The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep

63%
Game Brain Score Based on 33 reviews
  • music
  • graphics
  • optimization
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep Game Cover
An old-fashioned game in a shiny new package, The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep is a worthy addition to a classic series.
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"The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep" is an epic fantasy RPG with 40+ hours of gameplay, featuring 350 speaking parts and over 100 pieces of music. Customize your experience with adjustable difficulty settings and character classes. Recruit and build a party to explore a vast world filled with adventure.

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

63%
Audience ScoreBased on 33 reviews
music23 positive mentions
graphics3 negative mentions
  • The soundtrack features a fantastic collection of Gaelic music, with beautiful melodies that enhance the overall experience.
  • The game offers engaging turn-based combat and clever puzzles that provide a rewarding gameplay experience.
  • Visually stunning with a charming aesthetic, the game successfully revives the classic dungeon-crawling formula.
  • The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including bugs, crashes, and performance problems that detract from the experience.
  • Character customization and combat systems are simplistic and limiting, leading to a lack of depth in gameplay.
  • The save system is poorly designed, making it easy to lose progress and adding frustration to the overall experience.
  • music34 mentions

    The music in the game has received high praise for its exceptional collection of Gaelic and Scottish folk songs, blending traditional work songs, atmospheric pieces, and battle themes that enhance the overall experience. Many reviewers highlighted the soundtrack's emotional depth and storytelling, with specific tracks standing out as favorites. Overall, while the game itself may have mixed reviews, the soundtrack is consistently described as a standout feature worth adding to any music collection.

    • “I absolutely love the music from this game!”
    • “This is one of the most amazing collections of Gaelic music I've ever had!”
    • “I love the entire thing (with the exception of two tracks...but the rest of the album really makes up for those) well worth adding to your music collection.”
    • “As one of the Kickstarter perks, I got the soundtrack to this, with its mix of traditional Gaelic work songs, atmospheric pieces, battle themes (in Gaelic), and original pieces that tell the stories of the previous games in the series in an oh-so-bardic way.”
    • “My particular favorites from volume 1 are 'The Hardworking Hand' (in heavily accented English), a melancholy song about the hard life living in the north, 'O Tha' N Tombaca Daor', a fast-paced battle theme used in-game, 'Iomaraibh Eutrom', a Gaelic work song, and 'Across the Seven Realms', a retelling of a previous game as a lamented tale of loss.”
  • graphics6 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the appealing aesthetic and good visuals, while others criticize the dated graphics, subpar performance, and frequent bugs that lead to crashes and stuttering. Character customization is seen as simplistic, and the overall graphical polish is lacking, detracting from the experience. Despite some charming elements, the game's visual presentation is marred by optimization issues and a linear design.

    • “Excellent story and music, interesting combat style, good puzzles, lots of options, great visuals.”
    • “Some appealing parts of the aesthetic like the Celtic-inspired culture and singing. Once it opens up, combat has a good measure of depth. Voice acting is pretty decent and the overall tone has a kitschy charm about it.”
    • “Graphics need polish; random crashes to desktop.”
    • “Some areas or objects lack graphical detail, and the visuals are dated and plagued with performance issues.”
    • “Dated visuals plagued with performance issues; bugs cause regular crashes.”
  • optimization4 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is criticized for significant performance issues, including stuttering and crashes, alongside dated graphics and convoluted combat mechanics. Players also note a lack of depth in character customization and advancement systems, as well as a linear design that hampers exploration and creativity. Many hope that future updates will address these shortcomings and enhance the game's potential.

    • “Hopefully, a revamp and optimization helps it realize the full extent of its charm.”
    • “Subpar performance with copious stuttering is one thing, but subpar graphics don't really help either. Character customization feels simplistic and limiting. Combat indicators can be annoyingly misleading. Puzzles come off as simplistic, at times tedious. Stingy loot drops. Exploration is pretty ho-hum at best as well.”
    • “Limited and repetitive systems governing character advancement and combat, strictly linear map design with little or no room for creativity, levels padded out with too many shallow puzzles, dated visuals plagued with performance issues, bugs cause regular crashes.”
    • “Convoluted combat, lackluster story, bugs and performance issues.”
  • story4 mentions

    The game's story receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it lackluster and bare, while others appreciate its depth and fun elements, despite not being groundbreaking. Additionally, issues like bugs and performance problems detract from the overall experience. However, the combination of an excellent narrative and engaging gameplay elements, such as puzzles and visuals, is noted positively by some reviewers.

    • “A thoughtful, deep, and rewarding RPG, with some great puzzles and a story that may not be groundbreaking, but sure is fun.”
    • “The story is convoluted and lacks depth, making it hard to stay engaged.”
    • “The narrative feels bare and underdeveloped, leaving much to be desired.”
    • “There are numerous bugs and performance issues that detract from the overall experience.”
  • stability3 mentions

    The stability of Bard's Tale IV has been criticized for being quite poor, with numerous bugs, crashes, and framerate drops reported by users. While the game offers depth and detail reminiscent of older titles, its technical issues detract significantly from the overall experience.

    • “Ultimately, The Bard's Tale IV is a very good game, but it’s an old school launch in both senses: games used to come out this buggy or even worse.”
    • “[extremely buggy, prone to crashes and framerate drops, dull narrative and environmental design, combat and puzzles become repetitive by the second half]”
    • “[ugly in places, buggy, bare story]”
  • atmosphere2 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is enhanced by a captivating soundtrack that blends traditional Gaelic work songs, atmospheric compositions, and battle themes, all of which contribute to a rich, bardic storytelling experience that connects to the series' history.

    • “As one of the Kickstarter perks, I got the soundtrack to this, with its mix of traditional Gaelic work songs, atmospheric pieces, battle themes (in Gaelic), and original pieces that tell the stories of the previous games in the series in an oh-so-bardic way.”
  • grinding2 mentions

    Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is marked by tedious gameplay elements, including simplistic puzzles and a lack of engaging exploration. Players also express frustration with stingy loot drops and a combat system that can be misleading, contributing to an overall sense of subpar performance and limited character customization.

    • “Subpar performance with copious stuttering is one thing, but subpar graphics don't really help either. Character customization feels simplistic and limiting. Combat indicators can be annoyingly misleading. Puzzles come off as simplistic, at times tedious. Stingy loot drops. Exploration is pretty ho-hum at best as well.”
    • “The stealth system seems half completed, and dialogue can be a bit tedious.”
  • gameplay1 mentions

    The Bard's Tale IV successfully blends classic dungeon-crawling elements with modern mechanics, honoring its roots while introducing innovative gameplay changes.

    • “The Bard's Tale IV revisits the classic dungeon-crawling formula from years past, simultaneously showing reverence for its history while not being afraid to change it up mechanically.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

65% average critic score

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