Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Nov 26, 2022

  I wanted to like it, I really did but.. Has good potential regarding the ambient, music, style, gore, and trashy-ness but it is so clunky and sluggish that you can't decide if they tried to do it on purpose or is it just bad.. Load system is weird, you can't go back to previous part of current map, you die stupidly because the controls are unresponsive and sluggy and so on.. Tried to play it for three times in several months (install/reinstall) with both keyboard and controller but no luck..will try again if sometime they apply a patch to this game but I doubt that'll ever happen..too bad..
• gamedeal user

  Sep 17, 2023

  Necromancer is a broken piece of shit, just like dragon and basilisk. Half of this game's bosses are either stupidly easy or broken trash that 1-shots you. No map so you either use a guide or have no fucking idea where to go. To kill the bitch-witch and get all artifacts you have to finish several missions twice. Also, game still has bugs. And just like a fucking cherry on this cake of shit - when you delete the game it leaves an empty folder that you can't delete because windows doesn't see it.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 4, 2016

  This game looked pretty cool, and it is, but fuck me, does it need work. It needs a lot of work. The controls need severe tightening up - especially when it comes to executing the special moves, which seem to come out sometimes and sometimes they don't. Also, your character moving just a smidge faster would be helpful, since some of the enemies can move faster too. Secondly, the game is bugged to hell and back. It needs a lot of fixes. It seems to have issues regarding the edge of the screen. Enemies tend to back away all the time like cowards, so you'll often push them to a screen transition - but wacky things can happen there. The worst is when your rescued maidens end up carried to the edge of the screen - especially in areas where you aren't allowed to go back yourself... for some stupid reason. They can be picked up by spanwing bad guys and you can't reach them to save them. Then there was a weird issue I had repeatedly in the first stage, where taking the upper path would lead me to a dead end, but the game wouldn't let me go back to the rest of the stage. What the hell, man? I had to quit to the menu and enter the stage again. I tried it multiple times thinking maybe I just missed something or perhaps it was a glitch - but no. So, that needs to be sorted out too. I choose to believe that was an oversight rather than shyte design. Oh, and what the hell do the blue gem things do? They don't have an item description and using them doesn't seem to do anything. Also, the shop needs to be translated in english. That would be handy, maybe we could see what they do there. Also, why did the kick move have to be fwd+low attack? The low attack has easily the longest range, and it doesn't miss smaller or ducking opponents, so it'll be your go-to attack, but with enemies that back away all the time, you'll be chasing them a lot trying to hit them, and the kick will constantly come out, sometimes even when you let go of fwd to press the low attack button. The priorties of the buttons also seem to be all over the place. Many a time I've had my character stop mid-combo to throw a switch or open a chest or something. Make the interaction a different button, for the love of god! And this is my primary beef with the gameplay. The minotaur boss fight is bullshit. He's not hard, he's just annoying. He has a kind of inexplicable repelling force-field that constantly pushes your character away from him so your attacks fall just short. This is bad design. And it's annoying enough on its own, but if you push the fucker too far to the right - which you will do, because he keeps pushing you away - he'll disappear off the edge of screen and you can't finish the fight. Fix that too. And this is a minor quibble, but it would be nice to see it sorted out - the game is a little rough around the edges, sometimes loading screens show windows borders and mouse cursors and stuff... not technically bugs, but still, it does make the product seem amateurish. And here's a tip: when you pick up gold, it seems like the game is pretty generous - but when you go to the shop after finishing a stage, you might be wondering why you have so little gold when you could have sworn you were picking up roughly 100 gold a pop --- well, it's because the amount displayed when you pick up some gold doesn't represent how much you picked up, it shows how much you have in total. When those issues are sorted out, I'll have no problem recommending this game, because it's a very cool concept and quite different to other platformers out there. The subject matter also suits me right down to the ground, so I really want to see the game polished. EDIT: A patch claiming to address some of the issues I've mentioned has been released. I'll give it a go as soon as I have some time and update my review if necessary.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 4, 2016

  Bought this an hour ago... Im playing the english version but the merchant screen is not in english? Odd instructions to press buttons that do not exist? I came to one enemy in the forest who cannot be killed, none of his hit points goes down at all? Killed me over and over. The I was told to press the "Get to run" button? What? I tried to love the game but Im not sure if I can put up with these bugs. It crashed to desktop a few times as well. I may come back in the far off future if it has been patched but as of right now... stay away.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 5, 2016

  Genre - High Fantasy 2D Scroller About me - One of my favourite films is Conan the Barbarian and I enjoy the art style of Louis Royo. When I was young, these type of games were all the rage, and some of them were very good compared to other games on the market at the time. I had to get this game straight away despite being warned about all the bugs. I am very happy with the art style and combat system. My gf saw me playing it and although she enjoys much of the same stuff as me, she did comment it seemed a bit too sexist, but then again in the 80s were this game takes its inspiration, things were. As I did point out, whilst using the scantily clad woman warrior, the priestess falls at her feet too. But to be honest so would I... However, after an hour the bugs did start to frustrate. Yes there are a lot of bugs, but as your experience and items are kept if a level fails (like a boss walking off the screen never to return, or a tree not letting you chop it down, and mystery items being in your inventory) then you don't feel too bad for playing through the same levels again. There are also secrets and bit of extra exploration you can do along the way. My other criticism as made on the boards already is why there is no co-op mode (even if it was just loacal). I am happy to play it single player but think this would have added to the expereience. Even a two player duel mode tagged on would have been nice. Maybe unlocking enemies from the game as you defeat them, pokemon style. I think it is a testament to the game that even with the bugs I kept coming back for more. I am just about to load it up again after downloading the second patch. This is good as it seems like they are trying to fix it, even though a bit more testing should have happened before release.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 8, 2016

  [b]TL/DR review:[/b] An un-polished gem. Bring a loin cloth. [b]Indepth review:[/b] [b]Plays like:[/b] Golden Axe + Rastan + Barbarian + Prince of Persia classic [b]The good:[/b] - Great art style! Like a living Frazetta/Harryhausen hybrid. - Combat is gory and satasfiying. Enemies get carved up and so do you. - Lots of Boobs [b]The Bad:[/b] - Many game breaking bugs. - Controls don't appear to be properly mappable, a gamepad is a must. - Combat is clunky at times, many enemies love to stun lock you. Enemies can be pushed off screen at times too. - Annoying bug where the narrator keeps repeating himself nonstop about how fun it is to dismember. - Poor translations and very little explanation in some areas. [b]The Verdict:[/b] "An unpolished gem" If you can overlook the many flaws in this game, you will have many fun hours of cleaving through dungeons and saving damsils in distress from horrible monsters. The developers seem to actually be addressing these issues and steadily patching it, So this game may yet shine.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 15, 2016

  [b]Could have been a great piece of camp.[/b] Age of Barbarian is one of those flawed games that has an undeniable charm to it. It's janky, clunky and you can tell a lot of shortcuts were taken in its presentation. Nevertheless, it's hard to fault it for these shortcomings, 'cause it does look like some heart went into this. That's why it's so frustrating to see what state the game is in right now, weeks after it's been released, especially keeping in mind this is supposed to be some sort of re-release/definitive version. I'd have gladly given Age of Barbarian a thumbs up, were it not for the countless game-breaking bugs one can encounter simply playing through the game as intended. For instance, it was not uncommon for me to run into bugs that halted my progression. As you make your way through the levels, you occasionally stumble into rooms where you're supposed to kill all the enemies first before you can continue. A very common trope in videogames. That's why it's so baffling that this game can't even get this mechanic consistently right. Multiple times now, I've encountered issues where the invisible barriers on each side of the room wouldn't switch off because the final enemy wasn't registered as killed. I've even seen my progression broken because I walked out of a room and my character simply failed to transition to the next screen, leaving him stranded in a dark void of nothingness. Encountering a bug like this means redoing the whole level again, which can get extremely tedious. Couple this with very finicky platforming and avoiding (sometimes hilariously cheap) traps with very stiff controls, and it becomes an excercise in sheer frustration. Yet somehow, I kept playing, determined to see through it all. After many hours of secret hunting (meanwhile keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't have to constantly redo levels because of glitches) and dying to broken bosses over and over again to eventually succeed in killing them by finding that one certain way to stunlock their asses (as that's great game design and definitely feels rewarding for the player [b]*cough*[/b]), I finally made it to the end boss... who is literally broken because of a scripting issue. Which means I'll have to wait for a patch to even be able to complete the game. In short, I recommend you not put yourself through the same frustration as I did and just wait 'till this game is properly patched. It really pains me to vote it down, as there truly is something to enjoy here, but I can not in good faith recommend Age of Barbarian to anyone right now. Luckily the devs do seem to be actively working on new patches, so there is still a chance this will turn into a campy little gem. I'll update my review accordingly.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 25, 2016

  Age of Barbarian is a game I've wanted to like for a long time, and thanks to the extended cut version and the speedy patching from the developers, I'm now fully able to enjoy it and I wish to tell you why, as well as invite you to try it out yourself. The original Age of Barbarian game from several years ago was a neat concept, but it was also virtually unplayable due to a myriad of issues and I never got too far in it. If that is the game you are thinking this is, know that this version is much, much better. Control is tightened up and performing attacks, dodges. and blocks all feel much easier now (especially with some patches the dev has released). The platforming works well this time, though I did still have a couple of instances where I would fall through platforms when I tried to grab onto them. Still, the few that I mentioned to the devs were fixed quickly and the couple I didn't mention resulted in less than a minutes loss, so nothing too bad. The world map is now manageable and easy to figure out, instead of a jumbled mess that was difficult to navigate. Basically, every inch of Age of Barbarian has been polished up to make this not just a viable game to beat, but a fun one to play. So, the question now is, what does the game play like. Well, people say that it plays a lot like the classic Barbarian games on European PC's, but being an American who grew up playing consoles, I have yet to try those games (other than brief dalliances with Amiga emulation). My frame of reference would something more akin to a 2d side scrolling Souls game (Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodbourne, that type). Perhaps not 100% that way, but the traversal still rewards careful negotiation (especially later on when insta-kill traps make their appearance), the combat is based on timing and watching animations and minding your stamina meter, and running up to an enemy while wildly mashing will usually get you nowhere (though once you get powerful enough, you kinda can get away with that for most enemies). The basic gameplay flow is that you go to an area that is usually mildly maze-like, killing enemies in your path, traversing the occasional environmental hazard, and looking for secrets or the exit. The first three levels have hidden maidens that need rescuing, and they are in secret places that are out of the way and lead to different and more difficult boss battles. Find the maidens, defeat the bosses, go to the next level - that is the basic gameplay loop for the early parts of the game, and it works quite well, especially when the game has a fair amount of playability in two selectable characters. The two selectable characters are Sheyna (the female warrior) and Rahaan (the guy). The levels are the same, but their starting stats are slightly different and they have different stories, though with the same basic goals of rescue maidens and kill bad guy. You can choose who you'll start with...but let's be honest, you'll be starting with Sheyna (as you should), and this is a good idea since the devs have put the most attention into her campaign (as they should). I'll be perfectly frank here...if blood and gore and full-frontal nudity and sex aren't something you want in a game, then this game may not be for you. There is a option to blur out the nudity (enabled by default, be sure to change that in the options), but nudity is just one of the many over the top aspects of this game. People getting their heads chopped open and their brains falling out, dongs getting sliced off, implied (but not shown) tentacle sex, naked women tied up and carried off, traps that kill you in graphic ways; basically, there's a reason you won't be seeing this game on console, and I actually wouldn't be surprised if the devs had to release an external patch for the game to add some of the content the fans (including me) have been asking for that they seem happy to add on (but that Steam might not allow). I also want to give a shout-out to the dev team for their quick turn around in patching bugs and other issues. The reason I didn't do this review earlier was that I kept having issues beating the game, due to a somewhat buggy state the game launched in. This being said however, the devs were putting out new patches everyday for awhile and were clearly watching the forums to see what issues were most pertinent at the time. To post in a forum about a bug you've found and then to have that specific bug fixed within 48 hours is a positive that shows the devs care about their players, and I wish more devs followed this example (though I understand that most games are a fair amount larger than this one, I still don't see Crion Soft doing something like in Arkham Origins where they publicly stopped fixing bugs so they could sell you DLC). While this game launched moderately buggy, I'll still have no problem buying their next game day one (whether it's Age of Barbarian Arena or AOB 2), because I feel confident that any problems that do pop up will squashed quickly. To wrap things up, while some aspects of this game may be a bit clunky, it's impressive just how far it has come from its original release years ago, and how it has become a game that isn't just an neat attempt by a small dev studio (the credits list less than ten names, and it looks like one person did the bulk of the work) or as a showcase for graphic content, but a genuinely fun game that I can wholeheartedly recommend. If you want a slower-paced action game, or were a fan of games like Prince of Persia, Out Of This World (Another World), or From Software's Souls games, then this game should be right up your alley. Keep in mind the content if that is something you'll be worrying about and you should have a great time.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 25, 2016

  A real guilty pleasure, and a slice of nostalgic hack-n-slash made with love - I've got to give thumbs up for this game - it does exactly what it set out to do. I was a huge fan of the Barbarian/Barbarian 2 games back in the glorious days of 8 bit computer gaming, and this game captures the atmosphere, difficulty and slightly janky controls of that style of 2d gaming fantastically well. This isnt an AAA game, but for the price it offers a lot of fun nostalgia, with a lot of surprisingly adult content. It plays and feels like Barbarian 2, but the reasonably high def graphics (which mostly seem to be sprites made from 3d Poser shots) are at least a welcome alternative to all the retro pixel art indie games out there. If you're a fan of the old classic Frazetta/Vallejo/Royo barbsploitation fantasy art, this game is like playing through a sequence of artworks. Nudity all over the place, stupidly over the top dismemberments, massively impractical armor, cheesy as hell narration (with an amazingly awesome voice) and surprisingly majestic looking background locations. Also I think I've chopped off more actual penises than heads in my time playing, which was surprising. The game was -incredibly- buggy on release but the developer deserves massive praise for releasing what seems like a new patch every 2 days since release, and it seems the vast majority of gamebreaking bugs are all gone now - certainly in the 10+ hours of play I've encountered literally ZERO bugs on my system (though cannot speak for everyone). They also seem committed to adding extra little bits of features and content in alongside the bugfixes, like additional cutscenes or improved gore mechanics. I have no qualms recommending this to anyone that wants to relive the gaming years of old with a modern day graphical update. I'm having a lot of fun with it, it seems like it's constantly being updated, and for the price it's definitely been worth the hours I've had with it. Do note that the difficulty of a couple of sections can be very frustrating (mostly a couple of specific bosses that can oneshot you incredibly easily, which isnt great with the style of control scheme this game has) but I remember equally frustrating moments back in my youth playing Barbarian 2, so if you don't mind an hour smacking your head against a boss until you beat it by a combination of pixel perfect timing or some good RNG you'll find a lot that's rewarding here. Sometimes you just want to watch a glorious 70s B-movie instead of an overproduced Hollywood A-rank blockbusters, and this is exactly what Age of Barbarian is.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 14, 2016

  Purchased and played first time with Patch 1.6.5 So - I never wrote a Steam-review so far, and also never bought a game from the Indie-section - so double-premier for me ^^ But this game - it really surprised me. Yep, it is not a Triple-A-Game, it was only made by one (!) developer. But, in contrast to a lot of the Greenlight-games flooding Steam this game is one of the rare examples where you can really see: The dev has some passion for this. And has put actual WORK into it! And he knows about the subject of "80"-sword and sorcery. The game takes so many influences from artwork like Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo etc, names and concepts of the villain, his minions, his witch are taken almost directly from Ralph Bakshi's underrated "Fire and Ice" - check it out! But it also never feels lazyly taking these things, but more like paying hommage to it, and it was quite fun to me to find these little hommages and it made me grin quite a bit. Also of course Conan the Barbarian. Scantily clad maidens about to be sacrificed and rescued from hideous monsters? Got that here! Bloody gore, executions and - yep, plenty of nudity? Also check! Gameplay, which is of course most important? I was expecting it to be just "running left to right, spam one attack". But the levels are surprisingly not that linear. To find everything (and I haven't found all secret still), you have to really explore the levels. Also the fights are fun - you get more combos to use as you level up, and different combos lead to different dismemberments - and killing the apemen bloodily is half the fun! There are also some surprises towards the end game (do you like dinosaurs? wanna fly? ^^), and teh enemies later, well, you really need to know how to use certain combos by then - always remember rule one when dealing with undead! The bosses were okay as well, sometimes you need to recklessly attack them, others need more pattience, and some of the later bosses almost made me rage like I was playing Dark Souls. Still I could beat the game, on lowest difficulty so far. The graphics are, well, good for this price-tag. They really bring across the vibe and feel of sword 'n sorcerey-artworks, check some of them out and compare them to the game. Especially Sheyna, the Warrior-Princess is often posing so much like she was taken directly from one of these artworks. Also - the music. The music is FANTASTIC! Really. One of my favorite soundtracks of movies is Basil Poledours' for the first Conan-Movie - and this game does it perfectly as well. It's epic, heroic, pumping, really carrying the action. And the voice-over of the main-narrator is also cheesy fun and ober-the-top, making you smile... The other voices however...especially the females - I suppose those are from some speech-program or the worst voice-actresses in history ^^ There are only a few cutscenes with Sheyna speaking but...its a bit cringy, but I endure it! ^^ I almost ran into no bugs at all. One crash after 8 hours of play or so. Also one area in the jungle where I always fell through the stairs, but nothing else really, at least for me. And however - I WILL be honest here: Yep, the main thing that made me buy was of course Sheyna. How many hames do we get nowadays with a heroine dressed like this, in these politically correct times? Flimsy loincloth, nipple-protectors and bare feet, but wielding a large sword? I would LOVE to have a game the scope of Skyrim with these themes, but alas... So - yep, I recommend it to everyone who loves this genre of sword and sorcery, without Elves and Dwarves, but half-nude girls, strong barbarians, monsters, dinosaurs, blood and gore. It is a nice game to play when you are looking for some release, or don't want to play something "big". Tune in, slay some monsters, watch Sheyna bath under a waterfall in all her glory, worse ways to spend time ^^ And if you also have a little bit of a foot-fetish *coughs* .... I initially wanted to wait for a sale for this, but I am glad I didn't now. The dev really deserves my money for this, and I hope he will some day get AoB 2 out. And the spin-off "Arena" is already on my list to watch, will probably buy that one as well!