BALROG

I should begin this review by saying that Balrog's a particular kind of game for a particular kind of person. Also, hullo, I did goblin noises so I got this for free, and while it might not look like I've played this a lot, I've been helping playtest this thing since just about day 1. Also, tl;dr: Balrog is very much a game that isn't designed for everyone, but what it aims to do - from aesthetics to gameplay - it gets right, so I recommend it. Definitely make use of the free demo, it has a lot to it! Now that aside, it's easy to step into Balrog and approach it as a Diablo-like, which is a surefire way to be disappointed. While the perspective is similar, Balrog's meant to be slower-paced and support more creative approaches and push you to face puzzles rather than just carve through hordes of enemies and tap all your hotkeys to do so. If you play a thief, you don't just turn invisible and fire off a shower of arrows in one click, you have to stealth around, spot traps, and use those to your advantage if picking enemies off one-by-one backfires. So on that note, I strongly recommend playing a warrior or a wizard for new players: they can pull off a more straightforward solution in a pinch. Now, the game doesn't get everything right, though this is where my own personal tastes may color my perspective. This game isn't made for me, exactly. The difficulty can get quite severe in some combats (looking at you, flaming scarecrow ghost bastards), and the puzzles can be quite confusing. A little bad luck can also go a long way toward making a playthrough very rough; particularly early in the game. Also, make sure to save your game: if you die, there's only a chance you can keep going with that character without a game over and having to restart from either a save or from scratch. Also, be careful zooming the camera out too far later in the game, there are some rare issues that can blind you at an inconvenient moment. However, Balrog also gets a lot right. Its aesthetic direction is on point: while not 'good graphics' in the traditional sense, every part of the game works together to bring a cohesive vision to bear. Also, while bad luck can be rough, barging into a small horde of goblins and lucking out with a few crits feels great, and the sound effects do a lot to help that (and I'm not just saying that because I made the goblin dying noises, either!) If you're a fan of trying to figure out puzzles like, say, from Portal, you'll probably have a lot of fun dealing with the challenges Balrog has to offer, too. There's usually alternative paths, too, if you do find the puzzles overtly frustrating. The use of hints in dialogue and books scattered around the levels is also really neat, and I can't encourage you enough to explore where you can to have a better idea of what's coming up. This is really vital for the boss battles, which are a great combination of puzzles and combat.