Baladins

About

Baladins is a single player and multiplayer role playing game. It was developed by Seed by Seed and was released on May 15, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Baladins is a choose-your-own-story multiplayer game (1-4 players online) inspired by Role-Playing Games. A whole campaign with friends, packed in 1-hour sessions!

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78%

Audience ScoreBased on 117 reviews

story12 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

The game features a charming art style and engaging writing that adds to its overall appeal.
Playing with friends enhances the experience, making it a fun and enjoyable co-op adventure.
The game offers a unique time loop mechanic that encourages exploration and experimentation with quests.

The game is heavily unbalanced for solo players, making it difficult to progress without multiple controllers or friends.
There are significant technical issues, including bugs and connection problems during multiplayer sessions.
The quest guidance is often vague, leading to frustration as players may feel lost or unsure of how to proceed.

story
72 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
76%
7%
The game's story is described as charming and engaging, with a narrative-driven co-op experience that encourages exploration and teamwork. However, players find the quest structure frustratingly vague and reliant on random events, making it difficult to achieve completion within the time constraints. While the art and writing are praised, the gameplay loop can feel repetitive and grindy, especially for solo players, leading to mixed feelings about the overall storytelling experience.
- “This narrative-driven co-op video game has major board game vibes, with storytelling, dice rolls, and player choices that feel like you’re crafting a campaign together.”
- “What I like is that the decisions made in our playthroughs feel impactful and it's interesting where the story leads while going from one session to another, and we can't wait for our next one.”
- “The way the world and characters, though simple, unfold over the many playthroughs helps keep it fresh.”
- “It all feels very repetitive and many quests were not very clear on what exactly you had to do or where to get a specific item.”
- “Finishing quests gets harder as you go along and towards the end you spend entire loops with no meaningful progress.”
- “The only problem is the quest guide/description now is a bit vague.”
graphics
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
26%
13%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their cute and colorful art style, reminiscent of traditional RPGs and pop-up storybooks, which many players find charming and appealing. However, some users noted occasional graphical bugs and a lack of animations in certain scenes, which detracted from the overall experience. While the visuals are a strong selling point, opinions on the gameplay vary, with some players feeling that the graphics alone do not compensate for gameplay shortcomings.
- “Very cute game and the art style is simple yet so colorful and amazing.”
- “The art style is fantastic but that's not all about this game: characters make me smile, quests make me think, ...”
- “The graphics are adorable and the story is adorable, I'm literally just waiting for a guide so I can actually play it without feeling like I wasn't getting anything done.”
- “From all the post-2016 tropes pulled straight out of modern D&D, I can't say the art style - the game's own selling point - is appealing to me.”
- “There are occasional graphical bugs that show incorrect bonuses or penalties on some players' screens, but not the active player.”
- “My only complaint for this game is minor, and it is that scenes do not really have animations. For example, in the cave when gathering water past the salamander, you don't get any visuals of what the scene may look like, and I think it would be a lovely touch.”
gameplay
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
48%
13%
The gameplay is a mixed bag, with some players enjoying the cooperative storytelling and charming art style, while others find it overly reliant on dice rolls and time loops that hinder progress. The mechanics are easy to learn and mimic tabletop RPGs, but the lack of meaningful improvements between loops and mechanical inconsistencies can detract from the overall experience. While it offers a pleasant, casual vibe, the gameplay may not be deep enough to encourage replayability for some players.
- “Cooperative storytelling with a wide array of outcomes and scenarios based around a wide variety of over-the-top characters is the perfect blend of style and mechanics.”
- “The game's cutesy art style and gameplay is lovely for those who want to grind something out but have it not feel like you are doing exactly the same thing each time.”
- “The characters are charming and well-designed, the mechanics are easy to learn and effectively mimic the feel of a tabletop RPG or board game, and overall it was a very pleasant experience.”
- “With the time loop reset mechanic, you keep having to start over again and there's just not enough time to get anything done.”
- “It's a cute game with an interesting idea of looping and such, but you don't get any improvements loop to loop, and as a solo player, gameplay stalls too much as you can only accomplish a tiny bit each loop.”
- “Cute art and such, but gameplay falls flat.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in Baladins is widely praised for its cleverness and charm, featuring funny moments, adorable characters, and engaging storytelling. Players appreciate the game's wholesome and lighthearted tone, making it enjoyable both in single-player exploration and co-op play. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the game's fun and vibrant atmosphere.
- “Baladins is a joy to play; it's funny, wholesome, and sweet, with vibrant regions, art, and interesting characters.”
- “It's funny, clever, and very cute.”
- “What an adorable and hilarious game!”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, especially when aiming for 100% completion or finishing the main story solo. While some enjoy the exploration and humor, many feel that the experience becomes frustrating and repetitive without the option for an endless mode or multiplayer support. Overall, the grind can detract from the enjoyment, particularly for solo players.
- “It would be cool if when you finished a run, you could do like an endless mode where you just run around and talk to everyone and discover all the secrets, because whenever I finish, there's no way I'm replaying it; it's just kinda tedious.”
- “Maybe this game is worth it if you play with others, but as a solo-only player, this game was frustrating and tedious.”
- “The way things are now, just finishing the main story as a single player seems super grindy and I've had some frustrations.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of "Baladins" is highlighted by its wholesome and humorous storytelling, which evokes laughter and smiles through touching moments and vibrant character interactions. Players appreciate the game's unique charm and heartfelt experience, viewing it as a significant contribution to the indie gaming landscape that often surpasses AAA titles in emotional depth.
- “I am happy to say that the writing is fairly good; it got plenty of laughs out of us, and the touching moments made us smile.”
- “Baladins is yet another indie experience destined to become beloved, and continues the long-held tradition of indies delivering more heartwarming, satisfying adventures than their AAA counterparts.”
- “I don't regret buying the game at its current price, because I appreciate the unique and wholesome experience and I want to support studios with okay working conditions (Seed by Seed is a cooperative!) in the crucial period just after release.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
The music in the game is widely praised for being catchy and enjoyable, enhancing the overall experience with satisfying sound effects. Reviewers appreciate how the soundtrack complements the game's design and atmosphere, making it a delightful addition to the gameplay.
- “The art style has grown on me, and I've got to say the music is catchy and the sound effects are satisfying.”
- “I loved this game; its design, music, characters, story, and setting are so delightful.”
- “It's cute, it's fun with friends, and the amazing music in the background.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express frustration with the game's stability, particularly highlighting issues with bugs in the online co-op mode, which detracts from the overall experience and makes it difficult to recommend to friends.
- “I can't justify getting my friends to pay this much for a game that has such a buggy online co-op experience.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly impossible to enjoy the multiplayer features.”
- “I've encountered numerous bugs that disrupt gameplay, which really detracts from the overall experience.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Baladins features a Paper Mario-inspired RPG style combined with choose-your-own-adventure storytelling, resulting in high replayability as players can explore different narrative paths and outcomes.
- “The Paper Mario-esque style RPG with choose-your-own-adventure storytelling makes Baladins a game with high replayability.”
- “Every playthrough feels unique due to the branching storylines and character choices, ensuring that I can enjoy Baladins multiple times.”
- “The variety of paths and outcomes keeps me coming back for more, making each session feel fresh and exciting.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is characterized by adorable designs and endearing writing, creating a charming atmosphere populated by lovable characters. While the writing is simple, it effectively enhances the overall enjoyment of the game.
- “The character designs are adorable, the writing is generally endearing, and the world is populated with squishy little guys.”
- “It's cute; the character designs are cute; the writing is simple but still enjoyable.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The optimization for online co-op gameplay is reported to be smooth, particularly in 2-player sessions, with players expressing eagerness to test the performance in larger groups of 3-4 players.
- “So far I've only played 2-player — and the online co-op runs smoothly — but I can't wait to dive into 3-4 player sessions to mix up character abilities and try to finally beat those endless quests in the time loop.”