Age of Reforging: Blackthorn
- August 28, 2023
- PersonaeGame Studio
Get on Steam"Age of Reforging: Blackthorn" is a strategy role-playing game set in a fantasy world. Players must build and manage their own kingdom, while also recruiting and training units to fight in tactical battles. The game features a variety of units, skills, and equipment to customize your playstyle. Explore the world, complete quests, and make decisions that affect the story and outcome of your journey.
Reviews
- The game has a lot of potential with a rich character creation system and diverse skill trees, allowing for various playstyles.
- The gameplay offers a unique blend of real-time and tactical combat, reminiscent of classic RPGs, which can be engaging and fun.
- The developers are actively working on improvements and bug fixes, showing commitment to enhancing the game experience.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including long loading times and sluggish movement, which detract from the overall experience.
- The user interface is clunky and poorly designed, making navigation and management frustrating for players.
- There is a lack of clear instructions and mechanics, leading to confusion and difficulty in understanding gameplay elements.
- story10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is described as inconsistent, with some quests lacking clear markers, leading to confusion and immersion-breaking experiences. While there are moments of engaging storytelling and ambition in the narrative, technical issues and gameplay bugs detract from the overall experience, leaving players frustrated with quest progression and character development.
“For so long I have been looking for a game that is character building with guild quests, and nothing has scratched that itch until I tried Reforging.”
“The story is sometimes good, sometimes meh.”
“It can be seen that the production team has great ambition, rich storylines, and diverse professions.”
“Quest markers are erratic, which really wrecks immersion and occasionally disrupts gameplay as you can't work out what a quest is asking you to do.”
“Couple that with the random lack of quest markers, and you can end up with quests where you have no idea what you're trying to achieve, or where, or how!”
“In a couple of cases, I have persistent in-map quest markers for quests that my logbook shows as completed.”
- gameplay9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a real-time with pause RPG system set in an open-world sandbox, reminiscent of titles like Battle Brothers and Mount & Blade. However, players report a lack of clear explanations for mechanics, which can hinder immersion and understanding of quests. While some find the gameplay engaging and reminiscent of classic titles, others note issues with responsiveness, optimization, and user interface size.
“Real-time with pause RPG gameplay in a sandbox similar to Battle Brothers or Mount & Blade.”
“The game is an open-world CRPG mixed with real-time with pause RPG gameplay in a sandbox during encounters, events, and cities.”
“The gameplay is beyond excellent and they have just started.”
“There's very little explanation of mechanics or help for the player.”
“That really wrecks immersion, and occasionally wrecks gameplay as you can't work out what a quest is asking you to do.”
“The mechanics alone just don't respond, listen, or follow through and stick.”
- optimization5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is severely lacking, resulting in sluggish movement and poor performance even on high-end PCs. Players report significant stuttering, numerous bugs, and a chaotic combat experience where character movements feel excessively slow. Overall, the game requires substantial optimization to improve its functionality and user experience.
“The game needs significant optimization; there are many areas that could be improved.”
“There are numerous bugs and some jank, and it's evident that the optimization is lacking, as the game stutters even on my high-end PC.”
“Has potential but right now it has very poor performance with sluggish movement where moving characters around feels like I'm watching a movie in slow motion, especially during combat where even using the tactical pause to give commands, once I leave tactical pause it is still as slow as a snail. Not to mention a mess as both good and bad guys just bunch up into a mass of unidentifiable bodies.”
“There are bugs aplenty and no small amount of jank; additionally, there is clearly very little optimization as the game stutters even on my high-end PC.”
“It's not optimized yet and very slow. Other than that, the UI is very small and can't be changed. The game mechanics are different, almost reminiscent of KOTOR back on Xbox without being able to pause, so it's kinda cool.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The graphics have received largely negative feedback, with players noting that changes in graphic settings do not save, leading to a warped visual experience. Many feel the graphics are outdated, reminiscent of early 2000s titles, and describe character designs as unattractive and unsettling. Despite a detailed character creator, the overall visual quality is considered disappointing and unstable.
“The character creator is very detailed and offers a nice amount of options, but graphically it all looks like it’s from the early 2000s, which is very disappointing and painfully glossy to look at.”
“Changing settings in the graphic options doesn't get saved and stays as recommended, making my game look warped enough to annoy me all the time.”
“The graphics are no better than old school Dungeon Siege, which I can deal with, except it's not stable at all!”
“Character graphics are incredibly ugly, accompanied by creepy portraits.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback regarding its stability, with users describing it as extremely buggy and problematic.
“The game is a buggy piece of crap.”
“It's buggy as hell.”
