#BLACKGUARDS 2 DUNGEONS 2 SERIES#

However, here is where the games many problems start to well up. It's not that there aren't good people in the world, though, as some can be met and are clearly either innocent or noble at the least, just placed in the wrong place at the wrong time. The world around her is also tainted and falling to corruption as wizards have taken to creating horrible crimes against nature in the form of chimeras to serve their master and bugs that easily rank among the more annoying enemies in gaming history. Cassia herself, along with her companions, is well presented as a potentially crazy ruler and her struggle is interesting to watch. Is Cassia a nice woman struggling to keep her sanity, or a cruel or insane ruler? It is hard to tell when she is constantly talking to herself and her pet spider, reassuring herself that she is sane, while relying on potential torture, lies, or bargains with her prisoners to do things such as poisoning enemy commanders to achieve her goals. Attacks can be launched on her lands, as well, and she must defend them with her mercenaries, relying on traps and careful placement to keep people from taking over her lands and weakening her armies on the whole. It is not enough to just take a place, though, as Cassia must also hold on to it.

Taking over a certain place can grant, say, a 20% increase to fire damage for all of the troops, for example. Capturing a place not only gives adventure points and moves Cassia closer to her goal, but each place provides upgrades, items, and the like for Cassia and her army. When it comes time to progress forwards, the player can select one of several locations from the world map to launch an assault upon.

However, such a thing is easier said than done and Cassia must take over many cities and lands to get there first. Cassia, in order to overthrow the current ruler, obviously needs to both get to him and raise an army to do so. This unique levelling system, despite having a bit of repetition, obvious upgrades, and the like, is very unique, great for customisation, and generally great all-around. Cassia may start and end the game with 40 HP, but thanks to those points, she may end it with a plethora of magical spells at her disposal, as well as being a master swordswoman. Instead, what Blackguards 2 does is, after each battle, the player is provided with 'adventure points' that can be then turned around and spent to gain various abilities, spells, and upgrades. It is entirely possible to end the game with as much health or mana as the character had way back at the start of the game. Unlike in many other RPGs, there are no experience points. However, where the game really starts to stand out is its skill system and the world map/conquest.

#BLACKGUARDS 2 DUNGEONS 2 SERIES#

The combat takes place on a hex-grid combat unfolds as a series of strategic motions and attacks relying on careful plotting, positioning, and the like, and the fighting tends to focus heavily on individual units and their strengths and weaknesses, as opposed to large-scale army tactics. As a turn-based strategy RPG, some of the trappings are fairly obvious and straightforward. So much of this game deserves praise, or at least notation. When she finally escapes from the dungeon, she sets out for revenge upon those whom imprisoned her, struggling against the might of an empire and trying to keep the poison that now flows through her blood from eating away at her mind. Two years that have horribly mutilated her and left her of questionable sanity with only spiders, her guard, and herself to talk to, and only a single book to read. Sacred spiders whose venom destroys either the victim's mind or the victim's body and the average survival time is less than a month. She is a young noblewoman whom has been cast down into a spider-filled dungeon and left to die at the hands of sacred spiders. Right from the starting scene the game makes it clear that it is NOT about to sugar-coat things as its very own opening cut-scene features a cat being murdered before introducing players to the main character, Cassia. Well, simply put, it finally gets it right. Therefore, after years of being shown fairies that are little more than flying imps with terrifying bodies, why does Blackguards 2 elect a sigh of relief? These are the games where elves are people-eating forest-dwellers, the games where dwarves would sell their own mothers for coin, and where the undead are, arguably, the least disturbing aspects of life. Far too often, when searching for a 'dark' fantasy game, it is easy to stumble on to a confusing and often surprisingly bland mishmash of games that take the term to little more than a shallow skin.

Blackguards 2 dungeons 2