Category: PC Gaming

Someone really wanted an episode where you have to infiltrate a monastery, it seems. The problem is, this kills the pacing of the game. You just led an assault on Cuman camp and chased counterfeiters. Now you have to smuggle wine and wake up in time for morning prayer. Having godly lockpicking and speech skills by that point in the game definitely helps, though.

One of the chores in the monastery is copying books, and it demonstrates well how monks were able to produce those stupid mistakes. Good luck doing better:

Another extremely helpful skill in this game is the “Headcracker” perk. A change to one-hit-kill an opponent by simply aiming to the head is huge. Saved my life many times, for example, when the three bandings still turned up on me despite me spending a week in monastery doing those stupid quests.

At this point you discover that when Sir Radzig called you “my boy”, he didn’t mean it figuratively… And all the royalty knew about it.

After that point, some quests will auto-fail, but guess you can’t get the all 🤷‍♂️

One design principle the game kind of breaks is putting very dangerous actions alongside very casual actions. “Trade” is “E”, while “Pickpocket” is “Long press E”. “Mount horse” is “X”, while “Sick your dog on a guard” is “Long press X”. You are one long press away from jail.
Dog also allows to break the game in interesting manners. One of the random encounters is a knight that offers to duel you for a wager. Those knights are tough and well armoured. But if you unleash the dog during the duel, it will distract the knight, allowing you to land a few free blows.
Finally managed to beat the tourney. It’s difficult, as you have to go through 6 bouts, and it takes 15 minutes of real time non-stop. But it’s easier once you understand it’s all about riposte. Do it enough times, and you’ll chip through opponent’s health without taking damage yourself.

Got myself a dog. Dog is amazing, because it can fetch you rabbits you shot, that otherwise hard to find in the bushes, and it even can take down a boar.
At first I didn’t understand why meat you pick up from a deer or a boar appears as “stolen”. A funny bug? Then I understood that the game has concept of poaching.
One of the most important skills for a squire is… Lock picking. Everyone likes to store valuables in locked chests. And thief guild quests, sorry, millers quests, pay very well. Also, there’s a huge difference if you are fighting one enemy or two at the same time. And forget about fighting three. So if you manage to backstab one of them, you even your chances.
Game’s “perks” are more like “traits” in Fallout. Often they have not just positive, but also negative effects, like raising your strength, but lowering speech. Or they are mutually exclusive: you can’t get a stats bonus both in the wilderness and in vicinity of settlements. Given the fact that most bandits are in the wilderness, I picked the former. To be safe.
Some of the quests are timed, but it’s not clear that they are. The wounded in the Monastery die after a few days if not treated.

What I love about this game is the honest loot. You killed a Cuman with your sax? Now you get his helm, and his sword, and his shield, and even his blodied kaftan.

There’s a quest where two bandits are hunting for a stableboy who is a witness. I tried to face them head-on, and they obliterated me. Then I tried picking them one by one, but even one of them was too much. So I found their camp, killed one of them in his sleep, hid his body in case it spooks the other one, waited until night and kill the second one in the same manner. Lowly? Yes. But those were bad people.

Speaking of witnesses, at some point the game turns into LA Noire. You have to look for clues and question witnesses to find the bandits behind a raid. Which is good, because looking for clues means that I don’t need to fight, as my character is very bad at fighting at this point.

Magnificent. Unexpectedly cinematographic, with some cutscenes taking minutes and reminding me of Witcher a lot. The gameplay itself is more of a Operation Flashpoint and Gothic. With vague objectives that you can achieve in multiple ways and people that care about their property on many levels. Not only villagers will chase you if you try to steal something or pick a lock, but even standing by their house will alert them.

Some crimes are less obvious than others, though. For example, walking at night without a torch is a crime.

The fighting system is… different, and it also reminds me of Gothic in a way. You chose one of five different angles to attack from, and you defent by predicting from which angle your opponent will attack based on his stance.

Some opponents will also try to run away, and then you can choose if you want to let them go and on what conditions.