Islands of the Caliph
Islands of the Caliph imagines an ancient, seafaring Middle Eastern empire, spanning several islands to which the player may venture and explore.
Set in a fictional Island civilization, Islands of the Caliph is a unique mash-up of the old school RPGs the developer played in the 1980s, and Middle Eastern folklore and religion.
Numerous mythical and dangerous beasts lurk in waiting as you explore and discover new lands. From giant spiders and scorpions, to more supernatural beings like ghouls and jinn, Islands of the Caliph will introduce players to some of the creatures of folklore of Arab, Persian and African cultures among others.
Weapons are an important tool you will need to overcome adversaries. Find new weapons while adventuring or buy them from a merchant. Each weapon has different stats, so paying careful attention will help you to equip the best items.
As you explore, your map with be updated automatically. Use it to keep track of your location and to discover new routes of exploration. A small mini map appears in the corner of the screen while exploring, but you can open it to view the whole area when needed.
Many hidden treasures are waiting to be discovered by a brave adventurer. Some chests have coins, while others may have items to take. You may also use treasure chests to store items you don’t need, but are not quite ready to sell.
The player must explore this open world and discover the game’s primary quest for themselves. The game seeks to capture some of the open-endedness of classic RPGs like Might & Magic, Ultima and Bards Tale, with some modern conveniences. The player will be offered quests by some of the game’s NPCs. Some of these quests will be required to make progress in the game’s main story, while others will be optional. It is up to the player to figure out which is which, though often it will be obvious in the context given.
Steam User 157
The retro-ist of retro!
Go in with an open mind!
Experience games the way your parents did.
Audio and art design is exquisite.
Theme is distinct and intriguing.
Also, The developer is very supportive of other independent devs - wishing him all the best with this title.
Steam User 139
I have an nvidia geforce RTX 4080.
This is the game I choose.
Steam User 59
Interesting and different game. Some things are really done well, like the real-time ship rides between islands. Other things not so much, like the constant management of various health afflictions ranging to poison to fever to stomach pain and even blisters. You also need to eat and sleep. Those mecanics get really tiring and I'm a fairy patient gamer. After two hours, I was annoyed by constantly having to sort out inventory space, with all the food, torches, médecine you need, it barely leaves space for crystals or sellable monster parts, quest items etc. So the game becomes à management nightmare pretty fast. It was after barely two hours of play.
Apart from those annoyance, the gameplay felt smooth. JoytoKey with a controller was a blast. The graphics are nice, although the very poorly implemented scanlines need work. The level design is very good and the towns are great. I think the game should have a section in the journal for us to leave our own notes. Not only would it add to immersion, but it would help mitigate the lack of map notes.
I would give this game 6,5/10. It has potential for an 8, if certain modifications in the gameplay are made. Keep in mind I played two hours though!
Steam User 32
This is a great little dungeon crawler! I've really enjoyed my time with it. It's a lot like Wizardry, or the old Elder Scrolls games. One of those games where you need to eat, and rest, carry a torch in dungeons etc. But the real star of the show is the setting. It's super cool having a game like this in such an earnest middle eastern setting. It's definitely a vibe you don't see very often, especially in medieval fantasy games. I recommend just diving in no walkthroughs or anything. (Not that any exist I don't think...?) It's not a huge game, but it's comfy.
Also questing during Ramadan is hard.
Steam User 82
you're looking at reviews wondering if this game is as good as it looks
its better
Steam User 21
Pros:
- Retro style;
- Atmospheric;
- Survival mechanic fits very well;
- We fill maps as we explore;
- Day/Night cycle;
- Many Islands to explore;
Cons:
- Only keyboard (This isn't a con for me, it's just to assure other players of this detail);
- The layout of the maps should be easier to read and identify points;
- Lack of explanation of the mechanics of the game;
Review
Islands of the Caliph was developed and published by Schmidt Workshops by a single developer. The game has a powerful Muslim presence and it changes how the game feels as a whole. The lore is quite captivating. This classic retro style instantly caught my attention; the price was so cheap at launch.
I have to say first and foremost he has accomplished a wonderful and relaxing game. This game is unexpectedly good. I thought it was just a successor to the Legend of Grimrock game but it's not, it's very different, and that is a good thing.
Every island has a different ecosystem which makes for fresh content all the time. Nothing repeats too much and there are a lot of things that are either a secret or we can't reach that area yet because we are missing something. Exploring the dungeons is so fun and engaging, it's like a labyrinth but we fill the maps as we explore so we can't get lost in them.
At the bottom of the interface, there's a log of the most recent activities that we should rely on (In the beginning, I kinda ignored it and never knew what was going on). So, if we are wondering what we are missing, or we try a door and it doesn't open, the log mechanic will say something like "Silver key is needed to open the door", just an example.
- Gameplay
Even though we can only play with a keyboard, it is quite enough. We play with a few buttons: "WASD" to walk around, "E" to attack, "I" to open the inventory, "Y" to open chests, "SPACE" to block, "Q" to open the quest menu, "M" for the map and "Enter" to confirm a few things. It was a little weird at the beginning but I grew accustomed to it fairly quickly.
The gameplay is deep enough to stay entertaining because there are many islands, quests, and blocked paths to keep us engaged in exploring. A diverse ecosystem, from forests to deserts, to jungles, etc. While exploring and accepting quests, nothing is too obvious to make us think a little and allows us to take some initiative.
It has a survival mechanic (I didn't expect this at all). We need to eat and rest so we can fight to our fullest. We can either find food while exploring or buy food from merchants in towns. We can also fish by buying a fishing pole and some bait. Fishing is a neat side mechanic.
To rest, there are tents outside and Inns inside towns. In the beginning, I was making little money so I kept going outside to sleep in the tents. We can also buy tents and make our custom tents in spots more beneficial to us.
I only found later that we are supposed to use the golden chests in towns to store unwanted items. We might have a surplus of specific items (medicine, torches, bandages, etc) and we don't want to sell, so the chest is the next best choice, but that is not clear, so I spent some time dragging items around and my inventory was almost always full. I know some people enjoy discovering all by themselves (I don't mind it either that much but I think that should be explicit here, in case anyone reads this).
Another aspect is we can either find food or buy food. There's a different shop for every aspect of the game - Weapons, Shields, Food, Medicine, "Vivid Things" (Parts of creatures that we want to sell or buy), mining, etc. We can't sell weapons at a shields and armor trader, for example.
The weapons and armor have a quality hierarchy - shoddy, fair, and exceptional. Shoddy would be the cheapest but also less reliable. Fair is better but also more expensive. If you can get an exceptional weapon or armor, it's better than getting a fair weapon for example, since it's more reliable. Finding better upgrades on the fields, in dungeons, or chests around the islands is better than buying them because the better ones are more expensive and I made little money at the start. It was when I started mining crystals and selling them to the mining trader that I started making serious money and made the game easier.
The torches have a limited number of uses, so saving some money for a lantern is a good idea because it will reach a point, at least for me, where my inventory had a surplus of it but I didn't have the lantern.
- Sound
The sounds and music are so good. It has such a great vibe and is so atmospheric. The birds and sounds of the day, the creatures roaming around, and the eerie sounds of the night, left me quite unsettled. All this allows for a wonderfully vivid world. Hard to achieve when everything is so pixelated, but it's perfectly done.
- In conclusion
Islands of the Caliph is a great surprise and I'm happy that I bought it. In an age where graphics look like everything, I have much more fun playing these games than AAA games. I haven't finished the game yet, I only explored a couple of islands but if I need to add something more here, I might. Sorry about the crude review but it's from the heart. It has to count for something. I might clean it up later.
I rate it a wonderful time out of 10.
Steam User 18
Really fun retro rpg. Also love that its very inspired by Arabic mythology and Islam. As a Muslim its quite fascinating to see. Also its done very respectfully. Although the Islamic undertones are pretty in your face. Like with mosques, prayers, Ramadan fasting and Hajj. But I guess that is part of the world building.
Fun game. Love it!