I can scout ahead, disarm traps, and explore. When I head into a dungeon, I get an abstracted overview. This is especially true in battles, which is where The Iron Oath really shines. These aren’t my comrades - they’re investments. There are always new mercenaries to recruit, level up, and customize, and I can upgrade my company to make managing the crew easier … but as I juggle gold and potions, I learn to start treating human life with the same cold practicality. This isn’t a Fire Emblem title where everyone remains rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed they eventually pass away. My company gets a round of ale once in a while, but they’re more often treated to skull fractures, trauma, and broken spines.Īnd even if you do everything “right,” the clock is ticking, as it is for us all. Just like Darkest Dungeon, this is a rough gig. Fail to treat their injuries, and they might die. Keep relying on them, and they might just snap. The drawback is that the more you lean on a select few mercenaries, the more stressed and injured they become. Players can upgrade and customize each mercenary in their party, and send their favorites out on more missions for XP. This is an early access game, but there’s still a good amount of meat on the bone. ![]() Of course, nothing is ever that simple, and so my story branched out as I met other factions, explored new cities, and expanded my company. By the time I was out of the game’s intro and into the open world with my starting mercenary party, I felt pretty confident that I would be able to catch up to the ne’er-do-well who stabbed me in the back and get revenge. It’s deeply satisfying to unleash a charged electrical torrent on an enemy or have a valkyrie soar through her enemies, spear first. Luckily, the game gives me the tools to succeed in this dangerous world because the mercenaries at my disposal are powerful wizards, rangers, warriors, and elementalists. There are also some wonderfully granular difficulty settings, so The Iron Oath can either be a relatively chill cakewalk or an unforgiving trek through hazardous territory. It would be easy for these things to blur together into an indistinguishable mush of numbers and goals, but developer Curious Panda Games introduces each layer of complexity gradually throughout a well-paced tutorial and the early hours of the campaign. Cook it all in a pan with some gorgeous pixel animations, an epic musical score, a fantasy world constantly on the cusp of an apocalypse, and inventive demonic enemy designs, and baby, you’ve got a stew going.Īs I adventure around the fantasy realm of Caelum, I have to navigate between the open world, cities and towns, dungeons, and individual battles. You take a pinch of Darkest Dungeon, throw in some XCOM, and sprinkle in some Divinity: Original Sin. The Iron Oath will be, in some ways, very familiar to fans of strategy games and RPGs. ![]() If you want to see the very best of the best for your platform(s) of choice, check out Polygon Essentials. When we award a game the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the title is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games.
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