest by the second half of the game and turns most end-game encounters into patience-testing slogs which have nothing to doBland representative of its genre, that is nevertheless somewhat enjoyable at least at first, mostly due to some interesting characters and an intriguing, if pretty predictable story. However, the game balance, that is at first passable, devolves into absolute crapfest by the second half of the game and turns most end-game encounters into patience-testing slogs which have nothing to do with skill or tactical thinking as the game showers you with infinite battles with respawning enemies, mini-boss spam, several repeated major bosses and a slew of other annoyances - minor to major.

    The game is lauded as complex by the developers and some players, but it really is not, aside from some aspect of skill management. No combos - magical or otherwise, no bonuses for positioning in combat, for flanking or surrounding and a couple abusable skills that allow you, for example: to stun enemies for double digit number of rounds, giving you ample time to regenerate mana and just permastun enemies - or for them to permastun you. There isn't much tactics at play, aside from basics, and its a damn shame especially because the enemy AI is actually surprisingly good, it mostly positions well and can easily surround and pick off single heroes if you give it an opening, it can abuse some of the broken spells as well. With proper balance and more tactical options, it could genuinely prove to be a fun challenge, but with the limited scope of the game's combat, it's held back a lot and only shows glimpses of brilliance here and there.

    In regards to spells, the game has a decent selection, though a bit unimaginative, but equipment selection is very poor, and even the "legendary" pieces you will find here and there are very bland and just stats+ with nothing special going for them.

    If you can get the game for very cheap on a sale and manage your expectations, the first 3 acts of the game will be mostly fun - I'd say somewhere around 6-7/10. From act 4 onwards, things will spiral out of control, and though there were some decent encounters still, there were many very bad ones to counter them - and they were very, very bad. I didn't actually finish the game, because the last "run" towards the last boss is just so bad, I just gave up. It would have probably taken me about 5 more hours to finish the game, if you want an estimate, and I played on the default difficulty (medium/normal I think).

    Also, as cherry on top, the game is pretty poorly optimized - while, due to the nature of the game, it has very little impact on the gameplay, it is still pretty noticeable and annoying when your frames randomly, but repeatedly, drop by 20, even when nothing special is happening.    … Expand
  3. bobsonrobson
    Apr 25, 2021
    8
    A very difficult turn-based game. Demanding which is rare nowadays. The graphics and especially the visuals of the spells are very nice. Average music but it fits. Great, difficult but satisfying gameplay
  4. Goby
    Apr 14, 2019
    5
    My biggest gripe with this game is that every time you think you won a battle like a champ, the game immediately throws another unfair battle at you without giving you a chance to recover from the previous one. This coupled with a poor economy that severely inhibits building your characters makes this game a waste of time. I spent 8 hours so anybody reading this and considering getting itMy biggest gripe with this game is that every time you think you won a battle like a champ, the game immediately throws another unfair battle at you without giving you a chance to recover from the previous one. This coupled with a poor economy that severely inhibits building your characters makes this game a waste of time. I spent 8 hours so anybody reading this and considering getting it can use that time more wisely elsewhere. You have been warned.… Expand
  5. mercyRPG
    May 25, 2018
    10
    Excellent game, among the best! Amazing atmosphere, enchanting design, superb art direction, world class voice actors, very nice particle effects and of course top notch turn based tactical gameplay. Open the Battle Log set to verbose mode in Options to see, how deep this game is. Don't believe the Steam ratings and the ones here!! Has bugs same way Fallout 1. and 2. had bugs for yearsExcellent game, among the best! Amazing atmosphere, enchanting design, superb art direction, world class voice actors, very nice particle effects and of course top notch turn based tactical gameplay. Open the Battle Log set to verbose mode in Options to see, how deep this game is. Don't believe the Steam ratings and the ones here!! Has bugs same way Fallout 1. and 2. had bugs for years then became cult games.… Expand
  6. RagingPoet
    Jan 2, 2018
    7
    Blackguards is not that bad of a game as some reviews might suggest, but it is is clearly much worse than most of the modern RPGs with turn-based combat. I'd still recommend it for fans of the genre.
  7. will824
    Jan 9, 2017
    9
    Blackguards is a very interesting game with complex dynamics of the Dark Eye.

    IMHO this game deserves a 8.5/10 and definitely worth hours of gameplay and to some extent re-playability. I found myself planing for hours what spells to get and how to develop some characters. Pros: - Detailed characters that come to life - Good roles mixture (I played as a mage but my real emphasis was    Blackguards is a very interesting game with complex dynamics of the Dark Eye.

    IMHO this game deserves a 8.5/10 and definitely worth hours of gameplay and to some extent re-playability. I found myself planing for hours what spells to get and how to develop some characters.

    Pros:
    - Detailed characters that come to life
    - Good roles mixture (I played as a mage but my real emphasis was a fighter with usage of the shadow spell)
    - Detailed scenarios
    - Fantastic spells and animations.
    - Hard difficulty requires strategic previous character planning to be able to beat some encounters.

    Cons:
    - No 360 camera support
    - Sometimes win or lose a battle feels more luck than strategy (Fail all the hits and all the magic, bad luck meaning lose).
    - Mechanics such as Buy/Sell kind of feels incomplete and Weight system feels off
    - End of the story is incomplete and leaves you wondering (Blackguards 2 continues this?)

    Overall I must say I did really enjoy the game, and the story development might is interesting although not among the most interesting from the Daedalic games or Baldur's gates games storylines.    … Expand
  8. Broyax
    Dec 29, 2016
    2
    Le système de jeu au tour par tour de Blackguards est particulièrement rigide et laborieux en plus d'être assez buggué et de ne pas respecter les probabilités (un 90% rate... deux fois sur trois !). L'interface est très perfectible (impossible de faire pivoter la caméra !) pour ne pas dire bien merdique puisqu'il faut se taper un menu radial ou gérer 10 000 raccourcis (à boulotterLe système de jeu au tour par tour de Blackguards est particulièrement rigide et laborieux en plus d'être assez buggué et de ne pas respecter les probabilités (un 90% rate... deux fois sur trois !). L'interface est très perfectible (impossible de faire pivoter la caméra !) pour ne pas dire bien merdique puisqu'il faut se taper un menu radial ou gérer 10 000 raccourcis (à boulotter soi-même) et que de surcroît il faut cibler l'hexagone sur lequel est le personnage et non pas le personnage -sinon impossible de le sélectionner comme cible... (oui c'est incroyablement con, un développeur qui programme avec son fion).

    L'histoire ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard et finit par nous ennuyer mais la musique est plutôt réussie et le jeu s'avère graphiquement correct. Comme Blackguards triche en permanence avec les probabilités, on se retrouve sans cesse à la bourre pour contrer des effets très indésirables comme le poison, l'élément le plus répandu du monde de Blackguards : du poison, du poison et du poison !

    C'est un grave souci d'équilibrage qui gonfle artificiellement la difficulté du jeu jusqu'à le faire éclater comme une foutue baudruche. Et dans le cas où il faut traverser une caverne infestée d'ennemis avec une vague de poison verdâtre qui vous poursuit, bonjour les dégâts !

    Eminemment regrettable, car le jeu était plutôt distrayant malgré ses tares au début et au milieu, puis il est devenu répétitif, lourdingue et détestable vers la fin.    … Expand
  9. crayno66
    Mar 10, 2016
    1
    I enjoyed this game despite the sometimes frustrating battles up to the point when I found out that I didn't have the right build and I couldn't win a single battle anymore.
    If you like a challenge and a lot of frustration then this game is for you, if you want ot actually enjoy a game without having to start over, play something else
  10. pantswilder
    Nov 6, 2015
    0
    This could have been a good game, but relentless opaque game mechanics coupled with a silly interface make it little more than an exercise in frustration.
  11. tentatur
    Oct 18, 2015
    8
    Muy buen juego de turnos, rol, para MAC y PC. Buena gráfica. Jueguen el Demo, les va a gustar. Excelente historia de los personajes, en modo HARD es un desafío al ingenio y estrategias personales. Hay que elegir bien el camino, buscar todas las armas y piezas, si quieres seguir avanzando al final. Tiene muchas horas de aventura garantizada. GL HF. Tentatur
  12. MeritCoba
    Jun 13, 2015
    5
    How would you feel when you are unable to proceed because you do not have the required abilities to deal with the enemy?
    You could say, tough luck, it is your own fault, because you made the wrong choices.
    And I grant you that. But how can I make the right choices when I do not know the strengths and weaknesses of these abilities? And how can I foresee that the story seriously impacts    How would you feel when you are unable to proceed because you do not have the required abilities to deal with the enemy?
    You could say, tough luck, it is your own fault, because you made the wrong choices.
    And I grant you that.

    But how can I make the right choices when I do not know the strengths and weaknesses of these abilities? And how can I foresee that the story seriously impacts the functioning of my party? At two moments in the game you will be inflicted with a setback that unhinges your party's fighting power. Once, one of the party members gets killed because the story is written that way. And at another time her replacement, a magic user, gets robbed of her ability to do magic and so thousands of points sunk in developing her magic powers becomes nullified with one stroke.
    So you might expect that the game takes this into account, but not at all: you cannot undo your choices nor does the game allow you to make up for the loss of a valuable party member.

    This then, in a nutshell, is the problem with Blackguards..

    This game is very much like searching for keys to doors, while you do not know which key opens which door, you do not know if a door leads to anything useful, you do not know when or if you will find the key or the door to which it belongs and you might find that the keys and doors disappeared before you actually could make use of them.
    So what is left is to go back to an earlier point in the game and find the right keys to the right doors: make the right choices. And unfortunately you might have to go a long way back: perhaps all the way to the beginning.

    And then another issue pops up.

    Blackguards is basically a tactical battle simulator in which the battles are linked together by a thin storyline that gives the battles context. You will find that many of the common characteristics of a roleplay game are underdeveloped. For one, your party members are a given and so are their classes. Do not expect that you can build your own party.
    Furthermore there are few choices in equipment so your party will be running around with the same armor and weapons for long stretches. And while many places have shops, you will only visit them to restock your supplies.
    But the crucial issue is that the story is simply too linear. While at some point you can select what to do first, you will be unable to change the storyline in any significant way. And because the story isn't really special at all, redoing this game just so you can change your characters is not enough of an incentive to go through the game again..

    Even as a tactical battle simulator the game leaves much to be desired. For instance you are unable to determine the setup of your party members. More often than not the game gleefully shoves your more vulnerable members, your magic users, in the front line. Hilarious is the ability to set traps. You have almost no time to set traps, let alone set the traps that actually make difference. The traps are expensive, the relevant skill requires a massive amount of points and you have only a very limited amount of traps.
    In addition some battles confront you with a special setup that is pivotal to the battle, often without explaining to you the specifics. In one battle, for instance, you will be able to make use of automated flamethrowers. But the game doesn't explain this to you, nor do you know what the impact is until you have seen their effect and you figured out how to operate them. It therefore requires you to redo the battle at least once.
    Some battles are practically unwinnable until you achieve a certain level, or develop a certain ability to a certain level.

    Is it all bad then?

    Actually no.
    When I went through the game the first time I actually was entertained. The game uses what I call the fall out principle. The fall out principle is that you start out as a nobody and then gradually start to make a difference when the story unfolds. This is the reverse of what you might call the dragon age effect in which it is clear from the start that you are a special person destined to make a difference.
    Personally I prefer the first angle to the last.
    Also the characters are amusing, even though, or perhaps because, they are so cliche. The remarks of the Naurim, the grumpy dwarf, are pretty funny and in line of what you might expect from a dwarf: a fighter who distrusts magic users and elves.
    The story, although linear, has a few twists and also there is some emotional connection as it involves a friend and later on a family member. It isn't also clearcut that the enemy is actually bad and it leaves things fuzzy for a long time.
    So it seems to me that if you go once through the game(using a game guide to form your party) then you might probably be entertained.

    Verdict:
    Blackguard is a filler when you are in between better games. Pick it up when it is in the bargain bin and around five dollars or euros or less.    … Expand
  13. cottoneyej31
    May 12, 2015
    0
    RNG RNG RNG. I put up with the games RNG for quite a while. I thought it even added a bit of challenge to the game. But after I got stuck in a city, with no way out except proceeding forward. In a fight, where my entire party starts under a bit of scaffolding holding a bunch of rocks and the enemy kept doing a wind attack that took 3 of my 4 party memebers out before I could even moveRNG RNG RNG. I put up with the games RNG for quite a while. I thought it even added a bit of challenge to the game. But after I got stuck in a city, with no way out except proceeding forward. In a fight, where my entire party starts under a bit of scaffolding holding a bunch of rocks and the enemy kept doing a wind attack that took 3 of my 4 party memebers out before I could even move my first turn. Over and over. I was done.

    Very poorly made game. Its a shame I'll never bother to see the rest of it.    … Expand
  14. MR67
    Apr 15, 2015
    5
    I enjoyed the hex-based tactical gameplay in the King's Bounty games and bought Blackguards in a Steam sale as I enjoy CRPGs and thought this would be more of the same. It uses the Dark Eye RPG rules in the game, the same as some previous CRPGs like Drakensang and the Arkania series. I've spent around 20 or 30 hours playing the game so far, and this review is based on my impressions whileI enjoyed the hex-based tactical gameplay in the King's Bounty games and bought Blackguards in a Steam sale as I enjoy CRPGs and thought this would be more of the same. It uses the Dark Eye RPG rules in the game, the same as some previous CRPGs like Drakensang and the Arkania series. I've spent around 20 or 30 hours playing the game so far, and this review is based on my impressions while playing the first quarter or so of the game.

    Pros:
    - Storyline seems quite interesting. After a rather short, strange, surreal intro, you find yourself trying to escape from prison. At that point, you have no idea what is actually going on in the game, but later flashback sequences start to fill in the blanks for you, and this keeps you going (despite the game's other shortcomings) as you strive to find out more about the game's background story.
    - Some decent voice acting and funny moments in the game's dialogue. Love the dwarf Naurim!

    Cons:
    - The game mechanics. This game uses the ridiculously complicated Dark Eye RPG rules, which I'm not going to go into here. Suffice to say that most actions in the game involve a check against the relevant attributes of the character performing the action to determine whether it succeeds or not. Spells, for example, are not cast automatically, but are subject to this check. This system seems unfairly biased towards your enemies, who seem to land melee hits and cast spells in combat successfully way more often than what your characters do. Enemies also seem to land critical hits more often too. A lot of the fights are set up to be played a certain way and the game punishes you if you don't toe the line. It punishes you anyway as the random number rolls are almost never in your favour though.
    - Lack of clarity. For example, nowhere does it seem to show you what the chances are of some of your talents (like treating wounds or setting traps) succeeding or not. If you use poison on your equipped weapon before a battle, it doesn't show anywhere that your weapon has actually been poisoned. if you have a high strength score, it doesn't indicate what difference this makes to your weapon damage.
    - Clunky and tedious gameplay. You can't use a healing potion, mana potion, trap, or poison in battle unless these have been added to your belt, which, depending on the belt's quality, can only hold 1 to 4 of these items. You can't use anything that still happens to be in your backpack during a battle, so if you forgot to change the contents of your belt slots, tough luck. You have 3 different weapon sets you can change between during a battle, but it takes a whole action to change your weapon set, and if you want to switch to a weapon currently in your backpack instead, too bad.
    - The sheer stinginess of the game. It may improve later on, but most of the early part of the game, you find yourself using whatever you salvaged from the prison you escaped from as most other gear is way too expensive. Merchants only sell a handful of different (and expensive) items so it can be difficult to equip your characters with decent gear. Combats reward you usually with a small amount (25 or 50) adventure points which you use to improve your characters' skills and attributes. You get a piss-poor amount of treasure from a typical combat. For example, early in the game, you go off scavenging on some old battlefield for armour and weapons, and promptly get attacked by 4 or 5 bandits in leather armour, 2 of which are using bows. At the end of the fight, you get a bastard sword and a couple of other small items. Yippee. What happened to all the gear the bandits were carrying?
    - Exploration sucks. Your main map is an overland map which you use to travel to various towns and villages there. Each town has a single screen which shows the various people (blacksmith, healer, merchant, trainer, quest giver etc) which you can click on to access. That's it. Dungeons consist of a simple line map with a number of different locations which you can click on to go to instantly, and this takes you straight to a battle map where you slog through another (usually tedious) battle.

    In concluding, I'm giving this game 5/10 as it has its good moments, but is let down mainly by the utterly frustrating combat mechanics, overall difficulty level, lack of equipment, and general lack of any fun factor. Unless you're a hardcore Dark Eye RPG fan who doesn't mind constantly reloading saved games to get through some of the combats, I'd advise looking elsewhere for a decent CRPG in this price range.    … Expand
  15. astragoblin
    Feb 20, 2015
    3
    Dreadful experience.

    Slow-paced and difficult, with too fine a stat/ ability granularity for how clunky and random the tactical combat actually is. The story was ok, just enough to give you a veneer of something to care about, but the beginning was too cheesy and plot-holey, and it all felt really small and unimportant. Game difficulty doesn't ramp well... as a starting player I felt    Dreadful experience.

    Slow-paced and difficult, with too fine a stat/ ability granularity for how clunky and random the tactical combat actually is. The story was ok, just enough to give you a veneer of something to care about, but the beginning was too cheesy and plot-holey, and it all felt really small and unimportant. Game difficulty doesn't ramp well... as a starting player I felt always behind the curve, with crappy equipment and not enough gold to do much about it, and I spent more time redoing missions I lost than enjoying any sense of progression or accomplishment.    … Expand
  16. DecryptedGaming
    Jan 19, 2015
    7
    Final verdict, Blackguards is a game I would recommend to any turn based strategy fan, for it’s world, content and solid gameplay and at it’s listed price point.
  17. fumbel
    Dec 21, 2014
    10
    I followed up this game since his early access. I like the comeback of the hexagon fields with his depths to strategic and tactical decisions. The overall story arc is interesting and keep me going forward. There are some glitches with the battlesystem where you have to depend on some luck (dice roller in the background). I would recommend this game to everyone who is interested in aI followed up this game since his early access. I like the comeback of the hexagon fields with his depths to strategic and tactical decisions. The overall story arc is interesting and keep me going forward. There are some glitches with the battlesystem where you have to depend on some luck (dice roller in the background). I would recommend this game to everyone who is interested in a tactical and strategic RPG like game (X-COM, Jagged Alliance, etc.). Cannot wait for the Blackguards 2. :-)… Expand
  18. Chabbawouk
    Dec 19, 2014
    9
    I liked Blackguards. It was a long time ago that I played a turn-based. It felt like a little bit back in time but with better graphics :-). I heard that there will be a second part sometimes in 2015. I think I'll have a look into that game, too.
  19. Aditu
    Dec 18, 2014
    10
    It is one of this games, where it might take a while to get into it, but then you get hooked up!
    Watched the hubby play it and liked the mood. Thought, okay, as him I love roleplaying games especially with the Dark Eye's rules and it does not look too difficult to beat the strategic tasks.
    Actually, it was kind of difficult. I have to admit that I am someone who is more frustrated by    It is one of this games, where it might take a while to get into it, but then you get hooked up!
    Watched the hubby play it and liked the mood. Thought, okay, as him I love roleplaying games especially with the Dark Eye's rules and it does not look too difficult to beat the strategic tasks.
    Actually, it was kind of difficult. I have to admit that I am someone who is more frustrated by crashes and so on (and this game definitely runs smooth and stable) than by having to try tricky situations again and again. I like the chalanges coming from things like that. Okay, the to-hit-chance IS frustrating, but on the other side after a while you get used to it.
    I totally love the graphics style, the story and the good kind of humor.
    This game might not be the first choice for someone who wants to hurry through the tasks and such, but for someone living an adventure it's perfect!    … Expand
  20. Thornville
    Dec 18, 2014
    9
    If you are a friend of AAA turn based tactial games like XCOM or Final Fantasy Tactics, this is a game just made for you! Daedalic Entertainment made a real good job on this one. The Story, settled in "The Dark Eyey" Universe is immersive, the graphics are real nice, the tactical approach is kinda advanced and pretty tricky from time to time and even the voice actors made a great job! TwoIf you are a friend of AAA turn based tactial games like XCOM or Final Fantasy Tactics, this is a game just made for you! Daedalic Entertainment made a real good job on this one. The Story, settled in "The Dark Eyey" Universe is immersive, the graphics are real nice, the tactical approach is kinda advanced and pretty tricky from time to time and even the voice actors made a great job! Two thumbs up!… Expand
  21. Eldryr
    Dec 16, 2014
    10
    What a positive surprise this game is. A good mixture of turn based gameplay, roleplay elements and strategy. Not easy and you have to choose your skills wisely but that's challenging. Different options to win a fight is a lot of fun and a reason to play the game more than once.
    I have to admit that they should defenitely work on the to hit chances this can be sometimes frustrating but if    What a positive surprise this game is. A good mixture of turn based gameplay, roleplay elements and strategy. Not easy and you have to choose your skills wisely but that's challenging. Different options to win a fight is a lot of fun and a reason to play the game more than once.
    I have to admit that they should defenitely work on the to hit chances this can be sometimes frustrating but if you have learned mastering the game you can also handle this in the most fights.
    Looking very forward to Blackguards II.    … Expand
  22. demondred79
    Dec 6, 2014
    5
    I feel terrible for anyone that paid $40 for this game.
    Voice acting was good, graphics are fair, there seems to be some depth and strategy, but that's where the good stuff ends.
    CONS: - very difficult to compare item upgrades - questing interface in towns is barebones - work vs reward doesn't balance. In other words, if you're in an encounter fighting 3 enemies and more get summoned    I feel terrible for anyone that paid $40 for this game.
    Voice acting was good, graphics are fair, there seems to be some depth and strategy, but that's where the good stuff ends.
    CONS:
    - very difficult to compare item upgrades
    - questing interface in towns is barebones
    - work vs reward doesn't balance. In other words, if you're in an encounter fighting 3 enemies and more get summoned or spawned you don't get xp (AP) payout. It's very frustrating fighting a simple and fast encounter for 25 xp payout....and then the next encounter you work your butt off in a brutal and slow fight and also get only 25xp.
    - ability points are ridiculous. It's far too easy to unbalance your character and go down the wrong path skilling yourself up. This is a clunky miserable mess for tuning up your character with a billion moving parts to navigate.
    - Cinematic and cut scene animations (particularly mouth movement) are hideous. While not a major detriment, it's still a low quality blemish that deserves a call out.

    There are plenty of gamers that can look past these flaws and have a fun time but I'm not one of them. Good effort but falls really short.    … Expand
  23. RingK
    Nov 17, 2014
    7
    This is game is far from perfect. The item system should be improved (confrontation between 2 weapons or armors is confusing), the vendors also need some improvements, the shops are confusin too and the character could have been done better. But i give this game an 7 the combat system is addictive it's really tactic and difficult and winning an hard fight after a few tries is really satisfying!
  24. drakonx1337
    Oct 31, 2014
    0
    worthless, the update they did to it makes it crash every 15 min or so and they havnt fixed it in the last six months. it crashed on me 4 times before i got the first mission completed and thats good compared to most of the others
  25. blackbird1
    Aug 25, 2014
    0
    .... im so sad... i realy wanted another great turn based game like xcom or something there are so less of ths kind of games and i dont play other genres , but i get the demo of this and the game feels so poor the ui so bad the german voice acting sucks******* . this "professional" speakers are not worth to get paid. The game is okay on english and thats the only good thing about it..... im so sad... i realy wanted another great turn based game like xcom or something there are so less of ths kind of games and i dont play other genres , but i get the demo of this and the game feels so poor the ui so bad the german voice acting sucks******* . this "professional" speakers are not worth to get paid. The game is okay on english and thats the only good thing about it.

    come make a good tactical turn based rpg with large ui on 1920 1080 and im happy but not this ****    … Expand
  26. Jannus
    Aug 3, 2014
    7
    Fans of TBS games tend to be the patient type which is good because this game will try your patience !

    Theres definitely something of a good game here, the combat is involving & tactical enough, but slow to progress in skills which makes fights get a bit repetitive, and I feel there is not enough possible variation in party build & skill choice. It feels like there is a very narrow path    Fans of TBS games tend to be the patient type which is good because this game will try your patience !

    Theres definitely something of a good game here, the combat is involving & tactical enough, but slow to progress in skills which makes fights get a bit repetitive, and I feel there is not enough possible variation in party build & skill choice. It feels like there is a very narrow path to success that you must follow, e.g. If you don't pick a hunter as your class you will regret not having one in your party. The tactical maps often allow you to interact with elements of the scenery, but targeting & activating these elements is obscure to the point of frustration.

    I still have it installed, but only played about 1/5 of the game before tedium really set in, though I'm not uninstalling yet.    … Expand
  27. malcolmm
    Jul 17, 2014
    4
    This game could have been very good, and some parts of it are very good. As a fan of strategy/RPG games, this game should have been very enjoyable for me.

    The graphics are nice, and the game has a good variety of interesting monsters for you to fight. Battle maps are custom designed, which I prefer to random maps. There isn't any grinding, which normally would be a positive for me, but    This game could have been very good, and some parts of it are very good. As a fan of strategy/RPG games, this game should have been very enjoyable for me.

    The graphics are nice, and the game has a good variety of interesting monsters for you to fight. Battle maps are custom designed, which I prefer to random maps. There isn't any grinding, which normally would be a positive for me, but given how stingy the game is doling out experience (action points), this is a negative.

    However, the game balance is terrible, many battles are boring because they are so easy, but then you will get battles that are very frustrating.

    The character development is also extremely poor. It's very hard to know which skills/attributes work and which ones are next to useless. Even if you are careful you could end up with characters that aren't very effective because you choose the wrong things to upgrade.

    The developers pretty much abandoned the game a few months after release to start development of Blackguards 2. I use to be a fan of Daedalic games but their last few games, including Blackguards have not been very good.    … Expand
  28. Kenning
    Jul 15, 2014
    5
    Combat is widely reported as being the heart of Blackguards. Except it isn't. It is its saving grace, but the heart of Blackguards actually lies elsewhere.

    The combat starts out highly enjoyable, and would receive an excellent grade if it maintained the quality it has in chapter one and iterated upon it in the later chapters. But instead, the game fades out, with good combat in chapter    Combat is widely reported as being the heart of Blackguards. Except it isn't. It is its saving grace, but the heart of Blackguards actually lies elsewhere.

    The combat starts out highly enjoyable, and would receive an excellent grade if it maintained the quality it has in chapter one and iterated upon it in the later chapters. But instead, the game fades out, with good combat in chapter two, drifting to okay combat in chapter three and part of four, and collapsing in chapter four into becoming rote routine through most of four and all of five. What drags it down is, in part, what turns out to be only a small number of ideas for antagonist combat styles, but is largely due to the heavily imbalanced character development system.

    For all of the famed glory of the Blackguards combat system, there actually isn't much to it. The party is made up of five members, and they usually fight from 6-7 enemies, occasionally more, sometimes less. The battles take place on a hex-grid, and they take place in turns based on individual character speed and an initiative roll.

    Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of enemy variety. There are a large number of enemy portraits to fight. But there are not a wide variety of methods of attack. Most enemies are melee grunts who attack using the same pattern and single attack, whether they are mindless zombies or (supposedly) intelligent bandits. A few combats have enemies with ranged ability, which they use in a largely random fashion, instead of a focused aggressive one. And a rare few have spellcasters, which use their spells in a largely ineffective fashion. Combats against opponents with special abilities beyond that are really rare.

    On the other hand, it is good for the party that enemies remain stupid and unfocused, as the party are always outnumbered and usually fighting on empty square battlemaps, and thus a focused effort would likely easily overwhelm the party. As it is, the enemy AI strikes largely randomly, effective (such as it is) only by its superior numbers.

    Likewise, the enemy do not have all of the special abilities that the party do. Again, this is a must for the survivability of the party. If the enemy were given full access to all of those abilities, then the party would just fall over when facing them. Much as the enemy does with the party during the latter parts of the game.

    Damage output ramps up from 10 to 15 to 25 to 50 (with over 90 on a critical) with each power upgrade. And once you get a power upgrade, there is no real reason to user a weaker attack in that line ever again. There is just no reason to NOT attempt to do 50 points of damage instead of 10. While the chance to hit when a character first gains Super Improved Power Attack is low, that does not outweigh the damage output.

    On top of that, the mages gain access to haste at about the same time the warriors gain access to Super Improved Power Attack. So, suddenly the warriors can do 90 points of damage in one attack and they can do it twice in one round! Only a handful of enemies can survive even one 90-point damage attack, much less 2. Thus, once the party has Super Improved Power Attack and haste, they can use just those two abilities to conquer 99.9% of the rest of the combats in the game. And half of the remaining 0.1% demand only the use of a couple of heals or an elemental knockdown.

    Which leads to the main issue with the combat - the gameplay is badly balanced. Open character development systems are really hard to balance, and this one is not even remotely in the balanced ballpark. There are some aspects of the character that are hugely beneficial (Super Improved Power Attack), some that are only of minor benefit (Read Enemy hp), and some that are of no benefit at all (fireball). Thus, the difficulty of the game lies almost entirely in the character sheet.

    And that means nothing you do on the battlefield matters, after leaving chapter one. Tactical gameplay is thrown out the window, and the game becomes a game of character building strategy. Battles are won and lost by wise choices on the character sheet, not through brilliant tactics in the field. Which means the vaunted tactical combat of Blackguards gets lost in a haze of character builds and spreadsheeting.    … Expand
  29. Whisper
    Jul 10, 2014
    9
    This is my game of the year. I love the story, the subtle humor, the characters but definitely most of all: The level design. The vast majority of the levels are based on an important puzzle. If you try to brute-force yourself through the level - the game will be really difficult. If you understand how to use the environment to your advantage - the game is challenging but doable.

    The    This is my game of the year. I love the story, the subtle humor, the characters but definitely most of all: The level design. The vast majority of the levels are based on an important puzzle. If you try to brute-force yourself through the level - the game will be really difficult. If you understand how to use the environment to your advantage - the game is challenging but doable.

    The level design makes the game quite hard (That's why there are so many frustrated negative reviews) but also very rewarding, fun and non-repetitive. Personally I have never seen this good level design in any TBS game. I simply LOVE it.

    The only things that I don't like is the voice acting for some very specific NPCs which is kind of a bummer because all main characters are really great, and the game is very linear. There are also some graphical issues on my graphical card (HD Graphics 4600) that makes it hard to see your inventory.    … Expand
  30. kupochan
    Jul 6, 2014
    6
    A mediocre tactical fantasy RPG with nice graphics.

    Character creation and improving is overly complex but when you figure out the best approach you are effectively only choosing what type of weapon or what spells you will use. Typical combat starts with buffs if necessary and then you use your strongest attacks with good hit chance until everything is dead. There are battles with    A mediocre tactical fantasy RPG with nice graphics.

    Character creation and improving is overly complex but when you figure out the best approach you are effectively only choosing what type of weapon or what spells you will use.

    Typical combat starts with buffs if necessary and then you use your strongest attacks with good hit chance until everything is dead. There are battles with other objectives but new ideas are few and far between. Early on there is a focus on using environmental tools to exploit the stupid AI but later on there are many generic battles where you have to cut down a number of generic humanoids with little effort.

    The story is the typical heroes saving the world from a great evil with standard plot elements. Characters are very shallow and stereotypical.

    World exploration is fairly boring because you only see battles and town screens. Many of the towns being very empty with a few service providers and sometimes a quest giver. Side quests usually only provide some extra exp and gold, finding better gear doesn't happen very often.

    The game is still worth a try if you are a fan of the genre and it looks better than most other games in the genre.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 48
  3. Negative: 2 out of 48
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    May 11, 2014
    85
    Blackguards was a nice surprise: gaming system is solid and interesting, and the puzzle-like battles hold interest until the end. At times they are even challenging. Although patches might have changed that. [Feb 2014]
  2. SpazioGames
    Apr 13, 2014
    75
    Daedalic's first time in the world of RPG is one of those to remember. Blackguards is not a flawless game: it has a slow gameplay that after hours and hours can be boring, technically it is not that great and has an annoying problem of balancing the difficulty. Yet it remains a great role-playing game.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 7, 2014
    60
    Some drawbacks and glitches aside, this is hardcore fun for the turn-based enthusiast. The not so enthusiastic player needs to brace himself for a steep difficulty curve. [Issue #239]
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