Villordsutch reviews Blackguards 2…
Some of the best-known Blackguards from the first game will be part of the team again -unfortunately, their lives didn’t go very well since then. Although they are a shadow of their former glory, Cassia, the main protagonist of Blackguards 2 is looking for the remaining Blackguards as she sees in them the fighters and power she needs for her plans. The group will travel through South Aventuria completing quests to fulfil Cassia’s dream of ruling from the Shark Throne at all costs even if just for one day.
I had the chance to preview Blackguards 2 back at the beginning of January here at Flickering Myth and my final thoughts on the game were at the time that I wasn’t that much of a fan of this turn based SRPG (Strategy Role Play Game). However that being a preview there were issues and the game deserved a full review.
Cassia (You)In Blackguards 2 you take on the role of Cassia who at the beginning of the tale has had her kitten cruelly slaughtered and you’ve been dumped in a spider filled labyrinth (not the best of days) so you make it your mission to work your way out whilst being goaded by the guard between each level. You can have a conversation with the guard but the outcomes seem to serve no purpose on how the story plays out, and just merely flesh out the character’s backstory.
The early levels are basic and easy. The map floor is filled with hexagons, levers and chests and you must move, pull level, fight spider, open chest, repeat, escape; it’s a fairly easy introduction to the game, no stress and you pick it up straight away. Occasionally in future levels you may have to break a barrel or box, but as in the preview the levers and chests suffer from not being able from being “actioned” from a particular hexagon which is extremely frustrating. There are also irritations in story itself from the onset, for example the spiders at one point are called by a different name and made out to be sacred – by the goading guard – but this is forgotten by the scriptwriter seconds later and reverts back to ‘spider’; then the loading screen starts with “…years pass…” and we cut to “four years later”. Again these are minor but frustrating.
Saving a Dwarf and his goldWhen you do manage to leave the grey labyrinth you end up in a Fight Pit with an Amazon styled forest, then Dwarven docks! As mentioned in my preview the story that binds this game together seems to have been written after the game developers have made some levels with a copy and paste level editor. Along with this the guard AI still oddly bugged. I witnessed (again) in the Dwarven docks a Bounty Hunter leave the fight and run off to a corner. The Dwarven docks also shows how upsettingly poor the fight scenes can be as your characters are underpowered and do little more than grunt and shuffle at your opponent.
An excellent feature within the game which isn’t explored as much as it should be is the character skills development, which as a person who has played MMORPGs and RPGs in the past I went looking for. The game barely introduces the player to these skills from what I can see, nor does it help you develop your character in the way of gear of weaponry by the fourth level. So you become frustrated at the limited power or health regen you have compared to the mass of enemies suddenly swooping down upon you. It’s at the “Pirate Bay” that the game should be opening the player’s world to this and getting them ready for the new stage.
Unfortunately Blackguards 2 isn’t an enjoyable game to pick up in its current state, with levels that look graphically “okay” but do appear to have been made using a level editor, along with mobs that suffer in the AI department. Actions on levers and chests frustrate and waste your time as you manoeuvre around the object to find the correct hexagon.The story which is very disjointed and appears to be set pieces crammed together. Perhaps if the bugs could be ironed out you could forgive the story, but until then I’d hold off spending my money on Blackguards 2.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflPU6YICpo&list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F
Originally published January 27, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
