The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep Reviews
With The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep, developer inXile does a great job of taking all the elements of a 30-year-old series and mixing it up with some modern era mechanics.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep delivers on the faith its Kickstarter backers put into the project. It weaves combat, exploration, music, and puzzles into a game that stands out in a crowded market. It's unlike any other RPG, and with other old-school RPGs finding success these days — Pillars of Eternity, Octopath Traveler, and Dragon Quest XI — I hope InXile is able to come back to this fantastical world, just like it's doing with Wasteland.
The Bard's Tale IV offers a modern delve into a classic RPG format, but sometimes-frustrating puzzles dim the dungeon dive
Without the bugs, The Bard's Tale IV is okay at best. With them, it's perhaps best to preserve your nostalgia and play the HD remaster of The Bard's Tale I to III instead.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a surprisingly deep and rich role-playing game steeped in some old lore. It has some big shoes to fill given the history of the series, and while I'm not familiar with it, I enjoyed what I played. Aside from the stuttering and short learning curve, I was impressed by the game and its overall gameplay. Although, even the learning curve is softened immensely by the excellent tutorial. I'm itching to try more and more of the game and see just what Skara Brae has to offer, and I suggest others do the same.
The Bard's Tale IV revisits the classic dungeon-crawling formula from years past, simultaneously showing reverence for its history whilst not being afraid to change it up mechanically. Visually stunning with a wonderful Gaelic folk soundtrack to go with it.
The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a wonderful RPG that is immersive and grandiose. inXile Entertainment has done this incredibly well to update the series with modern conveniences while maintaining that classic PC RPG feel. It’s great to see a series return after three decades and be such an entertaining, beautiful, tactical, and strategic RPG that will have players of any skill thinking on their feet. Without having played the prior games to compare it to, its depth and length in every aspect is on par with what you’d expect. The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep will make new fans out of it, and old fans will rejoice in this fourth installment that hearkens back to the original games as if they never left.
The Bard's Tale IV isn't a game for everyone. Brian Fargo's new production is very old-school, but not archaic or outdated. It respects its heritage and the genre's rules. Still, the fans of modern RPGs could be unimpressed if they don't keep their expectations in check.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The few performance issues aside, it's a game that's hard not to like.
There are one or two missteps here and there, but The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a wonderful RPG that has to be explored to be understood for the gem it is.
It’s not a game that I can easily recommend to the average gamer as you really do have to put up with a lot of issues and a lack of polish, and so I’d probably say this is only worth a by for dedicated RPG fans or if you spot it on sale. However, if the developers do manage to get the game properly patched this could be a solid RPG with some neat ideas.
A thoughtful, deep and rewarding RPG, with some great puzzles and a story that may not be groundbreaking, but sure is fun.
The Bard's Tale IV could be a fun — but seriously flawed — game if it weren't hamstrung by technical problems. Its frequent framerate drops, bugged combat abilities, and crashes are compounded by an archaic save system that makes it far too easy to lose progress. Though it features some great combat and challenging puzzles, they're not without their own flaws, and become extremely repetitive over the game's 30–40-hour playtime.
Ultimately, The Bard’s Tale IV is a very good game, but it’s an old school launch in both senses.
Appreciable if you're a fan of the genre but that can be rough or boring for other players. A pretty decent visual and sound section.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
At its roughest edges, The Bard's Tale IV shows its retro revival roots in some not so positive ways. It may not be special enough for me to easily overlook these technical shortcomings entirely, but it's an RPG that's brimming with enjoyable, challenging fights, elaborate and entertaining puzzles, and plenty of visual and musical flair. And that was more than enough to keep me humming along contentedly to its tune more often than not.
An old-fashioned game in a shiny new package, The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep is a worthy addition to a classic series.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is not a perfect game by any respect. It's the first mainline sequel to a franchise that is over thirty years old, and this iteration certainly stumbles. However, what is here is a solid game with clever writing, strong characters, and a wonderful world of misfits and misadventures. The game needs patches, and an overall layer of polish, making it feel rushed and shoddy. If you're on the fence, give it some time to get its ducks in a row before you commit to a purchase.