The Dark Eye : Book of Heroes

Unsurprisingly, The Dark Eye: Book of Shadows has some technical issues with crashes and mission-killing bugs, but those pale in comparison with the game’s biggest flaw: its lack of imagination or originality. I don’t think it’s a cynical cash-grab. I think that the source material might be part of the problem, coupled with the developers being satisfied with minimal presentation and coloring obsessively inside the lines. There are so many outstanding action-RPGs — both based on D&D and not — that this game is hard to recommend unless you are already steeped in the lore and culture of The Dark Eye series.

A seemingly faithful adaptation of a German RPG franchise that may be too detached and boring for modern players.

Despite some interesting mechanics that make the game feel like a true adaptation of a tabletop RPG, The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes is a cRPG that needed a lot more time in the oven. With some technical issues to boot, it is really impossible to recommend the game in its current state to any type of RPG enthusiast, as there are classic and modern games that offer much better experiences.

In short it’s hard to recommend The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes, as it can't quite justify its place in the market when compared to other RPGs. Although there are nuggets of fun to be found here and there in its dungeon crawling, its lack of complex gameplay and step back from storytelling stops it from being a required purchase, particularly when there are cheaper, older games that provide a more impressive overall package.

A fun RPG with strong tabletop theming held back by poor AI, repetition, and lack of clear signposting.