Age of Decadence - Review @ WeGotThisCovered

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Joseph Banham (WeGotThisCovered) has reviewed Age of Decadence:

The Age Of Decadence Review
Ah yes, RPGs. A genre full of fantasy and breathtaking battles, of epic heroes on epic quests, and of magic and monsters. RPGs are the type of games where you can separate yourself from the harsh realities of life and immerse yourself in a far off realm, becoming a legendary warrior of sheer awesomeness - right? Well, no actually, at least not according to the folks at Iron Tower Studio.

The team have just released the full version of The Age Of Decadence (after having spent years in development and early access), an isometric RPG for Windows that promises to take the genre back to its hardcore roots. As the title suggests, the world portrayed in The Age Of Decadence is one that's in complete disarray. It is based around the Roman-era, where the cities are still in ruin after a devastating ancient war. Society has collapsed, with different guilds and Houses in conflict with one another, struggling to establish any real order. The world has become overrun with corruption, criminals, and violence.

That's where you come in. The game lets you choose your role in this crumbling dystopia from one of ten classes. As the entire experience is constructed on having multiple scenarios dictated by what choices the player makes, who you choose to play as is extremely important. From assassin, to thief, to loremaster, whomever you choose will have an impact on the way you play the game and whom you encounter on your journey.

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It has to be handed to lead designer Vince D. Weller for writing such a well thought out, complex universe. The amount of detail that has gone into fleshing out the cities' whole history with their own lore and interwoven backstories is astounding; the sheer length of the numerous paragraphs are enough to rival the depth of George R.R. Martin's work. As mentioned before, you need to play as each class in order to get the full picture, with each character's journey giving new insights into the world and its inhabitants. The more I played, the more I found myself wanting to discover all the ins and outs of the world.

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For those willing to delve in and spend a lot of time with The Age Of Decadence, the game will reward you with a rich, story-driven experience. As there are a multitude of so many different paths to go down, the length is very extensive. After spending twenty hours with the game, I still feel as though I have a ton of roads to take, different people to interact with and loads of achievements left to unlock, and I am looking forward to adventuring on.

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At times, the game feels like a blunt morality lesson about the consequences of violence; when the opening message says that combat isn't always the answer, they really mean it. It's a game that's almost nihilistic in its tone, expressing a very pessimistic view of the human race as a load of lying scumbags who can't be trusted, and that if you ever want to make it in an immoral world, the only person you can trust is yourself.

Score: 3.5/5 - Good

Although its unforgiving difficulty may only appeal to a minority, as well as being tarnished with out-dated graphics, The Age of Decadence is still admirable for what it aims to achieve, offering an impressively deep storytelling experience for anyone willing to invest the time required.
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