Mad, (and any of you who prefer to go the solitary route with real-time combat, hacking and slashing your way along as the hero in an RPG) I have a game for you.

I was disappointed that Divinity: Original Sin turned out to be a turn-based, party-oriented and, from all accounts, difficult game, having loved Divine Divinity and hoping that D:OS would be something along those lines.
So, I searched through the older RPGs on GOG - Grief, are there really so few real-time combat games? - and found Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition (2005).
(The game seems to have a small identity crisis since the name on it is Kult: Heretic Kingdoms but that's not the way it's listed on GOG.)

Four Fat Chicks (now Tap Repeatedly) has one of the few reviews of Kult I was able to find and the reviewer not only enjoyed it thoroughly but said it was "fun, fun, fun and destined to be a sleeper hit"
Well, she was wrong about the hit for some reason I can't figure out because it's great!

At any rate, Four Fat Chicks explains the mechanics of the game better than I can but briefly....
You play in two worlds, dividing your time between the real world and the Dreamform.
You 'level up' by using the weapons you have.
You use them in the Dreamform as well as 'reality', but in the dream world you also find Hex Marks which help you gain stat points and Essences which bring new Attunements for your weapons in the elemental forces: Earth, Air, Fire & Water.
And both worlds are dangerous.

Evidently Kult was written by a professional writer who knew what he was doing because the story really grabbed me.
Despite being terrible at combat I kept plugging away at it because I wanted to know how it turned out!
Oh, and for all you fans of Dr. Who, Kult is narrated, briefly at the beginning and later during the cutscenes which are static drawings, by Tom Baker, who was one of the incarnations of Dr. Who.
I'm not sure which one he was since you couldn't pay me to watch it but Tom Baker's voice is marvelous!

Saving is easy and, since there's no Pause button, that is just as well since I did that a lot.
The game auto-saves when a mission is completed but you can save at any time and I never came to the end of them.

Kult has no particular replay value unless you want to see how you fare specializing in one of the elements though there are supposedly six endings which really boil down to three.
You veterans can probably whiz through it but it took me a solid couple of weeks doing not much else to find out what Gorgo (my hero) would decide to do in the end.
Bottom line, Kult was a very enjoyable hack and slash with a great story and it looks pretty darned decent for a game that's nine years old.
GOG has it for $5.99.
If you haven't played it, what are you waiting for?



Gil.
Off to see if I can survive specializing in Earth after making it through mainly with Fire.

Sounds like my kind of game. The only party-oriented game I liked was Vampire the Masquerade, Redemption.

EDIT: So, I just checked it out and how can I resist for only $5.99! And less than 900 MB download...

Thanks, Gil

I remember folks here on GameBoomers playing this game when it first came out. I have a boxed copy here in my house and still haven't played it; I bought it shortly after it wss released. People here enjoyed it. I believe the game was released under two different names, depending upon whether it was the North American release or the European release.

It seems to have done well in Europe; most of the reviews I saw were in languages without vowels.
There is a sequel being made called Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms and guess what?
It's Steam exclusive so far and party-based.

On the other hand, this is a weird kind of party-based game.
"New weapons and armor can change their external appearance, but their skills and attributes also develop as the character gains in experience. Although the game features a party of characters, this is not like other RPGs! Everyone shares the same body, that of the Devourer that has consumed their souls. Each hero in the party is a captive soul of this demon, and levels up independently according to how much the player embodies that puppet. Players can focus on a single character and level them up, or choose a cadre of heroes, villains – and even monsters! – to form their party. Each of the puppet souls has its own advantages and disadvantages."

So, you play as a demon who looks like the soul you're focusing on at the time when it's in the real world, as a Devourer of Souls in the Shadow Realm!

"In Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms, the player takes control of one of these Devourers. However, this is no ordinary demon! Thanks to the schemes of a desperate mage, it has been brought into the Heretic Kingdoms without a pact – allowing it to swallow many souls, and embody any of them as puppets. Yet each soul it absorbs merges another personality and set of memories into its collective psyche – leaving it wandering the world at the very edge of madness."

Seriously, I love this idea.
These developers are so innovative!
Maybe it's actually a 'party-based' game I could enjoy and I've got my fingers and a few toes crossed that it comes out on GOG!

Btw, I think this one is also going to be narrated by Tom Baker.

Gil.

I had no idea a sequel was in the works - thanks for the info!

I'm going to have to find my copy of the game and load it up.

After all this time, it's probably in the Shadow Realm.
Watch out for those tree stumps in the Vale of Tears and the really annoying little shamans who zip around like waterbugs in the Lost Canyons.
Get past them and you're probably good to go...for a while.

Gil.

Thanks, traveler

I attempted this game when it was first released - but can't remember whether I managed to finish or not !!

Drac, have you had a chance to play it yet?
I had a ball replaying it, having learned a few tricks, and found I'd missed a whole section near the end.
Sheesh, I wish I'd had some of those weapons when I was fighting my way through the mines!

Gil.
Champion Gladiator of the Heretic Kingdoms