Game:

Baldur's Gate (1998)

Category:

Review

Duration: 1:51:09

28,309 views

471

SWORDHAVEN is an Indie, Isometric, Turn Based Tactics RPG by the devs of ATOM RPG.
It’s a bit like ATOM RPG, but fantasy!
Except here, they are not going with a classic Fallout feel, but with a big, old school Baldur’s Gate influence, though with a very low magic take on it.

A Low Magic Baldur’s Gate like?!
Sort of
Roughly
In a different system, with a very low magic setting
Like Baldur’s Gate, (and any good CRPG really) you create your own character, right at the start; good.
Deep character creation here: I am pleased.
Right at the start, you can customize your character; gender, background: Noble or Bandit, both of which grant bonuses to skills, then the attributes, where you can go as low as 1 for extra points.
Unlike Baldur’s Gate, this is not AD&D 2nd edition, so the attributes are a bit different, in fact, they are much like the attributes of ATOM RPG, what a surprise!
The attributes are different from what might be expected; thus very worth a read.

Next, 20 points to put into skills
Skills have 5 tiers of mastery, which each grant their own bonus to their weapon type, sort of like the old Might and Magic games, except here, you don’t need the trainer: you get the upgrade the minute you met the skill threshold; nice!
You can pick 1 distinction perk /quark; it comes with a bonus & a downside, fun for defining a character!
These are very impactful, & feel very influenced by old school Fallout; fun!

The Weapons:
Each weapon set has 4 abilities you can learn, at 20, 50, 75, & 125; you learn them in order.
You can pick 1 at character creation.
When you lvl up, you get more hp, you put in your skill points & choose another weapon perk.
The Combat of SWORDHAVEN:
There is a linked movement and attacking AP system in SWORDHAVEN though the game insists of calling it SP, for stamina points.
This is markedly different from those coming from a Baldur’s Gate like system, where the combat is defined by having a movement and an action.
I will say here that the combat in SWORDHAVEN feels a bit light for my tastes: I cleared the demo in about 7.5 hours, & there are no attacks of opportunity, which means it is much more difficult to pin down ranged opponents, leading to the expected result of ranged being overpowered relative to melee.

Now, there are many forms of crowd control, but they are tied up into specific weapon systems like the club/ mace for stunning, or the spear for pushing away, not as base abilities all fighters possess.
While it does please me that per character initiative is present, there is no current ability to delay your turn.

There is also no ability to melee overwatch to have your fighters engage a foe as they attempt to run past, which is a very useful tabletop tactic of holding your action to have your melees protect your casters / archers.

I will also note that facing does not seem to matter for blocking or dodging; it would be much more impactful if you can only block in the direction of the shield, & dodging should perhaps be less effective when trying to dodge attacks coming from behind: these 2 changes would make character facing matter much more.
They would also make the game more tactically deep & engaging, which is something I see as profoundly positive.

The Game World:
The world of SWORDHAVEN, at least the two zones we can access in this demo, feels good to explore.
I feel a strong Baldur’s Gate influence in the game feel, movement, & UI layout, which should appeal to many of its fans.
A very nice thing I found here was the amount of different conversation paths you can take with the people in the village, as they do react to the kind of person and character you are.
Your character background, choices, skills & personality determine how helpful NPCs are to you & the kinds of quests & deals you get help make each playthrough a bit different, and add a great deal of value to repeated playthroughs with different kinds of characters; (a design philosophy completely abandoned by the likes of Skyrim, where you can be the simultaneous head of the Mages Guild, the Fighters Guild, the Thief’s Guild, & the Dark Brotherhood with ZERO problem! Talk about immersion breaking & outright absurdity!).
You also gain exp for learning things from people like facts about the game world; nice.

Controller Support is planned for the full game, but was completely non functional when I tested it here.
Thankfully, as a CRPG, SWORDHAVEN controls very well with Mouse and keyboard, so that is what I used in the above video.

Note: This is an Early look at SWORDHAVEN so any bugs or other oddness is not representative of the final product.
Still, SWORDHAVEN is a fun Indie, Isometric, Turn-Based Tactics RPG by the devs of ATOM RPG.
It’s like ATOM RPG, but fantasy, with a big, old school Baldur’s Gate influence, but with a low magic take.
SWORDHAVEN is well worth a wishlist and a watch.
Watch?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2108180/Swordhaven_Iron_Conspiracy/
#SwordHaven #CRPG #TurnBasedTactics

Other Statistics