Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy

[h2]Златогорье 3[/h2] Если очень кратно о том, на что похожа игра, то на Златогорье 2, только не курильщика. У Златогорья 2 было (и, наверное, есть) много фанатов, но если всё взвесить не опираясь на ностальгию – там было поверхностно практически всё. Квесты без вариантов отыгрыша, бой – просто пошаговое закликивание, стиль и декорации – купаж (купосятина) из всех стилей. [h3]Повествование и словоблyдие[/h3] Все диалоги и повествования сделаны максимально талантливыми людьми. Сценарист умудрился завалить диалогами, но каждый из них заряжен чем-то интересным. Ну не то, что бы вы были в шоке с каждого бомжа. НПС не озвучены, сопартийцы выкрикивают одинаковые фразы. Музыка скромная. В игре использована инновационная квантовая технология: за диалоги вы получаете опыт равносильный убийству вепря средней упитанности. То есть бубнёж – вознаграждается. Квестов в стиле «лисицы шкуру принеси» можно сосчитать по пальцам. Глобальный сюжет – это [b]шедевр[/b] достойный Оскара, экранизации, ТВ Шоу на 3 сезона. Отсылки, внезапные повороты, уникальные ситуации, хохмы, сюр, маразм, откровения. Всё в достатке. [h3]Драка и поножовщина[/h3] Боевая система ни чем не удивляет, но умения способны синергировать. В отличии от других якобы преуспевших игр, разработчик использует свою систему боя, а не рисует картинки и анимации ставя их на лыжи DnD в мир который придумали до него, а потом не ходит и рассказывает «смотрите! Я САМ игру сделал!». [code] Напоминаю: Сделать свой мир, систему боя и прокачки – это почтенно Налепить картинок и анимаций на лыжи DnD или Warhammer 40k – это халтура и мракобесие[/code] Среди вооружения присутствует дисбаланс. Некоторые мотыги нагружены откровенно очень слабыми умениями и низким уроном. В то время как другие – сносят толпы, не промахиваются, контролят итд. На некоторых мутное описание – на словах вы должны быть Лев Толстой, а на деле всё до смешного. Решается вопрос модом из мастерской на почти бесконечные зелья для перераспределения характеристик. Для соблюдения честности просто не берите в отряд более чем три рожи (включая вас). По билду вы развернётесь не сильно. Если вы взялись качать умение, например «клинковое оружие», то очки способностей вкладываются уже в конкретное оружие. Т.е если вы воодушевились двуручным мечем, то ходить вам с ним всю игру (ну или мод из мастерской в помощь). Смысл менять оружие во время боя почти отсутствует. [h3]Личностный рост и энергопрактики[/h3] Игра устроена по простому принципу – чем дальше в лес тем толще партизаны, но ввиду её нелинейности и возможности оказаться где угодно на любой стадии игры, за исключением основного сюжета – как вы определите «какой лес дальше»? Проблемы в этом никакой нет. Максимум что произойдёт – вы волнообразно будете получать то богатства, то грязь из под ногтей в награду за успех мероприятия. В зависимости от предыстории (бандит \ аристократ итд) вы получите иногда разное к вам отношение, иногда разные диалоги, разных компаньонов. С точки зрения отыгрыша как бы всё нормально, но с точки зрения боевой эффективности: некоторые начальные компаньоны ходят с бибой за шиворотом, а некоторые – имба и не контрятся в зависимости от их уникальной способности. Но это не большая проблема т.к вы то сам с бибой за шиворотом, потому что у вас вообще отсутствует уникальная способность. И ничего. Все живы-здоровы. Есть очень много жалоб на то, что проверки по характеристикам при диалогах ложатся исключительно на вашего персонажа. С одной стороны, жалующиеся правы – это выглядит нелепо, когда починить мост мы можем всей бригадой, по большему значению ремесла (не диалог), а оценить раны больного бедолаги можете только вы (диалог). С другой стороны – если вы всей бригадой максимизировали каждое умение, то вы бы прошли абсолютно любую проверку диалога. И зачем тогда в это играть вообще? Таким образом – любые ремесленные и не диалоговые навыки просто остаются исключительно для компаньонов. В любом случае, даже при таком раскладе вы не сможете максимизировать сразу все диалоговые навыки в главном герое и отыгрыш пройдёт в полную силу. [h3]Под капотом[/h3] Оптимизация на высшем уровне, но и спецэффекты отсутствуют. Из спецэффектов только горящий на полу огонь, на него, конечно же, больно смотреть. Распорядок у НПС – сон и ходьба по кругу (для кузнеца махание молотком). [i]Действует народная поговорка (заменяем слова «бесконечно можно» на «больно»)[/i] [code] «Больно смотреть как горит огонь, течёт вода и работают другие люди» [/code] Эффект «живого» мира всё равно присутствует. Из декораций и наполнения мира лично у меня вызывает лёгкое отторжение смесь восточнославянской традиционной архитектуры, тёмно-зелёных джунглей и динозавров. При том, что на экране загрузке славные светло-зелёные луга умеренно-континентального климатического пояса. Сюжетно – это никак не обосновано. А может я где-то недопонял. Критических багов замечено не было, или я не заметил что они есть (значит не критические). Мини-баги конечно же есть. Проблемы с лёгким мылом и качеством визуала исправляются в лёгкую с помощью [url=https://reshade.me/]ReShade[/url] [spoiler](подозреваю, что скачивается в 2026 только с VРN)[/spoiler] [h3]Качество жизни[/h3] Разработчик достиг максимального качества жизни при крафте: все инструменты и ингредиенты используются из любого кармана, включая личный склад. Личный склад есть каждом городе, в каждой ночлежке. На квестовом предмете всегда написано, что он квестовый и опция в диалоге тоже подсвечена, что речь пойдёт о квесте. Но прям в лоб вам квест мало кто даст. Сначала диалог должен зайти в правильное русло. За 2.5 прохождения я так и не понял для чего некоторые предметы на которых написано, что они квестовые, хотя по ощущениям – выбрил все квесты и поговорил с каждым бомжом. Присутствует полноценно рабочий стелс и возможность прирезать\пристрелить любого бандита и динозавра из стелса «не подняв тревогу». Можно даже прирезать с одного удара босса, если бой с ним не начинается с кат-сцены. Но речь идёт именно о злодее. Если прирезать доброго стражника в кустах, то он перед смертью успеет по рации передать инфу о происшествии всем друзьям сразу и составить фоторобот и отныне любой стражник более вам не друг. В мастерской есть языковой пакет, который включает полноценный русский. Из минусов – иногда перепутаны местоимения. [h3]Политическая составляющая[/h3] В комьюнити и в отзывах вы видели доблестные лозунги «Политике не место в играх! Разработчики предатели, надеюсь они все подoxнут, а курган с их могилами будет разграблен и осквернён, а все игры проваляется». Игру покупали только ради того, чтоб написать этот «неполитический» отзыв и возвращали средства. При всём при этом разработчик не запрещал покупать их игру, в отличии от тех самых издателей, которые за всё хорошее и против всего плохого (и товар не доступен в вашем регионе), не удалял языковой пакет из мастерской, который включает русский язык, не применял и не применяет никаких санкций к игрокам из РФ в комьюнити. Так и у кого в итоге «нет места политике в играх»? У игроков, которые вместо обзора игры пишут обзор на политику или у разработчика, который несмотря на политические высказывания никак не наложил санкции на игроков из РФ? Ну вот и разобрались [h3]Итог:[/h3] В сумме для RPG – это высший бал. На фоне всех остальных RPG поделок от инди студий в которые я сунулся после прохождения Swordhaven – как в коровье гoвно вляпался (по самые гланды). И это при том, что я не даю никаких скидок из-за того, что студия видите ли «инди». Если вы решите пройти мимо из-за её убожественной титульной картинки (как 5 раз прошёл мимо я), то сделаете хуже только себе. Понятное дело, что этот обзор уже никто не будет читать, но свои 5 копеек я вставил. [h2]9 из 10 восточнославянских динозавров[/h2]

Being a huge fan of ATOM team's previous games, when they announced they were developing a new isometric CRPG highly influenced by the first two Baldur's Gate games, I knew this was a must-have. I was a Kickstarter backer the day the campaign released. As excited as I was to play it upon release, I did not touch it until after version 1.1 was released for the best possible experience. I did the same thing with the ATOM series as well. Rushing in to playing a new release is usually an exercise in frustration and disappointment. CRPG's are large games with complex systems, it is best to let them cook for a while after release to let any bugs get squashed and be content complete. In a perfect world, games would be perfect upon release, but that's just not reality. Swordhaven definitely nails the Baldur's Gate gameplay style. You create a single character and add team members along the way. This isn't a quick-leveling, instant gratification sort of game...it is a slow burner. Leveling up takes a lot of work, and the gains are not huge. You have to be smart about allocating your attribute and skill points, each character only good for specializing one or two tasks. My party consists of a typical melee brute who can intimidate during conversations, a martial arts specialist, a crossbow wielder who can unlock chests, and a bow expert who can pickpocket. Conversations with NPC's branch depending on how well, or poorly you communicate. You won't be able to win every debate, and quests can have several different ways of being completed. If you are low in intelligence, you can find herbs and potions to give a temporary boost to help with those situations. Same thing with spots where high dexterity is needed. The way the game is set up, it'd be impossible to see every outcome in one playthrough. I am currently 40 hours into this playthrough, and it looks like I've uncovered about 75% of the map. I am in no hurry to rush through to completion, this is truly a game that is best being savored. If you enjoyed any of the newer isometric CRPG's like Pillars of Eternity, Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness, or any of the Pathfinder games...there's a good chance you'll love this too. The Eastern European writing/humor isn't for everybody, but the ATOM team has come a long way in the writing and storytelling department since their earlier titles. There isn't much in the way of magic casting, and it doesn't bother me as the game clearly states it is a low-magic setting. Technically speaking, the game has run well on my system. I've read reviews from earlier when the game still needed work, but I haven't run into any of those frustrations. You can tell it is still an indie game, albeit made with lots of love and details. If you are reading this, I recommend giving it a shot. It seems there are less and less of these old-style isometric RPG's being released as years go by, let's be thankful ATOM team has produced a new title that holds up to the classics.

I can't recommend this game even to the most die-hard CRPG fans. There's nothing here that's really worth experiencing. It doesn't do anything particularly well, and playing it felt like a chore after a certain point. It's hard to believe it was made by the same developers who brought us Atom RPG and Trudograd. The only thing that kept me going was sunk-cost fallacy. Combat becomes repetitive very quickly. Rarely did I have fights where I actually had to play strategically apart from the early game. The bosses were especially disappointing due to how easy it is to stack debuffs until they practically pose no threat whatsoever. I never felt the need to use throwables or buff potions. Companions can't help with skill checks or attribute checks... except on 1(?) occasion? You're also given the option to talk to them whenever you want, but they only offer a few lines of dialogue before running out of anything new to say for the rest of the game. Why add an option to ask for their opinion on the current location when, almost always, their response is simply, "I know as much about it as you do"? Lockpicking and crafting both felt largely worthless. Lockpicking is used almost exclusively for chests containing loot you don't really need, with only the late game ones having anything unique. While crafting is only really useful in the early game before gear is widely available. But before long, you'll already have all the gear you'll ever want, with crafting only really being useful to make arrows and bolts. The writing was a mixed bag. During the early and mid-game there were some enjoyable quests and I enjoyed the dialogue most of the time. I also liked some of the lore, particularly anything involving the eldritch. However as the game progressed, the quests seemed to become simpler in design and increasingly felt like chores to complete. I also wasn't a fan of the twist at the end. Anyway, that's all that immediately comes to mind. It's only been an hour since I finished the game and I'm already forgetting it.

I find the description slightly deceiving. It's a love letter to fallout 2 to the point it even uses slightly fleshed out special system. While doesnt touch infinity engine rpgs beyond some surface similarities. And where the credit due, I think it uses SPECIAL quite successfully. Of course its still features the same illness of charisma and int being too prevalent in a skill checks, but the devs tried to make every stat count which result in some variety in the quests and interactions(at least feels like it). Writing surprisingly starts pretty strong, which granted me some hope: Game tries to evoke Planescape feeling with constant journal updates and exp for dialogues, while having the premise from Arcanum...and then it plunges: Its ok to have grounded setting, but this one is outright the most boring one I've seen yet. There's not a single interesting thing about it, but at the same time it has magic/ghosts/Bene Gesserit Voice/Red Headed clown girls AND tried to be grounded. But the biggest offender is the "humor". I dont know why every dev tries to be whimsical and funny, but you come up as annoying and irritating. You just cant try to "joke" every step on the way and using references to soviet movies for no apparent reason. I heard similar complaints about atom rpg and now I can see why its such an issue with these devs. Its just bad, not funny, and takes you out from the experience. See why its mainly inspired by a Fallout2 ? Writing team definitely know English on a decent lvl, but I swear they dont know how to write a dialogue because it rarely feels like one. Usually its overly verbose, and at the same time NPC trying to talk like they're from Scotland or Ireland and they're 75 years old. It doesn't add any charm to npcs, quite the opposite - shows lack of fantasy or basic knowledge of what makes npc memorable. Then there's presentation: Imo, on the screenshots looks better than the game. Combat from the 30 years old games looks and feels better; there's missing sfx, and music is allover the place; 3d environment looks like an uninspired turd, and UI needs some work. So all and all, it can bring a bit fun and scratch some itch from the good ol times, but why would you play it instead of replaying classics or modern classics? - Well, there isn't a single reason. Which is why this is a negative.

Bought it at release, not Early Access, but 1.0 release. I was expecting the game to be done by then, but no, buggy and new content was released afterwards as if the game still was in Eearly Access. What have I missed? Can I do this content now, when I'm far into the game? Combine that with a very stupid character system where only you can use many of the skills in the game though you can give your companions those skills and waste skillpoints. You can also spend combat skillpoints on yourself which is a waste as it's the only thing your party mates are there for, and now you're doomed for a restart to correct the erros you've done. The problem is that, nah, I'm not a replay kind of guy unless the game is that good, which this one isn't.

I really, really enjoyed this game. While I was a huge fan of Atom RPG, I was leery at 1st of a "low-fantasy" RPG that seemed set in a quasi-late medieval (early Renaissance?) world. Those reservations went away quickly. The writing was fantastic, w/ all the characteristic humor I remembered from Atom RPG. If you're also a fan, read everything, and (regardless) explore all conversations fully w/ any NPC w/ a yellow-dot on the mini-map. A lot of xp and quests are found by doing that. I'm still laughing about a quest description, "Well, here I am, doing wet work for talking trees..." The combat system was very satisfying, and while my eventual party of 5 didn't experiment w/ all the weapon trees, it seems each tree has something worthwhile to offer. To my relief, 2 ranged companions among the 4 you can get total worked wonders, as the crossbow (Fiona < noble background) and bow (Vavere, the last companion you can get) could each do very useful things. I also had a spear-using speech monkey for my main PC, a knife-wielding "bard" (rogue) and a great tank (Budukeid) fighting unarmed or w/ a cestus. For Achievement junkies, you can get all but 1 in a play through, as you have to choose between 2 factions, each w/ their own achievement. For those w/ fond memories of playing ultra-difficult settings on Pillars of Eternity, this game offers perma-death via an iron man mode...though I wouldn't personally recommend that. Even Hard has some unpleasant maluses. I'm about to start a 2nd run w/ at least 2 of 4 different companions and try to learn from a few mistakes I made this 1st game. Hope others who might be on the fence give this game a try.

TLDR: The balancing is bad and a lot of interactions are immersion breaking. Many crashes, one just crashed my game and gave me time to write this review. *** Possible Spoilers *** Balancing vendors: There are some items that have better stats, but are worth less at vendors. The one that comes to mind is a bog iron axe and a timber axe. Bog iron has better stats, but sells for something like $16 but a timber axe sells for $43. Then while you are at the vendor you see him selling some weed for for $23, and you think why the f*ck is this vendor paying me $16 for and axe but is selling a weed that is literally growing 20 feet away for 50% more money? If you go to a blacksmith he will sell you a bog iron axe for like $140. I could see the vendor wanting a profit, but not a 800% profit. These are approximate numbers, since my game crashed (I do not have the heart to open the game and look). I am moving on or else I could complain about vendors all day. No. You know what I am going to talk about the vendors more. Another thing I hate about the vendors is that crafted items sell for less than the ingredients would have sold for. I had sucked most of the Clamreach vendors dry and they didn't have much money left, I got the idea to invest in a couple iron bars, because I knew I would need them in the future and, based on other games I had played, I "knew" that if I didn't need them, I could just craft something and sell them. Big mistake. A piece of bog iron (not counting other components) might be purchasable for $90, but as I mentioned above, a vendor is only going to give you $16 for the bog iron axe you made. The whole way the vendors works is so immersion breaking. Despite how the villagers have little stories to tell and quests for you, the whole way the economy works is just poorly thought out and it takes you out of the world building when you interact with the economy. (this is the nicest way I could talk about it) Balancing character progression: As you gain levels you realize that, if you want to keep pace with the enemies and situations you encounter, you have to max your weapons skills. I created a character that was going to be a smooth talking merchant. I knew it is a dangerous world, so I put some points into weapons. I think because of some of the early starting bonuses, this was viable, but as I reach Swordhaven, I have gotten to the point that most of my skill checks fail. Quest bandits are triple hitting me (while I can only hit twice) and I might only have a 35% chance to hit in return (they seem to have a 80% chance to hit). Then, I go to town, and more and more of my persuasion checks fail. All of my haggling checks fail. I thought about going into the world map and grinding random encounters just to raise my level, but I do not know if the enemies auto scale to the player level. You could say that the game requiring specialization in one or two skills is intentional, but the game is so linear and the randomness is near zero, most player will only ever play-through once. You only have one chance to give the players a good time, but requiring specialization in one skill makes me want to hate the game, not play it more. The other, funny, balancing flip side to this is that in some encounters my character has a 80% chance to hit some little dino running around. So some encounters I have 35% chance to hit, then other encounters have 80% chance to hit. The game is all over the place. I am getting tired of write, I will come back and add more later. There is more to add, don't worry. ----------------------- Edit 1: Poison flowers should be treated like traps and they should be detectable and destroyable. And/or they should be auto-avoided after they are spotted. They make the game 100% more tedious. All you have to do is walk around so it doesn't really make it harder. Your group cannot auto walk around, so you have to click a hundred times to get the group through one by one. It is just bad game design. I did, in a way, figure out why the game was crashing for me. I noticed that the game stutters and slows down (like an old school memory leak) when there is a pathing problem. I noticed this in a cave where part of it is only reachable by a "crack in the wall" and I re-entered the cave and I tried to click on one of the areas past the "crack". The game didn't know how to reach it and the game slowed way down (and stuttered). I think the times the game crashed during combat, I was in water and the enemies were packed tight and the pathing calculations (which are extra bad in water) caused the stuttering and crashing. The other crashes were in towns and if you auto move near a fence, sometimes the game will route one of your characters to the other side of the fence and the auto pathing crashes that way.

I was having a blast playing this game, really enjoying it. Which I should have seen as a warning. Because, with modern games, anytime I'm actually really enjoying playing, I hit the brick wall of death. A dead end at encounters I don't have any hope of surviving. In this case, after about 6 hours or better of playing, I encountered slavers. My choices then being: 1. Refuse to be taken. Face immediate death from a party that greatly outnumbers and outmans my group. 2. Submit, end up in a slaver camp. Expected to escape, which I've been unable to do in the last hour or so of "playing". From online comments I've read, escaping might not help, since others have been immediately recaptured. So, at this point, it would appear I'm already done with this game. I have three saves I can load. Two are in the slaver camp in the middle of *trying* to sneak to the building with the gear. Which I can't seem to do. Or, throw away about 3-4 hours of play, drop back to level 1, and probably end up back in the same situation again. It seems continuing this game at this point is totally futile. It definitely doesn't even resemble "fun". Which is a shame, because it *was* one of the more enjoyable games I've played. Emphasis on was.

Honestly, needs a bit of work. Having played both Atom games, this feels like a massive downgrade in every way. Would not recommend it; try the first ATOM game, it is really fun and better!