My favourite medieval RPG FPS to date.

Context: Never played the first one, I'm an active worker, who worked in the video game industry, now in tech and who plays solo games after work to take my mind off, but very picky with my 25+ years gaming experience (former competitive player too). This is a solo game meant to be invested in without being distracted by other games around. I suggest to play it with only 1 or 2 other games simultaneously max.

The game is long. I finished the main story after all side quests while taking all my time and this is my hours count above. Paying it full price was one of the RAREST instance which to me qualified as "worth it". I never, ever pay for full price games despite my 700+ game count, but I've been told it would match my difficult tastes. TL;DR: it did.

The game is beautiful. You sometimes surprise yourself stopping to look around with a beautiful sunrise or sunset in the horizon. The soundtrack bring TV show-like story moments, and the subtle quirk humor gives a pinch of personality to the franchise which is so adorable to see. I strongly suggest to play this game with English voice, subtitled in your language, as the English voice acting was amazingly supervised.

The writing is incredible. It's well put, attaching, and very human. The characters with their own objectives make sense in their decisions, and I am extremely impressed by the VERY secret routes you can take in order to change the outcome. Without them, the good ending is very satisfying. The game takes its time, and gives you this feeling of completing something well done.

Game-wise, the mechanics are satisfying but not perfect. The combat can feel a bit clanky at times, knowing your sword aim goes a bit different to what you're expecting in the heat of the action. Some early & late RPG progression comes with doing more of that action and not a simple XP system, which is a great value, alas sometimes superficial (like +5% something). Therefore, some perks really affect the gameplay which makes it satisfying to reach a certain point, we just would have liked more of them. I'll go a step further even : I would have liked maxing certain perks would open different story paths route, side or main, to give a motivation to specialize in something every time.

Clipping and NPC bugs happen, but it's not very frequent. Nothing to ruin your experience within the game.

Some gameplay features are good and varied, which provides a real novelty effect early to late-early game (until around 20-30 hours, yeah lol I know) but are lacking mid to end-game content, like dice play, contests, races or smithing. The economy is also coming from mid-late game more as a grind reflex than a real interest to accumulate riches, which kind of bore you to loot rather than excites you, as it's missing very expensive experiences to buy. Also, some gameplay styles reward you far more than others, which kinda pulls you to take that route, specially with perks which makes you much better at it. The biggest problem is the lack of real high-risk/high reward system. It could be solved, for example, to make you loose credibility if people like you as a thief, rather than just give you a hard time which will all be forgotten in a couple of days. A fluctuation balancing positive/negative action can be worked a bit better with some additional game design, but I'm being difficult at this point...

I will wait for the first reviews of the next DLC content before considering paying for the season pass. I'm looking forward to see if Warhorse studios will give a good bang for your buck, or just use their title's reputation for some cashgrabs. I hope they have good producers lol.

I'll finish with a couple of early tips if you want to take the game after reading this :
- early game, your potions make a MASSIVE difference, with stats but especially with saving. Try to keep a lot of saving potions to try mechanics in the game. You might miss on something obvious you can do and never tried fearing consequences
- Town Merchants are the only ones buying every kind of item you have. The best economy boost early game if you think time/benefits is by killing/looting bandits out of town, and then selling all their wares. The rest is just a lot of time to spend.
- Consider your horse as your moving chest for items in your weight management. All the beds you buy permanently have shared chest too.
- Finally, steal & pickpocketing are very rewarding if you plan not to visit the town back anytime soon. Remember that every groschen you give to someone (for learning skills, even if you get caught by a guard and pay him lol) can be pickpocketted back.

My favourite medieval RPG FPS to date. Context: Never played the first one, I'm an active worker, who worked in the video game industry, now in tech and who plays solo games after work to take my mind off, but very picky with my 25+ years gaming experience (former competitive player too). This is a solo game meant to be invested in without being distracted by other games around. I suggest to play it with only 1 or 2 other games simultaneously max. The game is long. I finished the main story after all side quests while taking all my time and this is my hours count above. Paying it full price was one of the RAREST instance which to me qualified as "worth it". I never, ever pay for full price games despite my 700+ game count, but I've been told it would match my difficult tastes. TL;DR: it did. The game is beautiful. You sometimes surprise yourself stopping to look around with a beautiful sunrise or sunset in the horizon. The soundtrack bring TV show-like story moments, and the subtle quirk humor gives a pinch of personality to the franchise which is so adorable to see. I strongly suggest to play this game with English voice, subtitled in your language, as the English voice acting was amazingly supervised. The writing is incredible. It's well put, attaching, and very human. The characters with their own objectives make sense in their decisions, and I am extremely impressed by the VERY secret routes you can take in order to change the outcome. Without them, the good ending is very satisfying. The game takes its time, and gives you this feeling of completing something well done. Game-wise, the mechanics are satisfying but not perfect. The combat can feel a bit clanky at times, knowing your sword aim goes a bit different to what you're expecting in the heat of the action. Some early & late RPG progression comes with doing more of that action and not a simple XP system, which is a great value, alas sometimes superficial (like +5% something). Therefore, some perks really affect the gameplay which makes it satisfying to reach a certain point, we just would have liked more of them. I'll go a step further even : I would have liked maxing certain perks would open different story paths route, side or main, to give a motivation to specialize in something every time. Clipping and NPC bugs happen, but it's not very frequent. Nothing to ruin your experience within the game. Some gameplay features are good and varied, which provides a real novelty effect early to late-early game (until around 20-30 hours, yeah lol I know) but are lacking mid to end-game content, like dice play, contests, races or smithing. The economy is also coming from mid-late game more as a grind reflex than a real interest to accumulate riches, which kind of bore you to loot rather than excites you, as it's missing very expensive experiences to buy. Also, some gameplay styles reward you far more than others, which kinda pulls you to take that route, specially with perks which makes you much better at it. The biggest problem is the lack of real high-risk/high reward system. It could be solved, for example, to make you loose credibility if people like you as a thief, rather than just give you a hard time which will all be forgotten in a couple of days. A fluctuation balancing positive/negative action can be worked a bit better with some additional game design, but I'm being difficult at this point... I will wait for the first reviews of the next DLC content before considering paying for the season pass. I'm looking forward to see if Warhorse studios will give a good bang for your buck, or just use their title's reputation for some cashgrabs. I hope they have good producers lol. I'll finish with a couple of early tips if you want to take the game after reading this : - early game, your potions make a MASSIVE difference, with stats but especially with saving. Try to keep a lot of saving potions to try mechanics in the game. You might miss on something obvious you can do and never tried fearing consequences - Town Merchants are the only ones buying every kind of item you have. The best economy boost early game if you think time/benefits is by killing/looting bandits out of town, and then selling all their wares. The rest is just a lot of time to spend. - Consider your horse as your moving chest for items in your weight management. All the beds you buy permanently have shared chest too. - Finally, steal & pickpocketing are very rewarding if you plan not to visit the town back anytime soon. Remember that every groschen you give to someone (for learning skills, even if you get caught by a guard and pay him lol) can be pickpocketted back.