Unfortunately, I feel like the Blackguards franchise still flies under the radar of many roleplaying and strategy games. That’s a damn shame. These games are good. The original Blackguards blindsided me; all of the sudden I found myself playing countless hours playing as the criminal-hero. Sit me in front of an RPG that lets me build out my characters and let me control them in a strategic manor, and yeah, I’m in. From what I’ve played in the preview build of Blackguards 2, it looks like a lot of the same, but with new and improved features.
My hands on experience was a preview build that estimates a six-hour experience on average. This means it was not the complete game and had some bugs that I assume won’t be in the January 20th release on PC and Mac. With all that said and out of the way, the experience thus far has been pretty great. If you were a fan of the original Blackguards, I have trouble seeing you disliking the sequel.
Continuing the turn-based, strategic, RPG theme from the first game, Blackguards 2 expands upon the popular Dark Eye universe table-top game. While advancing the systems in the sequel, the developers also simplified or downright removed some of the previous systems. Take ability points – gone. Skill trees – simplified. Weapon trees – better. The UI and what can be interacted with improved for the greater as well. Making all the variable elements that can be tinkered with a lot clearer, it makes the gameplay a lot smoother, to a far less frustrating level.
While you don’t invent your character like you did in the original, you still have options on how you build out Cassia’s character. Due to the fact that this is a Blackguards game, you’re instantly introduced to some pretty dark themes. Since the end of the previous game, our ‘heroes’ aren’t in the best of places. The incarcerated and ‘friend’ to spider kind Cassia has some traumatic occurrences occur to her right from the start. Takate, Zurbaran, and Naurim aren’t exactly in glorious position either. The player will quickly reunite with these familiar names.
The combat will feel familiar with the addition of some improved systems. Missing an enemy is nearly a thing of the past and spell effects have improved immensely. You can now choose where you place your units and if you are defending, place barricades and traps. This adds a darling level of strategy to the mayhem. Your strategic approach to the world map needs to be just as decisive as on the battlefield. If you trump battles but don’t have any worldly sense, the Marwan forces will quickly encroach on your settlements. While offensive is important, you can’t just give up territory you’ve previously taken.
The other new system to combat is the yellow-stamina bar. Since you can’t really miss in melee anymore, Blackguards 2 needed something to keep players from spamming abilities. You know, like mana for non-casters. Stamina is that answer. Like mana, you’ll regenerate an X amount per round. This applies a new resource management to your melee characters.
With access to this preview build, I got a taste of Blackguards 2 but now I want the full course meal. January 20th is a full month away and I feel like we’d all be better off if that was now. So far the game feels cleaner, smoother, simpler, with appropriate new systems. In the month that it will take for the sequel to be officially released, there is time for the devs to fix the bugs, tweak balancing, and make an excellent day one release. I’m looking forward to it!
