Developer: Iron Tower Studio
Publisher: Iron Tower Studio
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC / Steam
The Age of Decadence – Review
After being tweaked and reshaped countless times over many years, the Iron Tower Studio team finds their role-playing title The Age of Decadence fully launched and well appraised. With rich, intertwining narratives and relentless turn-based combat where the player simply cannot be the hero, the game sets itself completely apart from the RPG-genre.
Story
Once powerful empires lay in ruins, noble houses are reduced to small, crumbling towns, kept alive by the combined efforts of its inhabitants, travelers and caravans. This is the baseline narrative for The Age of Decadence but the game offers a much deeper and richer branching storylines, depending on the route the player takes. Each faction – or local guild – explore the themes of possible dangers lurking in a post-apocalyptic world such as cunning murders and plots to topple the Houses of political factions in order to gain control of towns no longer worthy.
The game features no less than eight playable classes and many more NPC’s, each with their own background stories that intertwine themselves in a large and complex network of fictional tales strengthened by historical facts. Each choice given to the player can change the course of the next action that needs to be taken which means that the narratives are so deeply intertwined, it’ll be difficult to see it all.
Graphics
In the preview we mentioned that the visual aspect of the game is outdated to a point where you will strongly believe you are playing a spin-off of the revamped version of Runescape and until this day this stays true. At the same time the game features rich details of a post-apocalyptic Roman Empire inspired fantasy world complete with decorations you often cannot interact with.
The user interface is on par with the older looking visual aspect of the game but not in a Warcraft III-type of way. The icons are clean and stylish but the user interface is cramped into a small area at the bottom but this does allow the player a much better view of their surroundings. Allowing the player to freely “roam” their surroundings with an isometric camera is a great feature but the fact remains that the camera view continues to switch back to its original state if you use the travel system frequently.
Sound
Unfortunately the sound design hasn’t changed from the previous versions. Although the instrumental soundtrack is on par with the Roman Empire theme, the overall sound design lacks creativity and punch. The combat sound design is fairly okay with the necessary grunts and metal clashing metal but the lack of voice-overs makes the game incredibly dull. Even partial voice-overs with witty remarks can make the game more enjoyable.
Gameplay
The Age of Decadence is an RPG with an unusual twist: you are not meant to deal with the brutal fights, no matter what class you go for even though there are enough “fighter” classes. The game isn’t about the combat but about the role-playing in a post-apocalyptic setting, dealing with back-stabbing plots and multiple choices while having access to a large skilltree. The points distributed in the skilltree varies from class to class and you’ll need to play the games a few times before truly understanding the meaning of each skill. While the combat is insanely difficult but not impossible, the entire design of the game is difficult to master. This steep learning curve will be appalling to most but it is also highly rewarding when you advance.
While you complete the non-linear quests in each town, you can also advance in trading and crafting skills such as blacksmithing and alchemy, both helpful in their own way for future combats and quests. If you do manage to win a fight, you’ll be able to loot the blood covered bodies. Here and there you can loot some chests but most of the decorations cannot be interacted with while this could’ve been a great feature. Nonetheless, the game is great as it is although certain aspects are certainly lacking spice whereas the gameplay does not.
Aside from offering turn-based tactical combat which is utterly relentless and will be avoided by many, the game also features multiple choices and consequences, allowing various gameplay experiences and playthroughs. In short, the game has a high replay value.
Conclusion
While it is not your average RPG, The Age of Decadence is a still a true gem in the genre with rich intertwining storylines that only grow more complex with each playthrough as you’ll learn the ropes of the difficult gameplay. The turn-based combat can be compared with many other games, including Divinity: Original Sin but the combat and bloodshed can be entirely avoided in this rich role playing environment, meaning the game is not for every player. Nonetheless the game is a masterpiece that has even more room to grow.
The Age of Decadence - Review,
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