Knights of the Chalice Review

It sure took them quite a while but the folks at DIYGamer have finally reviewed Heroic Fantasy Games’ proudly old-school indie turn-based RPG Knights of the Chalice, and while they note that it’s a very focused game with a very niche audience, they also seem very pleased with what it offers. A couple of paragraphs from the review:

Enemy AI is particularly impressive, with them making very few unwise decisions. Archers will opt out of an easy shot and nervously take aim at your magic-users, hoping to interrupt any spellcasting as it happens, while enemy warriors will block corridors and set themselves up in a defensive posture, anticipating your charge instead of wading into a waiting spear. Enemies seem to have a fairly full understanding of their own strengths, so giant creatures will attempt to overpower and pin smaller folk, and spellcasters will do everything they can to keep sword-swinging aggressors at range. While enemies will never try to outright retreat from combat (it would be tedious to chase them down), they go to great lengths to keep themselves alive. The clever AI also extends partially to your own characters, with movement paths automatically drawn out to avoid getting caught by attacks of opportunity, or ensnared in environmental hazards. You can manually walk into such threats, but you won’t ever do so accidentally. It’s complicated, but it’s also fairly hard to do something irredeemably dumb unless you mis-click.

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For better or worse, Knights of the Chalice is a game with a clear audience in mind, and it achieves the goals it sets itself quite admirably, recreating and in many respects improving on the nostalgic feeling of old-school RPG adventuring. I’ll admit that aside from some interface quirks and some mild frustration, I’ve had a romping great time with this game so far and will likely go back to playing it more as soon as I’m done writing, but I find it hard to earnestly recommend it to anyone but seasoned old-school RPG fans with a little extra money to burn. This is a highly compelling, involving game, but perhaps a little too niche for widespread appeal. With a tutorial, better use of modern UI trends, higher base resolution graphics and a lower price, I’d tell anyone just to take the plunge on this game. As it stands, I’ll just say to try the demo and make up your own mind.