Recent reviews by Shiro

TLDR: If ur machine can run the game well (check demo), you can live with very light itemization (gearing), a good story (transported via a lot of cutscenes) is something you appreciate and you're able to connect emotionally to characters in movies/books/other games then this game will be worth your money.

I usually don't write reviews but this game deserves to be supported. For me personally this game is a master piece and thus one of the best games I've ever played. It reminded me why I fell in love with games. It does have it's flaws (e.g. itemization) but the things it does well it does really well. I've sat in front of my screen holding my breath at some of the scenes. I've laughed, cheered and cried with the characters.

I'll not sugar coat the fact that it does need a pretty decent machine to run smoothly and then you might want to get the mod that enables 60fps during cutscenes (see the guide section of the game for that info). If you are unsure whether your machine can run the game then check out the demo.

In regards to the complete edition: I personally think they were worth the higher cost. Echoes of the Fallen is the weaker one of the two but it still adds to the main game and fleshes out the history of a fallen civilization.
The other dlc is very good and I'd have been happy just getting that one for the higher price. It adds a town, with additional side quests, two great boss fights (they are harder then others) and some (for me) breath taking scenes.

Havn't played that much yet but it is a lot of fun. Getting better gear for the next run is motivating and a nice way of progressing your character. The hades like way of gods offering you their power to help is a nice touch. Every run you get a random assortment of gods that offer you their help with powers themed to them.

It's a masterpiece.

The best ARPG currently available if you like a ♥♥♥♥ ton of mechanics and many possible character builds to tinker with ;)

Disclaimer: I havn't played much but thought it would be good to at least provide some insight to what this game is about.

So. It is tagged as an RPG but if people think it is anything like a Witcher or Skyrim etc. then you are sorely mistaken. It is not an open world where you can go to every location you see. There are invisible borders and the world map has predefined routes and at each intersection you can chose which route you want to proceed on. You have heroes with abilites and items but your skill set is limited to 4 as far as I can tell and well you can equip 1 accessory _or_ a potion. I guess there could be weapons at predefined locations and maybe there will be an armor upgrade but if you expect a deep itemization then you'll be sorely disappointed. It is a party based game which means in fights you can control up to four characters and the combat is pausible. If that's not your thing then you should probably avoid this game.

Well, with that out of the way I can tell you what "The Dwarves" is: It's a bit like a Telltale game where the story is the main focus of the game. There is a narrator who voices the story bits which aren't actual dialogue (Like "Tungdil entered the room to find it in chaos"). There is a lot of voiced text and if you really enjoy the story side of a game the game could be something for you. The combat seems to be okay and the physics in them seem to be their major selling point. You can push enemies off of a cliff for example. You'll often fight against a huge amount of enemies with your four characters (+ any NPCs that might partake in that fight). It might get pretty repetitive for some people. You'll mainly replay the events of the books with added sidecontent. As far as I can tell it stays pretty true to the story established in the books.

That's it for now at least. I hope this helps some people in deciding if the game is something for them or not. For me it is quite a good game but I might be a bit biased because I read the books and loved them. KingArt did a fantastic job bringing the world of "The Dwarves" to life. I've also backed this game on KS and because of that I know that the budget of this game isn't comparable to something like Skyrim or Witcher which many people seem to compare games of this genre to. KingArt is delivering a differnt kind of RPG in regards to Character-/Itemcustomization but their focus on story is appreciated. I'm actually not sure if "RPG" is the right label in this case because even I associate Character-/Itemcustomization with it. I'd say that you should give it a chance if you like dwarves and can forgive the mentioned shortcomings because otherwise it is pretty decent.

TL:DR

It's a great point and click adventure game which allows you to play with three (four) memorable characters. There are many references based on popular games (eg. WoW), tv shows (eg Scrubs) or books (eg. The Neverending Story, Song of Fire and Ice) which will make you smile and in my case bring forth some genuine laughter. You'll experience a story in which the three (four) main characters (Ivo an elvish princess, Nate a Captain of a skypirateship and his companion "Critter" (think of Han Solo and Chewie) and lastly Wilbur a gnome wizard) get back together to fight a pink menace that threatens the world of Aventasien. It will take you about 20 hours to finish the game which is nothing to sneeze at.

If you like this genre then you should really get this game now and don't wait for a sale because if a game of such quality (especially in its genre) doesn't sell well then there might be no point in making any in the future. So please get it if you think that this might be something for you. I'm quite sure that you won't be disappointed.

I would strongly recommend playing the first instalment of the series not because it is absolutely needed but because it adds to the experience of this game and it is another great adventure.
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I backed this game through kickstarter because I believed in KingArt and their ability to make a great adventure game. My trust in them wasn't misplaced. BoUT2 is an outstanding adventure game of which I enjoyed every second. I had to laugh so many times during my playtime that I'm already hoping for a sequel.


----Story----
I don’t want to spoil too much of the story but it should suffice to say that you’ll be able to play as the gnome Wilbur who just became a teacher at a wizard school, as the elven princess Ivo who is inflicted with some kind of „disease“ and is currently staying at the elven castle, as captain Nate who still has issues with headhunters and their employer and as the Critter who is the loyal companion of Nate. All three of them get dragged into a political struggle for power and something which transforms the world of Aventasien into a pink and cute version of it.

----Puzzles----
The puzzles are designed pretty well and if you are an experienced adventure gamer you shouldn’t have any problems with them. Every puzzle has a logical solution and there are no “WTF” moments like the monkey wrench puzzle in “Monkey Island”. What should be mentioned is that there are optional puzzles which you don’t need to solve to progress in the story. Instead you’ll get a cosmetic Item which your characters can wear e.g. a fishing hat. There is one really great optional puzzle in the wizard school which pays homage to the evolution of adventure games.

----Graphics and Sound----
The graphics are top notch and I’m not sure you’ll find better graphics in a point and click adventure. It is not uncommon that Items with which the player can interact stand out from the scene. That isn’t the case in this game. Every usable item looks like it’s a part of the background.

The voice over is great in the german version of the game. All of the old characters have their voices from the original and each voice actor breathes life into the characters. It’s hard for me to judge the quality of the English voice over (because I’m not a native speaker) but I started a second playthrough in English and I’m quite happy with them as well. So in my book they are pretty good as well. The soundtrack is well made and this time most of it is done with a real orchestra.

----Conclusion----
BoUT2 is great adventure which is quite big (~20 hours) and thus is something which is rare nowadays. If you like adventure games in the spirit of “Monkey Island” you need to get BoUT2 (and 1 if you haven’t played it). The people at KingArt, who developed this game, poured their heart and soul into it and the game shows it. The lovely crafted scenes in the background, the witty and funny dialogues and the many references to pop culture already earned a sweet spot in my geeky heart.

Based on the german version with 5 hours played and around 30% completed.

UI:

Well, let's be honest the UI (Main Menu) isn't beautiful and looks like some alpha/beta version. The ingame UI is the standard backpack inventory which should be well known to every gamer that likes point and click adventure. Sadly there seems to be no option to open the menu with a mouse click/wheel action. So you have to move your mouse to the icon on the bottom left side of the screen.
When hovering over a usable object the UI will present you with the right (=only) action you can perform. In addition to that you can inspect every useable item to get a response from your active character.


Voiceover:

The german voice actors are really superb. George got his old voice actor and Nico got someone who almost sounds exactly the same as her usual voice actor. If I hadn't known beforehand that Nico got a new voice, I wouldn't have noticed it. The other characters got pretty good voice actors as well and those that made an appearance in a previous installment of the Broken Sword series seem to have their original voice actors as well.


Graphics:

The backgrounds are beautifully hand drawn and look amazing. Seeing those backgrounds with George and Nico really took me back to the old days. Sadly the animations aren't on par with the backgrounds. Don't get me wrong they aren't bad but compared to those backgrounds they just lose.
Currently the supported resolution of the game is only 1280x720. But they promised to deliver a 1080HD patch.

Puzzles:

The puzzles so far have been good (=fun) and till now I havn't encountered an illogical one. The puzzles range from dialogue puzzles to item combination puzzles to the likes of reconstructing a destroyed message. If you're an experienced adventure gamer you'll probably have no difficulties solving those. But I still had fun and enjoyed them.

Story:

A painting is stolen from a gallery and during that a man is killed. Nico and George happen to be there and are trying to solve the robbery/murder. While doing so they discover that the painting has a special history and that it wasn't just a regular robbery. During that they meet some old friends and visit different countries.

Bugs:

Well I havn't ecountered a real bug till now but there are some things like e.g. really hard to spot items or a big item where the mouse courser has to be at a specific spot to make it useable (like a whole blank page) which could frustrate you. Other than that I havn't encountered anything.

Conclusion:

I'm loving the game but I'll be honest here and tell you that I'm a fan of the "Broden Sword" series. So I might be a little biased here. Revolution Software delivers a good (definetly better than 3 (ugh) and 4 but not as good as 1 and 2) sequel to the Broken Sword series and every fan should get it asap if he hasn't already. Every other adventure game fan should ask himself if graphics (UI/Animation) is really (!!!!) important to him and if so he should maybe stay away from the game. All those that value gameplay and story more shouldn't wait and get this game. With that you'll support one of those developers who still make adventure games.

Warning: The second part will be released at a later date (January). If you buy the game now you'll get the second episode as soon as it becomes available. So you'll probably have to wait till then to experience the full story. On the bright side the game will be complete with the second episode and the wait isn't a long one.