Tag: Magic

Of Ash and Steel – Seven Points of Critique

I’m far from finishing Of Ash and Steel, so this is not a review—just a critique of the game and its mechanics after about fifteen hours of playing. While I think it’s a good addition to the specific Gothic/Risen/Skyrim lineage of RPGs, I do find it falls short in places—in areas where they could have found easy inspiration. It’s not something that overly disappoints me, but thanks to these issues it will probably never reach the same level of appreciation (at least from me).

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Of Ash and Steel – Demo Impressions

It’s rare, but sometimes it happens. That rare stumble upon a game that both has a fantastic demo, and a release date not set in the far future of 2035. Of Ash and Steel is this game, and after giving it three hours, I couldn’t help but give it two thumbs up! It’s an old-school RPG in the form of Risen—and trust me, I did the test. I swung my sword at the back of my host as thanks for nursing me back from death, and he promptly kicked my ass. But see, he didn’t kill me, he just knocked me out, called me something foul and took my bow as compensation. If that isn’t old-school “living-world” mechanics, I don’t know what is!

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Sword Hero – Demo Impressions

Now, here we have a game with some serious potential, for everyone that loves the Gothic, and the Elder Scrolls series. The Sword Hero demo is rather short, as you are limited to five arena battles, with increasing difficulty depending on the foe. However, what is showcased here is nothing short of amazing. Especially if you enjoy heavy system based RPGs/action games. By that, I mean how stuff interacts with each other, primarily through a damn cool physics engine. Expect hilarious ragdoll slapstick, which is right up my alley. 

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