Skyshine's Bedlam

 PC
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 26
  3. Negative: 2 out of 26
  1. PC Gamer
    Sep 22, 2015
    72
    A punishing take on the Rogue-inspired genre, Bedlam is weird and colorful and stressful.
  2. SpazioGames
    Oct 27, 2015
    70
    It's hard, very hard, EXTREMELY hard, so much we recommend it only to hardcore rogue-like fans. Still, if you are that kind of player, and start the game prepared for a lot of suffering, there's much fun to be had in this little strategy game with a Mad Max vibe.
  3. ActionTrip
    Oct 27, 2015
    70
    While deliciously unpredictable most of the time Bedlam is still brutally difficult, thus sadly obliterating your chances of a potentially great turn-based tactical experience.
  5. XGN
    Oct 26, 2015
    70
    A solid game with a beautiful artstyle, fine combat system and decent music...The many text-screens do more harm to the game than they add to it.
  6. Eurogamer Italy
    Sep 29, 2015
    70
    The 2-ap combat system actually lessens the amount of strategic thinking involved, and the endgame is a missed opportunity.
  7. CGMagazine
    Sep 20, 2015
    70
    Skyshine’s Bedlam is definitely rough around the edges, and could certainly do with a few balance fixes (and a more rewarding ending), but as a package, I still found it to have a charm that its faults couldn’t quite spoil—if only just.
  8. Hooked Gamers
    Oct 4, 2015
    69
    Bedlam is enjoyable, but it needs a bit more tweaking to be worth recommending above other games of its type.
  9. Everyeye.it
    Sep 29, 2015
    65
    Sometimes is needlessly frustrating, hiding precious information from the player with no apparent reason. On the other hand, some gameplay elements are really interesting, and it's a shame they didn't get developed to their full extent.
  10. Vandal
    Sep 16, 2015
    65
    Skyshine's BEDLAM works as a roguelike, but its simplistic combat system prevents it from becoming something bigger and deeper.
  11. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 13, 2015
    61
    There are many games where you can lose your best guys in a second and end up dead in a radioactive ditch, but in BEDLAM such misfortunes often come through no fault of player. [Nov 2015, p.69]
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  12. CD-Action
    Dec 16, 2015
    60
    The game failed to win me over because its simplicity was taken too far. [12/2015, p.64]
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  13. GameSpot
    Nov 24, 2015
    60
    Combat feels good enough, but there's not much to it, and little to strive for.
  14. Games.cz
    Oct 12, 2015
    60
    Conceptually interesting and visually beautiful game is lagging behind the competition with its content although postapocalyptic environment fans can enjoy it a bit. And if developers are going to push updates as the do now I can recommend the game in few months also to other fans turn-based strategies.
  15. GRYOnline.pl
    Sep 24, 2015
    60
    Skyshine's Bedlam promises more than it offers. The game makes a good impression with audio and visuals reminiscent of the Borderland series, but a cool gameplay concept has been buried underneath a weak tactical mode. This is a game with an artificially high difficulty level and a total lack of balance. It has appeared on the market only to conduct beta tests on unsuspecting players.
  16. Impulsegamer
    Oct 4, 2015
    54
    Sometimes there are diamonds to be found out in the wastelands. Maybe with a different kind of combat system polish, Skyshine's BEDLAM could be one of those.
  17. GameOver.gr
    Oct 14, 2015
    50
    This is a prime example of a good idea being badly executed. The post-apocalyptic world is devoid of situations or characters of interest and its problematic gameplay pales in comparison with its main inspirations, namely FTL and The Banner Saga.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 39 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 39
  3. Negative: 16 out of 39
  1. brian130
    Sep 17, 2015
    6
    An interesting take on the Faster Than Light rogue-like game concept. Start out as a group of humans attempting to cross a vast wasteland byAn interesting take on the Faster Than Light rogue-like game concept. Start out as a group of humans attempting to cross a vast wasteland by traveling from one dangerous point on the map to the next. You'll use meat and crude to get there and there is a finite amount of the stuff so you'll need some generous random events to boost you along the way. It's all very tense and exciting, hoping the next encounter (and many of them are well-written) will give you the resource you need to get to the next border crossing.

    Sadly all of the positive elements are overshadowed by a very poor combat system. You only have two actions per turn (spread out between your troops) meaning you can have one guy move once and one guy shoot or the same guy move twice, etc. It's awful. Troop health means some can be one-shotted, or if the AI takes both of his actions to shoot you, almost all of your troops can be two-shotted. And there's really nothing you can do about it, particularly because there's no way to position your troops for battle. They just plop down randomly. Combat was a huge part of FTL and you had excellent control over all of it's aspect, weapons, shields, damage control, troop placement, invasions. It was frantic and fun. Here combat is brief, bloody, and frustrating. An overhauled combat system would easily bump my rating up 2 points or more.    … Full Review »
  2. Hideyoshi123
    Sep 21, 2015
    3
    This game was on my radar for awhile and I was looking forward to it (I love a good turn based strategy game). Most notably that it was usingThis game was on my radar for awhile and I was looking forward to it (I love a good turn based strategy game). Most notably that it was using the Banner Saga engine, a great game if you haven't tried it!!!

    Sadly this is NOT The Banner Saga, its a close copy but without ANY and I do mean ANY of the combat depth (or meaningful choices).

    I was hugely let down within 5 minutes and after watching my entire squad get wiped out because I simply ASSUMED you could move and position your team (your "whole" team). However after watching the tutorials I realized they had basically implemented an absolutely dumbed down version of just about every other decent turn based strat game on the market.

    Your ENTIRE squad (depending how many you choose to take to battle) gets 2 action points per turn, the AI gets the same, you can either move or shoot, move twice or shoot twice, move once attack once, etc. So instead of a position / cover based system it ends up being a terrible zerg what you can without moving too much while you watch your squad members get nailed (you'll basically have to sacrifice a lot of them to simply level others up) because everybody has ridiculously low health.

    After completing the "main" objective of the game, I had seen so many of the not so random encounters repeat themselves again and again, which seemed to be par for the course, just a flat out lack of depth to the core game mechanics, although it does come in a very nice looking package.    … Full Review »
  3. Mikimax
    Sep 20, 2015
    7
    Interesting rogue like/indie/fallout/banner saga game with nice graphics, art style, music, characters and concept.
    Bad sides:
    I was    Interesting rogue like/indie/fallout/banner saga game with nice graphics, art style, music, characters and concept.
    Bad sides:
    I was expecting to be able to fight with Dozer, upgrade it even more. Fights are ok, but not deep enough. They should have used the XCOM style turn based fights. 2 moves are just not enough.
    Game needs more depth, mainly unit battles and Dozer battles.    … Full Review »
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