Pendragon Rising

Story was mediocre at best and the "romance" options were terrible, either be gay, date your half brother/sister or your aunt/uncle. Constantly being told you're essentially useless and nobody wants you, even though you've gathered lot's of allies and are supposedly adored, isn't great storytelling in my opinion.

I really wanted to enjoy this game because i'm a huge fan of the arthurian legend, but sadly i did not. I played a couple of these text adventures over the last months an this one turned out to be the weakest of them. pros: - decent story - good atmosphere if you have enough imagination cons: - very limited romance options - illusion of choice too obvious - very few stats - stat changes volatile / incomprehensible Who should buy this game? only big fans of king arthur

“Pendragon Rising” initially presents an intriguing premise for a text-driven RPG, but its execution is fundamentally undermined by a volatile and opaque stat system. While the genre thrives on consequence, the mechanics here frequently feel arbitrary rather than earned, leading to a gameplay experience defined by frustration rather than strategy. The primary issue lies in the game’s lack of transparency regarding character progression. Player choices routinely result in massive, irreversible stat shifts with no prior warning or narrative justification. It is common to see a substantial portion of one attribute stripped away in favor of another based on a single dialogue choice. Because the game fails to communicate these trade-offs in advance, character development becomes a matter of guesswork rather than intentional role-playing. This leads to a jarring dissonance between the narrative and the mechanics. A character established as a fearsome, experienced warrior can effectively "lose" their combat proficiency after a single decision, becoming incompetent at the very skills they must have honed over many years. When a character ends up mediocre at everything due to obscured systems and a lack of feedback, the game ceases to be a functional RPG and instead becomes an exercise in trial and error. Even after multiple restarts, I found that the system consistently punished experimentation. In a narrative-heavy game where your investment into the character is crucial, there has to be a very good reason why your core stats are substantially changed, but “Pendragon Rising” offers no such justification. The game is technically functional, which prevents a 0/10 rating, but its structural flaws actively strip away player agency to the point that it becomes unplayable as a serious RPG. (1/10)

The stat system in this one is just terrible.

I didn't like the gender decision if my character and all warriors are men or women. It seems like a really weird and illogical choice. I can hardly believe in such world.

I like this game, I really do and I would recommend it. My only real issue is how fast your stats change, and I'm not taking about small changes one minute your sitting near 80 the next your down to 23 this happens often enough that you can't help but feel like your dragging yourself in the wrong direction. I've played twice and will do so again. As I stated I recommend it but be prepared for these massive changes.

It's a choose your own adventure book, like many others from this publisher. I enjoyed this one. I liked the setting, I liked the low magic, grimdark take on the Arthurian legend that felt historical. The choices were all non-obvious and interesting, and the story was satisfying with enough twists and turns that I'll likely play it again some time to see what other paths I could have taken. Recommended if you like this sort of thing.

another missing review =/ This one is a good one, if an older one. That is actually a good thing, as back when this was written, there wasn't as much focus on making you find and pick the right choice, or else suffer nasty consequences. Dont get me wrong, you can make bad choices in this game, but it is also possible to "win" (if such a term even applies to a story) several different ways, so you are not stuck trying to figure out the author's one way through said story. All of this is a bit off kilter as a review, and I am sure my original one was much better. Still, if you like King Author stories, this one is an interesting take on the legends that puts you in the driver's seat to experience in your own way. Highly recommended.