SKALD: Against the Black Priory

Very fun so far!

Strengths: does the old school vibe really well. The music, minimalist graphics, and quality of writing really make for a great experience. The lovecraftian horror seems excellent so far. Getting gear and crafting both feel rewarding and exciting.

Early on, combat and certain statuses feel a bit tough to understand. There are tutorials but will need to play more to better understand vitality, wounds, what the results of wounds actually are, etc.

Very impressed so far!

Incredible game.

I know i'm just 12 hours in but this game is the best i've played this year so far.

The atmosphere is top notch, music plays a big role for sure. The world is dark and the Lovecraftian setting is spot on. I'm a huge fan of HP Lovecraft's short stories and this game contains many themes you can read in the books.

Writing is very good.

Combat is fun, inspired by DnD.

I would not change much of the game except maybe some UI improvement. I'd like to have skills/spells icons more creative. You don't really know what they mean unless you right click on them and read the description.

Anyway, great great game crafted with a lot of love. I can't wait to see how the game unravels.

I'd take a game such has this one any day over any AAA CRPG we get these days.

Yo, this is hands down the sickest Lovecraft-inspired game I’ve ever played. It’s got that retro RPG vibe straight outta the EGA/VGA era but with a cosmic horror twist and a dash of aliens for extra spice. If you’re into RPGs or Lovecraft, this is a must-play. Absolute fire. 🔥👾💀

Great vibe and really inspired and wonderfully done retro graphics! Reminded me a lot of playing Ultima back in the day (though with a much more adult and grim tone). Only knock is the UI/controls are a bit finicky (which, honestly is also like those old dos games haha). Thumbs up to the makers of this little gem.

I am really enjoying this game. I am so glad that I bought this instead of Dragon Age Veilguard. They actually have adult themes and a dark world to explore. I have enjoyed the writing and it really reminds me of Lovecrafts works. Really is a good game.

Nearly at the end of this game (I think!) and have to say I've had a really great time thus far! Love the vibe and artwork and it keeps drawing me back into its dark world and storyline. The turn-based combat can be a bit clunky at times, especially in confined spaces, but its a small quibble. If you love party-based RPGs, a gorgeous 8 bit-but-modern aesthetic, then this will be right up your street. Get on it!

The story and especially the writing of this game hooked me from start to finish.

Early in the game, you'll notice that the story is not what it initially seems, getting much deeper and darker as the game progresses.

I played as a guild-magos and my experience was good overall, but the beggining of the game can be very brutal and frustrating, because you don't have enought attunement (mana) or spells to do the bare minimum in combat without having to rest after every 1-2 fights.

Maybe I'm a little biased, but my only gripe with the game is that, in my opinion, the guild-magos should do more damage with most spells, especially the "core" ones. To name a few, I think that magic missile, fireball and lightning strike should do at least double the damage that they do now.

Yes, you can break the combat with one specific crowd control spell later in the game, but I feel like adding more damage into some "core" spells would collaborate to concretize that power fantasy of the glass canon DPS mage, hurling fireballs and lightning at their enemies.

Overall, an awesome game. I definitively recommend it,

I really liked it. The story and characters grew on me as the game went on, despite the beginning being a bit too slow and too generic for my taste. Fighting is fun for most of the game, the end is a bit spongey, but my party still managed to get through. I think it takes some courage to do an old-school game like this in todays time as such I would even recommend it on full prize.

So, I finally got around to finishing my first playthrough of SKALD after taking a break over the summer. I wish I hadn't put it down temporarily, though perhaps the ending wouldn't have had as big of an impact on me that way?

Either way, I am not all too familiar with the "Cosmic Horror" genre (I cannot think of any other game off the top of my head that I've played that fits that description, though maybe Mass Effect comes close), as some would describe it, so I will not focus on the narrative and story much more than simply saying that it does a good job at keeping my interest and it has left me wanting more.

With that out of the way, I will speak on the topics that I am far more familiar with when it comes to gameplay, and that is to say that the art style, overall look and feel of the game, are S-tier. I am a sucker for old skool games and pixel graphics anyway, but for me, SKALD takes these elements to a level that goes well above and beyond what you get in most games with this type of look and field. The sound design, music and atmosphere go a long way to make the combat feel crunchy and meaty, and it leaves me wanting more--it satisfies a cathartic itch inside of me, though perhaps that is just my inner neanderthal who just wants to wield an axe and smash things? Either way, the game checks a lot of boxes in that arena for me, and I could play this game again and again just for the combat alone.

The characters are great, the game does an excellent enough job at giving you a taste and an overall feel for their differing personalities without it feeling overbearing. I personally would have liked to see the character development pushed a little further, maybe something closer to a Dragon Age: Origins with the whole romancing option and the +/- approvals depending on your actions throughout the game, but that may distract from what is a very good game at its core and it certainly would take away from that old skool feel.

I sincerely hope we get another title from this developer built on the exact same engine, with an entirely different story and universe that focuses largely on the combat, has a great story, and maybe 2x - 4x the content. Honestly, my only real complaint about SKALD is that it was over too soon (35 hours for me, and I did take my time). I know this won't be an issue for some gamers, but when it comes to any sort of RPG, I tend to long for a huge world to explore and many ways in which to do it. SKALD offers me a very satisfying bite of the pie, but leaves me wanting for more!

That said, SKALD is also the type of game I can easily find myself picking up and playing again to explore playing different class combinations and to try to create an even more coordinated team of characters. That's another thing I like--SKALD does the whole party based RPG right, and allows me to create my own characters, not just my primary character. You do have to slip into the game a little bit before that option presents itself, but it's almost a requirement for me to be able to create my own--so I am very happy to have it.

A+ experience from me. I highly recommend giving it a go if anything I described above is even remotely interesting to you.

Great game. dont play mage or battle mage they're awful.

Overall, the experience feels very harmonious. There is no filler content, no sudden difficulty spikes, and no half-abandoned ideas, with the exception of magic. The developer is self-aware enough to focus on what he is capable of and delivers a well-put-together game based on his original vision. The end result is a fun and enjoyable short adventure, although at times it may feel overly simplistic and predictable. Recommended for any RPG player who can overlook somewhat shallow underlying systems, such as character development and combat.

Full review: https://rpghq.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=112649-skald-against-the-black-priory

What a great and fun game, a must have for all old C64 school RPG types. Lots of Ultima IV, pool of radiance feels about it. Cant recommend this enough to any one. Familiar story, lots of D&D type monsters and spells etc. Oh and the thief character can steal just bout anything, its great. My only issue is that i think i used all the arrows in the entire land lol.

I'm always a fan of cosmic horror and old-school rpgs, and Skald combines the two perfectly. I wish there were more games like this, but Skald hits a very particular niche with me. Combat is simple but engaging and does not drag on too long, the atmosphere, music, and world-building are top-notch, and the pixel art is beautiful.

Overall the atmosphere is great, the visuals are good if you're into that sort of thing, and the story holds together fine.

The combat is absolutely mediocre, however. This is not a satisfying little dungeon crawler and there's no depth or variety for character builds.

I had an overall positive experience playing SKALD. I was looking to play a party based RPG on my steam deck and this one fit the bill. Overall I would give it a 3/5. The story is really well written and has some fun lovecraftian themes to explore. There are a lot of tedious mechanics that bring the score down for me. The combat was fun up to a certain point. Probably around the 60% - 80% point all the encounters started to feel the exact same. Overall it was a good experience. I'm glad I got it.

Good Things:
- Really lovely art and graphics. I don't mind pixelated graphic styles. I even prefer stylized graphics to realistic ones. Allows the game to run smoother and better without causing my hardware to melt down.
- Well written and fun story. Main quest is great, but the side quests are fun too.
- Large 6 member party with a good variety of classes. Can really customize your combat experience.
- More content than you realize at first. I would say pretty worth the price point.

Bad Things:
- Ammunition is extremely hard to come by. Especially in the early game. If you want multiple rangers in your group or even multiple party members that specialize in bows its hard to keep up with arrow demands.
- Magic based users follow a D&D like system where their mana only regens through potions or resting in a safe area. This means you have to either: One, quickly discover the mana potion recipe and farm ingredients to make a bunch of potions. Or two, tediously go back and forth between areas where your party can rest before fighting again. Makes magic users feel bad to use. I know a lot of people like a system like this because it encourages "careful" use of magic but for me it just pads game time. I will just consistently return to a safe area and rest so I can use the spells I want. I wish games would abandon this D&D adaption. Its not fun.
- One of my favorite classes was the thief. Essentially a rogue based class. Flank the enemy and do massive damage. Thing is, this game has very little space to maneuver in a lot of the fights. I found myself having party members in narrow 1-2 spaced gaps or with enemies against the wall. Made the thief class useless in a lot of scenarios.
- Dice rolls. I hate dice rolls in games. If its some background calculation (like for combat rolls), that's fine. But I dislike when I have to roll actual dice on screen to determine some sort of event or outcome in the story. Just not my thing. Let me choose what I want to do and if it requires previous preparation to determine a certain outcome, let it be deterministic. Luckily, the dice rolls in this game are pretty minimal in how they actually affect you. It's not a huge negative.
- Some of the environment can be walked through (stepped on) but a lot of it can't (some bushes, ferns, trees, barrels, etc). The stuff that can't is used as walls and barriers to guide the player in the environment. Problem is that it's hard to visually distinguish which one is which. I found myself bouncing up against terrain features all the time. Made map exploration a little frustrating. Even more so on the steam deck because the analog controls were a little sensitive and would cause your character to rapidly bounce on a terrain object multiple times before you could disengage.

I will say that the game has a built in console command that you can use to modify the game in numerous ways. You can use it to cheat, or modify how you want to play. So yes, you can use this console to mitigate the annoyances you may have with systems in the game but I didn't want to use it. I would rather play the game as it was meant to and beat it with the constrictions than cheat. Kind of defeats the point of playing the game in the first place. But if you like that ability to customize your experience then its a big positive.

This is quite simply one of the best RPGs I've ever played, for several reasons. 1. The story/writing/world are amazing and memorable. 2. Turn-based combat is quite strategic (though it can get repetitive in some instances). 3. The combat/level ups/things you can do/mechanics/etc are deep enough to give you a lot of freedom, but light enough that they don't become a chore. 4. It is open world, but, importantly, it is a small and engaging world with limited silly side-quests. All in all, a brilliant game and a lesson to other devs that less can sometimes mean more. More quests, more characters, more secondary crap is not always good and the basics (i.e. the story, the atmosphere and the simple mechanics) are as, if not more, important.

I've looked forward to playing this game since the demo. This game takes a lot of its inspiration from classic 80s CRPGs (especially Ultima) in how it present itself. But it also has quality of life features that didn't exist back then, such as being able to quick save.

It oozes atmosphere, and the Lovecraftian themes are absolutely king here. The story progresses from being creepy and sometimes weird, and escalates until the finale.

On the negative side, exploration, puzzle solving, and sometimes combat is a little tricker than it should be due to the presentation style. The screen can look very busy and so some details get lost in the shuffle.

Why is this game so good and why have I not known about this game until it goes on sale and then get's shown to me would have bought it full price like months ago if I only knew about it. If you beat Baldurs Gate 3 and are looking for that game that will scratch that itch you got from BG3 then this is the game it took me around 20 hours to beat for $12 and the ending is not the worse thing ever and defiantly makes you want there to be a sequel or at least a to be continued... DLC because this shit is good.

Reminds me of the old SSI Gold Box games. A nice mix of old style graphics but new systems. I'm only a few hours in, but I am enjoying the story and writing.

I really wanted to enjoy this game. While it offers some great story telling and neat visuals it's needlessly confusing and difficult to learn. While the developers did put effort into providing tutorials, in the end, I found them insufficient and not enough explanation to enjoy the game.
I kept playing thinking that I'll eventually learn what is what but after around 5 hours with still more questions than answers, I'll invest my time elsewhere.

Fun old school like game. If you like the old classics, you'll enjoy this. Could have done with better loot itemization though.
Never found a magic two hand sword in my entire playthrough and my main PC used the same dagger almost the entire game. Didn't detract from the fun though. Nice job dev.

Loved playing this. Not perfect, pacing is completely off and a lot of mechanical details feel like they don't matter in the end, but nothing that kept me from loving the game.

100% finished on Steam Deck but before full support was added, using the trackpad as a full screen mouse region.

I like the RPG system a lot.
Good story.

Awesome game. Everything is neatly designed & perfectly wrapped into place, no redundancy at all! While the game gives player an appropriate amount of healthy Ultima nostalgia, simple game mechanic & lean design help keep the game flow going naturally without holding player's hand or obstructing the progress. Beware early game encounters though, battles can get tough if you don't play it smart.

Lore and writing is also adequate for a game this size. I really appreciate that player still gets a lot of info without getting sunk into the walls of pixelated texts.

Music is abit generic and not my thing. But taste might differ and imo it still gets the job done.

Overall a must-have for any old school RPG nerd!!

Game breaking bug in sewers of horryn: Go up some stairs while sneaking and then back down before the fight up there starts.

Really good game otherwise, but idc enough to try to find a workaround, and no way am I redoing my save.

Great little RPG with some good depth, great atmosphere. Plays well on SteamDeck (tho the default controls are a bit odd)

Originally played the demo/beta and wasnt impressed, but loved the concept so I wanted to give it a second chance on release - glad I did! Played it through once... then immediately played it through a second time! Good depth of play in combat and the story was solid. Retro visuals were a great tribute to the old Ultima-style games which it was apparently modeled on.

Only con on this game is that its devotion to retro is so committed that it is missing some bells & whistles youd find in modern games - like a mini map. This can be pretty frustrating at times, but the overall small size of both the whole game and each of the maps makes it bearable.

Getting started can be tough, especially for casters. Some non-spoiler tips: Dont be completionist about first island map after the intro - you can return to it with more companions later. Also, theft is clearly intended as a tool of the player economy.

It's not bad, I wish it was.

This game makes the sin of being just "meh"

Nothing to talk about, mediocre across the board.

The charm you feel at the beginning wears off way too quickly, which is a shame. Have to drop this.

Great CRPG with a well written cosmic horror story. This, being made for one person, makes it even more impressive.
Buy it, you won't regret it.

Sometimes less is more. In going back to the earliest days of RPG history, SKALD refinds a feeling of authorship. This was made by one dev, and it shows in the best ways. Cohesive, dark and can run on a potato. High recommend.

Absolutely thrilling game play, stunning pixel art, and diverse character customization; on top of the incredibly grimdark, eldritch horror story that's really well-written. The story makes your character choices feel impactful and unique as you access dialogue with certain characters you otherwise wouldn't be able to view. 10/10 would recommend this game, only downfall is now I'm still looking for another retro-remake game this good/ a sequel from them.

This game is an absolute gem. A total masterwork of minimalism, storytelling, atmosphere, and style. The mechanics are easy to grasp and simple to learn, the combat system is fun and reactive. Looking forward to more from the studio that made this work of art.

Fantastic Lovecraftian story with a well put together RPG class system, fun combat and great pacing.

Overall it's a good game that I do recommend. It's got a nice throwback art style and music that really adds to the overall atmosphere of the game. If you want something that feels like an old school CRPG then by all means, get this game - you won't regret it.

I do have a few gripes about the class system and spells. The devs didn't reinvent the wheel with the aforementioned which is fine since this is a retro style game. My complaint is that the fire magic tree is kind of underwhelming (maybe if I took time to read all the spell descriptions ahead I'd have picked something else). And the backstab rogue sucks ass most of the time. The damage output just doesn't balance with all the time and positioning it takes to setup backstabs.

Retro gameplay without the retro jank.

The story, characters, and character interactions are surprisingly memorable.

The perfect cRPG if you, like me, have found it hard to get in to the genre. The game is quite straightforward and removes a lot of unnecessary complexity usually found in the genre. In more ways than one, the game captures the experience you prob wanted when playing older cRPGs. The art is really good too

Really fun little turn based tactical game. Basically a very light version of Troika's Temple of Elemental Evil
Manage a party of 6 adventures. Tailor their abilities to your liking.
Bunch of D&D style social and environmental out of combat skills which come up a lot and are fun.
It's much simpler than Baldur's Gate 3, so very easy to pick up and play.
Story also moves much much faster, which is something I was very down for when I picked it up.
Cool bleak dark fantasy setting, with strange and fun lovecraftian elements.

This game has a lot of good things going for it. First, the atmosphere is really dark and foreboding. I love how creepy the game feels and using the night and day system to great effect. This game is a great amalgamation of the old Gold Box D and D games and classic Ultima titles. It plays well on the Steam Deck although the controls may take a little bit to get used to.

The only downside I found myself running into is the battles. The worst part about them is how cramped they feel. A lot of times in dungeons you will have issues with characters having access to mobs. The spells help alleviate this, but it is still annoying running into enemies and only having 1 or 2 melee characters available to attack at any time. I did learn how to stretch my party out during these battles and it isn't as hard when you learn your set up, but it can put a damper on the adventuring sometimes.

All in all this was one of the games I bought a Deck for, and besides the minor annoyance of battles, I still really enjoy the atmosphere, graphics, and story.

It's a cool concept but be warned the interface is rough and difficult to read, and though I want to like it, it feels like it will be too much work on my part to enjoy it.

A great concept sadly cut short by a hasty developer. The game promises greatness, and actually begins to achieve it before the many cracks in both the gameplay and narrative become apparent. UI difficulties, faulty mechanics and a general lack of content mark this game as a work in progress. It has the potential to be a game worth purchasing, but at present I can't recommend it.

Sadly, the controller support is so poorly implemented, that it genuinely ruins the entire experience. There's no way that it was play tested by even one person. Hopefully it gets fixed eventually.

It's been a long time since a game sucked me in like this. Great writing, good pacing, fun gameplay. Worth full price.

WTF was that ending? Holy shit. Talk about taking a giant turd on top of your game. The last 15 minutes of the game make me wish I had never played it.
Why make something nostalgic and then take a giant turd on it in the last 15 minutes?
Did any classic RPG have an ending like this? I can't remember one. What a waste!

Stole from merchants, peasants, and cooks.
Stole every fabric, garment, and armor.
Stole some farmer guy's animals.
Stole a shabby looking sword that glues blue in the temple from some undead guy.
Kept the stolen sword after another dead guy kept yapping about it.
I have many stolen goods and not one bought equipment I actually use.
The streets are littered with stuff I stole because I'm over encumbered.
Stole some more items.
My party is over geared from stolen items.


Haven't beaten the game yet because I spend so much time stealing.

Will update when I still more stuff.

Great computer games are not primarily about the graphics - it is about great gameplay. This game has very simple graphics, but gives me the curious exploration-vibe, som hard and unforgiving enemies, and a great story. Two thumbs up. Truly a great game!

if your into retro aesthetics mixed with modern mechanics and something just dripping with vibes this will be a well spent 15$

I Initially had high hopes for this game. The first half mostly lived up to my expectations, but as the game progressed it seemed to degrade in quality.

Combat in this game is overly simplistic and boring, I was playing on hard and struggled more with the tediousness of chipping away at the enemies health bar than anything. The game is very linear and there is a single ending.

Despite my criticism I don't think it's a bad game, it's not great, but It has some positives going for it like: Art, atmosphere, style, music... etc. I wouldn't recommend it though, not for $15 that's why I thumbs down.

The short: I am very happy with my purchase.

Visually, Skald: Against the Black Priory pays homage to old-school horror and other spooky games. A couple of titles that I can briefly think of whose visual style reminds me of this are Sweet Home (SNES) and Uninvited. Personally, I've often enjoyed watching playthroughs of these games online as the aesthetic appealed to me, and because of their low visual fidelity, there's a type of horror that older games have that can't be replicated with modern high-end graphics since much of it is left to the imagination. When I saw Skald's art style, it immediately caught my attention. Throughout my playthrough of the game, I was consistently pleased with how the scenes were presented partially through text and beautiful retro-styled still images.

The story is what you would expect from a grimdark fantasy, and sees inspiration from Lovecraftian tales. I found it to be pretty well written, both dark and brutal, and was consistently engaged throughout. I can recall there was one quest in particular where I forgot to speak with someone in a time-critical manner and was surprised with the result of what happened.

Gameplay is very similar to table top RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and Baldur's Gate 3. You build your character(s) with stat points that you allocate to different attributes, and the game presents you with dice-throwing checks against those attributes from time to time. Combat is turn-based with some unique spins (according to my limited knowledge of these kinds of games), such as being able to choose your starting battle positions and spells having a chance to proc a mechanic called "Cascade," which essentially allows you to take another action. While I enjoyed the combat overall, there are some imperfections with how it was implemented at times and I wouldn't particularly note this as one of the most engaging games I've played.

Negatives:
- Sometimes combat can move a little too slow when entities are cramped in tight spaces, resulting in multiple turn passes.
- Replayability seems to be a bit on the low side between having a mostly linear story line and character builds.

Ending Thoughts:
I loved playing this game. The dark fantasy story combined with the gritty pixel visuals were a perfect match of what I've been looking for. I hope that the developer makes a second installment in the future, because I am sure to buy it if it builds on the base game. I want more.

Amazing old school RPG with Lovecraftian story, deep atmosphere and systems which are fun to engage with

The game has pretty good tone, music, themes, however I found myself pretty bored by all the encounters when you get into the game as the bigger your party becomes the more fights become chores, especially when you have to deal with cannon fodder mobs during some areas. I also found myself pretty easy to get stuck on what to do on how to progress the main story, it doesn't help that there's not any map.

If you're a fan of retro turn based games then I think you will enjoy it especially if you love the grim dark fantasy vibes, but if you have a pretty short attention span like me you're probably not going to feel very invested or be able to play long without wanting to just quit.

A solid homage to the 80/90's rpg era. It's difficult, it will show you that you're an idiot, and you need to crawl your way to the ending. Everything is as it should be.

The only criticism I can make is that there is severe slowdown from the lighting system. Turning it off will help, but you still get slowdown here and there, if the scene is crowded.