I’ve been sucked back into Bohemia, and man is it amazing, Jesus Christ be Praised, Henry’s come to see us!
I’m excited about this game again, and I guess if you haven’t tried this game, this may serve as some more info to decide on whether it’s worth the purchase, 3 years after launch.
I think some of the balance patches for difficulty has swung back to middle-ish. FYI: on launch, we moaned it was too easy. They patched it, then it was too hard, We moaned again, and then they finally toned it down a tad. Now, I think it’s suitably tough in a duel, and ramps up in difficulty when faced with a gang bang of 6 enemies, as well as how well armoured they are.
It’s probably important to highlight, that Henry is supposed to feel like an uncoordinated buffoon when you start. It’s not that the game is clunky. That is the point. As you level, you begin to feel more comfortable and accomplished, not to mention, you as the gamer, also become more skilled at playing the game. I feel, many couch reviews, missed this point, because they simply didn’t play far enough to experience the definite improvement in how Henry moves and fights, over time.
Been busying myself with DLC content: A Woman’s Lot, where you play as Theresa, during the initial attack on Skalitz. It plugged some missing parts of the story. Overall, quite nice actually. It’s a mix of walking simulator and stealth game as she’s just not supposed to be a fighter at all. This also unlocks the possibility of using a dog, in the main game. Which helps immensely through distraction, when outnumbered in some god forsaken forest.
Finished the From the ashes DLC. Pretty satisfying to rebuild Pribyslavitz from nothing. And once you’re done, it’s pretty much a new home and free money. You just need to wait for time to pass. I do like that they put DLC gear behind certain choices of buildings, which gives some incentive to actually do the DLC, and they pull in old characters from your story, that can be used to populate your town.
At some point, either a patch or a DLC added tournaments hosted by Sir Hanush. It is excellent. This game’s combat shines in duels, and this content rewards with a full plate armour set of gear.
Taking my time on the Band of Bastards DLC. It’s awesome hunting skelms, and they’ve packed some new gear behind these missions too.
Once I’ve collected all the new gear, and possible found all the items from treasure maps, I’ll probably try hardcore mode. I fully expect to get my ass handed to me.
I’m pleased to report, a lot of the bugs from the 1st year of release seem fixed. The game is fairly heavy on resources, both CPU and GPU. You will need at least a 6 core CPU. FPS can vary wildly, especially in towns. The town of Rattay is still the worst part of the whole map, dropping the graphics settings helps a lot, and usually still looks good. Because of this, the town of Rattay makes for a decent gauge of performance. So, aim for 60fps in this town, and you should be good for most other locations or situations in the game, throughout the story. That said, you’re mostly going to be doing house keeping and inventory or life management in that town.
This is one of, if not the most accurate historical FPS RPG’s to ever be built. The architecture is on point, the clothing and gear is almost identical. There is no magic. Groups of enemies are exponentially more difficult to deal with, than one. This adds a level of fear, when you’re in the countryside, where ambushes are everywhere. Plenty of superstition and religious atmosphere paints a believable world. And the world is glorious. If you ever want to be impressed about a crafted virtual world, walk from one end of the map to the other. Side missions, vary widely, and I’d rate the uniqueness in some of these missions, up there with the best. And finally the main story, is actually damn cool. You feel like you’re part of history.
This gets a rating of 
That’s enough to give you diabetes and leave you wanting more.