The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep

 PC
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 101 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 101
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 101
  3. Negative: 31 out of 101

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  1. Murthax
    Sep 27, 2019
    3
    I figured this would be a pleasant trip down memory lane being that I recall the original. I had to force myself to finish it (cursing along the way). Gameplay was extremely linear and the puzzles were just frustrating and not fun at all. The turned based battles were kind of fun at first. They reminded me of a card game. After a while, it got mind-numbingly boring and one-note. DoI figured this would be a pleasant trip down memory lane being that I recall the original. I had to force myself to finish it (cursing along the way). Gameplay was extremely linear and the puzzles were just frustrating and not fun at all. The turned based battles were kind of fun at first. They reminded me of a card game. After a while, it got mind-numbingly boring and one-note. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.… Expand
  2. SpectralShade
    Sep 21, 2018
    3
    I had written an in-depth review listing why the game was bad. But when I reached the character limit of 5000 characters in an interview, the browser decided that instead of merely closing the box telling me my review was too long, it would turn a page back, thus deleting everything I had written.
    I can't be arsed writing it all again, especially not for a crap game like this.
    To put    I had written an in-depth review listing why the game was bad. But when I reached the character limit of 5000 characters in an interview, the browser decided that instead of merely closing the box telling me my review was too long, it would turn a page back, thus deleting everything I had written.
    I can't be arsed writing it all again, especially not for a crap game like this.

    To put it short: Game is dumbed down checklist of ideas from different games that got mashed together with little thought of the interaction. Playing it consists of 'solving' monotonous puzzles, being spoonfed a gated/railed tour thorugh the areas while getting your party filled with pregenerated characters one at a time.

    And those that actually loved the trilogy: don't bother. The only heritage is the name. They could have called it barrows deep, without the bards tale name attached, and no-one would have guessed it had anything to do with bards tale.

    Avoid.    … Expand
  3. razordaman
    Sep 18, 2018
    0
    Low frame rates for bad graphics. Looks amateurish. Combat slow and clunky. The game fights your every move. No exploration allowed, only one path to go in. Console save points, showing they don't care about the PC much. Lore as been destroyed from Bards Tale 1-3 and npcs came back to life from those games for some reason to be in this one. This is a cash grab nothing more. The only goodLow frame rates for bad graphics. Looks amateurish. Combat slow and clunky. The game fights your every move. No exploration allowed, only one path to go in. Console save points, showing they don't care about the PC much. Lore as been destroyed from Bards Tale 1-3 and npcs came back to life from those games for some reason to be in this one. This is a cash grab nothing more. The only good thing is the music the rest is garbage.… Expand
  4. queerchameleon
    Sep 23, 2018
    1
    "This is a brief review of the project that I thought that I was kickstarting vs what I got. I thought that I was kickstarting a Bard's Tale game. I thought that I was going to get a quirky, fun, old-timey D&D type experience. Lots of classes. Several races. Lots of stats. I was expecting an interface somewhat similar to Legend of Grimrock, but with a good bit more flair. (this is not an"This is a brief review of the project that I thought that I was kickstarting vs what I got. I thought that I was kickstarting a Bard's Tale game. I thought that I was going to get a quirky, fun, old-timey D&D type experience. Lots of classes. Several races. Lots of stats. I was expecting an interface somewhat similar to Legend of Grimrock, but with a good bit more flair. (this is not an indie game company, this is inXile, who has released several highly acclaimed games, plus they were using UE4) I expected the game to be a 5 to 10 gig download.

    I was expecting the world to have a mix of pre-generated, story driven content, as well as some form of random encounters. (I mean, the random encounters were a massive part of the original series) Along with this, I was expecting a good bit of freedom to explore. (Again, this is 2018, and the game is being made by a somewhat reputable company that should be able to pull off a fairly decently crafted open world.)

    Alas, all of these expectations were left empty with the release of this game.

    We have 4 character classes, down from 10. We have swapped out some races for other races. Most of the races have almost no ability to have their appearance customized. (can't even change sex) We got rid of almost all of the stats, and simplified the game to a few.

    There's no open world to explore. There's a pre-designated path with pre-scripted fights. Nothing random. Nothing wild. This game is intended to be played one way, and one way only. Again, this is 2018. Indie teams are putting out far more complex game designs on little/no budget.

    The graphics are on par with Oblivion, a game which was released 11 years ago. Many modern game engine features are simply missing, which is weird, because this was made with one of the most modern game engines available. This is massively surprising to me considering this game is a 50 gig install.

    The UI is kludgy. Inventory management is awful, from a lack of sorting, to having inventory windows rapidly scroll through tabs as you try to drag/drop between windows. Obvious quick keys are missing, such as a "loot all key." Party formation sometimes holds up between combat, and sometimes not. (there's a checkbox for this, but again, it seems to work intermittently)" HunterAP    … Expand
  5. Ferrante79
    Jun 10, 2021
    0
    A total gem. I have played the last version of the game and it is pretty sweet, bug free and beautiful. I mean, this game deserves a 10 and hurts to see a 6.6 beacuse of tech problems at launch. I love how the game is all about music. Puzzle, story, even combat revolve around the sound of the game. In the bad side I could say the most of the puzzles are too easy and the rewards are mostly poor.
  6. TylerNF
    Sep 18, 2018
    0
    We were promised an open world rpg faithful to the original, instead, Inxile siphoned the money we donated away from the project and rushed out some buggy, turn based Trainwreck of a dungeon crawler with a shallow story and poor visuals so we couldn't file a lawsuit for not delivering our game.
  7. tknight
    Oct 9, 2018
    4
    I played this game some time ago, in the end I uninstalled it. I don't think this game deserves 0, but I can absolutely understand anyone who rated it this poorly. If you're looking for a game that combines a lot of fun and great moments with absolute frustration and disappointment, this is the one you're looking for. Ignoring all the negative issues, the game is quite good. I like theI played this game some time ago, in the end I uninstalled it. I don't think this game deserves 0, but I can absolutely understand anyone who rated it this poorly. If you're looking for a game that combines a lot of fun and great moments with absolute frustration and disappointment, this is the one you're looking for. Ignoring all the negative issues, the game is quite good. I like the combination of (almost) open world with turn based combat. With 'almost' I mean, you can't just step off the road and enjoy the view. The story is OK; the puzzles are quite good too. One remark I have, often the game is confusing and doesn't explain things clearly. This includes some advanced skills, but also basic stuff like walking. You have to try a path to know whether the game will allow you to walk there or not (it isn't visually clear). And you don't want to try it, because you can get stuck (bug). The main reason, why I rate this game poorly - controls and bugs. Sometimes I had a feeling no one from InXile tried to play this game before. Definitely no one tested it. I lost some battles just because I accidentally switched two characters (my mistake). Then I lost some, because my fighter mastery book got reset (bug) after every cut-scene (whenever I forgot to fix it, I lost the next battle). A lot of disappointment comes from bugged abilities that doesn't work as expected or doesn't work at all (Master Thief, Blood for Blood, Archmage). I was able to cope with everything mentioned before. I learned from my mistakes and with some (a lot of) discipline, I could avoid some (a lot of) bugs and have fun too. But then, the most frustrating - game breaking bugs, when you have to repeat same section/fight again and again, because something happened. And a lot of things could happen. After every important fight I ran to the nearest save totem to avoid ‘bad luck'. Don't use the stone teleporter, they can crash too. I remember a battle where instead of opponents I've seen a hill and they were somewhere behind, I wasn't able to select them. They were able to attack me though. I lost. Last chance I gave this game - there was a barricade it my way. I used dragon's bomb and somehow I stepped on the wall next to the barricade (very small broken stone wall, I was about 10 cm above the ground). A skeleton was walking right in front of me (I could literally touch the skeleton). But I wasn't able to attack it, or step of the wall. I was just standing there, unable to find any solution, avoiding to load my 45-minutes old save slot. Maybe they'll fix the bugs later, but it won't fix my ruined experience. The game brought me a lot of negative feelings and didn't deliver the fun I expected. It wasn't worth the money and I would not recommend this game to any friend.… Expand
  8. Urthor
    Sep 19, 2018
    0
    What looks like a revival of a classic childhood love rapidly becomes a shuddering mess as the glossy coat of paint peels back to reveal a congealed blob of badly thought out gameplay systems and ultimately unenjoyable turn-based combat. Definitely avoid at all costs.
  9. jseph1234
    Apr 1, 2020
    3
    I ALMOST Pre-purchase this and I'm glad I didn't. The 4 Square combat is just poorly implemented and the world looks and feels cheap. Also, the encounters are ok but not worth spending $50 on this.
  10. Jabati
    Apr 3, 2019
    3
    I didnt like it sorry. Reminds me of a card game which I think is better than that. Movement around the world sucks, combat sucks, hell till the moment I've been playing the story sucked too... Lets face it... This game sucks... like bad...

Awards & Rankings

83
#83 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
32
#32 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 42
  3. Negative: 4 out of 42
  1. CD-Action
    Feb 13, 2019
    80
    The Bard’s Tale IV is like a beautifully composed song performed on out of tunes instruments. There are moments when it borders on genius, other times it actively encouraged me to uninstall and forget it. For every strength it has a weakness. Good writing, superb puzzles, great music, outstanding voice-overs and solid mechanics are counterbalanced by quite awful visuals (how can Unreal Engine 4 look so bad?), some examples of bad design, a truckload of bugs (how about skills that don’t work or the ability to loot a chest through a ceiling?) and frequent crashes. For me the advantages were what mattered more, but I completely understand scores in the region of 4/10. [12/2018, p.58]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 31, 2018
    80
    An adventure in which lute is played and songs are sung just can’t let you down. Bard's Tale has a lot of flaws, but it finds a way to the player's heart. However, the game is pretty far from its original trilogy. [Issue#290]
  3. RPG Site
    Dec 4, 2018
    70
    The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep has a satisfyingly deep and flexible battle system, surrounded by heavy puzzle exploration and a narrative that doesn't manage to stay interesting. There are some really neat systems at play here for those looking for intricate combat, but performance issues and a lacking storyline make it a hard sell to a larger audience.
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