Info about Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness:

Official game description:
  
**_Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness._** Explore a land plagued by war, pestilence and mysterious abductions, and uncover the hidden legacy of your birth. Recruit powerful allies to your cause; achieve your goals through sorcery, stealth, a silver tongue or brute force; and discover the truth of the _**Black Geyser**_.  
Developed by a small indie team and inspired by cRPG classics like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, _**Black Geyser**_ features challenging real time tactical combat with pause, deep lore and memorable companions, all set in a sprawling, unique fantasy world.  
_**Black Geyser**_ is set in Yerengal, a world where dark gods have brought nothing but venality and greed. For centuries, the Devil-god Rothgor has spread fear and terror, waging war upon the mortal races. Eventually banished, the nation of Isilmerald has enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity. Yet discontent has begun to fester once more, and a bloody civil war is brewing between the capital Isilbright and the wealthy mining town of Deron-Guld.  
Encounter and recruit a team of unique characters to join your adventure. Each has their own story, motivations and abilities: who will aid your party?  
Travel to Isilbright and the shadowed mines of Deron-Guld or uncover pavillions of the Rillow. **_Black Geyser_** invites you to explore a rich world filled with unique enemies, strange creatures and even stranger characters.  
Choose from 5 playable races (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Feldegug and Rillow) and 13 unique classes, from 4 unique class groups (Priest, Outlaw, Warrior, and Wizard). Customize your attributes, portrait, skills and abilities.  
Watch combat play out in real time with the option to pause the action and issue new orders when needed. Control the battlefield using dozens of spells and skills, all while customising your party with a wide range of weapons, armors and items.  
**_Black Geyser_** features a unique Greed mechanic. The choices you make will either advance the cause of the Goddess of Greed, or maintain the flickering flame of hope to impact directly on the game world.

Release date: 17 Mar, 2022

Categories: RPG, Real-time with Pause, Tactical Combat, Character Customization, Party-based Combat, Choice-based Narrative, Open-World Exploration, Crafting


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Authentic Old-School CRPG Experience (weight 0.97): Players consistently praise the game for faithfully capturing the essence of classic CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity, offering familiar gameplay mechanics, isometric design, and a nostalgic feel. It's seen as a spiritual successor and a love letter to the genre.
- Solid & Improving Game Quality (weight 0.86): The game is generally considered solid, fun, and enjoyable, especially for a debut title from the developers. Many note significant improvements since release, with good graphics, music, and a promising system, making it a worthwhile experience.
- Engaging Story & World-Building (weight 0.43): The narrative is described as interesting, engaging, and well-written, with a plot that draws players in, particularly after the initial chapters. The world-building is also highlighted as solid and immersive, contributing to the overall experience.
- Detailed Character & Party Management (weight 0.3): Players appreciate the detailed character creation, diverse dialogue options, and the ability to play good or evil with distinct paths. The companion system is also well-received, offering interesting characters with their own quests and opinions.
- Unique Greed Morality System (weight 0.24): The game's distinctive 'Greed' morality system is a standout feature, influencing player decisions, party dynamics, and the world. It's praised for its intriguing twist on traditional alignment and its impact on the narrative.
- Rich Class & Spell Variety (weight 0.22): The game offers a wide array of classes, including dual and triple classing options, along with a generous and varied spell system. This allows for creative character builds and satisfying spellcaster gameplay.
- Good Graphics & Voice Acting (weight 0.22): The graphics are considered good, especially for an old-school isometric game, with nice environments and lighting. The voice acting, though sometimes sparse, is generally of high quality and contributes positively to the experience.

Common complaints:
- Excessive and Frequent Loading Screens (weight 0.95): Players report extremely long and frequent loading times, often consuming a significant portion of playtime (up to 30%). These issues are exacerbated by small map areas, constant transitions, and a perceived increase in load times during longer play sessions, severely disrupting immersion and overall enjoyment.
- Shallow and Unpolished RPG Experience (weight 0.78): The game is criticized for its overall mediocrity, lacking the depth, polish, and engaging mechanics found in comparable RPGs. Reviewers found the world, story, and character progression to be shallow, uninspired, and often feeling like an unfinished product.
- Weak and Unengaging Story/Pacing (weight 0.62): The main story is consistently described as bland, unintriguing, and unoriginal, often relying on generic tropes. Pacing issues, an incomplete narrative, and a lack of meaningful character development contribute to a disengaging experience, with many plot threads left unresolved.
- Repetitive and Uninspired Quests (weight 0.43): Side quests are frequently criticized for being repetitive fetch tasks, lacking depth, and having little to no impact on the main story or other quests. Companion quests are also noted as being dull, abrupt, and poorly integrated, contributing to a sense of chore-like gameplay.
- Game-Breaking Bugs and Technical Issues (weight 0.36): Players report numerous bugs, including game-breaking ones that prevent progression, especially near the end. Other issues include characters getting stuck, items disappearing, and general lack of polish, indicating an unfinished state even years after release.
- Limited and Unappealing Character Customization (weight 0.35): Character creation offers very few visual choices and lacks the ability to preview in-game appearance. Character progression is deemed uninteresting and overly simplistic, particularly for fighter classes, leading to a lack of player investment in character development.
- Clunky Combat and Poor Animations (weight 0.29): Combat is described as chaotic, simplistic, and unexciting, with clunky and 'goofy' animations. The real-time combat system is often found to be frustrating and lacking tactical depth, making fights feel unmanageable and boring.
- Unrewarding Crafting and Skill Systems (weight 0.25): The crafting system, particularly for potions and powders, is deemed useless, tedious, and unrewarding, often requiring excessive grinding for minimal benefit. The overall skill system is also criticized for being boring, with many skills feeling worthless or lacking impact.
- Shallow and Uninteresting Companions (weight 0.25): Companions are generally perceived as lacking depth, personality, and engaging dialogue. Many feel like generic archetypes or tools rather than developed characters, with some even lacking personal quests or meaningful interactions.
- Poor Combat Log and Enemy Information (weight 0.12): The combat log is frustrating due to a lack of crucial information, such as enemy stats and reasons for spell interruptions. Players cannot easily see status effects on enemies, hindering tactical decision-making.
- Problematic Pathfinding and AI (weight 0.11): The game suffers from significant pathfinding issues, causing characters to get lost, block each other, and behave erratically in combat. The overall AI is considered poor, leading to frustrating and unmanageable situations.

Gameplay feedback:
- Real-time with Pause Combat (weight 0.25): The game features a tactical, party-based, real-time with pause (RTwP) combat system, reminiscent of classic CRPGs. Players manage formations, target priorities, and short action bursts, with combat rounds occurring in 5-second intervals.
- Custom Ruleset & Character Building (weight 0.21): The game utilizes a unique, custom ruleset, blending elements from Pillars of Eternity and AD&D 1e, rather than standard D&D. Players can create characters from 5 races and 13 classes, with multi-classing options and a logical attribute system, though character development for combat and non-combat skills is noted as limited.
- Unique Greed System (weight 0.15): A distinctive 'Greed' morality system tracks player avarice, influencing game dynamics, factions, and quest outcomes. This system is more complex than traditional reputation mechanics and significantly impacts the core gameplay.
- Party-Based Mechanics (weight 0.14): The game includes a robust party system with five characters, offering cohesion bonuses, passive abilities, and a separate 'party XP' bar with perks. New characters join as the game progresses, enhancing strategic depth.
- Adjustable Difficulty & Speed (weight 0.14): The game offers various difficulty levels that can be changed at any time, with 'normal' being demanding and 'hard' considered balanced by some. Players can also speed up character movement and turn progression for faster gameplay.
- Complex Crafting System (weight 0.12): The game features a detailed crafting system, particularly for potions and powders. This involves multiple steps like drying, crushing, pulverizing ingredients, and then mixing them in a cauldron, which some players find overly complex and time-consuming.
- Serviceable Companions & Quests (weight 0.1): Companions are functional, offering personalized quests through extensive dialogue choices, and romance options are available. However, quests are not marked on the map, and some are simple fetch quests lacking clear direction.
- Limited Weapon Skills & AI Issues (weight 0.07): Combat can feel one-dimensional due to limited weapon skills, with bonus moves tied directly to the equipped weapon. Players can swap between two weapons during combat, but characters frequently get stuck or take inefficient routes, indicating pathfinding issues.
- Underwhelming Spells & Main Plot (weight 0.06): Spell combat is described as underwhelming, with spells recharging after rest, similar to D&D rules. The main storyline is considered serviceable but based on a somewhat clichéd royal theme.
- Resistance-Focused Combat (weight 0.06): The ruleset heavily emphasizes % damage and effect resistances, allowing for total immunity to certain damage types for both players and enemies. This system adds a strategic layer to combat encounters.
- Learning by Outcomes & Player Choice (weight 0.06): The combat system teaches through consistent outcomes rather than explicit tutorials, incorporating an element of luck. The game emphasizes player choice and does not hold the player's hand, offering a promise of impactful decisions.
- Comprehensive Tutorial (weight 0.04): The game provides a comprehensive and slow-paced tutorial that effectively teaches all necessary elements, making it suitable for newcomers to the genre.

Performance notes:
- Minor Bugs and Glitches (weight 0.08): Most players encountered only minor, non-game-breaking bugs, such as occasional inaudible footsteps or slight pathfinding issues. These were generally infrequent and often resolvable with a simple reload, indicating a relatively stable core gameplay experience.
- Game Stability and Crashes (weight 0.07): Some players experienced significant instability, including frequent crashes (every 20 minutes) and softlocks, particularly around Chapter 4. There were also reports of the game freezing when alt-tabbing during initial loading, requiring a force-close.
- Mixed Performance and Optimization (weight 0.06): Feedback on performance is mixed. Some players report good overall performance with stable frame rates and no excessive GPU heating. However, others criticize poor optimization, noting high GPU temperatures even in menus and a general need for better optimization in future patches.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for classic CRPG fans (weight 0.63): The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy old-school isometric RPGs, particularly those reminiscent of Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Pillars of Eternity. It caters to fans of the genre looking for a similar experience.
- Wait for sales or future updates (weight 0.44): Many players advise purchasing the game during a sale, suggesting its current price might be too high for its content or state. Some also recommend waiting for further patches, DLC, or content updates to improve the experience.
- Hope for sequels and future content (weight 0.4): Players express a strong desire for sequels, DLC, and continued development from the studio. They believe the game has potential and hope future installments or updates will expand upon its world and mechanics.
- Mixed reception, cautious recommendation (weight 0.38): Player sentiment is mixed, with many recommending the game with reservations. While some find it a solid experience, others suggest it lacks zest or innovation, advising potential players to manage expectations or try other CRPGs first.
- Support the developers (weight 0.09): Several players encourage supporting the small development team, either by purchasing the game (even at full price) or by expressing good wishes, hoping it enables them to create more content or sequels.

Other player notes:
- Indie Game with Limited Resources (weight 0.55): The game is a Kickstarter-funded indie title developed by a small, new studio with limited financial resources. This context helps explain some of its rough edges and design choices.
- Functional Graphics & UI (weight 0.44): The graphics are described as low-tech, functional, and simple, adequate for immersion but not contemporary. The UI/HUD is noted to resemble Pillars of Eternity with a Baldur's Gate theme.
- Mixed Initial Reception (weight 0.42): Players have a mixed view of the game, often noting it feels 'undercooked' or 'rough around the edges' at launch. However, many acknowledge its potential and appreciate it as a first attempt from a new developer, with some finding it surprisingly good.
- Ongoing Development & Support (weight 0.19): Despite its release, the game is still actively being improved by the developers. Players appreciate the team's responsiveness and commitment to polishing the game, indicating a 'made with love' approach.
- Rich World & Tonal Variety (weight 0.11): The game features an immersive world afflicted by war, conspiracies, and a greed curse, with player choices potentially impacting its fate. The environments, quests, and music offer a wide range of tones, from jovial to grim.
- Variable Story & Writing Quality (weight 0.1): The story starts slowly but becomes more engaging over time, with some players finding it a top strength. However, the writing quality is inconsistent, ranging from good to awkward, with some cliché dialogue.
- Moderate Playthrough Length (weight 0.1): A single playthrough is estimated to be around 30-50 hours, which is considered shorter than some comparable CRPGs like Pillars of Eternity. Replayability is noted for exploring different morality arcs.
- Minor Issues & Missing Features (weight 0.09): Some players note minor issues like buggy achievements, a lack of full voice acting (though some lines exist), and the absence of certain features like moddability or full localization at launch.
- Annoying Background Music (weight 0.03): One reviewer found the background music instantly annoying, though sound effects were generally tolerable to good. This suggests a potential area for improvement in audio design.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.3): Players are highly satisfied with the game's overall quality, particularly its success in emulating the classic old-school CRPG experience, reminiscent of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Key contributors include engaging stories, diverse quests, well-designed core mechanics (like the spell and morality systems), and consistent developer updates and support. The game's charm, intuitive UI, and quality-of-life features also enhance the positive experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.2): Disappointment stems from unmet expectations, with players feeling the game falls short of classic CRPGs like Pillars of Eternity or Baldur's Gate. Common issues include excessive loading times, a bland or unexciting story, shallow characters and companions, and a lack of depth in mechanics and world-building. Many feel the game is incomplete, unpolished, or suffers from limited replay value and build options.
- Frustration (weight 0.16): Frustration is primarily driven by technical issues and poor design choices. Excessive and frequent loading times are a major complaint, severely impacting immersion and gameplay flow. Other significant causes include clunky or inconsistent UI, game-breaking bugs, poor optimization, unstable performance, and chaotic real-time combat with ineffective AI and lack of clear information.
- Excitement (weight 0.05): Players express excitement for the game's future, particularly regarding upcoming DLC releases and potential sequels. This emotion is also fueled by the game's strong initial impression, its immersive world, and the 'wow sensation' it provides, especially for those seeking a challenging and nostalgic old-school RPG experience.
- Appreciation (weight 0.04): Appreciation is directed towards the developers for their passion, honest effort, and dedication to the CRPG genre, especially as a small studio. Players value ongoing updates, well-designed gameplay systems (like the greed system and quest structure), good writing, visual design, and the game's success as a spiritual successor to Infinity Engine titles.
- Hope (weight 0.03): Hope is centered on the game's future improvements and the potential for sequels. Players wish for expanded level-up options, better optimization, a turn-based combat system, and continued growth and success for the development team, hoping they address current flaws in future patches or follow-up games.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.03): Nostalgia is a strong emotion, as the game successfully evokes the feeling of classic CRPGs, particularly Baldur's Gate and other Infinity Engine titles. Players appreciate the old-school atmosphere, music, art style, and sound design, which transport them back to their childhood gaming experiences.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Players find enjoyment in the game's overall adventure experience, its old-school style, and its accessibility. Specific elements contributing to enjoyment include solid main quests, balanced economy, engaging submechanics, and surprising quest outcomes, especially as the game progresses and the story picks up.
- Joy (weight 0.02): Joy is expressed through the sheer fun and immersive experience the game provides. Players love the game for its highly enjoyable isometric fantasy roleplaying, its atmosphere, and specific mechanics like the ability for rogues to plant items and engage in creative gameplay.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger arises from significant negative experiences, such as game-breaking bugs near the end of the game, perceived low quality, and unfixable issues. Developer excuses for performance problems and a general feeling that the game is a disappointment compared to older titles also fuel this emotion.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Players express a strong desire for specific improvements and features, such as a turn-based combat system, enhanced character customization, better graphics, and combat automation. There's also a desire for more games of this type, a larger party size, and a sequel.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation is focused on future releases and content from the studio. Players are looking forward to the developers' next game and intend to update their reviews after completing a full playthrough, indicating a hopeful outlook for future experiences.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance stems from minor but persistent issues, including bugs, poor AI, and long loading times. Other causes include a clunky UI, boring fighter class skills, and the implementation of the 'greed' mechanic, which some players find irritating.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom is caused by a perceived lack of engagement in the game's plot, which is described as linear and uninteresting. Repetitive and chore-like quests and travel, along with an unexciting overall experience from the beginning, contribute to this feeling.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arises from elements that lack clarity or logical consistency, particularly the unrealistic and nonsensical reactions of NPCs. The 'greed system' is also a significant source of confusion due to its unclear definition, understanding, and backwards implementation.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is directed towards the small indie team for their achievements with a limited budget and their responsiveness to player feedback. The support staff's quick and helpful responses also contribute to this positive sentiment.
- Neutrality (weight 0.01): Neutrality reflects an overall bland or unremarkable experience, where the game's state and content are neither exceptionally good nor bad. This emotion is tied to the game's general shortcomings and a lack of standout features.
- Encouragement (weight 0.01): Encouragement is given to other players, particularly fans of old-school RPGs, to try the game. This suggests that despite any flaws, the game holds significant potential and appeal for its target audience.
- Ambivalence (weight 0.01): Ambivalence indicates mixed feelings regarding the game's value proposition at full price and its replayability. Players are unsure if the game justifies its cost or offers enough content to warrant multiple playthroughs.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love for the game is expressed by players who deeply appreciate its success as a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate and its ability to perfectly capture the feeling of classic CRPGs, creating a strong emotional connection.}