Blackguards 2, released only a year after the last, is a Tactical RPG developed by Daedalic Entertainment who gained some renown with their work on The Dark Eye series of games. Following on from the first game, set only a few years after its events, you control Cassia, an imprisoned woman who questions why she was put in the labyrinth prison underneath the Arena.
Story
The main protagonist of Blackguards 2 is a woman called Cassia who starts off being imprisoned deep under the city. Over the days, weeks and years in her imprisonment you will learn some new details about her, her family and her own past and future ambitions. Throughout her imprisonment she is attacked and bit by the nearby Spiders which fill her body with poison that will either kill her or drive her mad.
After 3 tutorial missions you will escape from the prison, with Cassia’s appearance changing to have weird bumps on her head making her disfigured, leading her to don a mask to face the real world. Her main goal is to become rule over all at the Shark Throne, if only for 1 day and to do that she will need paladins to do her bidding and aid her in her rise to power. This is where the other characters come in to play in the form of old champions who have lost their peak of power and reign over different parts of the world.
After gathering up your Blackguards you will quest along with them to gain power, money and move southward to fulfil Cassia’s dream to rule over all.
The main game will last over 20 hours, though side quests and missions will add onto this, as well as talking to the different characters in the cities to find out lore and backstory.
Gameplay
Blackguards 2 is a tactical RPG, what that means is that it combines Turn based combat with a tactical map for you to move on. You control a certain amount of characters and move them on a hex grid then decide what they will do, either attacking, taking cover or casting spells. The enemy does the same, emulating a small war between factions. Some battles can last between 10minutes all the way to half an hour which can really bulk out your play time.
Through fighting and finding treasure you will gain AP that is used to unlock new abilities, spells or improve your characters combat effectiveness and weapon skill. Unlocking a new tier of something really improves your character in ways that can mean life or death in a battle. Besides levelling up stats you will also gain money to spend on new weapons, armour and items that are equipped before battle.
Outside of battle you will be in a city or town screen, where you can talk to characters on the screen, buy items from shopkeepers, train your characters or move onto the next area. This is where you will be strengthening your party and obtaining quests, so you will have to strategize with what is the best setup for the coming battles.
The sequel has had many improvements done to it over the first game, streamlined combat and easier levelling to be the most notable. Instead of being locked into one side of a character you can develop them how you would like, more akin to a lot of Western RPGs by using the AP on nodes to unlock them, most of the time in any order you wish.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
Blackguards 2 is a nice change of pace gameplay wise, there aren’t many tactical RPG’s out nowadays as in the past. Though playing through this I can see why their numbers have dwindled, however it could be due to the game itself. Battles become very drawn out, and when you only want to do a mission then do something else it can take up to an hour per session to do what you wanted to do. Choices in dialogue often feel very empty at times, with choices only changing 2 – 3 lines of conversation and leave you waiting for the “Correct” option to appear.
The music in Blackguards 2 feels very uninspired, it fits the themes of the game very well sometimes but others it sounds rather dull and adds nothing to the atmosphere. Some battles have tracks with no energy or substance making the battle feel even longer than they actually are. The sounds in the game go hand in hand with their origin but again some of the sound effects feel empty and lack power behind them, leaving attacks to sound unimpressive.
Affecting the battlefield can be rather fun and rewarding, with toppling objects onto enemies or setting traps in their way to be the most hindering and having most of the payoff. The game fakes a sort of freedom in its combat with the interactivity with the area, sadly a lot of stages lack this or present objects that give limited actions with them.
Overall I give Blackguards 2 a 3/5, it brings back good memories of the old days with some good tactical combat but lacks in delivery. Sound, story and overall design of the game feel unfinished and don’t give much excitement to the game as a whole. Coordinating troops and finding the right strategy is a great feeling, especially when the game allows you to put traps on the field and change the layout of the map with objects. Fans of the genre might like this game, but I feel many will take some getting used to Blackguards 2.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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