Forged of Blood

I've only been playing this game for a few hours but it's a good tactical game. The magic system is very customizable. You can basically make your own spell effects - which gives a LOT of room for customization. The difficulty is also customizable based on sliders so you can very easily make the game more or less difficult without much effort.
It doesn't have the ability to remap a lot of the key controls at the moment, so you are stuck with WASD for camera movement. Also it lacks a defensive stance/hold/wait function when you end your character's turn. Traditionally in tactical games you could delay your turn and move later in the combat order or turtle up. That feature is currently missing from this game.
My biggest complaint at the moment is the lack of story background. The beginning of the game doesn't explain the setting very well. I'm hoping later on I will encounter some more lore that fleshes things out a bit.
TLDR: Character customization very good, lots of abilities to learn. Needs more setting lore and information about spells and abilities.

This game is basically a medieval xcom
Pros:
• Good story (basically fire emblem)
• Great looting system (when you win each battle you can loot everything they had equipped)
• I love the great character sheet you can basically pick 2 weapons you want someone to have say like greatsword & bow and gain points in both, don't like what you have built? just reroll your character it costs nothing it's a great feature since im afraid of messing up builds.
• the magic system is amasing and fun since you can have a mage character with 2 crystals in each slot with different magic in them is the best thing to try and find what goes best with what.
Cons:
• The tutorial, it's not really bad and not tedious but it's just awkward if you don't know that a great axe has more reach then a greatsword
• During battle if you scroll out during your phase and want to zoom back in again you have to wait for your turn it locks the camera in place so you have to stare at a pillar or a wall for the enemies turn.
• Voice acting is just hit or miss it's awkward it's funny it's dorky but brilliant also i do notice the same voice actor doing multiple roles ;)
• not being able to stab with daggers, daggers are a throwable but that should be an ability where as in they do quicker attack for less points or do critical attacks more often or backstabs
• i killed a gurrahorr and got nothing but experience, no leather or bones or meat or anything for such a big and lovely creature this was just shocking.
• the moving on the map is slow (i know i can make it go faster with F3 but still)
in my opinion it's worth the 30$ it's fun, immersive and the lore is there for anyone to get sucked into.

I think this was well worth the $30 if you're looking for a new game to play right now. If you already have a long queue waiting though maybe just throw it in your wishlist and wait for a sale.
Combat animation speed can be increased which is such an amazing QoL feature I wish all SRPGS would implement.
I want to address a couple of the major complaints I saw about this game and explain why I feel they weren't a big deal and were even somewhat positive.
1. Teammates will abandon your cause if you swing too far to any one alignment.
I understand why this would be frustrating to people but I'm a little surprised it's such a big deal.
First of all, if this is an issue to you they've now patched it so you can control how sensitive people are to your alignment so just go ahead and nerf this feature for yourself, otherwise, it's an easy solve.
Once one or two people leave you start to realize you're doing something wrong so pop open the alignment chart, figure out what direction you're moving too heavily towards, then start making some decisions that will bring you back to the center.
For me, the first time around, i was being too altruistic. So after I lost a guy I started being a little less giving and started demanding payment for my jobs and being a little more self interested and after a few of those decisions my team stopped complaining, easy. My second time around I made the decisions from the start, stayed a good balanced leader and listened to my people, and no one left.
2. There is timer and loss conditions in this game.
You can also turn off this feature so again this is another non-issue. But here are some tips if you want to leave it on.
Once the Summit timer runs out your progress in the main quests so far will determine if you win or lose, much more so than how much of the map you have conquered thought that also comes into play.
You'll want to get two working armies up and running as quickly as possible so you can pursue multiple threads of the quest at once.
Once the capitol of a nation is revealed, you can attack that city and upon capturing it, all other cities in that nation will fall under your control as well. This makes a huge difference when it comes time for the Summit so if you notice the timer running near and you're still working on the quests, I would suggest considering just attacking the capitols.
3. General tips:
Support magic > dmg magic for the most part. Increased attack dmg and increased attack # and speed or something are the best. It's been a while since I've played so I can't remember exact names
Both short and long bow archers will mop up the battlefield when buffed with a different spells.
I feel as though there's more I wanted to say but I've been at it a while now so I'm going to stop.
I really liked this game, if you like SRPGS I would imagine you will too.

Completion time: 33 hours
I enjoyed this game a lot. The writing is good, the strategy is solid, the atmosphere works well, and the spell options have very deep customization. The rulership style system adds a lot to the proceedings. I will say, the level of micromanagement in terms of gear etc is unparalleled. I guess there are those who would consider that a good thing, but for me it went way beyond what I was up for. Still, that's not a dealbreaker. Give it a look.
As an afterthought, I encountered no bugs at all. I'm not saying there are none, but in a full run I didn't see any.

I'm giving this game a thumbs up not because it's a great game in its current state, but because of the potential and the amount of detail that went into the game including character progression, spells, and itemization. There is a game here and a story arc to play through, but what if feels like it a really good CRPG game development toolset that could create a really excellent tactical, turn-based CRPG with the right attention to game flow and more interesting enemies, quests, and maps (many are reused over and over). The game also has lots of annoying bugs. Not game breaking bugs, but annoying bugs like crashing to the desktop, achievements that never register even though you've met the requirements multiple times through multiple play throughs. Even with all the negatives, there's so much potential there if the developer would add some polish, not repeat the content, and fix the annoying bugs. I love the combat, character system, spell, system, and itemization system in this game though and would love to see more games developed using this system. I bought the game on sale, and enjoyed it enough to give it a thumbs up, but this could be one of the better CPRG systems I've played that just needs more polish, better marketing, and less content reuse.

Have been looking forward to this game for a few months now and for me it doesn't disappoint.
I have now played the tutorial, and started the main game - there is a lot to learn so have invested 12 hours so far.
So lets get the "bad" stuff out of the way:
There is no character customisation such as how you look, name etc - personally for me this is fine as the game is good enough that this is a minor thing.
Linear story (sort of). Again the story is pretty cool and drives the game giving you decision to make that decide how it progresses.
Some of the controls are a bit finicky but once you get used to them they are fine.
The good stuff:
The magic system is superb, the best I have ever come across - you can basically "craft" your own spells using stones and developing the "attached" spells, this in itself makes it worth buying.
Story is pretty good, and gives you something to aim for while not restricting how you play (in some ways reminds me of Tyranny in that respect.
Class less system that for me really works. You do have a few basic stats, Strength, Agility, Dexterity and Endurance which can be increased, these are also influenced by the characters "race". The main perks are based on your weapon choices and builds (ie I have a sword and shield build with magic, a ranged unit with melee back up and then concentrate on these, you can also re stat these at any time).
Once you have done the long tutorial/intro which is worth it as it sets the scene and helps you develop, you end up with one main character who then "leads" one of up to 3 groups that travel the map doing quests and conquering regions, you hire troops for these groups and develop them.
Graphics are pretty good and it is relatively bug free game, with the odd bug reported being tackled by the Devs.
Sound I can't comment on as tend to play with sound off (for family's sake LOL).
I highly recommend this game if you like this type of game - read the description, the above review and watch the vids that should help you decide.
I can see I am going to spend many hours on this game. I hope they will in the future be able to expand in some ways on it maybe through some DLCs but so far I am loving it.

Opening Note: At first I was hesitant to purchase the game given some of the initial reviews concerning the timed campaign and difficulty in keeping companion loyalty, but it seems since launch they've incorporated a number of options to tailor the difficulties to your liking. So keep that in mind when reading some of the earlier negative reviews.
I bought the game on sale, but after having played it for awhile, it would have been worth it full price.
Like a number of other reviews state, this is basically medieval X-com. Figuring out some of the nuances of effective builds definitely takes some time, but the game is mostly straightforward to get into. The tutorial does a good job of familiarizing you with the different systems. The magic crafting system is definitely still clunky in my opinion, but there is still a lot of potential.
What really stands out is that Forged of Blood definitely tries a number of new takes that work really well together overall (even with a few rough edges). The lore is intriguing and its just enough to get one invested in the plight of the main character without being overly burdensome; yet, there is definitely a lot of room to expand the world in future installments.
The map is beautiful, and definitely gives you the feel that you are directing a war effort as the pawns representing your parties (or "Talons") move to various objectives.
If you are looking for a strategy/tactical experience that is unique and fun, definitely go ahead and give this game a try. With all the innovation the developers tried to make, it fortunately results in a cohesive and entertaining experience.
I am looking forward to seeing if any more installments are made for the series.