The Black Death
- April 18, 2016
- Syrin Studios
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam"The Black Death" is a medieval multiplayer game set in a plague-infested 14th century Europe. Players must survive by fighting for scarce resources, learning new crafting techniques, and avoiding the plague. The game encourages cooperation with other players, but also the risk of betrayal in a land ravaged by disease and scarce resources.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a unique and interesting medieval survival concept that immerses players in a plague-ridden world.
- The crafting and class systems offer depth and encourage player interaction, making it enjoyable to play with friends.
- The developers are active and responsive to community feedback, regularly releasing updates and improvements.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, including issues with inventory and combat mechanics.
- There is a low player base, making it difficult to find others to interact with, which can lead to a lonely gaming experience.
- The combat system feels clunky and unrefined, with AI behavior being inconsistent and often frustrating.
- gameplay170 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its potential and unique mechanics, particularly in crafting and survival elements. However, numerous criticisms highlight issues such as clunky combat, bugs, and a lack of engaging content, leading to a repetitive and sometimes frustrating experience. While some players find enjoyment in the game's atmosphere and multiplayer aspects, others feel it remains too unfinished and unpolished, especially given its early access status.
“The attention to detail that the developers have invested in authentically capturing medieval Europe at the height of the plague is truly breathtaking, while the combination of multiplayer RPG and survival genres delivers a uniquely rich and highly enjoyable gameplay mechanic.”
“The crafting mechanics are easy to pick up and a quick scan of the menus reveals a lot of diverse content to be unlocked as your character develops.”
“What there is by way of content and gameplay currently is incredible and in the short while that I have played the game I have enjoyed it far more than other survival games.”
“The gameplay is rather shoddy for an early alpha; most of the stuff in the game doesn't even work; I'd rather have placeholders than be able to select things that don't work, while thinking it's me.”
“There are a lot of broken mechanics.”
“The game is now one year old, and you still lose your progression when server crashes; you lose your gold that took hours to collect, and yet still your house that you buy will reset, so you lose that as well. One year on, the game has not solved the basic gameplay mechanics that I first purchased this game for.”
- graphics140 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players praising the overall visual quality and artistic design, particularly for an early access title. However, there are frequent mentions of bugs, optimization issues, and inconsistent performance, leading to a range of opinions from "gorgeous" to "ugly." While some players appreciate the immersive atmosphere and detailed environments, others express disappointment with the graphical fidelity and technical problems that detract from the experience.
“The graphics are amazing, a lot better than I had expected.”
“The graphics and all round environment detail is astonishingly good - already way better than other survival MMOs I've played.”
“The art style is stunning and it feels like a believable world that I'm getting lost in.”
“The graphics are just ugly to look at.”
“It is extremely buggy, laggy, the graphics are awful, you literally can't see anyone at night.”
“Bear bones gameplay and still terrible graphics; don't be fooled by the above screenshots as they are nothing like the in-game play.”
- stability130 mentions
- 2 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 98 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players acknowledge that it is still in early access, which contributes to its unfinished state, but express frustration over the frequency and severity of the issues, including lost progress and unresponsive mechanics. While some see potential in the game, the overwhelming consensus is that it is currently too unstable and unpolished for a satisfactory experience.
“You want a bug-free, finished game that you can play for 100 hours without a single crash.”
“Buy it; it runs great with lots to do. In-game chat makes it feel real.”
“The game is very buggy and definitely feels incomplete.”
“I have sunk many hours into it, but it is just too buggy, too unpopulated, and too unsupported to be worthwhile in the state it is; and that is to say nothing of my personal feelings towards what I strongly suspect is an abandoned project being allowed to stay in early access at the detriment of new, and unaware players' Steam wallets.”
“This game has a lot of potential to be a really good and fun game but the game's current state is crap, full of bugs and glitches; it's not even optimized!”
- story69 mentions
- 6 % positive mentions
- 83 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The game's story is largely criticized for its lack of direction and depth, with many players feeling abandoned in a world that offers minimal guidance or meaningful quests. While there are some tutorial missions, they often feel repetitive and fail to engage players, leading to a sense of boredom and frustration. Overall, the narrative experience is seen as underdeveloped, leaving players to create their own stories in a largely empty and grind-focused environment.
“Somewhat reminiscent of Pathologic in terms of story and overarching objective of curing a plague.”
“Create your own story from a range of different play styles – become a blacksmith; hunt down your enemies as a militia; or earn your living as a merchant.”
“But if you can see past the early access issues then I promise you that this game will grab you, addict you, and make you want to explore more of the story - your story!”
“Currently it lacks single player story/quests/lore (these quests that already exist are only for tutorial needs).”
“The game is empty, no content, little story, but huge multiplayer potential/survival@raids.”
“There was a real lack of story and direction.”
- atmosphere58 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its dark, immersive, and historically rich setting, effectively capturing the essence of a plague-ridden medieval world. Many reviewers highlight the game's unique environmental design, sound effects, and overall aesthetic, which contribute to a captivating and eerie experience. However, some note that while the atmosphere is strong, there are still areas needing improvement, particularly in graphics and NPC interactions.
“The 14th century details are incredible and the atmosphere of a plague-ridden, empty yet darkly beautiful world is profound.”
“The atmosphere is absolutely fabulous (in the sense that everything is dark and depressing), the gameplay has a lot to offer in terms of mechanics and systems, and surviving is just downright hard.”
“I find the plague-ridden medieval era survival concept very interesting, which combined with the meticulously designed world and surprisingly good graphics result in a very immersive and dark, atmospheric experience.”
“The atmosphere just becomes an excuse to create a bleak setting--the graphics are meh.”
“I heard nothing but the sounds of coughing and vomiting, constant slow-walking NPCs, and everything you touch kills you... I just didn't want to spend real-life time surrounded by the atmosphere, environmental sound effects, and go through multiplayer human interaction on top of it all... rarely has a game sent me faster away from itself than this one has.”
“The NPCs are extremely glitchy, and to create a better atmosphere for the game, I would like to see some hardcore NPC battles and actions.”
- grinding51 mentions
- 2 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 98 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and slow, with many players expressing frustration over resource collection and the frequent loss of progress due to server crashes. While some appreciate the crafting and building systems, they often feel that the grind detracts from the overall enjoyment, making the gameplay feel stale and repetitive. However, a few players find the grind enjoyable when playing with friends, suggesting that cooperative play can alleviate some of the tedium.
“This game was fun for about 5 hours; it was an enjoyable experience. It wasn't too grindy, but later on, it felt like there was nothing to do but explore, and dying is very punishing.”
“Very slow, grindy gameplay.”
“Basically everything that you farm to make these tedious items are lost each time the server crashes, and they crash every single day.”
“The game is very grindy and leveling takes a while, which keeps the game kinda stale.”
- optimization50 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 26 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players noting significant performance issues, including low frame rates, server lag, and various bugs, particularly on less powerful hardware. While some updates have improved performance and graphical optimization, a substantial number of users still find the game poorly optimized for both gameplay and server stability, leading to an overall frustrating experience. Despite its potential, many feel it is not yet ready for a full release due to these ongoing optimization challenges.
“Performance-wise, the game is well optimized for an early access title.”
“The game is constantly being updated with new content, optimizations, server-side optimizations/tweaks, and more!”
“The move over to the latest version of Unreal has worked wonders for both performance and graphics, while the overhaul of the housing system, skills, UI, items to craft, and introduction of the day/night cycle with its new bandits are all superb.”
“It was riddled with bugs, the FPS was super low even on good PCs, stuttering was unbearable and it had little to no content.”
“The game performance is terrible and almost unplayable for most people I've spoken to (including myself).”
“This game has a lot of potential to be a really good and fun game but the game's current state is crap, full of bugs and glitches; it's not even optimized!”
- music14 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its atmospheric and dark medieval tone, effectively enhancing the overall gameplay experience. However, players have reported issues with audio settings, such as a non-functional music slider and an inability to adjust volume levels, which detracts from the enjoyment. Despite these technical shortcomings, the combination of music and ambient sounds contributes to a captivating atmosphere.
“The music and the feel of the game is really good, dark medieval times at their best.”
“For an early access title, the graphics of the game are great and combined with the music and the sounds, it weaves a captivating atmosphere.”
“Ambient sounds and music, lovely.”
“There is always a dark tone to the music, then it messes with you as it’ll change and you don’t know why… the other sounds, NPCs, wolves, boars, rats!”
“If you think the game's music is too loud and want to turn it down, well you're out of luck; there is an audio page with no options.”
“The intro music is turned to full-blast so I can blow out my eardrum... but the screen never progresses after they display their company logo.”
- humor12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by a mix of amusing bugs, quirky character animations, and the absurdity of gameplay mechanics, such as disappearing items and drunken character antics. Players find joy in these comedic elements, especially when shared with friends, although some note that the overall gameplay feels like an early access experience. Overall, the humor adds a lighthearted charm to the game, making it enjoyable despite its flaws.
“But it's workable and I enjoy laughing at them or using the greasy dev guy's voice to tell them they ain't going to catch me, and it makes my wife laugh.”
“Also, when your character is drunk, their top half flops all around and is utterly hilarious for me when I make them run in circles.”
“The game is just awesome, awesome, awesome! It's the best and it's funny too!”
- monetization8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been heavily criticized, with users labeling it as a cash grab due to poor updates, lack of support, and inadequate advertising. Many feel that the developers have abandoned the game, prioritizing quick profits over quality, leading to frustration among players who feel misled about the game's performance and requirements. Overall, the sentiment is that the game exploits its potential for financial gain without delivering a satisfactory experience.
“This had so much potential and the developers could have made much more money if they had done it right, but the quick cash grab seems to be the chosen path these days.”
“Is to rent a server from places... sounds like a cash grab to me.”
“Nowadays, most games that have promise get killed off by the devs and left abandoned as easy cash grabs for their half-baked work.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Players find the game's replayability limited due to a lack of content and player interaction, with many feeling it becomes stale after around 40 hours of gameplay. While the combat offers excitement and the game has potential, the absence of more engaging activities and a larger player base detracts from long-term enjoyment. Updates and additional features are needed to enhance replayability and sustain interest.
“Real potential as a game, grindy but tense; combat, although sluggish, has an element of excitement seeing as most things can kill you in the right situation. I enjoyed the 12 hours I have in it but getting bored now and needs players. I do recommend it as it is fun and needs support.”
“The game is now a little more playable.”
“The game gets stale once you have experienced everything (maybe 40 hours of gameplay); they have yet to make it so you can enjoy the game's PvP, crafting, and building features day after day, simply because there haven't been enough updates to keep that replayability.”
- emotional3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional response to the game is mixed, with some players feeling disappointment due to technical issues that detract from the experience, particularly in beautiful environments that are overshadowed by constant threats. While there is potential for a great game, the current state may lead to frustration rather than enjoyment.
“It looks like it's going to be a great game. If you want to take part in bringing this game to life, it's for you. But if you want to cry about all the bugs and problems, don't buy it. Wait a while; it's going to continue to get better, but for now, they need people who are willing to help find the problems.”
“It kind of made me feel disappointed about walking (or rather running) through the forest - which actually looks very nice. There's a new forest between Freeman's Port and Raven's Reach - as I never got the chance to really appreciate the beauty of it as I was constantly being chased by wolves.”
- character development1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users express frustration with the character development in the game, noting that the time invested in developing characters can be quickly undermined or rendered irrelevant.
“Hours of character development will go by in an instant.”
“The character arcs feel rushed and lack depth, making it hard to connect with anyone.”
“I was expecting meaningful choices, but the development feels superficial and uninspired.”
