Of Ash and Steel

(In progress review. Currently in the middle of Act 2, out of 4 or 5 acts I guess) This is one rough diamond. It's infuriating, amazing, addictive, breathtaking, rage-inducing, but such a labor of love. It's gothic-inspired through and through, but it oscillates wildly between Gothic 1/2 and Gothic 3. As of patch 1.08, most of the technical issues are fixed. I had to wait for that patch to be able to play with acceptable frame rates. I'm 80 hours in, and I'm guessing maybe I have 50 or so more? Depends on how long the subsequent acts are. I'm not playing anything else until I finish this. The first 10 or so hours are definitely rough as hell. You get your ass beat by anything, since Tristan (the player character) is a cartographer. Then you get to the city and think to yourself: Oh, now I'm going to level up by doing lore and fetch quests until I can stand up for myself! Which is true, except the city feels like a labyrinth. Even with the map stands they added in a patch (like mall maps, with a "you are here" indicator) you'll often get lost. And a special mention for NPC schedules: NPCs wake up in the morning, but don't go to their shops or usual locations until noon. Then in the evening, the shops are closed, and NPCs start going home. There are implications: 1) You have a short window of time to do quests involving shop NPCs, as well as buying/selling. Since you're hauling ass across the city on foot, getting lost along the way, you often have to find an inn to sleep to the next day because there's no "Wait" function. Inns cost money, which you lack to begin with. 2) NPCs that aren't traders change their locations depending on time of day as well as quest progression without any indication where they will be (Bloody Pinker). You can't ask generic NPCs for directions to other NPCs, which is something bloody Outcast did in 1999. It's bloody infuriating, and accounts for most of my frustration with the game. 3) If you enter an NPC house to talk about a quest outside noon, they'll typically warn you to go out or call the guards on you. Unless they were asleep, in which case you can just wake them up by initiating dialogue, advance the quest, and leave afterwards before they call the guards. Despite all this, it feels amazing. When you learn a combat tree and find your footing, when you learn a craft and start making money, when you grow strong enough to whack beasts and enemies that used to one-shot you. It's a modern take on the classic Piranha Bytes formula, and I love it when it works, which grants me patience for when it doesn't.

I played this game on highest difficulty(and still am) and basically: It's HARD hard(especially at the very start where everything can nuke you in 1-2 hits). You start off with NO map, VERY weak(you can barely run and 2-3 attacks drain your stamina). Quest tracking is...POOR. Gotta figure stuff on your own or via a video guide because some of these quests make NO sense. Combat is REALLY hard but gets rewarding once you get the hang of it( I use rapier + medium armor for now and its great). Slower weapons need to always knockdown though. You are sacrificing entire CHUNKS of your life to do certain attacks and the enemies only get slightly...staggered. Story is interesting but confusing as heck. Gameplay IS fun, especially once food and thirst and sleep are no longer an issue(they dont drain super fast like other survival games, even on hardest difficulty). You can own a house that gives you passive stats which is cool. Still in chapter 3 but so far? Love the game. It's a clunky mess sometimes but somehow feels good once you get the hang of it. I haven't died to an enemy in over 40 hours. Even super hard bosses. Dodging, parrying, hitting just when you have to, you can basically kill anything. For me so far this game is a 7/10. I deduct 3 points because doing missions is a pain in the ass sometimes and the combat could use more polish. Otherwise pretty fun survival game.

КАЙФ

Обалденная игра, прошел ее еще на ранней версии где было куча багов, и можно было дюпать вещи, но даже это не помешало мне насладится этим приключением. Для инди проекта это очень сильно, буду ждать новые глобальные обновления и dlc.

Отличный наследник готики. Прошел с очень большим интересом, но не без приколов. Багов критических ломающих прохождение не встретил, только полезные в виде застревающих врагов которых можно расстреливать с арбалета, согласен ломает атмосферу, но что есть то есть. Боевка топорная но с прокачкой стоек становится вполне себе играбильно. Перков куча, пасхалок куча когда находил возникала непроизвольная улыбка ( скелет на замороженном троне, скелет в красной рубашке на песчаном пляже держащий голову другого скелета в песке на фар-край отсылка, особенно угорел с туалета в болоте ГГ туда стучится и такой в моменте САМ БАДИ! :D ). Квесты прикольные. По началу было гиго туго, карты нет, шмот ♥♥♥♥♥♥, не понятно куда идти, чуть конечно отвык от таких игр, будто бы круто с одной стороны, но с другой ниточка ведущая по квестам ок )))) Готика ремейк была меньше на порядок, тут все запомнить был сущий кошмар, но с появлением карты и телепортов стало гораздо легче, очень не хватало транспорта (лошади какой я хз). Сюжет понравился, прокачка тоже, биомы кайф. Если подытожить я игру прошел с большим интересом и реально с кайфом не смотря на все её недостатки. Разрабам низкий поклон, большие молодцы. Игра каждый вложенный рубль отбила с лихвой. В целом и 1500 было бы не жалко.

good game

Tato hra mě z počátku zaujala, než jsem došel do hlavního města, s úrovni 6, nic jsem neuměl, bez jakékoliv orientace, bez mapy, hra se nedá hrát. Chodím hodiny po městě a hledám NPC, jeden úkol má čtyři pod úkoly a to člověk pění. Gothic se hraje lépe. Nevím který chytrák to vymyslel, ale nechci na tu hru zanevřít, zkusím to pomalu nějak dohrát. Na střední nastavení je to fakt těžké, vůbec si nemůžu ani škrknout v boji. A co se týče předmětů, nic si nemůžete vzít, a prodat, málo peněz k dispozici. Zkouším hru hrát na nejnižší úroveň. Hra má velice hezkou grafiku. mapa se da zapnout v menu, coz je vyborne. plusy / grafika, velký barevný svět, vyvojáři si dali práci s detaily minusy / obtížnost, kdo má rád souls hry, je to pro něho Závěrem, tato hra není pro děti, je to pro lidi, kteří jsou starší.