The Bard's Tale PC
User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 31
  3. Negative: 6 out of 31

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  1. DonnieBrasco
    Jun 15, 2005
    4
    Awesome, hilarious absurd humor a'la Monty Python paired with subpar graphics, no RPG elements and "dumbed-down-to-ground" playflow make this a very mixed game. With a nice skills/char development and much more depth concerning gameplay this could have been a classic. Does the name "Anachronox" ring a bell? Not far....
  2. MitchellS.
    Aug 23, 2005
    1
    This thing sucks. Barely worthy of the name Bards Tale. Sorry I paid full price for it. It's a cheap, shoddy effort to cash in on the name by the original creator, who must have had a bad run of business luck or something, and got desperate. And it shows. The graphics are circa 1999. They're SERIOUSLY BAD, and if you told most gamers this came out in 2004/5 and they'd not heard about it prior, they would have no reason to believe you. Gameplay is basically non-existent; I'm tempted to say this game isn't even finished, and that they decided to throw in the towel and release it at the "walk-through demo" state, which is pretty much what it is. That said, some of the content is damn funny. So it gets a one, not z ero. It just isn't worth $40. Or even $20.… Expand
  3. Knief
    May 19, 2005
    4
    Judging by the demo, anywho, this is a game well after its time, bringing nothing new to the genre.
  4. ghorahn
    Mar 23, 2012
    3
    Vapid, mediocre, pointless game. Makes me concerned about the $15 I pledged for Wasteland 2 on Kickstarter...if these people consider this Bard's Tale game to be a game worth playing, who knows how they'll butcher Wasteland. Here's my guess: Dull, pointless combat. (Face your target, click him. Rinse, repeat.) The lowest common denominator of character development. Uninspired, sometimes-obnoxious voice acting that plays right to tired gaming stereotypes. And an obsession with polygonal bosoms that only happens when you're a porn-obsessed teenager or a desparately lonely old man. What an embarassing piece of junk this game is. Glad I only spent $5 on it on Steam.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. PC Format
    45
    A victim of its own sneers, this is the world's first self-parodying game. [July 2005, p.90]
  2. Computer and Video Games
    68
    While The Bard's Tale is told amusingly enough, the disappointing combat fails to lift it from the upper end of mediocrity.
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  3. CPUGamer
    80
    The wit present in this game is second to none and I honestly think this is what would have happened had Mel Brooks gotten into game making.
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