We enter the world of realism and strife in Warhorse's historical RPG
Realism and historical authenticity are the terms that the developers Warhorse have mentioned repeatedly since the game was announced. Saul Marau delves into his favourite genre of game to see if this passes muster with the competition.
The Year is 1405; the region is Bohemia which became a part of modern Czechoslovakia after World War One. The star of the game is Henry the son of a blacksmith who dreams of being more. The Games tutorial involves you running errands for your father until the village is attacked by an army belonging to a local lord and you narrowly escape after witnessing your family's demise. The story follows Henry's quest for revenge as he goes from an illiterate nobody to a pivotal piece in the local politics of Bohemia in the 15th Century.
The world of Bohemia is a beautifully crafted place with dense woods, lush fields and muddy villages and in this Warhorse have done a fantastic job. The graphics are great and the attention to detail is second to none. You can see the lengths that Warhorse have gone to maintain historical accuracy but the realism ruins the fun and various mechanics especially the lock picking and pickpocketing systems slow down the pace of the game till you can see the snails overtake you and disappear into the distance. The lock picking and pickpocketing itself is not bad it's just not been optimised for a console controller which should have been noticed when the game went through testing.
As mentioned the developer keeps spouting on about realism, realism, realism and how this differentiates the game from any other RPG on the console but then they implement systems that are at odds with the mantra such as a button that summons your horse which more often than not makes the horse appear out of nowhere in front of you and also having to drink an alcoholic drink (yes you can become addicted) called saviour schnapps which allows you to save the game and also boosts your stats.
There is supposed to be a patch incoming very soon that will fix the lock picking, pickpocketing and save systems but without a complete overhaul of the systems I can't see how they can be fixed. The easiest I think would be the save system but then it removes the importance of Saviour Schnapps.
The combat system is based on player skill with the characters position and strike direction playing a vital role with the various weapons feeling different, although the bows in the game lack a crosshair so until you learn by practice you find yourself firing multiple arrows praying that one will hit before you get surrounded by the targets friends.
There are lots of cool ideas that work on paper but in actuality remove the number one purpose of playing games in the first place, which is to have fun. In about 6-12 months' time when the bugs have been fixed and the various systems tweaked this may turn out to be a worthy addition to an RPG fans collection but as it is I can't justify the recommendation that the game deserves as there are past RPGs that do a better job of a fun game and here's hoping that in the meantime a new elder scrolls game is not announced as that would be the final nail in the coffin of a game that deserved more.