Among games on Friv5Online created by one person, there are often small and sometimes large masterpieces. Dark Bestiary by Ivan Karlashenko is not a masterpiece, but I would recommend all lovers of turn-based RPGs to at least familiarize themselves with it. Let me explain why.
Outwardly, and in terms of presentation, Dark Bestiary , as you yourself can see, doesn't really pretend to be anything. Everything is spartan, but at the same time it does not scare away. Well, there is a picture with some figures - and okay. And then there is the text, filed without any visual excesses, but it is just scary - how juicy and atmospheric the madness of the main character is described, which made him follow in the footsteps of the Man in Black. Here, read it yourself.
Graphomania, and even with punctuation errors? Maybe. But in any case, such a text immerses you in the atmosphere. And therefore, we come to the very “dilapidated village” in the appropriate mood. And there we meet gloomy and not particularly talkative people who, by a happy coincidence, are the owner of a tavern, a merchant, an alchemist and a blacksmith-artisan. As they say, everything is for you, lovers of roguelikes and RPGs.
It is from here that we make forays into the surrounding forests and fields, where we meet evil spirits, werewolves, ghouls, revived stones, bald fairies, deep monsters, grieving widowers, revived dead and other evil spirits. And also - a strange hunter who became a victim of the same madness as us. At first he hides from us, then he helps, but in the end he falls under the curse of the witch. As you play, new themes emerge in dialogues with villagers.
I said above about the "roguelike", but in fact, Dark Bestiary is not really it. Yes, in hardcore mode, the death of a hero is permanent, but all combat sorties are hand-made missions with clearly defined conditions, rewards, dialogues and enemies. Yes, the location of monsters or the properties of altars that give temporary effects can change, but there is no special randomness.
And the number of story missions is limited - there are exactly 21 of them. In addition to the campaign, there is also patrolling for grinding money, scenarios for finding treasures (you first need to find a map) and a particularly difficult Nightmare mode, which is blocked by default.
So in general it's more of an action / RPG with classic turn-based action points. And it is precisely this certainty of missions that is one of its main advantages. Because there are always difficult conditions for survival, which presuppose well-chosen tactics of passage. And the fact that there can be many such tactics is the second main advantage of Dark Bestiary .
At the start, we choose a hero of one of four classes (warrior, shooter, sorcerer and hunter), but then no one will be forced to develop only certain class talents and skills. On the contrary, the game pushes to combine different things, creating unique character builds. Fortunately, very often, after victories and reaching new levels, in addition to equipment, resources, talent points and characteristics, we are given a bunch of skills to choose from, designed for melee, long-range, and magic, and for calling allies.
As a result, it's tempting to experiment. For example, I had an archer who dabbled in light magic and knew how to summon an ice elemental. And I always had to decide - to leave more purely shooting skills or add more dark magic with the call of the undead.
There are really a lot of available skills, so before each battle you can experiment and change the active set. Accordingly, different tactics are used in battles. Talents are also allowed to develop in different ways - if you, conditionally, put on an archer with a craving for magic, then in addition to purely shooting things, it is logical to pump witchcraft. True, talents, unlike skills, cannot be shuffled back and forth.
It is also important that by developing talents and applying skills, we get new titles in the relevant areas. That is, the shooter who causes the blizzard will also become an elementalist. And almost all skills give bonuses if they are used by a hero of certain ranks of a certain level. For example, throwing an ice arrow, as a level 3 elementalist, increased elemental damage by 5%, and as a level 2 marksman, I added a 6% increased critical strike chance to this.
Naturally, in Dark Bestiary you also need to select the right equipment, there is trade, the black market, crafting according to recipes, alchemy, the ability to improve items forging, insert gems into them (if there are no slots, then you need to create), carry out transmutations by mixing different ingredients, stones and things.
Some write that they practically did not use all this during the storyline campaign - they say, they picked up the right build and did not blow their heads. I, apparently, did not quite choose the right one, because sometimes I created something, and improved it, and even indulged in transmutations.
But in general, we must admit that the game rests more on the combination of talents and skills, and this whole trade and craft part is less developed. For example, it is not very clear why spend a lot of money on a new bow with indicators almost like mine and with bonuses that mine also have. And all the way the game offered me just such bows, crossbows, muskets and pistols.
True, all this is true in relation to the storyline campaign. But in the more difficult modes "Patrol" and "Nightmare" you have to use the services of village artisans and, in general, the opportunities that the game offers. Including buying food in the tavern, which gives temporary bonuses to health and damage, and activating relics that are pumped with you and also "hang" additional bonuses on the character.
In difficult cases, you need to correctly use tactical capabilities and action points. Success here is less dependent on the conditions of the environment, and more on understanding when to apply skills (after all, they all have a recharge), who to hit first, when and where to retreat, and so on.
As you can see, for all its minimalism, Dark Bestiary offers quite rich possibilities in terms of building a build, tactics, skill selection and all this tactical-role-playing kitchen. Everyone who likes it is welcome. Although the game, of course, requires more polishing of the balance, adding content and so on - this is what the author promised to do when releasing his creation.
Pros: advanced mechanics, rich in both tactical capabilities and character builds; the story is simple (like the entire audiovisual series), but atmospheric; pleasant music.
Cons: the handicraft part is worked out worse than the combat and role-playing; the picture, of course, looks primitive.