Swords and Sandals Immortals Review Summary

A refined series entry with excellent music and solid value, but severe balance issues, rampant bugs, and poor UI and itemization hold it back.

Refined and improved series entry: Players consistently praise the game as a polished, improved version of earlier titles, with better graphics, more content, and a fresh take that respects the series' core. It is seen as a step up from older games.

Excellent music and soundtrack: The music is a standout feature, described as addicting, magnificent, and immersive, building tension during battles and providing fitting ambiance. The soundtrack is a major positive point.

Good value and worth buying: The game is considered very good and worth the money, with players recommending it as a must-buy, even in early access. It provides solid entertainment and a lot of good content.

Deep character customization options: Players highlight the comprehensive character creation system, with many races, hero classes, and elaborate customization options. This allows for a wide variety of playstyles and builds.

Engaging story and lore: The game features a magnificent story and a decent amount of lore, with incredible storytelling that adds depth. It has more story and lore compared to previous installments.

Severe balance issues: Enemies and bosses have inflated stats, often 2-3 times stronger than the player, with unfair abilities and hidden modifiers. This leads to frustrating difficulty spikes and a sense of unfairness.

Game is extremely buggy: Multiple clusters report widespread glitches, crashes, softlocks, and save file corruption, making the game barely playable. Specific issues include black rectangles, hardlocks, and crashes on button clicks.

Poor UI and itemization: The UI is atrocious, with important stats hard to find, and itemization is barebones with limited variety and unclear effects. Enchanting and forging systems are flawed, and gear scaling is poor.

RNG is frustrating: The game relies heavily on random chance, with low hit rates, unfair dice rolls, and unpredictable outcomes. Players often lose fights due to unlucky rolls, making skill less important than luck.

Unfair boss fights: Bosses have unreasonable stats, one-shot abilities, and multiple phases that break strategies. Some bosses are impossible to hit or defeat without specific builds, leading to frustration and softlocks.

Turn-based arena RPG: The game is consistently described as a turn-based arena RPG with stat progression and gear upgrades. It features turn-based combat in an arena setting, often with dungeon elements.

Dungeon exploration and adventures: The game features dungeons, map exploration, and random adventures. Players can embark on journeys through dungeons as part of the gameplay.

Character creation and customization: Players can create and customize their characters, including visual options and progression systems. This is a core feature highlighted by many reviews.

Adjustable difficulty levels: The game includes adjustable difficulty settings, ranging from story mode to hardcore options like Hellscape. This allows players to tailor the challenge to their preference.

Large explorable world: The game features a big world with a world map, allowing players to explore and travel. Map events and story progression occur as players move to different locations.

Frequent crashes and softlocks: Multiple players report random crashes, hardlocks, and freezes, including after battles and when entering menus. These issues severely impact playability.

Performance issues and stuttering: Players experience lag, stuttering, and choppy animations, with some noting long turn times possibly due to memory leaks. These performance problems detract from the experience.

Glitches and visual bugs: The game contains numerous glitches, including black rectangles covering the map, white flashes during fights, and overall instability. These visual issues are widespread.

Steam Deck performance praised: The game runs smoothly on Steam Deck with good frame rates and battery life. This is a positive aspect for portable players.

Long loading times: Several players complain about excessive loading times for a simple game, especially when starting battles. This slows down gameplay significantly.

Recommended for series fans: Many reviews recommend the game to fans of older Swords and Sandals titles, especially those who played the original flash games. Nostalgia is a key factor in the recommendation.

Not recommended by some: A few reviewers do not recommend the game, citing issues like balance problems or lack of challenge. This indicates mixed reception among some players.

Class-specific tips: Several reviews provide class-specific advice, such as starting as a warrior and distributing skills based on weapon choice. This helps players optimize their builds.

Good for turn-based strategy fans: Reviewers highlight the game's strategic and turn-based combat as a positive for players who enjoy that genre. It is recommended for those who like thinking and planning.

Good for casual play: Some reviewers recommend the game for casual play, especially at a discount. It is seen as a chill game to enjoy without deep commitment.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 20.0h.

Story completion: 5.0h.

The game starts with a steep learning curve and some pacing issues, but players typically get used to it after a few hours and then find the addictive gameplay loop and progression rewarding.

Reported time to anchor: 3h.

Friction: Lack of build information and guides; Awkward pauses and loading times; Weak early-game bows; Imbalanced early game; RNG frustration; Rough multiplayer at launch.

Unlock drivers: Learning the build system; Discovering rune enchanting; Patches and polish for multiplayer; Understanding game mechanics; Investing in effective stats.

Nostalgic Veteran: Plays single-player, often using familiar builds and comparing mechanics to older games. Motivation: Relive childhood memories and reconnect with the Swords and Sandals franchise. Stance: sale.

Curious Newcomer: Explores various game modes and builds, open to both single-player and multiplayer. Motivation: Discover a new game and enjoy the experience without preconceptions. Stance: buy.

PvP Competitor: Focuses on multiplayer, often ignoring single-player, and evaluates class balance and matchmaking. Motivation: Engage in competitive PvP battles and enjoy social multiplayer interactions. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: The review indicates a highly positive Steam Deck experience. The game runs at 60 FPS with good battery life and no reported stability issues. The only potential concern is the Denuvo Always Online requirement, but the user confirms it does not hinder gameplay on the Deck.

Polished evolution of Swords and Sandals: Reviewers frequently compare the game to earlier Swords and Sandals titles, describing it as a more polished and natural evolution of the series formula. It is seen as combining the best features of previous entries like Swords and Sandals 2 and 5.

Dedicated and responsive developer: Reviewers praise the developer, often described as a single man or small team, for their dedication, care, and responsiveness to feedback. The developer is noted for quickly fixing bugs and communicating with the community.

Early access with ongoing development: Multiple reviewers note the game is in early access, with some mentioning it is not yet fully finished. The early access version is seen as a taste of the full game, with constant updates and fixes being released.

Nostalgic throwback to childhood games: The game evokes strong nostalgia, being compared to old Flash games from 2005 and other childhood favorites. Reviewers describe it as a love letter to the 2000s era of video games and a remake of a childhood game with added details.

Various game features and systems: The game includes a boss rush mode, final boss, dungeons, observatories at levels 20-30-40-60, a shop refresh system, enchanting system, skill tree, and 7 difficulty levels. It also has an 80-level cap and a story that picks up from the previous installment.