Reviews

• gamedeal user

  May 4, 2014

  Picked it up on a whim. Was not expecting much. Happily surprised. Out of seemingly nowhere difficulty spikes aside- really am enjoying this little indie jewel. Haven't finished it yet, tho. 7/10
• Lil' Devil Wednesday

  Jan 13, 2023

  I actually played this a lot as a kid. Going back to it is just as enjoyable. Highly recommend giving it a shot! <3
• gamedeal user

  Apr 23, 2017

  Okay, so... This game was alright. For what it is - a hack and slash with little in the way of strategy or tactics - it's fairly decent. You play as Reaper, the 'Dark One', acting as a sellsword between the colonizing Imperials and the native Wilderlings. You basically play all sides against each other for coin, and the only meaningful contribution you can make is how much money you receive at the end of the mission. The story is mildly interesting but too broken up. The tribes are not each fleshed out enough, and the Imperials really just seem like colossal assholes no matter what they do. There's a very downer plot twist near the end that just makes no sense at all, and the ending itself is unsatisfying. The controls are clunky and unintuitive, and it's just... ugh. All in all, for what it is - a port of a mobile game to PC - it's decent, I guess. But if you want to buy it, wait for it to go on sale for like 70% off or something before you do. Don't buy it at full price and waste your money.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 12, 2018

  I had tried this game a good while ago on mobile, and as it was the free version, I was only able to play it up to a point and had to pay to get farther. So, I was surprised to see it available here and got it so that I could complete the game. That wasn't necessarily a mistake. The art style in this game is very simple and enjoyable, and the music, though lacking in quantity, is certainly decent enough to hear for extended periods of time. The main story is enjoyable as well, and was mostly the reason that I stayed invested in continuing the game. On the other hand, the bulk of the game becomes increasingly annoying as the encounters, which can be randomly found on your way through most quests, feature bullet-hell enemies vs you as a melee fighter who has to use up rage to catch up to enemies who can run away faster than your running speed and can turn back to hit you on a dime. This is worse for the flying enemies, which can hover over pits, making fighting them even more of a hassle. [spoiler] In the end, one eventually finds that the game becomes unnecessarily long and tedious as one of the final quests has you fight several tough encounters in a row, and that can include any random encounters you happen upon. Also, for those interested, the final boss after that quest can be cheesed with the dash ability. For the most part, anyway. [/spoiler] So, despite having a good story and nice visuals, the game play just gets too frustrating for me to really recommend. I'm glad I was able to go back and actually play the entire game, but in the end completing the game was more of a chore than it really should have been.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 22, 2021

  Cute little game. Sadly, the controls are not good. PC and mouse -> Map is okay, combat isn't good Gamepad -> Combat is okay, map is horrible.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 8, 2014

  Guilty of being an impulsive buyer, this is one of the few games I've bought on a whim that has surprised me greatly. Fun and fast enough and mildly complex enough to keep me intrigued. It's cheap, buy it already!
• gamedeal user

  Feb 8, 2014

  If I had to compare this to any other game, I would say it is most similar to Dust. Sidescrolling hack and slash platformer with quests and random encounters on a world map. Haven't explored other game modes, but exploring the wilderness and playing the story is pretty fun. Good art.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 9, 2014

  Last month Android and iOS users were treated to Reaper – Tale of a Pale Swordsman, a side-scrolling action rpg akin to Rogue Legacy on the PC. Reaper however plays a lot more like a traditional RPG than the aforementioned, forgoing the rouge-like elements of its inspiration. While it does effectively utilize many rpg elements well, it’s definitely not perfect. However, developers Hexage of Radiant Defense notoriety aren’t kidding themselves and only ask $5 for their PC port. All in all it’s absolutely worth the time and money. The core of the title is the combat, a 2d hackfest of the slowest kind. While you would imagine a title like this to warrant flashy moves and twitch gameplay, it has a very slow deliberate pace which can be attributed to its mobile roots. While your movement speed is upgradable as you level up, the game still sports a pacing better suited for a touchscreen than a battlestation. That being said once you get used to the deliberate pacing the game actually tends to open a little. While we are keeping in mind that this is pretty much a direct port of the mobile title, there were a few gripes we have. First and foremost is the inclusion of an “auto attack”. For a mobile game this feature makes sense, but the fact that it was not made optional for the PC port hurts this title, especially due to the fact that it’s the catalyst of the games combat system. As you walk up to enemies without pressing any button whatsoever your character will be begin chopping away... [url=http://thumbthrone.com/reviews/reaper-tale-of-a-pale-swordsman-lands-on-steam/]Read the full review at Thumbthrone.com.[/url]
• gamedeal user

  Feb 9, 2014

  Lets start with what I didn't like with the game. 1. Controls: -The Map interaction really shows that this was made for a touchdevice to begin with, it's a thing to get used to but annoying when you are new to the game. - Combat is a just watching the game play itself as you will auto attack instantly and consistently as soon as an enemy is comes close. You have your Manual attacks that is an Uppercut or a Slam (downward) attack but they are weak unless you wait long enough for your auto-attack to build up enough rage (skulls on the top) to make them stronger. This is fine for a touchgame when you have a limited amount of "buttons" to use to not disturbe you visual of the screen for the gameplay but a huge flaw when you have an actual controller to play with. For me this was a really fun draining aspect of the control. Otherwise the movement is very solid and responsive and you can get a really good flow (wich is needed with combat mechanics mentioned above. Graphics, sound were all good though. Story I can't say much about since I didn't get very far in to the game due to the offputting controls. If I had the choice again then I would rather have picked this up on an IOS device rather than getting it here for PC. All the positive feedbacks in this review area fooled me though. Maybe I will give this another chance later but not right now. Wether or not this will be helpful to you I can't say. Just be sure to know what you are paying for, the controls are a major thing to consider if seeking a fun little game to play. This is just way to casual for my taste to be played on a PC with a controller.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 10, 2014

  This game is a bit of a strange experience for me. I WANT to like it, but it constantly decides to be frustrating in exactly he wrong ways. I've seen reviews that say this game required skill, I found the opposite. Skill took the back seat, and instead luck was the ruler of the day. For those who don't want to read the long version, I'd say this: if I'd paid more than the $5 I got it for, I'd feel ripped off. As it is, this game is very flawed execution of a good idea, which still manages to have short stretches of good fun. The fairly unforgiving nature of the game, what with no real defense options makes it somewhat of a strange sell for casual gamers (which seems to be the target audience), but hey, seems to be working for a lot of people according to other reviews. Can't say that I agree with how many people recommend the game. So it basically seems that Reaper was meant to be a bit like an RPG lite, where you could play a few quests and have a bit of fun, not having to get too bogged down in a really in-depth game. Well, right there I'll say that if you like the kind of complex stories that RPG's are generally known for, this story is gonna feel a bit like "Plot, what Plot?" There basically isn't a plot. I will refer to the character as "The Pale Swordsman", since he has no consistent name or title so far in the game. This may change later, but honestly, the point is relatively moot as the gameplay is so flawed, but I thought I'd mention the story early, since there's little to say. However, enough fluff, time for some crunch. First problem, the auto attack. It does not trigger nearly as much as it should. It feels like the Pale Swordsman is using a prison shank, because you have to get so close you could just about whisper in their ear. Which is strange, seeing as you're effectly using a buster sword, and I'm clearly within range, as I can trigger the uppercut or the slam, and it'll hit, but because of how the rage skulls work, this is not the way you should be playing, as these skills are significantly weaker with no skulls, so you have to rely on the auto hitting, which is less than reliable. This is probably to do with the game being a port from mobiles, but honestly, if you're gonna release a PC version, you should at least make use of the fact they have buttons. Second problem, the controls generally. In short, the controls feel strange and imprecise. To elaborate, the game feels like the character is trapped in a world where the air has the consistency of treacle. Everything is very slowed down. More annoying still, I can't seem to stop bouncing off stuff... which wouldn't really be a problem, except that about 70% of things you're able to bounce off do damage. And it is not often that it's apparent this will happen. The thorns on those vines are EXTREMELY subtle. Tangentially, things in the background, like braziers and cauldrons of hot coal should not hurt you in the way they do, especially when they don't hurt ANYTHING besides you. Though back to the controls point, it's often difficult to even tell when you're going to bounce. Why do I bounce off the normal ground when I'm using the whirling blade jump attack? Even sillier, why do I *sometimes* bounce off the Ground, and even the AIR? If it happened reliably one way or the other, it would be fine, but you can't rely on it. This will be a point later. Also, the Charge attack triggers WAY too easily. Which again, wouldn't necessarily be so bad, since it's the only way to get anywhere in a hurry... but with pits that do 50 damage (in a game where your base health is 100), you end up triggering the charge, when you don't want to. Which at best wastes a Rage Skull, and at worst makes you go down a pit and lose roughly half your HP. Third and Last major gameplay problem: the Enemies. Basically all of them. You get ridiculous situations where you try (or as previously stated, don't try) to use your charge attack and charge into the back of a charging boar... only for you to be damaged by the arse of a retreating boar... Are they wombats? Do they have an armour-plated rear? But then you have the nigh-bullet hell amount of projectiles that are sent around the battlefield... and wouldn't you know it, you have no dodge roll, dash or any kind of reliable defense aside from the jump, which feels you're on the moon... and with the bouncing problem mentioned earlier... This got to be ridiculous when I was faced by a helicopter, which shoots seeker missiles... and I had to have an aerial duel with it over a strip of wooden palisade... The unreliability of the Air bouncing I said about? Yeah, anytime I didn't bounce of the air or the helicopter, I ended up falling onto the palisade and taking damage from the palisade, unless I used the charge in midair to save myself. Which of course wasted a Rage Skull, because I can't choose to only use the charge as an evasive dash. Instead, I basically have to use the weak version of the Buzzsaw jump attack to slowly whittle away health. Except when I glitch and cling to the helicopter like Spiderman... then I unleash auto-attack blades of fury, before dying because I can't tell I'm being hit (as it's just shotgunning me with it's smaller weapons). So to sum up, nice idea, very flawed execution, tests for storyline came back negative, controls feel strange, when I die I feel cheated. The game doesn't do much to endear itself to me, so even when I try to like it, it just saps my enthusiasm.