Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

非常棒的网状叙事crpg，对话文本简洁有趣，读起来丝毫不费力。世界观非常独特，游戏大部分时间都在西幻世界中进行，许多剧情都有克系元素，[spoiler]结果进入矿洞时出现的现代矿工帽和探照灯，直接把游戏带到了现代科技背景，很难想象如果不被剧透，这一幕会对玩家造成多大的震撼[。 战斗部分的话，如果对战棋游戏不感冒，直接切换成及时战斗，设置队友AI的用药方式、战斗风格，然后让队友一拥而上开砍就好，而你要做的就是想办法更新队友装备、储备药剂，至少在普通难度下，这种玩法是不会卡关的。值得注意的是，如果你要用及时战斗玩游戏，那最好不要培养远程角色，否则补给弹药太麻烦了。 接下来给新手玩家一个开局建议，游戏一开始，带着固定的一个队友去把大路上的和地图西部山洞里的蜥蜴杀掉，然后向北进入第二个地图，这时队友会暂时离队，自己先沿路往北走，把坏掉的驴车任务做了，然后直接进村，去找村长接蛮族任务，这时再去酒馆找队友，二次入队，然后队友就不会再离队了；接下来什么任务都不要做，出了村口沿大路往北走，走出地图，在大地图上走两步，就会遇到奴隶贩子，不要反抗，让自己被抓进去，就会遇到第二个队友，主攻方向为制作的商人；从奴隶营地逃出来后，去丰登村，去找治安队长，队长家院子里的两个笼子里，关着我们的其中一个队友，这里可以通过调查线索、走访，让两人都存活，然后选其中一个人入队，我选的是野蛮人，主攻医疗。第三个队友入队后，一行四人前往剑湾，进入城郊地图，和守城人对话，开启进城任务，任务结束后第四个队友-小丑女入队，主攻开锁，至此，全队五人集合完毕，可以回蛤蜊村慢慢做任务了。 这游戏品格属性非常重要，品格决定NPC会不会理你，会和你说多少话，我都是满品格开游戏的；三个口才技能，主角最好挑游说和诈唬其中一个点高，过剧情判定用，而威胁技能没什么用。幸运属性要么点到10，要么干脆不要点，10幸运可以跳过大部分剧情战斗。智力属性最好点满，会有额外对话和额外技能点，注意力可以点到6，后面到剑湾会有一个任务一次性给5注意力属性，注意力也可以用来开启额外剧情。体力、力量。敏捷属于是战斗技能了，需要这些属性的判定都不重要，我都是1开局，后面有属性药水我才把体力点起来的，敏捷在后面微光之门，有个彩蛋是必须要5才能开启，想做的可以用洗点药水洗成5敏。

I don't write reviews, but I think that Swordhaven definitely deserves one, because it has soul. First and foremost, it is not for everyone, but this game just reminds me of at least 4 different RPG/adventures from the 90s. There are great dialogs and an interesting environment, which has really got my full attention. The UI and combat can be clunky, but overall I think it has a nice feeling. I still can't decide whether the creators have done this game as a tribute to different RPGs or whether their main motivation has been to create an original and sometimes cynical approach to them. There are some twists which are very well telegraphed early, but their execution is well done and entertaining - so you are not surprised by the expected twist but its execution. Tipping point for me has been the ending credits. Maybe I have made *special* decisions, but it has been the most jaw-dropping ending slides I have ever seen. For me, it has been cynical and a big middle finger to all other computer games endings slides. As I have stated at the beginning, it is not for everyone. I've unistalled and rage quited BG3 after 6 hours because it was an extremely soulles and boring product of $s and marketing. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed Poe 1+2, Tyranny, PT:Km+Wotr, Rogue trader, Age of Decadence, Colony Ship, Arcanum, bg1+2+tob, PT, PT:ton, Might and Magic 6+7+8, Albion, Fallout 1+2 ... and ofc both Atom RPG + Trudograd, so if you have same taste as me, you would definitely enjoy this game. Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy is a well crafted game and definitely deserves more attention.

This wants to be a nice CRPG and isn't. I've played many of them and really like a good CRPG. Loved BG3, loved Divinity Original Sin, and others. I tried it out, played for 47 minutes, and am requesting a refund. Sorry, developers, you have to engage me quickly. It shouldn't be so hard to figure basic stuff out. Character creation is tedious with no help as to what things one might pick for a decent build. There are no decent web pages, or anything to give help. Combat is silly, it's hard to figure out basic stuff like whatever you do to heal. The companions are blah, and stroppy, and just abandon me. UI controls are mediocre. I really, really don't like the way that movement and camera positioning slides and coasts. If I rotate my camera and let up on Q it should stop rotating, not coast a little more. Gives me vertigo. It's like driving in the snow. Maybe it just needs more work. Feels like a pre-beta thrown over the wall. There's promise and potential, I think, but I'm ready to get my refund before I've played so much they won't give it to me. Developers, you need to engage me quickly. I shouldn't spend an hour and conclude that it's more likely it sucks than is good.

Too much running around, too little meaningful fights. Companions comes with one pre-selected weapon skills that cannot be easily respec. Crafting feels a little too complex with many sub-ingredients.