Banquet for Fools

Topa-din!

It's tough, but it is the most unique and satisfying melding of classic beat-em-up and CRPG I never knew I needed.

Это не то чего все ожидают. Лучше посмотри чью то игру перед тем как брать это. Проще говоря это не очень годно.

It's very difficult and incredibly interesting))) P.S. i'ii put it off until later (need Russian localization))

The village of Din Varens disappeared on the frontier island of Invioma. Unable to deal with both the mysterious disappearance and invading forces from an opposing household, the leader of Invioma's outpost town recruits four guards to investigate. A thoroughly esoteric adventure, Banquet for Fools omits many of the modern staples of video games, including a quest log, quest markers, repeatable dialogue, or even a thorough explanation of all its gameplay mechanics. To put it simply, it's a game for CRPG sickos. The four guards who depart for Din Varens are accustomed to putting down the occasional lawless bandit, but their quest will have far-reaching implications for all of Invioma. Narratively, Banquet for Fools is set on the paganistic island of Invioma. Centuries prior to the start of the game, Invioma's pantheon of gods killed each other in a cataclysmic event known as The Silence. In the years following The Silence, the occupants of Invioma became increasingly reliant upon paganistic traditions, relying upon the goodwill of local shrine deities, and the mystical arts of witches and dryads. Invioma is struggling, with much of its future reliant upon the successful harvest of a cash crop like spice. Thus, the disappearance of Din Varens, a farming village, is of major concern to the rest of the island. The four guards who get recruited at the start of the game are effectively nameless soldiers with no background of note. The player can either customize each one's stats, archetype, and appearance, or choose from a few pre-made options. Unfamiliar with the RPG system of the game, I chose one of the pre-built parties. The island is rampant with people who have turned to banditry during the recent hardships, which creates a fun roleplaying incentive for the party who serve as both investigators, as well as local bounty hunters. Banquet for Fools will either be a game one deeply appreciates for its lack of handholding around quest design, or immediately bounces off of out of frustration. The developers give the player a free-entry notebook, as well as a way to take notes mid-conversation, and they expect the player to use it. There are no quest markers in Banquet for Fools, nor are there any mechanisms preventing you from just dropping a quest item somewhere in its relatively large open world. When you speak to NPCs, they'll talk about problems they're experiencing, but you never get an indication a quest is being given. The NPCs also won't repeat themselves, so if you speak to someone and they mention that a bandit was seen fleeing east, you had better make a physical or mental note, because they won't provide that clue a second time. What impressed me was how much lore was packed into this game developed by only two people. The player may notice that none of the islanders eat meat, which is explained in a small side-quest later in the game, or have questions about why there are so many undead roaming the land, which is similarly explained to players who investigate thoroughly. Banquet for Fools presents a satisfyingly grand narrative, which sees the guards travel to the far ends of each side of the map solving the problems of the locals. In each town, the guards discover hints which point to a grand conspiracy at play on the island. The game even deviously offers a false ending to players who fail to piece together the full picture, and deduce how to avoid the worst fate. The gameplay of Banquet for Fools is a hack-and-slash style CRPG, which emphasizes party-based synergies. Combat is similar to a real-time-with-pause approach to combat, where things are happening rather chaotically all at once, and tends to favor flooding the screen with enemies. The player can actively control any of the guards, while the other three act autonomously. The party AI tends to be pretty competent, meaning it is not necessary to aggressively micromanage the entire party during combat. The combat system went from feeling punishingly damage-spongey, to difficult, to extremely easy as the party gained experience, and my understanding of its RPG system deepened. While the game does feature a guidebook with some of its mechanics explained, much was learned through trial and error on my part. In particular, I failed to appreciate early on how vital the "passive" skills which influenced combat were, like music, summons, and befriending would end up being. Similarly, the player's ability to equip weapons with magical effects is also contingent on a skill tree, which I did not invest enough into early in the game. There are several tactical abilities the party has at its disposal to kick, charge, or immobilize enemies in combat, which add some complexity to combat, as these are used to break enemy formations, or lower their defenses. These abilities, plus many others, are unlocked via a party-wide techniques tree. Critically, the player can unlock "rallies" from this tech tree, which let them attack enemies with a QTE that can deal more than 10x damage, and chain together with other guards. The system is one which allows for a nice bit of variety in combat, as the player weaves in and out of enemy attacks, while trying to build up their resource bars for big damage retaliation. The social skill trees were a bit lackluster. Lockpicking plays an important early game source of resources, but quickly falls off once there are no more locks to pick. Sneaking has virtually no utility at all, and the game provides enough coin to make Bartering a bit optional as well. One aspect I'm a bit mixed on is Banquet for Fools' approach to leveling up. During level up, the player can choose three skills to enhance, with the skills used most frequently getting a bonus. For example, if the guard used a short sword a lot, they'd get a +4 to that skill on level up, rather than a +1. In practice, this made it a bit challenging to level up auxiliary skills, like bartering, as the combat skills were nearly always the ones with the biggest potential level up bonuses. While Banquet for Fools is not flawless—in fact, there were several UI glitches during my playthrough, and a couple of instances which forced me to reload—it's an incredibly ambitious project achieved by the development of just two people. It repeatedly scratched that puzzle itch for me, where I was re-reading notes to try to figure out how to open a door, or track down an NPC. While combat was a bit confusing at first, it quickly became apparent how one could lean into certain mechanics for an edge. Overall, I would recommend Banquet for Fools, but I know with certainty it won't be for everyone. For many modern gamers, it may leave a bad taste in the mouth; however, for CRPG fools it's more than a meal, it's a banquet.

Friendship ended with Baldurs Gate 3,,, Banquet for Fools is my new BFF

There is no other game like it on Steam. Wonderfully unique and a really special experience.

An amazing game that demands the player pay attention to conversations, read notes, and take their own notes as well. Combat feels harsh in the beginning because there really isn't anything else quite like it, but after you unlock some abilities(charge my beloved) it all makes sense. This game feels like a cultural artefact unearthed from an alternate 2002 where everyone are elves instead of humans. Like in an alternate world Baulders gate. It has an impeccable aesthetic that I want to see so much more of and an interesting lore that I want to see more of the cultures mentioned. All in all its a hearty recommend and I want the best for these developers. I await with baited breath their next project.

Try the demo - if you can vibe with the excellent art, unique systems and UI, as well as the obtuse and frankly scary quest mechanics (I'm writing notes in 2026 and enjoying it) then you'll be at home here for less of the price of a Papa Johns

The art is cool. The game mechanics are detailed and you can build your party of characters in different ways and create your own combat strategies and tactics. I had to spend 10-15 mins reading the in-game guide to understand the game rules.