Bard's Gold (2015)

Although it’s not as big as other roguelike/lite games, Bard’s Gold is lots of fun and challenging. The game looks great, with its pixel-based retro-inspired visuals, and it controls just as well as the bigger budget titles out there with it’s pixel-perfect precision and fast-paced action. Bard’s Gold is an addictive title – I’ve picked it up and played it four times whilst writing this review – it calls out for ‘one more try’ every time you die as it dangles the possible upgrades in front of you and promises you’ll do better next time.

Gamers who relish old-school experiences complete with unfair deaths will certainly find a lot to like about Bard's Gold.

"2D retro-inspired platformer" is something we hear a lot nowadays, this game falls into that category. We can't be the only group sick of this type of graphical style. But regardless of that, Bard's Tale doesn't really amount to anything. We've seen all of this done before and done better, so without anything unique then what's the point in playing? There isn't an end goal to the game as far as we are aware, the game just pads itself out for as long as possible, upping the difficulty instead of throwing something unique at us. Those that are much more acquainted with dungeon crawlers and platformers may enjoy this game a lot more than us, but judging from what we played, we can't say we would want to go back to it unless to wrap up the rest of the easy gamerscore. But even for those more experienced platform players, the nonsensical platforming may be far too easy.

Overall the game is a lot of fun. There’s plenty of options for people of all skill levels to enjoy the release, and there’s a lot of content to play. I liked the pixel art graphics and the catchy music. After doing several runs, and even after writing this Bard’s Gold review, I’ve continued going back to the game. It’s priced at a very reasonable $5, and, while it doesn’t have a Platinum trophy, its trophy list will keep you very busy.

Which brings me to my biggest complaint – the lack of variety. Unlike Rogue Legacy, there is only one class in Bard’s Gold, and that’s the titular Bard. This wasn’t actually that bad, since I grew to enjoy the simplistic yet hardcore gameplay. What was more frustrating was realizing that the 4th World was the last one. I felt the game was starting to hit its stride towards the end, and even thought I would unlock more worlds after the boss. Unfortunately, all you get by beating the game is the Contract of Reaper, which randomizes traps more yet gives you more money. That’s it. No real incentive to keep playing, other than unlocking and maximizing all the upgrades. Which is too bad, because despite all the things holding it back, Bard’s Gold is not half bad. The problem is that for anyone except serious fans of roguelikes, it’s not going to hold any real appeal. It’s definitely a bargain to get 3-5 hours of gameplay at $8.99, but I find it hard to recommend to anyone outside that small crowd. That said, I did actually end up enjoying my time with Bard’s Gold, and hope to see a more robust game next time from Pixel Lantern. If they can build upon what they have here and add a lot more content, their next game might be a legendary quest instead of a small diversion.