SKALD: Against the Black Priory - Review @ RPS

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Rock Paper Shotgun reviewed the retro RPG SKALD: Against the Black Priory:

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Skald: Against The Black Priory review: the best of 80s RPG design without the baggage

I regret not covering Skald Colon Against The Black Priory when its developer told us about it 2019. I'd get to be so smug now.

Skald is terrific. I've tried to come up with a clever angle on its journey, but they all wind up saying the same thing: For all its retro stylings (right down to party portraits taking up an unnecessary quarter of the screen at all times), it's an accessible, charming treat, and the best modernisation of 80s RPGs that I've ever played.

While Ultima seems its clearest influence, Skald mostly eschews its philosophical high camp, and gives us a shipwrecking on an archipelago beset by madness-inducing horror. It's an excellent vibe; obvious enough that you know what you're getting into, but slow-burn enough to make the reveals rewarding, and lends the setting and tone a little more depth than the usual "Dark Lord is evil shock".

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That they might be bigger in my imagination speaks to Skald's greatest success: I'm super into it. It's crunchy but friendly, playfully secretive, and familiar in many ways but nonetheless refreshing. I lost half a day to "fact checking and screenshots" for sheer desire to keep playing, and a few minor issues aside, my only real problem is that there's only one of it.