Conclave
- June 14, 2013
- 10x10 Room
Get on Steam"Conclave is a fantasy role-playing game for 1-4 players, offering both co-op and PvP options. Experience an intriguing story with 25 interconnected adventures, combining turn-based combat and story decisions. Your choices affect your path, encounters, and resources, all set to an excellent soundtrack in the lands of the Conclave."
Mac OS
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Reviews
- Offers a unique asynchronous turn-based RPG experience that is enjoyable with friends, capturing the feel of tabletop gaming.
- The combat system is tactical and engaging, allowing for strategic decision-making and teamwork.
- Well-written story and quests that provide a classic RPG experience, appealing to fans of pen-and-paper roleplaying games.
- The user interface is clunky and can be frustrating to navigate, with limited resolution options and occasional bugs.
- Solo play can feel boring and lacks depth, making the game significantly more enjoyable when played with friends.
- Character customization is limited, and the game can feel slow-paced, which may not appeal to all players.
- story36 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game features a classic, story-driven RPG experience with a well-written narrative and a mystical plot that engages players through group-vote conversation trees, reminiscent of tabletop roleplaying games. While the storyline is linear and quests follow a sequential path with minimal branching, the writing quality and the ability to make meaningful choices enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the strong role-playing elements and tactical combat, although some feel that the combat lacks challenge and the game could benefit from more open-world exploration.
“This laid-back gameplay, combined with the strongly written quests, makes it a really cool single-player game experience and the next best thing compared to playing pen and paper roleplaying games.”
“The story is fantastic, with group-vote conversation trees that help to involve the players via 'choose your own adventure' style dialogue and descriptions.”
“Quests provide many options at various points, and the game does a good job of making your decisions (by party vote) seem meaningful for the overall story.”
“The storyline is on rails (you do a then b then c) with no aspect of an open world that one tends to expect of fantasy games today.”
“Characters are forced down a very narrow quest path; there is no deviation.”
“In short, if you aren’t reading the quest text and the combat log, you’ll have no idea what is happening.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are described as old-school, featuring 2D sprite visuals and grid-mapped dungeons, which some players appreciate for their nostalgic charm. However, many reviewers note that the overall visual presentation is bland and could benefit from improvement, with a mixed reception regarding the quality of key artworks. While the graphics may not meet modern standards, they are often considered secondary to the game's engaging turn-based RPG mechanics.
“A good, old-fashioned style D&D game <3 it's tabletop with better graphics!”
“I can see some of the criticism - the visuals could use a little tuning up, most notably at a glance - but that always takes a back seat to the core game, and to me it's downright delightful.”
“This is an old-school game by design, and with that comes 2D sprite graphics and grid-mapped dungeons.”
“The controls are slow and the visuals get boring very quickly.”
“It has almost no graphics by modern standards, not much in the way of sound and a pretty good soundtrack.”
“This is an old-school game by design and with that comes 2D sprite graphics and grid mapped dungeons.”
- music6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with a good soundtrack that adds depth to the experience, despite its repetitive nature. While some players appreciate the simplicity of the sound design, others suggest that playing alongside personal music may enhance enjoyment. Overall, the music is considered a strong point, albeit with limitations.
“I like the painterly art and music, and there is plenty of depth considering the overall simplicity in game design.”
“It has a pretty good soundtrack.”
“Great soundtrack.”
- gameplay5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The gameplay features a unique blend of text-based interactions for non-combat scenarios and a top-down gridded combat system reminiscent of a simplified digital tabletop experience. It offers asynchronous turn-based RPG mechanics that facilitate multiplayer play at one's own pace, with a straightforward voting system for important quest decisions. Overall, it has received a rating of 7/10.
“Unique asynchronous turn-based RPG gameplay allows for multiplayer play at any rhythm.”
“Gameplay is text-based for non-combat elements, and features top-down gridded combat, resembling a very stripped-down digital tabletop.”
“Important choices during quests are handled with a voting mechanic that's simple, but effective.”
“Like if I have the burn condition, I can click on the fire symbol and get details about what that means mechanically.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for its stability, with users reporting various bugs and limitations, such as a restricted selection of character avatars. Overall, it is described as a buggy experience that combines frustrating elements from both modern MMOs and tabletop games.
“Let's be under no illusion here: the game has its share of flaws, and I've seen a few people say it can be buggy in places.”
“Tl;dr: it's a buggy browser game that takes the worst aspects of modern MMOs and tabletop games and combines it into one messy experience.”
“The game suffers from frequent crashes and performance issues that make it frustrating to play.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate that the grinding in this RPG is enhanced by well-written text, making the experience engaging rather than tedious, allowing them to enjoy the narrative without feeling the need to rush to the action.
“Unlike many RPGs, the text is actually quite well written and not tedious, so you don't end up clicking through it just to get to the action.”
- character development1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Character development in Conclave is notably lacking, with users comparing it unfavorably to the character progression found in typical MMORPGs from the World of Warcraft era. Additionally, technical issues such as bugs and limited display options further detract from the overall experience.
“Fair warning: Conclave is a browser-based game with major bugs (the 'close window' button doesn't consistently work for a significant number of the game's pop-ups), no resolution/fullscreen options, and less character development than the average World of Warcraft-era MMO.”
