Swords and Sorcery – Underworld – Definitive Edition

This is one of the best old school, turned based RPG that I have played for years.
BTW, I am an older gamer that has been playing RPGs for the last 35+ years, starting from Wizardy 1 in 1980. I played all the Wizardrys, Ultimas, Bard Tales and Might & Magic Series.
This game reminds me of all those past games that I have played in the past with its square grid layout and its very engaging storyline. You can also have a team of 6 different members and there are 6 different classes each with very different and unique skills. This game is also slightly different than most normal RPG in that Sorcerers need to collect Runes to cast spells, and Priests needs to prepare a supply of Holy Water. Of course you also need to be near some water supply like Stream or Lake so you can have access to water. It is little things like this that makes the game more interesting and different.
The developer also put in a lot of effort into creating different kind of dungeons with different mechanics and behavior that are uniquely distinctive. For example, in the Water Realm, there are currents and you get swept away to different location based on the current. In the Air Realm, you will fall to your death, and can only teleport to certain location using a transdisplacer device. In Earth Realm you might have to re-materialized behind the rock to discover new tunnels, etc. In Fire you have constant Inferno effect damaging you with every move and lots of other surprises.
I love games with Steam Achievements, and it is possible to get all 20/20 steam achievements in a single playthrough. I spend about 70 hours in a single playthrough. This game especially reward grinding and have monsters that repopulate so that you can grind till your heart content. You also get decent drops and experienes through grinding too.
Overall, I loved this game and would highly recommend it to any old school RPG gamers. Its definitely worth the money spent.

Here are some old comments, slightly modified to make more sense here, that I made on the game in the previous engine when I first played it a few years ago. From what I understand, this version is a graphical and interface upgrade, but the main game play and story is similar to what I experienced originally with some modifications and some things that are more fleshed out. If I get a chance to play this iteration, I will update this review with more comments.
Overall, I would recommend the game if you like old school, grid based, movement type RPGs that were similar to the original Might & Magic games with good pacing, class and spell design, balanced with some challenging, but fair game play. While the graphics will not compete directly with AAA modern titles, the monster portraits and game scenes can still be quite appealing to look at. Another big plus for me is you can actually have 6 party members so you can have one of each available class in your party and they are all quite useful including a Fighter, Paladin, Archer, Thief, Priest and Sorceress.
OLD COMMENTS:
I had time to download and play the demo for a bit yesterday and was able to pick it up pretty quickly even without looking at the manual at all. It was familiar enough to the old classics that I was able to jump right in. There are a few mechanics and tactics I didn't try yet, but the basics of fighting, buying/selling, and equipping the party were pretty straightforward so far. It probably helped me a lot that I played the old classic Might & Magic 1 last year as much of the original interface was very similar. I must say that I liked the option to inspect an item and it would show you which class could use the item and damage stats, etc. Also, when I tried to equip a shield while already wielding a 2h weapon, it popped a yellow message up explaining to me that I already had a 2h weapon equipped. I wasn't expecting that level of feedback.
I got my party up to level 7 and unlocked the 4th tier of spells. At first I was a little bummed there would only be 5 tiers of spells, but all the spells are pretty useful even though there are only 4 priest and sorc spells per level. The total spell count may be lower, but the actual usefulness of them seems to be very high compared to similar games.
At first I didn't like the way water/holy water was handled and the sorc runes that you needed to loot to cast the more powerful spells. However, now that I have been playing a while, it just feels right and I can tell there was a lot of thought put into how it would affect game-play and strategy. It is a nice twist on a familiar mechanic.
I was concerned a few times whether I was progressing in the proper manner/order in game, but never ended up being frustrated. By just exploring each map systematically, I was stumbling into all relevant and important events (I think). A few times the monsters seemed to be a bit over-tuned, but then I would soon uncover an item or spell that made them a lot easier to deal with, so I would say personally the game flows very well and the difficulty is just right.
So far the game hasn't grown stale at all, which I am pleasantly surprised with. The pace that new enemies show up with new tactics and the pace that you grow in power through new items and/or spells seems to be just right. I am quite impressed you did this alone. Your efforts at polish in game-play show. Granted, this is ignoring some of the graphics and re-usable sound effects, etc, but concentrating on the core tactics and game-play, I am getting a good experience.
Now I am genuinely interested in finishing the game, or at least progressing further. If there are 15-20 areas/maps? I guess I am only about a third of the way through and easily have over 10 hours into it already I would say. The encounters are already getting pretty tough so I can only imagine what you have in store as I get into the end game.
END OF OLDER COMMENTS
I now recall that I never did finish the game to get to the end game content, but it was more due to my lack of focus and ability to stick with one game (any game) than this game specifically. Perhaps I will give it another shot in this new engine/interface and make it a bit further!
Watch the available video clips and screenshots and if you can get by the interface and older style graphics, there is some very elegant old school RPG goodness in here.

Six man party hex-based movement with turn-based combat dungeon crawler. There are not many games around in this genre, so I take what it's there. And this one is a decent one, it may not have animated monsters but arts are really nice. And Swords and Sorcery - Underworld is complex enough to keep me entertained. Bugs free also.

If you played and liked the old Might and Magic or Wizardry games get this game.
I played this game before it came to Steam. This is an old school grid based RPG with an improved interface. I still enjoy the style of these type of RPG but was unable to go back and enjoy the originals because of the clunky interface. This game with an easy interface is exactly what I wanted, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next game the developer is creating with a similar engine.
Some will find the game very unfair, and especially starting out you will die easy and it seems unfairly. It’s not nearly as punishing as the original M&M I and Bards Tale I. I actually like starting so weak because it makes the progression that much more visible. Also the combat and exploration have a certain puzzle flavor to them. There are certain challenge humps that are hard to get past but I am glad they are there. I remember particularly a room in the catacombs and some of the lower levels which seemed particularly unfair. It just means you have to be very careful, and also understand how you can use the order of turned based combat, and maybe change some characters speed so they go before others. The thief is very important for some of the special attacks it has.
This has about 100hrs worth of content if you like to explore every square and it may be hard for an adult to find the time to finish; but since it is save anywhere out of combat and combat is short it is actually very friendly to being played in small chunks.

I played Bards Tale in 1985. Lovely game.
99 Barbarians. Only being able to save in the Adventures Guild. The eerie music from the temples.
Brian The Fist. El Cid. A bard that needs to take a swig of his wineskin before playing some musical tunes. Four mage classes. A mad monk that fights with only his hands and feet.
I could go on. A masterpiece. Played it again for 60 hours a few years ago when the original games were included in the later and mostly useless comedic Bards Tale remake.
Between 1985 and this day I have always asked why no developers have wanted to create something like that. Where are the mainstream Bards Tale games?
So huge, HUGE credit to OlderBytes for not only asking the question but for putting their money in and developing this gem.
A dungeon crawler, turn based combat. Grid based movement. Locked doors. Treasure. Healing. Items.
Experience points. Exploring.
Exploration is one of the game's best points. You would think that map design on a grid is pretty easy. But I can tell you about some awful, awful games where the maps were obscene or even retarded. The maps in this game feel really well thought out. They really made me want to explore every nook and crook and are quite varied.
I reckon the game developer must be a proper gamer himself as in every town I visited, the place I wanted to visit first was the last place I found. Last place - each time. Diabolical game design or bad damn luck for me? I am talking about the shop or that one time I needed food. Where the heck are they?
The games graphics are very competent and unusual. Encounters can be interesting as the bestiary is quite varied. The game is smarter than it looks. Old school game play has been upgraded in some ways, such as requirements to plan ahead and create holy water for your priest. My Thief had a Stun option. I loved my thief as once hiding in the shadows he could one shot kill some nasties. He was also able to find daggers that had extra assassin damage - lovely. I can't imagine having a party without a priest as healing in the midst of battle was crucial to my experience.
Undead. More of those folks than in an episode of The Walking Dead. Another thing new to the genre is that my party had to be "Blessed" before they could apply any damage to the foul creatures. I even came across a lava/ fire area I could not traverse until I remembered I had a "levitate" spell. Cool.
The combat itself is quite interesting and requires full concentration as it is easy to get whacked if you assume spamming Attack will get you through. Combat is almost like little puzzles where you need to figure out who to go forward, who to heal, who to drop out of melee. There is even one option that allows one party member to protect another. My priest has a spell that allows her to read minds in combat which then builds up your Bestiary. At this point, I can't be sure whether this is useful in game or useful building a Steam Achievement. Still interesting reading the text.
It's not all hugs and kisses though. Just one thing.
One shot kills. Save scumming. I hate it and this game positively encourages it.
I would really love to know how many fights other gamers can go before saving. Really. What is the record so far?
It breaks the immersion of what could be a fantastic game. Behind every nook and cranny there is an encounter that can wipe out your whole party and kill you stone dead. No notice. No warning. Return to "GO". Behind every nook and cranny and even in nooks you have even visited before. It's the random encounter generator or level list or something.
Something that can really spoil the flow of the game. It stops me from giving this a "I love this game" to "I recommend you try this game".
I will ponder on this final criticism of the game for now as I would like try it out for more.
Other thoughts?
Loot. Would be nice if some encounters left behind food or water.
Scrolls that can raise the dead if your party finishes an encounter a few men short.
Encounters that leave behind food you can eat and heal yourself.
Cough - some directions in town?
Some unique save locations instead of save anywhere - would help immersion.
Better armour/ equipment/ spells of mages. Those guys just die all the time.

*Fantastic* old-school dungeon crawler/CRPG. Loads of interesting things to see and discover, and great combat to level up, find hidden loot and explore more secrets. A+!

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This is a solid first person party-based dungeon crawler (also referred to as blobber) with a slightly wonky interface and aesthetics, but great gameplay.
It took me 14 hours to finish the game, so it's a little on the shorter side. If you want to compare it to oldschool blobbers, the most comparable game would be Might and Magic 1-5. Movement is step-based, combat is turn-based, your party contains six characters, all of which you create yourself.
The game offers several martial and magical classes. I went with a knight, paladin, archer, priestess, and two sorceresses. Generally, I found the martial classes (knight, archer) to be the most useful, while my magical classes were mostly there for backup and utility. If I replay this, I will only pick one sorceress because magic just doesn't pull its weight in combat compared to what a knight or archer can do.
Knights are solid damage dealers throughout the game, and once you get the dwarven axe as a quest reward from the dwarf king, you can pretty much one-shot anything but endgame enemies. At high levels, knights get the berserk ability which deals some damage to themselves but also hits every enemy in melee range with a single action. Archers, likewise, can deal a lot of damage, can hit enemies in the back rows, and get an absolutely overpowered ability at high level that allows them to attack EVERY VISIBLE ENEMY in a single action. Combined with the elven bow you get as a quest reward, this is usually enough to wipe entire enemy stacks with your archer alone.
Compare those powerful abilities to the spells casters get, and the martial classes absolutely win out. But where the casters shine is exploration and support. Sorcerers get a spell that lets you phase through walls and explore some hidden areas, while priests perform healing duties. Have at least one of each in your party, they're absolutely necessary. Late game sorcerers get the powerful combat spell imprison, which makes a targeted enemy unable to act until you attack it, effectively allowing you to shut off a boss enemy while taking out his henchmen.
Gameplay is classic dungeon crawling fare. Your party explores cities and dungeons, fights enemies, discovers secrets, finds new items, etc. The exploration is solid and the combat is fun. Early on, it's very challenging, but it becomes easy once your knight and archer unlock their special abilities. It does become a little more challenging towards the end again, some of the boss fights are really tough - but none of them felt like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I could defeat them all with the proper use of spells and abilities. Overall the challenge felt fair. Leveling up and finding new items noticeably improves your characters' abilities, and I liked how important items are for your characters' power, especially your martial classes. Finding a better weapon is going to increase your damage potential greatly.
The endgame dungeons focus more on puzzles than on combat, making you use magic items and spells to navigate bottomless pits and flooded rooms where currents move you away from the path you want to take. The puzzles felt fair and were easy enough to figure out. They offered a nice change of pace.
The story is your average oldschool dungeon crawler fare: evil is afoot, you must defeat it. There are a few twists though, so the writing is a little more involved than just "kill foozle".
My only criticism is that the interface feels a little clunky, and the dungeon graphics are a bit rough. Enemy art is great though, and some of the illustrated scenes you can find are absolutely gorgeous. They were illustrated by a professional comic book artist, and it shows. Despite being clunky, the interface also has some good things: when loading a save, a little star next to your save shows you which one's the most recent. And in combat, you can click on a skull to rapidly fast-forward to the end of combat (basically makes your characters auto-fight by melee-attacking the closest enemy until everyone is dead... be careful, it only works out in your favor when you massively outclass the enemy, usually it just kills you! It's a great way to skip through trivial encounters you out-leveled.)
Overall, great game, thoroughly recommended to any fans of classic dungeon crawlers.