Разработчик: Ultra Runaway Games
Описание
Initial Steam release is for PC, Mac and Linux are in the works.
If you'd like to play it on Mac or Linux right away, you can pick it up on the website , and a Steam key will be included in your purchase.
Save files from the demo transfer to the full version!
A powerful sorcerer is on the cusp of dominating the land. A group of heroes bands together and seals him away inside a magical tome. Now as the sorcerer you must escape from this ancient prison and find a way to regain your magical powers using your wits and an array of summonable creatures to aid you. There may be more powerful forces at work as you navigate the dungeons and fight the heroes sent to subdue you...
Key Features
- Play as a renegade sorcerer as he struggles to escape the book prison and regain his powers.
- Escape a magical prison filled with heroes hunting you down at every turn.
- Leave behind mana and to-hit rolls for an exciting new battle system that emphasizes strategy and tactics over grinding.
- Strategically manage an energy pool to unleash devastating special attacks in battle.
- Assemble a party of fiendish creatures to join you as allies in battle.
- Numerous different creatures and fiends to unlock, further customizing your party; including a healer Witch, a trickster Imp, assassin Troll, and a berserker Minotaur.
- Discover fiendish puzzles and solve them with a combinations of spells, items, and your wits.
- Hand-drawn high-resolution sprites
- All-inclusive game, promise to never make you pay for DLC content.
Поддерживаемые языки: english
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP
- Processor: Pentium 4 1300 MHz 1.3 GHz
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: Geforce2 MX 400 64/128-bit SDR, 64-bit DDR or better
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Mac
- OS: MAC OS X 10.6
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu Linux, version 10.10 or later
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Отзывы пользователей
Strengths:
Fun and rewarding combat, playable characters are well developed, balanced party compositions.
Flaws:
Overstays its welcome and gets repetitive, buggy achievements and in other random places.
A decent dungeon crawl, with great art work. It has it's flaws but for the price point, it's a great deal.
Easily one of my favorite games. Decent build diversity. good difficulty curve, and it's got a decent sense of humor without being intrusive to the atmosphere. Jesse Gallagher's soundtrack is also fantastic. Very good throwback to old school dungeon crawlers, and the monster/demon summoning aspect and emphasis on status management brings to mind some of the simpler Megami Tensei games.
Only real negative is that the game is rather buggy and given that it's been about a decade since the game dropped and Ultra Runway has gone dark, it's fairly safe to say it's abandoned. There's several bugged achievements, and annoyingly they're all tied to a side quest which would unlock very powerful late game item if it functioned properly. There's also sections of wonky level geometry where you'll notice jarring seams in walls or floor textures at times,. There's also two backer-only Thralls which have never been made public, the Succubus and Dryad, though it seems they're nothing but generic party members reskinned with two or three skills swapped around. Still, somewhat sad to see the game's been left in a very unpolished state.
Overall, I'd recommend this game to anyone looking for a satisfying dungeon crawler, and have bought it for several friends who enjoyed it themselves. Just bear in mind it's still got rough edges in places.
This was one of the first games I bought on steam a long time ago and I finally got around to actually beating it and while I do recommend the game because it is really enjoyable and fun it's also plagued with bugs. These bugs range from annoying to game breaking, some examples are when you rest in your bed theres a chance the prompt won't go away when you wake up which will break the game upon trying to leave your room, there's also unobtainable achievements (which really make me sad I can't 100% the game) such as the ruby secret since you cannot interact with a table that has a hidden button on it to open a wall, and some of the achievements for beating the game don't pop up after finishing it, so if achievements are a big deal for you I'd recommend passing but if you don't care about achievements and can handle some frustrating bugs the game is quite enjoyable when its working.
Overall, this is a fun rpg with some interesting mechanics, great style, and enjoyable music.
The downside is that it seems to softlock frequently, requiring you to save almost every step or risk losing progress. Play in windowed mode because if you minimize in fullscreen it just doesn't come back and be careful going through menus too quickly because it seems like the game can get confused about what screen or state you are in and just not allow control or get you stuck where a menu should be without any menu items to click. Since it was released in 2014 I doubt these issues will ever be fixed so just know what you are getting into and save frequently.
Do not buy this game. I know it looks like Dark Spire on the DS, but it plays nothing like it, this is not a grid-based exploration game and (save from a few spots in the game), the main dungeons never have random battles. I'm not saying this is a bad design, I'm just saying that this is not like the aforementioned game.
It will run fine at first, but after about half of the game is played you'll start to see how the developer Jesse Gallagher just dropped the ball completely in this game.
Everything is slightly bugged. The game feels fragile. Secret doors stop working (the demon puzzle is unsolvable if you save your game), keys do not show when they should (King Key), doors stop working if you've already unlocked them and load your game, secret walls will close you in if you save inside them rendering your save useless.
The main hub resting room bugs EVERY 5 SECONDS. Do not try to save there or it might corrupt your save. Lots of achievements do not work correctly (even the final ones for actually beating the game in each difficulty).
The game looks really good (props to Kim Crenshaw) but seems like it barely holds it self enough to be beatable, this is the highest praise I can give it.
This feels like a beta game that shouldn't be released this buggy. And the developer dropped the support for this completely. The forums are riddled with complaints about the game bugs and the developer haven't touched the game for over 4 years. Maybe the game should be removed from the store since it is no longer supported and it is a buggy mess.
Killer battle music, great visuals, and a shoutout to the woefully forgotten and maligned Wizardry 4.
I respect this game and enjoyed what I played on it - almost to the end. But would I recommend it? Probably not. It's poorly balanced, glitchy, and really starts to drag about halfway through. Drops are randomized and quick save-reloading in front of chests is often the only way to acquire good enough gear to progress, depending on your party composition.
In a way, Paper Sorcerer is kind of outsider art. One guy made all of it in a vacuum. It's his vision, unadulterated. And as much as it has all his strengths, it also comes with all his weaknesses.
Even though my answer to "Do you recommend this game?" is "No," I'm giving Paper Sorcerer a thumbs up because it deserves it. If you're looking for a good RPG in the Wizardry vein, there are much better options. But if the idea of RPG outsider art sounds appealing to you, it's a must-play.
I love this game. Let the fact that I have played it for over 30 hours stand as a testament to that. Despite that love, I cannot recommend this game to anyone. It is a wonderful throw back to the kinds of games I used to play in my childhood, and I desperately wish there were more games like it. But the developer for this title never actually completed this game. To this day, 7 years after its release, there are still intolerable bugs that can crash the game, or cut entire sidequests off. These various issues will never be fixed, as the developer simply stopped communicating with his backers years ago and never has any plans to implement what should be relatively easy fixes.
I love this game, but I cannot recommend it. Stay away unless you are more curious than sane.
While I am a fan of Wizardry-style party-based dungeon crawlers, I can't broadly recommend this game to fans of the genre, let alone general players. Once the novelty of the art style wears off, you'll be faced with the game's glaring flaws:
-Navigating the menu with the keyboard is buggy. Sometimes the items aren't highlighted. When you right click, which is supposed to close the menu, sometimes a menu item will be actually selected. At one point, my S key stopped working so I couldn't navigate down a list.
-While some might describe the battles as "strategic", they can be long and drawn out to the point of tedium. The monotonous electronic music makes this worse.
-In practice, there's little strategy involved. You have no clue what abilities are available to your opponents, or in what sequence each character will have their turn. So at the end of the day, you'll almost always be in a reactionary stance.
-Combat is littered with annoyances: You don't regenerate energy outside of battle but do within battle. If you're healing a character and he dies before your spell is cast, then you'll wind up wasting your turn. At least once I had a character who died while stunned. When I resurrected him, he was still stunned. You can't return to a character's turn if you accidentally clicked something (and you will because the menu is buggy). You also can't exit to the game's menu during battle, so if a boss fight isn't going your way you have to alt+tab. When you knock an enemy down, that enemy is not supposed to be able to attack for a round, but the knockdown doesn't carry over to the next round. If you knocked the enemy down after the enemy had their turn, then it's useless.
-The theme of the party creation is neat. You're a sorcerer who gets to pick among a limited number of thralls to flight along side of. However, the balance is way off. The Vampire is clearly the best, for example, while the Troll is useless.
-There are bizarre difficulty spikes. You'll sail along with an acceptable level of challenge until you encounter particular boss fights.
Challenges are great, but with the annoyances that came up and the unfair difficulty spike I began to ask myself why bother.
Definitely different, I'll give it that. A 70/100 job.
The good
Bizarre art style
Lots of character class combos to go through the game with
Weird music
Can be challenging
Odd sense of humour throughout
The bad
Combat can be boring
A few bugs with secrets
This may sound weird but I want to congraulate the developer of Paper Sorcerer. From what I've read the game was pretty much developed by one person. Running a kickstarter, developing a game and then getting it published to Steam is a real accomplishment.
I wanted to like this game.
Due to technicial issues though I cannot recommend Paper Sorcerer.
The game freezes and I've had to replay levels due to the game locking - this is the primary reason I can't recommend it.
Sometimes it doesn't size the screen correctly to display menus or images.
You cannot adjust game volume that I've found other than manually via headset or windows volume.
Paper Sorcerer does have good traits:
The sketch style art was enjoyable and well placed with the conceit of the game
It's fun to play the bad guy and summon monsters
The RPG mechanisms were good although somewhat opaque
Sadly in the condition it's in I personally cannot recommend it. Others have had better experiences with it and if you choose to buy I hope you do as well.
Really nice little pick up this. It's a dungeon crawler with an interesting art style and a fairly decent storyline. You are a powerful being that has been trapped inside a magical book. Very happy with the purchase and would like to see more games of this quality at such low asking prices. (it was practically a give away in the winter sale but my review is based on its full price). I'm not a fan of the 8 bit chip music but thankfully that changes as the game progresses. High level of tactical choice for your party and equipment can radically add to the high level of customisation. Plenty of secrets and varied boss fights. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like it.
*edit* It does crash now and then due to transitions not completing as they should so save often just to be safe because it can be very frustrating when this happens after you found some rare gear.
Nice little gem that brought back a lot of memories of old RPGs.
Pros
- Good and interesting music
- Excellent premise/starting storyline
- Decent leveling up system
- Pretty wide selection of enemies, characters, and party builds
- Some replay value - picking a new party and/or different character branch for main
- Decent loot system
- Skill Trainer
Cons
- Some display issues
- Handful of bugs - town menu sometimes didn't display, chests that are closed but unable to be interacted with
- Skills are a little all over the place - some are super powerful and some so weak that you will never use them
- Maxed Parry from the Skill Trainer - wish successful blocks would say block or parry. All I saw was miss and evade - difficult to tell if those skills are working or not.
- Need better explanation of skills/status effects - sometimes it is a guess to decide with an ally hit with a Sleep spell is under a phyiscal or magical condition so you can remove it.
- Some groups of enemies were much harder than the boss fights at the end. Really required luck and a fully rested party instead of skill.
- Character status needs to show magic defenses. Magic defenses are on gear and available through skill trainer, but not viewable.
- Intro story concept was pretty neat. Becomes weaker as you go along.
- The skeleton really could use an energy builder even if it was defensive in nature
Overall, a great little game that I'm happy I picked up for a few bucks. Definitely recommend.
This is a good RPG for those who want an interesting game to play that doesn't really take a ton of brain power. The game play is easy to understand, but there is strategy involved with which Skills to use when. a mouse is not really required, so it is a great game to play on your laptop in bed (which is partly why i got it). Very fun, and the different summoning options make for interesting party builds, and I enjoy the different stereotypical RPG rolls given to the monsters (such as Barbarian to the Minotar).
Paper Sorcerer is different in the graphics aspect, there is no doubt about that. Pleasant to look at both because it is different and nice.
But otherwise, I found the gameplay very repetative. The first levels are fun, but then I realized as I progressed, that the only differences were a slight change in the surroundings, enemies and music. Combat is always the same, and most fights end up being repeating one or two different combinations of skills from your four characters.
What I found most fun about this game was the secret hunting. Not very difficult, but it was more or less the only thing that varied across the levels.
The story was presented in text, but I didn't experience any depth in it. The whole idea of it is different and entertaining, but it is presented casually, and after a short while I couldn't get rid of the feeling that it is just a context to put the game in without any farther meaning.
I haven't finished the game, but I keep trying to progress to see if it may have anything else to offer, as it seems pretty long. But repeating the same combat sequences for 9 hours of gameplay appears demotivating. I can still recommend to try this game just for the visual style and some old school atmospherics, but I don't thik it is worth spending more than a few hours on.
For every horrible game that Kickstarter is responsible for, their’s always one that breaks the mold and stands out. I remember supporting Paper Sorcerer from the beginning stages when it was still in Kickstarter, waiting patiently for the day that I would finally be able to play this masterpiece. Its hard for a game to be so simple and complex at the same time, yet Paper Sorcerer seems to do just that. What you might think is a plain and boring video game ends up coming to life and involving you deep into the plot.
My first thoughts and impressions had me thinking that this game was obviously going to be totally awesome. I knew I had to have it after watching only the KS trailer, and once it made its way to Steam I was all over it. Within the first 5 minutes I was reminded of Dungeons & Dragons, playing with friends and calling out tactical moves. The turn based fighting system is well thought out and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Over are the days of the 3 minute bash sessions of games like Pokemon or Final Fantasy; Paper Sorcerer delivers tactical, powerful and serious battle sequences lasting longer than your average role player. The story line is action filled, as well as giving you the ability at points to choose what direction the scenes will go.
“A powerful sorcerer is on the cusp of dominating the land. A group of heroes bands together and seals him away inside a magical tome. Now as the sorcerer you must escape from this ancient prison and find a way to regain your magical powers using your wits and an array of summonable creatures to aid you. There may be more powerful forces at work as you navigate the dungeons and fight the heroes sent to subdue you… Paper Sorcerer is a stylish turn based RPG focused on strategy, party-building, and environmental puzzles. Fight with the skills and spells you have learned in a battle system that emphasizes strategy over grinding. Assemble a party of monsters and dark creatures to fight alongside you. Explore and solve environmental puzzles to unlock secret paths and find extra loot.” – Paper Sorcerer
Graphically this game must have been more challenging to animate than it would seem. With basically only 2 monochrome colors to work with, Paper Sorcerer is a artistic masterpiece and plays out more like a graphic novel than a video game. Although you have full navigation as the game is in the first person, on my 32 inch its like playing a giant fairy tale book that’s come to life. The subtle use of color throughout the game is genius and fits perfectly, from the effects of spells to the health and energy bar every detail has been covered. Each battle is reminiscent of the older Final Fantasy, where instead of the hero moving and performing each command, its represented by a small graphic, color or sound. As I’ve said in the past, its the simplicity that can make a game as good as it is, and that is certainly the case with Paper Sorcerer. The imagery in this game is absolutely amazing, and the use of essentially 2 colors is almost intoxicating.
Paper Sorcerer is as fun as it is challenging. I like games like these because the battles later in game are hard, but you’ve been prepared by several battles before it so you have an idea what you’re in for. I really enjoyed the turn based fighting system because each member of your party has a role that is greatly needed during battle. Party formation is one of the toughest parts of early game, and essential to continued play in later levels. You will need a tank, healer, and a ranged hero to make it anywhere (you already have magic covered, as you are a sorcerer), and Paper Sorcerer certainly gives you that option with a choice of several different heroes to choose from. Items are pivotal to game play, equipping each of your heroes with the proper weapons, shields and runes are key to completing each floor. Fighting is very important, because this game doesn’t focus solely on damage to end battles, you need to play more tactfully and use skills to buff strength and agility while making sure you keep your defense up.
Its the little things that count sometimes in a game that make or break it. One of these things is the difficulty setting when you first begin your game; you’re given the options Easy, Medium, Hard & 1980’s. The first time around, i chose 1980’s for the hell of it… lets just say that your first battle which is almost a guaranteed win, is a guaranteed loss. This was obviously a setting for the more experienced players of Paper Sorcerer. About the only thing I really didn’t like about the game other than the fact you cant use a controller, is the music. I have no idea who is responsible for it, but it needs a major overhaul and update. It just doesn’t fit well with the game whatsoever.
When it comes down to it, Paper Sorcerer is a great game, and highly suggested. So many different elements hold this game together making it a solid play through. Loaded with secrets and strong attention to detail, each item counts, and every room needs inspecting. Retro like an old D&D MSDos game and as modern as a new age RPG, everything about Paper Sorcerer is entertaining.
Graphics: 7/10
Playability: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Challenge: 7/10
Replay Value: 7/10
This could have been a good game. It has neat artwork, a decent story, and a host of interesting classes. However, the programming team was either inexperienced or rushed in finishing this game. The programming on this game is horrible. While other areas, like artwork, look fairly well polished, there is a critical lack of basic polish on the code. I've seen flash games with better polish.
Let's start off with text prompts. You see that screenshot showcasing the spell list, with the funky alignment issues? That's a small taste of what I'm talking about. Text is screwed up everywhere! Much of the interfaces look like they paid some 16-year-old who barely speaks English to design it. There are misspellings, case issues, text alignment issues, design flaws, and yes, bugs and glitches, which are well covered in other reviews.
Trying to play this on a controller is fruitless. Even when you map the keys, you'll find that the main button for doors and items is permanently bound to the left mouse button. And sometimes it will crash in the middle of the binding menu. Also, why are there two binding menus? Seriously... there's one on the pre-start screen, and one in game.
Equipment management can be a pain. You can't revert to a previous character during the fight menu. You can't see any stats from any of the enemies. Enemies before a fight are just blobs on the screen, which is a bit of a cop out. The hardest difficulty level is basically impossible without cheating.
Yes, there's a good game struggling to come out, but the weight of the flaws wear you thin after a while.
Well there are games that just appeals to you, this one has nostalgia, heavy rpg elements (it is an rpg), decent balance and an interesting soundtrack and art style. For 5$ its a steal, any rpg fan must try at this price even. Imagine playing a party based dragon warrior with some animations. It is a game i did not expect to put on top of my must play list, well played game.. well played. You also get a lot of customisation options in which minions to use during gameplay. Simple and effective, you dont need Crysis level graphics to make a game good, this is a prime example.
Further Edit:
Hmm i should also add that the game is a first person dungeon crawling rpg. You explore various dungeons not in a way unlike the old school game 'Moraff's Revenge'.
The main appeals of the game are its atmosphere, its rpg setting, its choices of playable characters/minions and acessibility. By this i mean, it is cheap, nearly anyone with 5$ laying around can try it, and can you honestly name me a game where every ability of your character are a decent choice? I have used every ability of every character I've played with so far, at least once. May it be for CC, cheaper cost, conserve energy, or exploit an enemy vulnerability. All i can think off is how i just spam the same ability in almost every other rpg, i try not to, but often only a few choices are ressonable given the circumstances.
Have a nice day!
Kickstarter success! What a steal, only $5. This is a great FP dungeon crawler RPG, heavily influenced by some of the best old school games such as the Wizardry titles. Very unique looking art design, and most importantly: no hand holding at all! The enemies offer fun challenges, it's not just generic trash mobs, with each level having its own unique elements and combat will require some use of tactics. There are different companions you can choose from, with many different viable party set-ups. Each main level has optional puzzles and hidden secrets; exploration is very enjoyable. The only downside is perhaps the music, which I thought didn't really fit the game. It would have been a much more atmospheric experience had the music been darker, more suspenseful. I chose to mute it and play to the Fallout 1 soundtrack ^^
I'm a big fan of old-school dungeon crawlers, but Paper Sorcerer ultimately attempts to crib a lot from 2009's The Dark Spire, and instead delivers a buggy and underdeveloped slog. The trailer, screenshots, and overall aesthetic are impressive to be sure, but they belie a cumbersome user interface (for a genre that is 90% menus, why are the menus so annoying to use?), a sluggish battle system, and overall very dull mechanics that offer little in the way of exciting character molding or customization. A dungeon crawler must dangle the excitement of pushing forward and advancing your characters bit by bit, but Paper Sorcerer's skill system has no appeal and the battles are a chore of poorly-telegraphed information and so, so much waiting.
I want to like this game, and I truly do appreciate the efforts to bring more dungeon crawlers to the market, but Paper Sorcerer is a meandering and unfocused product in serious need of more thought-out game design and revised UI design.
As a $5 game, it is admittedly worth a try, even with the simplistic gameplay & numerous bugs (none of them game-breaking so far, at least) -- but if you value your time even moreso, my suggestion is to try out Legend of Grimrock on Steam or The Dark Spire on DS, two games in the same style that deliver a much more captivating experience.
In short: be wary. The paper aesthetic is so fresh and appealing that it's easy to assume the rest of the game is just as polished, but unfortunately the core gameplay is miles behind what I would expect from a 2014 Wizardry-like. Will you find it fun? It's hard to predict -- but if you keep up with the scant few post-2000 dungeon crawlers like I have, the answer will probably be No, because Paper Sorcerer decidedly does not want to do anything unique with the core genre.
My god what a great RPG! and for so little as 5$!
this game is a take back to the good old turnbased combat with a great side of storyline and rpg.
but for heavens sake REMEMBER TO SAVE
If you love old school first person dungeon crawlers like Shining in the Darkness or, as someone mentioned, Wizardry IV you should grab it! Game is not holding your hand. And play it at 1980's difficulty to get your ass handed to you or at least at Hard.
One downside could be the music which simply could be not for one's taste.
For that price it's a steal.
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Ultra Runaway Games |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 17.01.2025 |
| Metacritic | 73 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 84% положительных (341) |