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- Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd.
- Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd.
- Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd.
- Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd.
Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest
Released On: May 15, 2019
79
7.1
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
79
60% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
30% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
79
60% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
30% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Druidstone draws inspiration from a variety of genres (even tabletop boardgames) and combines all those elements elegantly. Its whimsical writing and beautiful (Trine-sque) art should not fool you. This is a game which will put your tactical planning skills to the test and demand forward thinking in the development of your characters. Another spectacular result from the makers of the Legend of Grimrock series.
Although the story and characters are nothing new to RPGs, the strategy gameplay systems truly stand out in their seemingly simple execution.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 30 User Ratings
7.1
57% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
30% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
13% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 30 User Ratings
7.1
57% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
30% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
13% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
One of the best games I've ever played, period. Druidstone is a turn-based tactics puzzler, similar to many board games, like Gloomhaven and Descent: Journeys in the Dark. This is why it falls flat among many video gamers, because it is simply too hard for them. Common complaints you'll hear are: infinite hoards of enemies, lack of randomness, and music/art/story/etc.
The game is about meeting objectives efficiently. That's it. Yes, there's combat, but that's a plot device. Every single action you take needs to be thought through carefully. What's the best square for me to position every character this round? Can I afford to use this one-time-use ability this round or should I preserve it?
Do you like chess-like games? This game is for you.
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PC
Druidstone is a perfect entry point for RPG fans that are interested in this style of tactical game without having to invest several dozens of hours in a longer experience that they may not enjoy. It doesn't offer a lot in terms of unique themes or robust storytelling, but it's balanced out by an impressive variety of encounter designs and flexibility for different playstyles. On top of these strengths, it also offers some surprisingly good musical scores and environmental art. It's a strong overall package that, while brief, was a joy to play through.
Druidstone is pretty great but not without flaws. Fortunately, the unforgiving strategic combat, charming art style and light puzzles sprinkled in between the fights, far exceed the balancing issues. You just need to keep playing it beyond the first 5-6 missions, you'll find that Druidstone is a hidden gem.
Ultimately, Druidstone is a challenging and rewarding tactical-RPG with plenty of charm to keep it engaging in-between brutally tough encounters. It can border on unfair at times, but the steady stream of progression and versatile combat ensures it remains satisfying. Ctrl Alt Ninja clearly demonstrates their development expertise with this finely tuned and tightly crafted adventure that’ll have you brainstorming turns for hours.
Druidstone plays it quite safe when it comes to the usual complexity of skills and battle tactics that we see in games of the genre. Nevertheless, this might as well be considered its strong point for those players that would like to approach turn-based fantasy games, but would like a more simplified entry point in terms of rules, status effects etc.
Combat is rather simplistic, but effective: situations and objectives vary greatly, and each fight requires its own tactics and equipment. Unfortunately, it’s also the best part of the game – although writers managed to draft an intriguing world, they failed to populate it with memorable characters and stories. [Issue#239, p.66]
This game is so lovingly and tightly designed.. it's amazing. It's honestly my favorite game I've ever played. To the point that this is probably the first game I'm writing a review for. I feel like there's always this balance people who make games have to play with between giving you tools to solve challenges, and challenges that continue to be fun to play through. A lot of the time, in my opinion, the magic of the game is lost and you find yourself using variations of the same solution to solve every problem. This game manages to keep it fresh through every single level. I never found myself playing missions just for the rewards, the missions themselves were genuinely fun, and I wanted to achieve side quests only to see if I could. I really hope this developer keeps making more games soon, Grimrock doesn't really seem like a game for me, but I really like the direction of Druidstone.
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PC
It's a 'meh' turn-based tactical game but there are already so many of those games that do it better... The art style is awesome but could have been used on Grimrock 3 and they should really make Grimrock 3 instead, as there are almost no comparable games as good as the Grimrock series for grid-based dungeon crawling. A bit disappointing.
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PC
It's decent, but nothing really "grabs" you. The characters, music, environments, enemies, abilities, etc are all just "ok". None of it is especially creative or new or terribly interesting. This is particularly disappointing due to how unique the Grimrock games were. It's like they've just given up.
If you're desperate for some typical fantasy turn based action, it's barely acceptable.
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PC
I heard some of the staff in Legend of Grimrock join this game.
That's why I'm so excited to try it out. But a few hours in it I'm already fed up.
Many mechanisms are dump and poor design.
For example, things you get from chest override your slot.
In the early mission whistle a useless npc waste valuable action point.
The list goes on and on. Clearly a turn-based RPG has no strategy at all I'm afraid.
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PC
I could write 32 encyclopedias why this game is bad but hey eye of the beholder, we dont judge and all that.
Just know that if you suffered this game you must have been a bad healer-tank-person-karen etc in some past life :(
Just skip and avoid and give a wide berth and run for the hills and get to da choppa when you see this crap ****
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PC
Summary A tactical, turn-based RPG from the makers of Legend of Grimrock games. Every action, every turn counts as you control your party of heroes through challenging, handcrafted missions in the ancient, mist-clad Menhir Forest.
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: May 15, 2019
Developer:
- Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd.
Publisher: Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd.
Genres:
