Aarklash: Legacy is the latest strategy adventure game by Cyanide Studios. It offers a stimulating story with non-stop combat. Combat is also similar to Dark Age, allowing you to give orders and pause time. You can perform devastating combos by queuing multiple skills for your party members.
Boss encounters are especially difficult, and executing the wrong combo can result in the decimation of your party. It’s important to have a strategy when facing your enemies. Luckily, Aarklash allows you to save your progress anytime during the game. The save feature is your friend; use it frequently.
Aarklash: Legacy’s leveling system is different from traditional role-playing games. Your party members have a set number of skills that unlock as you progress through each level. Unlike traditional role-playing games where you have control over which skills your characters inherit, Aarklash uses a predetermined skill set for your party members. Each party member starts out with one standard skill, so this does limit character customization.
There is a talent tree where you can strengthen certain skills. The talent tree isn’t as diverse as some traditional role-playing games, but it does serve the same purpose. Regardless of the standard skills you start with, the talent tree is rather large in each spell category.
Depending on which skills you decide to ‘strengthen’, you can determine the fighting style used for each character in your party. As you level up, you will receive skill points that can be placed in any of the five skills your characters receive in the beginning. Aarklash has eight different character classes to choose from, but you are limited to only four at a time in your party. Even though character customization is limited, you are bound to find a character or two that you will like.
The story is a compelling tale of a power struggle between the Darklords of Acheron and the Barons of Alahan. You play the role of Nella, the leader of the Deadly Wheel Swords sent to eliminate the ‘problem’ and end the war once and for all. It’s an epic adventure that contains many twists and turns.
Aarklash’s gameplay is divided into ‘acts’ that contain large areas to explore, enemies to fight and plenty of secrets to uncover. The game also contains a large amount of narrated dialogue.
There are three lengthy acts that are packed to the brim with boss encounters, mini bosses and other random battles. This doesn’t include the incredible amount of loot and rare items you can collect. Since the looting system is randomized, you never know what you will find each time you play.
Combat can be rather difficult at times. The best way to survive is to use the right combos and to have a good strategy in place. In fact, you will find that combat becomes easier the longer you play.
When a party member falls in battle, they can be revived anytime during combat with the help of another party member. If you happen to win the battle in question, all fallen party members will resurrect on their own. However, if your entire party happens to become incapacitated, the game will end.
As mentioned earlier, it’s important to save your game frequently. It’s possible to use a party member to flee, but if you move too far out of range from your fallen party members, the game will end instantly. Luckily, none of your party members (including the main character) can permanently die.
Aarklash: Legacy is a well-rounded isometric role-playing game. It revives the old dungeon crawler formula that gamers have missed for a long time. And thanks its action and outstanding story, Aarklash: Legacy delivers an experience that role-playing fans shouldn’t miss.
James ‘Daripp3r’ Pittaro
Platform: PC
System Requirements
Minimum:
OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP PC (32 ou 64 bit)
Processor: AMD/intel dual-core running at 1,8 GHz (AMD Athlon II and Intel Core2Duo are the oldest CPU architectures recommended)
Memory: 1,5 Go for windows XP / 2 Go for Vista, Seven or 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Integrated or mobile graphic card, with at least 256MB of dedicated VRAM and with at least DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 4.0 support. ATI/AMD Radeon 3800 series and above and NVIDIA GeForce 8600 series are minimum required graphic cards
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Hard Drive: 4GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated or dedicated DirectX 9 compatible soundcard
Developer: Cyanide Studio
Publisher: Cyanide Studio
ESRB: N/A
Price: $20.99
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| The environments are absolutely stunning with rich, colorful maps and enormous areas to explore. | |
| Sound |  |
| Beautiful music and incredible voice acting. | |
| Gameplay | |
| This is turn-based combat at its finest. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| One of the most impressive turn-based role-playing games on PC today. | |
