Come along and witness the stories of four daring individuals, each with their own unique alliances, reputations, and past demons. Will you choose the life of heroics and righteous valor? Or would you allow your decisions to lead you on a darker path filled with power and malevolence? This is what Curtel Games’ interactive and narrative RPG, The Ballad Singer, gives to players with both fantastic visuals and engaging narration.
Set in a fantasy setting and reminiscent of visual novels and of Dungeons and Dragons, this game will draw you in with beautifully drawn scenes of pubs, battles, booby-trapped castles, and even a moment of romance. The lovely music and multiple voice actors also aid in setting the environment to fully capture you in its storytelling.
Although your selection of characters are limited to just four, their individual journeys are filled with many varying options. Every choice, whether they be with good intentions or with ill intent, will change the course of your adventure. Something as simple as deciding which town to visit or which spell to use can have epic significance for your story. However, this also includes the many possible consequences if you choose wrongly, as one bad move can lead to death.
Despite all the many options given to the player and the many possible storylines that can be explored, some aspects of The Ballad Singer become predictable. After playing through a few different chapters or areas, a pattern begins to repeat itself through the different characters. First you go on a quest, searching for something or someone. This usually leads to a fight and you are faced with either attacking the problem head on or selecting poorly and dying. If you choose correctly, your story will continue and the pattern will repeat with slight variations in how it is presented.
Certain aspects of the characters themselves are also a bit cliché. Such as the “my wife is dead so now I’m a bitter old guy, who is also somehow an attractive hunk” notion or the “exotic lady with a tragic past” trope. This in turn makes the characters one-dimensional, unexciting, and even hard to like. Couple this with how predictable the game becomes and with no major twists or character arc, the story becomes boring.
There is room for much improvement in terms of story, writing, and character development. In the beginning, this RPG was fun to immerse in and explore, however, with no exciting advancement in plot or stimulating challenges (aside from picking the right option), the game fell to a lackluster standstill. The most thrilling part of the game is when you encounter magical beasts such as dragons or frost-covered wolves, but even then, the excitement quickly fades when the interaction is over. Nevertheless, The Ballad Singer has potential as its attention to detail for visual imagery and spirited narrations demonstrate. With the right adjustments and including more unexpected turn of events that test our heroes’ limits, this game can transform into something extraordinary.
Pros: great visuals, lovely soundtrack.
Cons: Cliché character tropes, predictable schemes, easy to suddenly die.
Check Out The Ballad Singer Steam Early Access Launch Trailer:
The Ballad Singer is available for PC and Mac for $22.99 via Steam Early Access.
Video games have always been a huge influence in my life and have definitely shaped me to who I am today . Some of my best memories growing up were the many adventures and stories I was able to experience and become immersed in. If my hands aren't either covered in clay, typing, editing, creating, or helping shoving food in my mouth, they would either be gripped to a controller, tapping away at the screen of my phone, or clicking away on my PC. I am always up for trying something new because why live just one life when you can live many.
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