Game Review: Blackguards

Title: Blackguards
Classification: Tactical Turn-Based RPG
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Release: Nov 6, 2013 (Early Access Release)
Similar Games: XCOM, Fire Emblem, FF Tactics, Onimusha Tactics
Co-Op?: No

Description:

"
What happens when the only hope of a threatened world lies not with heroes in shining armor, but in the hands of a band of misfits and criminals? Blackguards, a new turn-based strategy RPG, explores this very question. You will discover over 180 unique hex-based battlegrounds within a dark and mature story of crime, drugs, and murder.

Play as a warrior, mage or hunter and customize your character's skills as you see fit. The challenging campaign delivers a story of doubt, treason and loss. You decide the course of the story at key turning points and determine its outcome.

• More than 180 unique battlemaps provide ever-evolving and novel challenges. 
• Make sure you have plenty of snacks, as this dark fantasy adventure has 40+ hours of exciting play time. 
• Lead up to five characters in your party to glorious victory or devastating defeat. 
• Enjoy enchanting hand drawn backdrops. They're beautiful even when your party members get their asses handed to them. 
• Your choice of spells, skills and abilities determine your battlefield tactics. Aggressive? Defensive? Tactical? It's your call how to tackle each challenging encounter! 
• Use interactive objects like bee hives or barrels to your advantage in combat, or blow yourself up by carrying a torch into flammable swamp gas. 
• Dish out some serious damage with 40 special abilities and more than 90 spells... or find yourself on the other end and get obliterated.

"

Summary:

I'll add on to this as I play more but for right now I have the following:

The first thing I have to say about this is I really, really like these types of games. I really enjoy games like Fire Emblem & Onimusha Tactics on the GBA and XCOM on the PC, which are specifically turn-based games. Blackguards also gives me the vibe/atmosphere of old school RPG games I love like Baldur's Gate I & II, Path of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor , Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights + expansions + mods (The old bioware game, not that new MMO). While the games I just listed are not turn based, they do have pause button tactics, and they share the fantasy setting and RPG skill allocation, feats, that sort of thing. The most recent game of this genre was Dragon Age Origins but it has been a while since that came out.

Anyway, since then, I have been waiting for another game to grab my attention the same way all these massive titles did. I decided to pick up Blackguards, and I will admit that I was scared because it was Early Access. I will tell you now this game has not disappointed me in the slightest, even though it is Early Access. The characters are fun, the gameplay is exactly what I wanted. I have to say they won me over pretty quickly. I wrote down a few pros/cons that were most apparent for me.

Pros:

• I personally love the turn-based gameplay/combat system
• Nice artwork and environments
• Plenty of voiced dialog
• Fun characters  

Cons:

• Kind of easy even on hard difficulty, but I like these types of games so.....yea
• Graphics are a tad dated so this might bother some
• Some features are kind of buggy but it is still Early Access so calm down (using bandages ect...)
• I would like some cooler / more tiered armors and weapons
• Seeing the reference tags on characters/objects is distracting
• No in depth character customization (but it is to be added later!) 

Verdict: 

YES. This is a fun game to play even early access. I am glad I did it and I think the RPG community will come together to love it.