A Bastard's Tale

 PlayStation 4
A Bastard's Tale Image
Metascore
48

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: Adapt to how the enemy attacks and defends with a vast array in enemy types.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 7
  3. Negative: 2 out of 7
  1. God is a Geek
    Oct 26, 2016
    60
    This is an easy game to recommend to a certain type of gamer, one who hackers for retro stylings and borderline-unfair difficulty, but those who like a modern touch, it's unlikely to satisfy.
  2. Digitally Downloaded
    Oct 12, 2016
    60
    If you’re within the niche that A Bastard’s Tale is targeting, you’ll find it plenty rewarding. It takes the “fail better” approach to game design and distills it to its very essence, taking the often repetitious process of dying and retrying and turning it into something captivating enough to endure the occasional frustrations that always come with repeated failure. “Just one more try!”
  3. PlayStation Country
    Oct 9, 2016
    50
    A Bastard’s Tale prides itself on being tough and that’s certainly what it is. It’s also repetitive but rewarding. The feeling of just one more go will get you through it eventually but the trial and error gameplay will test your last nerve.
  4. GameSpew
    Oct 17, 2016
    50
    Often [A Bastard’s Tale] ends up feeling like less of a game based on skill and timing and more on just blind luck.
  5. Worth Playing
    Mar 2, 2017
    50
    A Bastard's Tale is the kind of game you want to like. The level of challenge is very high, and those with an extreme amount of patience will get the most out of it. However, the combat is rough and unfair most of the time, and your lack of agility can make defeat sting much more. It is short and cheap, but unless you're a masochist, you're better off giving passing on this one.
  6. GameGrin
    Oct 26, 2016
    40
    A Bastard's Tale is a visually appealing game with nothing to do. Barebones from front to back and a lacking experience, this title is nothing but a tall tale.
  7. Gaming Age
    Oct 27, 2016
    25
    There is a group of people out there who I am sure will love this game and its punishingly broken mechanics and difficulty, I simply am not one of them.

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. whatisgame
    Oct 8, 2016
    10
    Great Game! I did not think much of it before I bought it but it is very addictive I Always want to pass one just more enemy. Old School pixelGreat Game! I did not think much of it before I bought it but it is very addictive I Always want to pass one just more enemy. Old School pixel art is also great! If I have one complaint it would be that the animations are a bit uneven.… Expand
  2. Heisenberg93
    Jul 22, 2018
    5
    [Originally reviewed on Apr 23, 2018]
    Usually when I see a video game being massacred by modern times critics, because of its high difficulty    [Originally reviewed on Apr 23, 2018]
    Usually when I see a video game being massacred by modern times critics, because of its high difficulty and challenge, I tend to discredit the criticism itself. I mean, let's face it: many people who talk about video games and difficulty, simply cannot play, as happened to Dean Takahashi with Cuphead.

    However, in this case, I have to make amends. A Bastard's Tale is a game that starts from a nice and interesting idea, but that has been developed in a wrong way – probably result of need for alternativism in the panorama of today's too easy modern games. What good this game have in its conceptual ideas? Just as shown in the well-known "Just Pain" trailer, no QTEs, no executions moves, no XP points, no better loot. A game with these characteristics would already in itself be a great challenge, but the developers went further.

    What's not working? Well, the player character is excessively too slow, for example, both in the attacks and in the movement. While some of the enemies, but generally all, tend to be at least twice as fast. I would have increased at least a 50% speed of movement and attack of the player character, because in the actual way is simply ridiculous. But flaws don't end there: although the protagonist knight is armed with a two-handed longsword, the attack range of the weapon is mockingly short. Sometimes you have to be a few inches from the enemy's nose to hit him, inevitably being smashed by him. But it didn't end here. The parry system is something simply wrong and inconceivable: in a game with two dimensions, you can not simply think of introducing an attack-blocking system to the left, to the right and to the top. It is difficult to understand where the attacks come from; being a 2D game, a parry system blocking attacks simply to the top and bottom would have been much more effective. Among other things, the player character cannot even move when he attacks and can dodge attacks only somersaulting backwards. Here is a game design failure that I show you in this game: who played it, will know that enemies in black cloak, "composed" of crows, throw rotating blades against the player. Well, to defeat them you need to hit the incoming blades with the sword and approach the enemy (remembering that, like poor Leon in RE4, or hit or walk), but even when you are close to the enemy, he tends to back away. You can hit him but ... surprise! One of the rotating blades he is about to throw spawns right in front of the player, dealing damage or killing him. What? Should I attack taking more distance? Of course, but how can I do it if: 1) the attack range of the sword is the same as a spoon and 2) I cannot hit moving, while the opponent can? A failure of game design, in fact. And these enemies are among the easiest to fight. I could also add that I found the most powerful enemies, endowed with a too solid health bar, that in this case I would have lowered by half.

    All these elements make A Bastard's Tale an exhibitionist game, which necessarily wants to be alternative, but which fails at a fundamental point: being fun. Personally I stopped playing at the third level, I cannot kill the anthropomorphic crow armed with blades and I'm enough annoyed to continue, I've been even too much patient. And I'm not going to waste my time further with an indie game that lives of poor game design.

    The graphics in 16-bit pixel art is cute, but it doesn't shine for artistic originality. It's very generic. Good the soundtrack, but also in this case, nothing special.

    So I have a dispassionate message for the guys at No-Pest Productions: did you really believe that this was enough? In the end the game didn't even get so much popularity or prestige as Cuphead did and do you know why? Because it's not fun. Do you want to know which 2D game was absurdly challenging and yet original, fun and unique? It comes out from the 1990s and it was truly popular during the age of arcade: it's Metal Slug. Because Metal Slug is the game I gone back playing with, after A Bastard's Tale annoyed me. I suggest you to learn from the best. Greetings, goodbye.    … Expand
  4. FriedConsole
    Oct 5, 2016
    3
    If you deconstructed Dark Souls into the basic see this attack coming dodge with this attack it still wouldn't be as bare-bones as this game.If you deconstructed Dark Souls into the basic see this attack coming dodge with this attack it still wouldn't be as bare-bones as this game. Too wonky and unfinished to be worth your time and $5.… Expand

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