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[Bullet Club]

Evil is afoot in Menhir Forest. The druids, the caretakers of the woods, are troubled: their archdruid has disappeared under deeply suspicious circumstances, and a cancerous growth of purple cysts is spreading, carrying corruption and sickness wherever they appear. It takes a special kind of hero to save the day. Or maybe more than one.

Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest is a labor of love from the co-creators of the critically acclaimed Legend of Grimrock series. Druidstone is a tactical, single-player, turn-based roleplaying game, which combines the best qualities of modern RPGs with the elegance of tactical boardgames. Every action, every turn counts as you control your party of heroes through handcrafted, challenging missions with varying, and often surprising, objectives.

Set in a unique fantasy world, Druidstone is filled with ancient lush forests, standing stones, snow-topped mountains, deadly creatures and puzzle-ridden ruins. And somewhere in the middle of all of this, caught in the flow of events, are Aava, the archdruid's daughter, who must now shoulder his responsibilities, Leonhard, a warden with a mysterious past and a lethal destiny, and Oiko, the failed Red Priest who is living proof that one may be very smart without being particularly wise. Along the way, they meet companions and villains, whose unique personalities and abilities make every encounter memorable.

Key Features

• A tactical turn-based and tile-based battle system where every action and every turn counts.
• Upgrade the abilities of your heroes – your upgrade choices have a dramatic impact on the characters' capabilities!
• Obtain upgrade gems by completing missions and discovering hidden treasures.
• 35 challenging, hand-crafted missions with playtimes ranging from 15 minutes to 45 minutes.
• Solve devious non-combat puzzle levels to gain extra upgrade resources.
• Find lost shipments to gain access to the best gear in Steelface's Emporium of Curios.
• A gripping, fantastic story of love, death and responsibility centered around the main characters of Aava, Leonhard and Oiko.
• A unique fantasy setting that combines the best elements from western RPGs, JRPGs and tactical boardgames in unexpected ways.
• Play custom missions created by others, or make your own campaigns with the Druidstone Level Editor (available as a post-release update).
• Total playtime ranging from 15 to 20 hours.

The Legend of Grimrock devs are back with Druidstone, a new tabletop-inspired tactical RPG

Druidstone: The Secret of Menhir Forest is out on May 15, and we talked to its creators about moving on from Grimrock.

www.pcgamer.com

That wasn't the first dungeon escapade I just barely scraped through in Druidstone: The Secret of Menhir Forest, a new tactical RPG from the creators of Legend of Grimrock. Druidstone is out on May 15, and though it's not a first-person, grid-based dungeon crawler, it shares much of the DNA that made the Grimrock games so good. The lush fantasy art style, stirring orchestral soundtrack, and carefully balanced level design all survived the transition to a strategic top-down RPG.

Although the art style is similar, Druidstone takes place in a different fantasy universe than Grimrock, including a different tone. The writing in the Grimrock games was mostly limited to scribbled notes, but Druidstone features numerous cutscenes between my small party of heroes, the druids we work for, and the red priests we fight against.

While Grimrock was clearly inspired by classic grid-based dungeon crawlers, Druidstone owes much of its tactical gameplay to tabletop RPGs and board games, such as Dungeons & Dragons and HeroQuest. "We are avid board game players and Druidstone is certainly inspired by many of them," says Häkkinen. "We really like the compactness of board games, the small numbers, and the emergent complexity that arises from the seemingly simple rules."

As a big fan of Gloomhaven, a popular tactical RPG board game, I was delighted to see some major similarities in Druidstone. Each of my three party members have basic attacks and special abilities and spells they can perform a limited number of times each battle, not unlike the per-rest abilities in D&D or loss cards in Gloomhaven. The warden’s whirlwind strike hits all adjacent enemies, but figuring out when to expel its only use is often an agonizing decision.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Nice post OP, I loved Legends of Grimrock so this will definitely be a pick up for me.

 

[DiscoJer]

Steam can be so puzzling sometimes. I go to the page for this game and it says "Is this gave relevant to you? It doesn't look like anything else you've played." And yet most my games are turn based strategy games or RPGs, including a number of tactical RPGs.

Anyway, will probably pick this up eventually. I dunno at $25, though. The thing that scares me is the mention of boardgames. I really don't like RPG/boardgames on the PC. (I've got Talisman and a couple others, and they are just clunky to play on a PC compared to the actual boardgame in real life)

 

[Slings and Arrows]

It has a Divinity original sin vibe to it. Looks good. On the wishlist it goes. TY op!

 

[dust bunny]

Never heard of this one, but I loved both grimrock games. Will be picking this up when it releases tonight, thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Lanrutcon]

Want. Want want.

"A tactical, turn-based RPG" aaaaand that's really all you had to say.

 

[Bullet Club]

Steam can be so puzzling sometimes. I go to the page for this game and it says "Is this gave relevant to you? It doesn't look like anything else you've played." And yet most my games are turn based strategy games or RPGs, including a number of tactical RPGs.

It does the same thing for me. It's something Valve need to fix up, although it's not a major deal.

 

[Bullet Club]

It's on GOG, DRM-free.

GOG.com

Download the best classic and new games on Windows, Mac & Linux. A vast selection of titles, DRM-free, with free goodies and 30-day money-back guarantee.

www.gog.com

 

[Bullet Club]

15 minute gameplay video: