Recent reviews by Techula

Very s l o w movement (the running speed is a walking speed, the walking speed is upsettingly slow), easy to get caught on small things instead of naturally moving around them, absurd collision issues, no in-game storage unless you want to be guilty of stealing your own stuff, Fighter's Guild orders went from killing 3 rats in a house to fighting 4 skilled thugs in another town, and the only reason I didn't die immediately was the naked guy following me around punching people and distracting them. I found him while getting lost on the road in the Fighter's Guild questline.

Combat is like if you were standing in water well above the knee. Because movement is so slow it takes a long time to look around and do quests. I completed very little in 15 hours.

My heart bleeds for the people who worked so hard on lore, world building and book writing, only to have the movement, the combat, the map, and the lack of in-game guidance spoil the experience.

I've played for 14 hours so far. The controls are comfortable and configurable, the system demands are light. Gameplay has variety with lots of choices you can make, and you have a difficulty and speed control to tweak the real-time strategy to a pace that's comfortable for you. The tutorial is enough to get you started, and you may find other videos helpful regarding strategies.

Plays very well for me on mid hardware, fun and challenging but helps you along with npc contact. Heavy mouse usage where technical operations are concerned, and imo the game needs less reliance on pointer accuracy/keeping mouse buttons pressed. GUI is well organised and comfortable to look at. A nicely polished game well worth the price paid.

Overall positive reaction. Biggest draw for this game is ambiance/environment. Sailing is great, colors and use of light is beautiful. Player movement is alright, if maybe a little clunky. But usable for sure. Lots of different items and adventures, a quest book as well as editable journal, and a map where you can place islands you've visited. Fight mechanics are a bit lacking, but at least killing isn't bloody, it's a bit cartoonish and it works with the overall feeling. Relax, sail, or go fight things in the dark of night and maybe survive. Find NPCs and get quests and loot.

This is based on one playthrough of one character.

Likes: Very atmospheric, excellent soundtrack, forces you to make choices and pay attention to details, doesn't hold your hand, allows room for some strategy, time is always against you (12 days total, 1 game minute is 5 real seconds), voiceovers usually have purpose, game clock is stopped during conversations and while checking status or reading notes/maps so you have as much time as you need for decisions (but it's not stopped for inventory stuff), you can do a one-key quicksave (two quicksave slots) and as many permasaves as you like, plays well on older hardware.

Dislikes: The narrative seems forced, the game works hard to be mysterious to the point of diminishing the relevance of choice or strategy, there is intense use of the mouse where keyboard activity would be way more efficient, you are the only thing in the game that can't run, you can only walk and a lot of your time seems purposefully wasted by forcing you to walk on long errands, unable to switch weapons while moving and can only use the mouse to do that or anything regarding inventory, hit boxes are sometimes flakey and getting through doorways or around objects is a bit of a pain.

In spite of the negatives I'd still recommend it, but the negatives affect my desire to replay.

For my taste this is as interesting as making a cup of tea, except with tea you are rewarded with a hot drink and it only takes a minute. There's no gameplay, no strategy, no thought. You stay in a room, use three buttons, and endure jump scares. No really, jump scares. That's it. Ok time for tea.