Blackguards 2 – Jumping Straight Into the Sequel

Being someone who has had never touched the original Blackguards I was going into this one somewhat blind. I had heard others compare it to a game series called King’s Bounty, which I had enjoyed a few years back, but recently heard had gone downhill with the newest game in the series King’s Bounty: Dark Side. As I began to progress through the first few arenas like levels, which mainly consist of things such as Skeletons, I began to get into the hard parts of the game, traps and cunningly crafted puzzles that make you want to tear your head out.

The long tutorial battles get tedious, but they prepare you well for what is to come. Without it, I probably would have been utterly clueless about what to do and where to go. Cassia, the main protagonist, begins as a nice, well-mannered noble woman who is driven insane evil and vengeful, which is explained throughout the start of the game. I heard that in Blackguards 1 you were able to play as more than one character, with this version however the player is invested entirely on Cassia. I rather like this cause it leaves you just to focus all your attention just on the one character, which means you can spend more time actually fighting, and less time sitting on a menu, deciding what to do with your thousands of upgrade points.

The battles essentially revolve around navigating the hexagonally gridded arena, with various different props which can assist you in defeating the various different enemies, giving it the same feel as games like XCOM.  The game also gives you a lot more freedom of choice, enabling the player to place their characters in different locations around the battlefield, which allows for much more varied gameplay. If you were a fan of XCOM, but wanted a more in-depth story, this one is for you. The style of gameplay combined with the focus on one single character, which gives the game a more focused feel, which also kind of turned out to be bad in my case because I drew my attention even further to Cassias demented state of mind, creeping me out just a tad too much.

The game progresses rather well, allowing you to build Cassia into any sort of character you want. The talent trees provide an in-depth customisation feeling without the fear of being bogged down by tons of information. You gain upgrade points after each battle and can spend them in talent trees for melee, magic and ranged skills. I found out from my early mistakes in the game that healing spells were going to be extremely beneficial. In fact, I found them to be one of my most used types of magic in the game. Although I would definitely recommend maxing out at least one combat skill in order to kill them pesky skeletons…among other things.

There are also various different companions you encounter along the way which adds more depth and a bit of comedy into the glim dark storyline in the form of the Dwarf Naurim, who also turned out to be one of my most memorable characters. There’s also a mage called Zurbaran, and the witty headhunter Takate. The story ends up getting crazier, with Cassia being driven insane and going to extreme levels to get what she wants. If you come expecting and uplifting, joyous story you definitely came to the wrong game. The game itself starts with a rather disturbing cut scene in which a kitten’s neck is slit, and then thrown out the window of the tower.

As for mechanics, the game doesn’t really do anything that hasn’t been done already. With that being said, they are extremely well done. Those familiar to RPGs or other turn based strategy games will slip into the game with ease, with various different armour sets, abilities, spells, and weapons to pick up along the way. The story itself isn’t too complex, although I can’t comment on the last few parts of the game as I’m still yet to complete it. It’s also extremely linear, which has its pro and cons. Ultimately I felt that the game should have picked up the pace a little at some points, as battles later on sometimes tend to get rather long and tedious.

There were points in the game when I would come across a choke point, where the enemy could only get one person through at a time. This led to extremely long fights which would turn into some sort of methodical mouse clicking task; inevitably sucking all the fun out of what otherwise would have been a fun fight. Despite all this, it is still kind of enjoyable to constantly mow down enemies with spells.

Being this is this first game in this genre I’ve played in a while; I must say I was rather taken aback at home much I actually enjoyed the game, as well as how easy it was to get to grips with the game. It’s very satisfying seeing all the difficult decisions and moves you’ve made throughout the level accumulate into a very gratifying victory. On the other end of the spectrum, the game can be devastatingly depressing; with its glim, bleak story and punishing puzzles.