izigame.me

Tl;dr: A surprisingly and pleasantly strong entry in the tactical turn-based genre with very solid combat and eco management fundamentals and a host of rare (but very welcome) extras -- like full customization of colors, heraldry, voiceset, and appearance of the companions and unique family lineages to shape the main story. Interesting, challenging, and above-all fun -- Who wouldn't want to shoot a medieval peasant in the knee with a crossbow before mauling him to death with a bear?
Long version: I'd had this game on my radar since before launch -- but hesitated to buy when that launch was rocky.
I finally bought the game after reading from the devs how they have seriously patched the game up in the last six months. That kind of dev commitment inspires confidence -- especially when the vast majority of the game's negative reviews are in response to launch-era issues that have (apparently) been patched out. So I decided to jump in.
I've been extremely happy with that decision.
Tactical combat is thoughtful and challenging, but not overly complex. As your companions grow in skill, they grow in complexity -- so the difficulty curve is quite nice and the game is accessible from the get-go. Combat itself FEELS punchy and impactful, with a nice but not overwhelming variety of weapons to choose from for your different companions. There are six classes, and each class can use different combinations of weapons -- some use Crossbows, some use Axes and Swords, some use Bows and Throwing Axes and melee axes. Etc. Weapon variety adds a fun layer of customization to your squad, as well as extra tactical richness.
Graphics are very pleasant, kind of cozy -- very much not AAA mega wowie eye-bleedingly detailed. But again: nice to look at. Animations are generally excellent, especially the kill animations -- your macemen will pulverize enemies, twisting legs and breaking spines. Your axemen will chop an enemy while he's down. Dagger users will slit throats. Your war dog will rip out an enemy's throat. Etc. Really cool to watch, and fun.
Eco-management is complex -- loads of resources with many different ways to spend them, from research to building upgrades to improved gear to new consumables. Resource management intersects with the game's time management and companion management systems -- you need to go on missions, which means maintaining enough squads for travel time while accounting for injuries/healing, training, etc. The different systems interact nicely to create the most important thing here: a feeling that you are making strategic decisions often and that these decisions shape your playthrough.
Story is very B-movie, action-jackson pow and wow. A mysterious Brotherhood during the 100 years war is attacked by an even more mysterious Order at the start, your family scion (whose lineage you pick after the opening tutorial) dies in the attack, leaving you destitute and on the run. So you retreat to an old domain, and start building up strength again. Story missions then involve rescuing kidnapped noblewomen, killing bandits, showing up for meetings that go haywire and spilling blood, etc. An extremely solid 6 or 7 out of 10 on story -- I love B-movies, I like simple plotlines, I want to be given some nice framing for mauling people with a bear. It's just fun. I've watched loads of medieval movies like this (King Arthur, Black Death, Kingdom of Heaven, to name a few).
English language voice acting is hit or miss -- while the narration of the campaign is great, the very first cutscene ratchets up the corny to 11. But it hardly matters at all for the vast majority of the gameplay. The most important thing is this: the actual unit barks during combat are fun (sometimes funny) and often quirky and endearing.
SOME of the voicesets are truly not my cup of tea -- painful. But the voice and appearance customization is just such a blessing in that regard! I simply make all my companions into people who have voicesets I like. It rocks.
Performance-wise: It runs great on my mid-range AM4 PC. No notes.
All in all, a good game, with a unique feel and vibe -- perhaps in part because it's not just another piece of AAA turbo slop. Being not-AAA means there is some jankiness -- sometimes unintuitive UI elements, sometimes unclear interactions or ability descriptions, animations sometimes not triggering correctly (happens most often on Attacks of Opportunity) etc. But that's all easily overlooked or even adapted to and embraced -- because the game is really cool and fun.
I admire the devs for listening to feedback and clearly polishing, refining, and rebalancing this game to where it can really shine.
But I also have to imagine the game deserved a fairer shake at launch -- minimally, I can say with confidence it deserves one now. I've sunk thousands of hours in tactical turn-based RPGs like this, and this is a game I'm grateful was made and happy to play.
Good stuff. Glad I bought it.
Update: I've played the game a few dozen hours more since my initial review -- I continue to enjoy the game. Difficulty ramps up, but becomes more tough and exciting, around Chapter III. I've experienced one crash.
I will likely get another 50 hours out of the game -- Can't recommend enough just giving it a go.
The story, of course, is all over the place -- like National Treasure had a baby with The Messenger and John Wick -- pretty bonkers. The game throws characters at me as if I know who they are -- my cousin Roland, apparently, betrayed me! But I didn't know I had a cousin Roland. Etc. And the English-language story voice-acting remains wooden and oofy.
But I increasingly think there's something kind of mentally deranged about criticizing a tactical turn-based game because it doesn't have "good story" and "strong voice acting." This isn't cinema after all -- it's a video game. And the gameplay is all there -- as is the music, sound design, and visual design.