A Land Fit for Heroes

In Brief

A Land Fit for Heroes is a profound story of three distinct characters falling into a sequence of bloodthirsty events full of gore and mystery. It is not your average story-based RPG; A Land Fit for Heroes is darker, deeper and very explicit, primarily it’s narrative is targeted towards a mature audience.

Based on Richard Morgan’s trilogy of dark fantasy novels, A Land Fit For Heroes is the new story-based RPG telling the story of three unlikely heroes with three interlocking storylines. Kirellin of House Caith is a skilled war veteran, a man with a death wish who suffers the mental trauma from years of combat, Calnar is a young Majak warrior, repeatedly abused by his father during his childhood, he channels his inner rage as one of the fiercest fighters in bloody combat. Ilaria is an accomplished thief with a tortured past filled with violence and personal anguish. Each of their paths will cross in this adventure where they are tested to the extreme – but wherein the reader decides upon their fates.

Children go missing in the marshes. Ancient spirits awaken. Powerful machine-demons manipulate the fate of mankind. But all of this is just a game for even darker forces. In the first of its kind, bestselling bestselling author Richard Morgan brings his trilogy of novels to life as a three-player RPG set in the world of Land Fit For Heroes.

Three intertwined stories, three dark characters - one ending. A unique story-driven RPG with tactical, grid-based combat element.
Play in Multi-player or Single-player mode, controlling a single character and cooperating with the other two, or controlling all three at the same time. Cooperate across devices: play on mobile or PC.
Enjoy the dark and gritty narrative about personal horror. It’s time to a tell a different story. A mature story. This is a story-driven RPG unlike any other.
Fight turn- and grid-based tactical combats against the dwenda. Enjoy old-fashioned dice rolling and moving figures. Use rune-based mosaic magic to defeat your enemies.

Reference accessed HERE June 11th 2016

For those who don't like story based RPG's, instead of posting a few words saying you think this is a waste of time, or other words to that effect, would you instead give some feedback detailing why you don't like the game and how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like this genre at all, explain why. There are thousands of subscribers (at least there used to be) to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can get the game for £6.99/$9.99 from Steam. The Steam summer sale starts in a couple of weeks and you're likely to get this for at least 50% or more off.HERE

To install this game you have to link with Steam by logging into your Steam account via your browser. Details should be send to all winners via email soon after the competition is over.

Remember the old ‘choose your own adventure’ books, back in the day? You would read a section of a story, then make a choice as to where it would go next, being prompted to turn to a certain page to continue depending on your choice. This was before videogames became as complex and varied as they are today, with the likes of Baldur’s Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Fallout taking the place of those old adventure novels. Pen and paper RPGs were also a good way of experiencing an evolving adventure, based upon the choices made by players. It’s these fans that Liber Primus Games appear to be targeting with their new PC adventure, A Land Fit For Heroes.

Based on a trilogy of novels by Richard Morgan, A Land Fit For Heroes (hereafter to be known as ALFFH) sees you taking on the role of three characters, either playing them all in turn in single player, or three players taking a role each in multiplayer. Once you have chosen the stats for each character, you will be dropped into the first chapter (playing single player, you play the first chapter of all three characters, then all three second chapters, etc.) and you will be greeted with a wall of text. This may be a complete turn-off for many gamers, but others will immediately be drawn into ALFFH’s dark fantasy world.

This is where things get tricky. You see, ALFFH has very little ‘videogame’ to it, as you spend 95% of your time reading its story like a book, the other 5% is spent selecting story choices or taking part in the game’s limited combat. As a reader and writer of fantasy, I enjoyed reading the dark and sometimes harrowing story, with its natural dialogue and intriguing characters, but it absolutely will not be for everyone.

Unlike most ‘mature’ games, this actually does feel mature. Its story is deep and full of lore, its characters likewise, and the choices you make when setting up your character are reflected in the story’s text. Creating a gay male may result in him waking up beside another man, or perhaps offer up an explicitly detailed sex scene that will make Game of Thrones fans blush. His/her sexual preference may not even play a part in the story, depending on how you play the game, but it’s all handled very well and never feels contrived.

Sometimes the game will force you into combat, which is where the only real ‘gameplay’ comes in, and the view switches to a grid-like board. Little figurines represent your character and their opponents, and each will take turns to move and attack. Nothing new here, really. You spend action points (AP) to move around the board, attack or use healing items, and the AI will do the same. When attacks inevitably arrive, or you’re dishing out damage yourself, dice are rolled to determine the success/failure of the blow, which adds to the pen and paper atmosphere greatly. Battles rarely offer any challenge however, whether to keep the game flowing or simply due to it being too easy, it isn’t clear. It does make the combat seem like an afterthought though, especially when character stats seemingly play no part in proceedings. This seems a shame, as a bit of extra time developing the battle system would have increased the quality by some margin.

Another area to be improved should have been the sound, more specifically the music. Initially it helps the enrich the atmosphere of each chapter as you read, but it soon becomes apparent that it loops indefinitely and you can actually hear the stuttering point at which the music restarts. It cheapens the experience somewhat and the repetition can grate, especially for the slower readers such as myself. Other than the music, there is almost no sound in ALFFH, with selection sounds, dice rolls and attack hits/misses being the only additional sounds available. It’s not exactly an issue, but a few stock sounds are just another example of the game feeling cheapened, possibly as a result of keeping development costs down.

A Land Fit For Heroes isn’t a particularly rewarding game, nor is it even a game in the traditional sense, but it is quite a unique experience nonetheless. With an engaging and well-written story (minus a few typos here and there, but have you ever read a book without at least one or two of those?) combined with a simple and inoffensive combat minigame, it will offer something that the more old-fashioned gamer can appreciate.

The above review was posted by Gary Bailey at Brash Games. Reference accessed HERE June 11th 2016

You can see videos of A Land Fit for Heroes gameplay
HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE

Although I purchased this game when it was released on steam last month, I've not played it enough to give a conclusion yet. So I've not scored it either.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the developer Fabio Ferrara for giving away 100 copies of A Land Fit for Heroes and to the game giveaway team for securing this giveaway.

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals, formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

The latest free game over on Origin has changed to Nox. Nox is an action role-playing game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts in 2000 for Microsoft Windows. It details the story of Jack, a young man from Earth who is pulled into a high fantasy parallel universe and has to defeat the evil sorceress Hecubah and her army of Necromancers to return home. Depending on the player's choice of character class at the beginning of the game (warrior, conjurer, or wizard), the game follows three largely different linear storylines, each leading to its unique ending..

You can get it HERE. Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.

If you are having problems installing the game check the thread I've linked to above. If you can't find any fixes check the comments made below and over the last few weeks for suggestions. Thank you.

If today's game wasn't of interest to you, you may find games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which you can find HERE.

I've still to send out some Steam keys to those that commented on last weeks game and a couple from the previous week. I decided to take a break from virtually everything last week partly to recharge my batteries. To those that wished me a happy birthday last week, thank you. Also a massive thank you to Whizzy or Mavadelo (his Steam name), who has created a review site for me. I am talking to him via Team Speak over the coming weeks while he tutors me in the ins and outs of the site. The site won't go live right away as I want to post lots of game reviews. It will be a combination of arcade and AAA game review, some old and some new. I will also try to post reviews of new releases. At least those that I purchase. For example, I've just started playing the new version of Mirrors Edge: Catalyst that was released yesterday. It's an excellent sequel. If you liked the original you'll love the new one. For those who don't know anything about Mirror's Edge it's a parkour style game where you run and jump across high rise buildings delivering messages. It's set in a dystopian future where conglomerates rule the world. You live outside of the law. . You can see the launch trailer (showing a fast paced cameo of the game) HERE. It may be one of my first AAA game reviews on the new site. I will still continue to post my reviews here and moderate as always. I'm hoping the new site will invigorate me, which can only be a good thing with respect to my reviews here, as I have lost a lot of impetus over the last few years, and especially recently since the changes. I will be having regular giveaways of my own, but nothing like what we get here as my giveaways are all paid for by me. As mentioned previously, I have around 10 000 Steam keys and several hundred other keys for other platforms such as Origin, Itch.io and Desura, many of which will be up for grabs. Most of the games are low budget games (up to $20), but I do have lots of more expensive indie and AAA game keys to give away, (well, more like in exchange for reviews and other comments). (Some of the AAA games I have spare include X-Com:Enemy Unknown, Civilization V, Aliens vs Predator, ArmA II & 3, Batman Arkham City and Arkham Origins, Baldurs Gate Enhanced, Deadly Premonition, Battlefield 3, Gas Guzzlers Extreme, Company of Heroes, Defense Grid 2, Call of Juarez, Disciples II: Gallean's Return, King Arthur - The Role-playing Wargame, Max Payne 3, Dragon age Origins, Far Cry 3, Front Lines: Fuel of War, Grid, a couple of the GTA titles, Rage, Omerta - City of Gangsters, Mount & Blade: Warband and lots of others.