Masquerada: Songs and Shadows

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows is an isometric, story-heavy hidden gem that I wish more people knew about!
You play as Cicero Gavar, once an inspector of the Citte del Ombre, now in exile. You are called back to the city to investigate the disappearance of a diplomat you were once close with. As you do so, you uncover dark secrets, old friends, and a big political mess. You also gain a colorful set of allies, each with their own agenda. What happened to the diplomat might also tie into the events that led to your exile...
A beloved 10 out of 10 for me.
I will always be sad that this game doesn't get more love; only very few people seem to know about it, and the studio that created it is no longer active. If there is even a sliver of you that considers buying this game, please do so. This is a beautifully made indie game with a deep story, engaging characters, and damn good writing.
Its greatest feat is how real the characters and their individual stories feel. Every single member of the party gets a proper backstory, character arc, and unique relationship to the others in the party. Next to Cicero, that gives you four others to get to know and love, who all fulfill different combat roles in classic RPG-style (tank, support, dps, utility, etc.). Amazing voice acting performances, from quite a few veterans, bring these characters to life even further.
The world they inhabit is rich in ancient history, diverse cultures, and political intrigue. Through Cicero's old job as an inspector, you will get to know a large supporting cast that represents different political and cultural groups. Masquerada tackles themes of class differences, inequalities, faith, rebellion, and leadership. There is nuance and complexity, and often very heartbreaking or bittersweet outcomes for some of the game's cast.
The game's weakest aspect is, to me, its combat. It is serviceable and occassionally fun, yes, but can quite easily get cluttered and clunky. The AI is not that good and higher difficulties make it a total slog. The combat is reminiscent of Dragon Age: Origins, with the ability to pause and make tactical decisions before letting combat play out again in real time. You can use different elemental abilities through different masks, which ties in thematically with the setting of the game.
Pros
+ STORY. I cannot stress this enough!!
+ Setting, worldbuilding & lore are a work of art
+ Character work & accompanying voice acting performances
+ Style, design, art & music are vibrant and beautiful
Neutrals
~ The game is entirely linear to the point where this might be a con for some
~ Story mode available with minimal combat
~ Not so much an RPG but rather a linear visual novel with combat
~ Game length is around 15 hours
Cons
- Combat is clunky, with subpar AI, no items & little character progression
- Autosave points are sparse
- Exploration is very limited
- Can get infodumpy with long cutscenes, dialogues & codex entries
I think this is the kind of game you will enjoy the most if you approach it as a visual novel before anything else. You cannot make choices to affect the game (except for your combat build) nor explore areas and interact with anything else except indicated areas (codex entries and masks). You are simply there to enjoy the ride and immerse yourself in the world of the Citte del Ombre, which is very doable considering the quality of the game's writing.
The dialogue is heartfelt and ocassionally quite witty. I easily fell in love with Cicero as a character, as well as the other party members. Next to the investigation into the disappeared diplomat, you will of course also delve into Cicero's past and his exile. I thought Matthew Mercer gave him the perfect performance of cocky yet humble; the scenes in which he finally reveals some of his true pain are etched into my brain.
Due to its linearity, the game can feel infodumpy; similar in some ways to Pillars of Eternity I. Cutscenes and dialogues are long, as are codex entries. The latter are fascinating, though, considering that they are written by Cicero and thus also reveal his viewpoints and biases to some extent.
This is a game that is certainly not perfect. It might not even be for you. However, I love and treasure it deeply, and still think back on certain scenes or parts of the setting every now and again. I bawled my eyes out at the ending. I listen to the soundtrack on repeat. I adore simply walking around the Citte and admiring all its beautiful sights. Playing it through a second time only affirmed to me that its strengths mean much more to me than its faults.
If there was one game I wish hit the mainstream, it would be this one.
Recommended for all you story-heavy, visual novel-loving folks out there.

9.5/10 (10/10 for Kalden if you're LGBT or care about LGBT narratives)

Seriously underrated game. Too bad the developer went defunct.

The graphics, artistic design, and music are all top notch - easily AAA in my opinion. The game is a real visual treat to play, with vibrant colors that pop, enemy design that is unique, and a soundtrack that is one of the most memorable I've heard since my playthrough of Nier Automata.

The characters were all very well written, believable, and evolve in meaningful ways that make you become attached to them, and the game is fully voiced with amazing voice cast that really brings the game to life.

They even managed to make the NPCs feel more alive and personal than most games, creating the sense your character actually has history with each of the characters in an emotional way, even if you don't get to see their full history, which is rare in my experience.
Lastly, the artistic design of the outfits was superb. I wish other games had such interesting wardrobe design - a colorful fusion of French Renaissance with masquerade masks to accent the costumes. Of particular note, the story felt completely new and original. There were small elements you will see in any RPG, but I felt it was well done and the main themes were not something I've personally seen before, and I've gamed for 38 years.

I wish this game would have gotten more attention that it did. I thought it was a budget indie as well, and wish I could have supported them before they closed, but the marketing and word of mouth was apparently not very strong, or a lot of other people would have realized what a gem this game is. This game was rare in that I couldn't put it down, not because it was addictive, but like a good book, I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Overall, I honestly think this was a great game, and recommend to nearly anyone. As an aside, Kalden was so well written. Reminded me of the attachment I had for Garrus in ME - though Kalden's personal story was much more tragic overall.

This is a fun game.
Highlights from me were definitely the voice acting and the soundtrack.
Gameplay was fun, art and story were overall really good discounting some minor nitpicks. World building was pretty interesting, though most of it was unfortunately delivered via codex entries. Most of the main cast is charming and interesting in their own ways.
Something to know would be that story is linear and combat is bit simpler than typical crpg fan might expect.
The environments are really pretty but there is not much reason to explore them which is a shame.

Gameplay is kinda like Diablo but extremely streamlined and straightforward. Main draw is the story, setting, and character arcs. Also, major kudos for how they time the text advance--it matches up to voice lines almost perfectly which is rare.

Totally linear beautiful story
Music & Visuals excellent

Amazing unique story game

Its okay. Lost interest after while.