Natural Doctrine

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 31
  3. Negative: 10 out of 31
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  1. ZTGD
    Sep 30, 2014
    45
    Now, I don’t want to act like this is an actual bad game. It’s not. It just has multiple things that make it far too difficult to play.
  2. Eurogamer Italy
    Dec 5, 2014
    40
    Natural Doctrine is a brutal and ugly strategic game that will test your patience. The visuals are poor, the story insignificant and the combat mechanics are original and complex, but not rewarding at all.
  3. GameOver.gr
    Oct 30, 2014
    40
    With some major flaws like the poorly written story and the impossible to master and understand link system -which leads to a continuous "trial and error"- we really can't recommend this one.
  5. Eurogamer Germany
    Oct 23, 2014
    40
    These ingredients alone don't make a good game, just one that suggests the quality it could have had. It's almost tragic, really.
  6. XGN
    Oct 14, 2014
    40
    There will be a group of people that will love this game, but most people won't. You have to have so much patient, strategic insight and commitment, it is a tough game to really enjoy. There are so many RPG's that are way better, why waste your time on this one?
  7. GameSpot
    Sep 22, 2014
    40
    Unfortunately, most of Natural Doctrine's greatest challenges to your patience don't arise from a fair and balanced battle system, but from the game's failure to adhere to comprehensible logic.
  8. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Sep 29, 2014
    30
    If you enjoy mindless hours of grinding with no clear goal or instruction, and if you enjoy hour long battles on the “easiest” difficulty setting where you still feel underleveled no matter how much you grind, then this game could be right up your alley.
  9. IGN
    Oct 16, 2014
    28
    With annoying characters, a dumb story, and outdated graphics, there’s not much that makes playing Natural Doctrine worth the stress.
  10. Gameblog.fr
    Oct 21, 2014
    20
    If we could ignore a distressing technique, the emptiness of Natural Doctrine and its amateur appearance almost make it impossible to recommend to anyone. Even lovers of the genre, T-RPG.
  11. CalmDownTom
    Oct 1, 2014
    10
    It’s shocking to see something this bad on a current gen console, and it’s really sad to think that someone released this and asked for money.

Awards & Rankings

74
#74 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2014
50
#50 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2014

User Reviews

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User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 86
  3. Negative: 34 out of 86
  1. Mithaldu
    Oct 8, 2014
    10
    A game that gives you tools to annihilate enemies with impunity, but also gives them that chance. If you make the mistake and let them.A game that gives you tools to annihilate enemies with impunity, but also gives them that chance. If you make the mistake and let them.

    Natural Doctrine is a very hard, but also a very fair game in that everytime you fail, it's been your own fault. Very little in the game is left up to chance and number differences, and whether you fail or succeed depends on how you wield the tools the game gives you. If you're sloppy in pulling up the rear of your group; if you advance too aggressively; if you try to win by turtling; if you fail to multiply your forces by activating links; if you waste all your force by activating all your links early; if you fail to check the sight lines of your gunners: You get punished. But everytime it's because you made a mistake that you can learn to avoid the next time.

    Now, this admittedly may not be entertaining for everyone. Some people prefer a good cinematic CoD session, some people prefer a cartoony evening with Rayman, some people prefer the well-told story of adventures like Monkey Island. This game is squarely aimed at people who wish to stress their brain.

    It suffers from only two things, which are minor: It loves to play all its animations, however this can be improved by holding circle all the time to speed them up. It does not do a good job explaining the game mechanics, because the translation team itself did not understand them; this is not much of an issue though. It has a fairly gentle curve in how it lets you learn and come to grips with the mechanics, and offers free dungeons the player can repeat as often as they like, and offers checkpoints in the dungeons.

    I might see this differently, because i'm german, but the story is refreshingly earnest and pragmatic. At one point the main character suffers a traumatic loss, which in most other games would make him the depressed and disturbed hero for the rest of the game, who rests all the blame on one bad person. In this game the main character manages to realize that the group as a whole failed, and that despite what happened, they need to keep moving or die.

    Also, to adress one popular negative argument trotted out against the game: The door with tens of goblins behind it all ready to slaughter you. This is a perfect example of how every failure is the player's fault. There is a number of such doors in the game, and for everyone a simple rule is in effect that is explained the first time you encounter a door: As long as the character opening it is not the last character you can move in the current turn, your next character will have initiative after opening it, enabling them to use links to activate the rest of the team and slaughter whatever's beyond the door.

    Natural Doctrine is brave enough to offer refreshingly unique and challenging gameplay, and is unfairly panned by people who simply did not understand one of its simplest rules.    … Full Review »
  2. AsboXFlemzo
    Oct 8, 2014
    9
    This game is a incredible strategy rpg, most of this genre are easy and only the story holds up the boring grind. This game has near zeroThis game is a incredible strategy rpg, most of this genre are easy and only the story holds up the boring grind. This game has near zero grind and more, can you make it further to get the item drop? Every fight matters, you need to out skill the dark souls based map designs that punish you for making a mistake. Hundred of snipers chaining combos because you didn't take your turn advantage when you could of. Thats your fault, just like souls. Story is something of a attack on titans feel, if any party member dies game over. Im not a fan of the genre but this game had me battling a level into the early hours of the morning trying to over come, while other missions my main character was blocking a entire army going all out on him while my gunners and mages picked off the enemy army. Nothing better than watching a strategy rpg finally compare to a anime when you watch geoff blocking over 20 attacks using improved block including named enemies after the loss of a a friend to make sure his friends dont need to fight the battle and have a chance of losing another. Ive never seen this in this genre.

    Improvements to the items systems need to be made, upgrade system is needed, graphics could be better, need for anime/cgi cut scenes are clear.    … Full Review »
  3. Toothemax
    Oct 2, 2014
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. A lot better than the reviewer have been reviewing the game. It's really for serious SRPG gamers. I think most of the professional reviewers are on the more casual side of things. It's a fun and challenging game.… Full Review »
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