A website called GamesTM published a late review for Blackguards 2. The site gave the game a 7/10, and called it,"A series of corrections rather than a sequel." 

To its credit, Blackguards 2 leaps into its story of estranged spouses, imprisonment, mutilation and vengeance with wild abandon. It’s a lot more gripping than the wanted criminal plotline from Blackguards and this time you’re at the head of a conquering horde. Our protagonist, Cassia, is a breath of fresh air as a tyrant’s abused wife who decides she could do a better job. How merciful or brutal she is will be left up to players. This ties into numerous choice and consequence scenarios.

Daedalic Entertainment has released Patch 2.1 for Blackguards 2 on Steam.

Hi all, patch 2.1 for Blackguards 2 has been released today on Thursday afternoon and is now available. (Please find the German version of the patchnotes HERE and the Russian version HERE)

You’ll find detailed change-log below. If you should experience further problems while playing Blackguards 2 please contact us here or our technical support team via support@daedalic.de so we can work on fixing the issue. Thank you for your support and feedback!

Edit: It's worth noting that the high-res font problems have been fixed with this patch. The full patch log is more than a page long.

The RPG Codex posted a new Blackguards 2 review from a member called Bubbles.

Playing Blackguards 2 after Blackguards 1 is remarkably similar to the experience of playing Dragon Age 2 after Dragon Age: Origins. Some players will prefer the first game for its sheer volume and “old school” flair, while others will be drawn to its sleeker, more assured successor. Some will appreciate BG2's greater focus on storytelling, its unique depiction of mental illness, the tightly progressing story suffused with a malodorous air of inevitability, the greater emphasis on companion interactions, the deft use of negative space in map design as well as in character development, and the tight focus on high-density, high-volume wave combat.

Others will protest “Oh, but Blackguards 1 had heart! If it sang the Jazz, Louis Armstrong would be blowing its trumpet. Blackguards 2 lacks that “je ne sais quoi” (or “Ich weiß nicht was”) that makes a solid game fun! And it wasn't so bloody tedious with the five minute enemy turns and the endless respawns and so forth. I honestly didn't mind having a complex character creation system! Why couldn't they just make a better Blackguards 1?” I know that many readers will identify with these statements, and their points are, of course, no less valid.

In the end, the independently minded reader is free to make his or her own decision on the nature of the game based on the objective facts presented in this review. If you still feel utterly lost and confused, I would recommend starting with the cheaper, meatier Blackguards 1 and seeing where that takes you.

Daedalic Entertainment released a new video about review scores for Blackguards 2.

This is our cinematic verdict trailer for Blackguards 2.
Thanks to all reviewers and gamers who made this happen.

Blackguards 2 is the sequel of the turn-based strategy-RPG and will deliver more hexfield battles and an even grittier story filled with violence and crime. Enjoy!

Daedalic Entertainment released the third of four new video guides for Blackguards 2. The new videos will show whats new, and give some useful tips.

Hello and welcome to our third out of four video guides for Blackguards 2, our Strategy RPG. These videos will deliver you clever tricks and useful tips to make sure you are the smartest conqueror in Southern Aventuria. This time it’s all about battle maps itself and how you can use your surroundings to help you in the battle.

Daedalic Entertainment released the second of four new video guides for Blackguards 2 today. The new videos will show whats new, and give some useful tips.

Hello and welcome to our second out of four video guides for Blackguards 2, our strategy-RPG. These videos will deliver you clever tricks and useful tips to make sure you are the smartest conqueror in Southern Aventuria.

Darren Nakamura of Destructoid played Blackguards 2, and published a new review. He found the game to be average at best, and gave it a final score of 6/10.

Blackguards 2 scratches the tactical RPG itch just fine, though the battles do become tedious near the end. It certainly doesn't welcome new players with open arms, but veterans will view its opacity as a minor issue to work around.

Its greatest strength is the surprisingly poignant narrative about the muddy area between good and evil. I almost want to play through again to see how different choices will affect the later battles and the story's conclusion, but at 25-30 hours for one playthrough and combat that wears thin toward the end, it is just long enough for me to shy away from that idea

As the title says here are three more reviews for Blackguards 2 I found this week.

ZTGD - 6.5.10

Blackguards 2 is not a perfect game and, unfortunately, not the reinvention of its predecessor it could have been. However, the game does ultimately reward a little (well, a lot of) patience, developing into a relatively enjoyable campaign once the player has progressed past the early stages.

New Gamer Nation - 7.5/10

Overall, I had fun with the game. I found the streamlined user interface, character progression system, and radial combat menu pretty straight forward and easy to use. The line of site feature which lets you see the distance your weapons can reach was also a very useful implementation. While I usually find strategy games to be fairly long and complicated with steep learning curves, I found this game to be pretty accessible with intuitive combat.

Calm Down Tom - 3/5

Overall I enjoyed the core battle system and upgrading of characters in BlackGuards 2, however the story was really mediocre and the characters just seemed pretty lifeless. It’s not a bad game by any means but the story adds very little to the game and the battling is really fun which is why I’m pretty conflicted about these titles. I know I will gladly go back and complete this game and enjoy it, but I won’t do it for the story or finding out what happens to Cassia and if she gets her revenge, but just for the fun battles.

Daedalic Entertainment posted the fourth video about new features for Blackguards 2.

In this new video, we focus on all the fiendish new creatures in the game. These unique foes include Leapers, who practically fly across the battlefield, challenging your use of cover and movement, and then there are the Sand Ghosts, who use devastating area-of-effect sandstorms and “sand traps” that capture and hold single units in a punishing death-grip.

Daedalic Entertainment has released Patch 2.0 for Blackguards 2 today on Steam.

Hi all, we’re sorry for all of you who experienced problems while playing Blackguards 2 in the past and therefor we’re happy and proud to say that we’re releasing patch 2.0 for Blackguards 2 right now.

The patch fixes a lot of major bugs like the often reported freeze-issues at some points of the game as well as some incorrect behavior of the AI at certain points. We also worked on a huge list of minor bugs like graphic glitches and smaller issues like not working Steam achievements. There also have been some reports about balancing issues. We also worked on that. All this bug-fixes and improvements will now hopefully allow you to experience a lot smoother gameplay in Blackguards 2.

And last but not least and - because of we can’t say it out lot often enough – Thank you for your support and feedback! You guys are awesome!

Please find the detailed change-log below. If you should experience further problems while playing Blackguards 2 please contact us here or our technical support team via support@daedalic.de so we can work on fixing the issue.

Daedalic Entertainment has released Patch 1.1.8 for Blackguards 2.

Hi all, patch 1.1.8 for Blackguards 2 has been released on Friday afternoon. Please find the changelog attached.

Patch 1.1.8 Changelog:

• fixed a potential blocker in Takates arena causing dialogue options not being selectable
• fixed a couple of issues with achievement tracking
• fixed rare freeze when curiers spawn while legionnaires are trapped in a swamp-holes
• fixed multiple bugs in Japanese and Korean language packages
• fixed training fights so they no longer trigger game over if lost
• fixed a problem with interface input that made the GUI disappear on some occasions

We thank so much you for your ongoing support as well as your patience! And now: Have a great time conquering Southern Aventuia.

They also talk about Patch 2.0 , and say it will be released on February 4th.

Dear Aventuria Travellers, good news incoming for a save and trouble-free expedition to conquer the Shark Throne: we’ll preparing a patch for Wednesday 4th February 2015 which will fix a lot of major and minor bugs regarding Blackguards 2. You’ll find the roadmap what we’ll going to do attached.

To those of you who experienced one or more of those bugs listed below: we’re deeply sorry for you having so much trouble with playing Blackguards 2. Patch 2.0 should make sure you can go on without any more problems but if you should experience more or other issues after the patch on Wednesday please contact us so we can take care of your issue. Just write a mail to support@daedalic.de or contact us via the forum here.

Daedalic Entertainment released the first of four new video guides for Blackguards 2 today. The new videos will show whats new in the game, and give some useful tips.

Daedalic Entertainment announced they released a new patch for Blackguards 2

Please note: Only for the Retail version of Blackguards 2, for other digital distributions, please have a look on your specific sales platform.

And here are some of the major changes the patch brings.

NEW FEATURES

– Pressing the “V” key (showing goals, interactive objects) is working also during deployment on the battlemap now.

– The status box has mouseover informations now

– Cities are more populated now

BLOCK (Spoiler Alert)

– Battle Prison of Assakal: fixed occasional soft freeze when AI picked up weapons

– Battle Marwans Palace pt 2: fixed possible blocker caused by incorrect cutscene trigger

– Battle Marwans Palace pt 1: fixed win conditions

– Battle Marwans Arena: corrected “petrified” flags so they are being considered for win and lose conditions

– Battle Dujar: fixed a dialogue trigger bug that made it impossible to reach the “creator”

 Here are the patch notes for Steam patch 1.1.8 (Jan 23rd):

Patch 1.1.8. - Steam[ (23rd of January)

Patch 1.1.8. - Steam

For the upcoming patch which goes live shortly today here are the patch notes.

- fixed a potential blocker in Takates arena causing dialogue options not being selectable
- fixed a couple of issues with achievement tracking
- fixed rare freeze when curiers spawn while legionaires are trapped in a swampholes
- fixed multiple bugs in japanese and korean language packages
- fixed training fights so they no longer trigger game over if lost
- fixed a problem with interface input that made the GUI disappear on some occasions

We thank you for your ongoing support and your patience and hope you will continue enjoying the game!

Well here is the third roundup of reviews for Blackguards 2 this week. As usual the scores vary by website, but most of them agree it's a good game at least.

PCGamesN - 8/10

Blackguards 2 has surprised me. Though I enjoyed the tactical combat in its predecessor, I wasn’t left hungry for a second outing. But the more focused campaign, and a protagonist that is much more than a cardboard cut out have elevated the sequel considerably. Some slightly awkward writing and odd moments of jarring silliness weaken the grim premise, but not enough to topple it. And the immensely satisfying fights are more than worth putting up with some cracks.

MousenJoyPad - 77/100

Seeing as there currently seems to be something of a gaming drought as far as fans of turn-based strategies are concerned, Blackguards 2 comes right on schedule. While it does have a couple of issues that may or may not take away from your experience, the game certainly is a valid addition to the bastardized TBS/RPG 'genre'.

Chalgyr's Game Room - 8.5

Solid graphics, amazing voice acting, splendid ambient audio, and a solid, if dark story line with support cast members that are at times both flat and full of character, really show that Daedalic is continuing to grow the franchise and refine the existing formula. Those gamers, like me, that are eagerly awaiting the release of additional classic CRPG-style games are in for a treat with Blackguards 2 so head on over to Steam and pick it up. It is certainly worth it.

Invision Community - 3/5

Overall I give Blackguards 2 a 3/5, it brings back good memories of the old days with some good tactical combat but lacks in delivery. Sound, story and overall design of the game feel unfinished and don’t give much excitement to the game as a whole. Coordinating troops and finding the right strategy is a great feeling, especially when the game allows you to put traps on the field and change the layout of the map with objects. Fans of the genre might like this game, but I feel many will take some getting used to Blackguards 2.

Gamehaunt - 4/5

Blackguards 2 is suited for gamers who like RPGs. It has a great fantasy storyline and there are interesting characters. The combat system and interactive sequences offer a wonderful way to play an role-playing game.

Daedalic Entertainment announced the release of Blackguards 2, and can be bought on GOG, and Steam. Consider this a follow-up to the trailer I posted yesterday.

Blackguards 2 now available worldwide!

Hamburg / Munich, January 20^th, 2015 -  Blackguards 2, the sequel to Daedalic Entertainment’s successful S-RPG Blackguards, is now available worldwide for 29.99 US$/ 22.99£/ 29.99€/ 499RUR/ 2,980Yen on Steam, GOG and other major online stores. Featuring full English and German localization as well as subtitles in Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Korean.

The trailer can be found here.

Not much time has passed, but a lot has happened in the time between the events of the turn-based RPG-hit Blackguards and its sequel Blackguards 2. Set only few years after the story of the first game, Blackguards 2 will bring along many changes – for the well-known characters as well as for the players.

Daedalic Entertainment released a new launch trailer for Blackguards 2. The game should be available in fourteen hours according to Steam, and where I live at

Blackguards 2 is the sequel of the turn-based strategy-RPG and will deliver more hexfield battles and an even grittier story filled with violence and crime.

Well as I said yesterday here are a few more reviews for Blackguards 2.

IGN - 7.8/10

Blackguards 2 improves on its predecessor in almost every other respect. Daedalic effectively removed the elements that made last year's release annoying at all the wrong moments, and left its players with the best parts of the experience. It's still a methodical, almost plodding tactical roleplaying game, but now it's easier to find the fun and to enjoy its world and characters.

I found two new reviews  for Blackguards 2 today despite the game not being released yet on Steam. So expect more reviews in the following week from other websites.

Canadian Online Gamers -  No Score

When you consider buying Blackguards 2, there are three questions you need to ask yourself. Do you enjoy tactics RPGs? Do you like an interesting high-fantasy story? Do you have hours and hours to sink into a new game? If you answered yes to any of these, then I’d definitely recommend checking out not only Blackguards 2 but its predecessor as well. Daedalic has done a great job at actually listening to the community to help improve their product, and I’m really happy to see what they’ve done. You’re not going to get blown away, but you’ll certainly be left with some fond memories and a solid experience.

Twinfinite -  5/5

Blackguard 2 manages to exist as a game that feels like a classic strategy role playing game, and as so much more at the same time. A deep story with great characters, varied quests, deep customization, and great battles make for a must have game. It may be a bit daunting for those new to the genre, but the payoff after the challenge is more than worth it.

Mike Holmes published the next preview for BlackGuards 2 based on a beta version of the game. So based off all the early previews the game seems more streamlined now.

Ultimately Blackguards 2 is going to appeal to those who appreciated the first game, but it could also appeal to fans of turn-based strategy. There's a sloth-like pace at times, and this will put off those looking for something more immediate and punchy. There's moments where the movement of your team around the maps - no matter how cleverly constructed these maps might be - is slow. Perhaps too slow for some.

The third video showing off new features for Blackguards 2 was released yesterday.

Hello and welcome to the third part of our video feature series to our upcoming strategy RPG Blackguards 2 in the universe of the Dark Eye. This time it’s all about the protagonist Cassia: What are her aims? Why is ruling from the shark throne the only thing she wants?

Adam Gell of a site called Here Is The City is the next person  to release a Hands-On Preview of Blackguards 2 based on few hours of play time with the games Beta.

One part of RPGs I'm not so much a fan of is clutter on the screen. Whilst Blackguards 2 has plenty of stats to tweak, abilities to learn, and HUD features, I never felt overwhelmed - everything was clear, and detailed enough, without looking like a confusing mess.

One of the best parts of my experience with the game would be the story. Playing as Cassia, a woman banished into a dungeon with no hope of escape, you start the game walking through said dungeon trying to find a means of actually getting out. This section serves as something of a tutorial. Unfortunately the dungeon is filled with giant spider-like creatures (I hate giant spider-like creatures) that have a poisonous bite which will either kill you or send you insane. Spending four years down in the depths with the spiders, Cassia becomes disfigured and loses her mind. Eventually escaping the dungeon she has nothing but revenge on the braind. As someone who generally likes to play the 'good guy' in games, and creates them in RPGs, I enjoyed the dark tones of Blackguards 2, and the twisted angle they went for with the main protagonist.

Despite not knowing much about The Dark Eye universe's lore, I still had a blast with Blackguards 2. It's a fun turn-based RPG that I'm looking forward to delving further into, and I can't see any die-hard RPG fans being turned off by it's deep, strategic gameplay and intriguing story.

Well I found a bunch of new previews for Blackguards 2 this week. They go along with all the previous impression articles I posted last week. So enjoy everyone.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The big change is a strategic map and dynamic campaigning rather than the linear plod of the original. Slavers are attacking settlements and you’ll use heroes and mercenaries to fight back, reclaiming territory and defending areas that you’ve claimed. Maps can switch control several times during a campaign, which should go some way toward eliminating the irritation of repeated failure.

Gizorama

Overall, it’s safe to say that Blackguards 2 will certainly be worth playing once the game officially hits shelves in late January. Though new players may feel a bit overwhelmed in places where veterans fit right in, the overall experience keeps you so occupied in battle strategies and war plans that you’ll hardly have a moment to yourself to consider how lost you are.

Gamewatcher

Though the first Blackguards game was only out earlier this year there are enough changes, advancement in design and gameplay tweaks to make this sequel worthy of a look. After playing so many Early Access titles riddled with bugs and performance issues it’s refreshing to find that Blackguards 2 is a solid experience before it releases next month. If you love challenging tactical RPGs with a dark fantasy bent then this is one to keep on your radar. I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen so far.

Entertainment Buddha

In the few short hours of the early build I got to play though, it always felt like this time could easily be put to good use by determining the best path to flank your enemies, taking note of traps and loot, or picking out the most important targets. Newly added cover and line of site systems also allow for more options when navigating and placing your troops.

Noobfeed

Blackguards 2 showcase many strategic aspects that come with a turn-based strategy game. Although some of the visuals and mechanics feel out-dated, the turf-war aspect of the game provides an extensive amount of fun. RPG elements such as building your character and your army’s skillset over time, as well as meeting new people in towns and taking on side quests, shows no reason why this game shouldn’t succeed.

The next impresiion article for Blackguards 2 is from a site called Cubed 3.

Blackguards 2 has at least some of the right pieces to be a decent, possibly even great, game that delves into a dark fantasy world without becoming one of the 'everything is evil and pain' kinds that seem to pop up everywhere that 'dark fantasy' seems to go. However, in its current state it is simply impossible to tell how good the final product is going to be since far too many pieces are missing. It's like trying to figure out the game of chess when all the knights, the black rook, and several pawns are missing. Even with a guide and general concept of how the game is played, it is simply difficult to tell how it might turn out in the end. Keep an eye on this as Daedalic Entertainment does have a strong reputation and will be taking feedback going forwards during the development period.

Oliver VanDervoort of GamingBolt posted his early impressions of a Beta build of Blackguards 2 based on a few hours of playtime. Here is a sample.

The first thing to keep in mind about Blackguards 2 is that Daedelic Entertainment apparently decided that if it ain’t broke, it shouldn’t fix it. This is in regards to the company’s earlier release of the original Blackguards. This game is rather obviously the sequel to that rather well met and well-reviewed PC game that has gamers going on a grand point and click adventure. The problem is that there are some things that were broken with the first title, and it seems as if not fixing them only made them broken a little bit more in this followup.

Well here are two more previews of Blackguards 2 I found this week.

COG

When it comes down to it, I feel fans of the first game are really going to like the direction this game is going. Even in this early and incomplete state I was putting the game through its paces and was having a good time. I look forward to giving the game a spin when the finishing touches are done and seeing even more improvements.

Chalgyr's Game Room

Blackguards 2 feels like it is leaning a bit more heavily towards the strategy genre than RPG this time around, with an emphasis on accessibility. It is an understandable direction given a good deal of the feedback after the initial game. My early impressions are favorable and I am looking forward to spending more time with Blackguards 2 once it is fully released.

A small site by the name of Bag of Games posted a new preview of Blackguards 2.

I would already have recommended the original Blackguards to any RPG fan, or even someone who is a fan of well-made strategy games with little interest in RPGs. It had its issues, and I wasn’t so much a fan of the story (while it rounded itself out nicely, many of the issues just felt like a deus ex machina). However Blackguards 2 looks like it could become a cult classic, if the endgame is as strong as what I’ve played. I didn’t get to play around with the assassin or ogre mercenaries, as they are only available later on, but the prospect of an extended battle, with you controlling so many different classes who all play out different, is fantastic. Both the story and gameplay are strong, and Daedalic have learnt from the original game how to make it a better and clearer game, without removing its strong tabletop RPG feel or complexity. My only complaint is that the game has not been fully balanced, however that is being heavily worked on at the moment, and so the game should be much fairer around release.

Don't forget The RPG Codex also posted a preview last week.

Our friends at the Codex put one of the first hands-on Blackguards 2 previews online. It seems the author wasn't exactly thrilled about all the things Daedalic decided to change.

With the cool stuff out of the way, we can now focus on what sucks, starting with the character system. In all the previews, it has been mentioned that Daedalic have taken certain "liberties" with The Dark Eye system, in order to make it "less confusing", but purportedly just as complex and open to choice, regarding character building and combat. Suffice it to say, adventure game developers should probably not try to completely overhaul established PnP mechanics.

For starters, all the base values from Blackguards have been completely removed. To make matters worse, nothing has been put into the system as any sort of substitute. Character-inherent magic resistance no longer exists, special abilities no longer have any attribute requirements (sans stuff like "max bows or crossbows to get master archer"), and most of the derived stats like initiative or speed have been redistributed across talents.

 Thanks to everybody who sent this in!

Daedalic Entertainment is proud to announce that the soundtrack will be made by famed Composer Peter Connelly. Here are the details for anyone interested.

Famed Composer Peter Connelly to Craft Soundtrack

Hamburg, December 16th, 2014. Blackguards 2, Daedalic Entertainment’s upcoming sequel to their successful Strategic-Role-Playing Game (SRPG), will not only see numerous exciting gameplay improvements, but now will have a high-quality soundtrack as well – as today, the developers are pleased to announce that renowned composer Peter Connelly will be crafting the game’s soundtrack.

"Peter’s career within the video games industry began in 1995, though his musical and sound engineering background spans four decades. Peter has been employed at various levels of audio expertise including roles as composer, sound designer and audio lead. Peter has composed soundtracks and created sound effects for many AAA titles including Driver: San Francisco, Herdy Gerdy, Fast n Furious and the legendary Tomb Raider series, of which the Angel of Darkness soundtrack was performed by the world famous London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. His most recent projects as composer, audio lead and sound designer include Ubisoft's Watch Dogs, The Crew and Assassins Creed: Identity."

Blackguards 2, scheduled for release on January 20th, 2015, is the sequel to Daedalic Entertainment’s successful SRPG set in the universe of The Dark Eye. The game, consisting of roleplaying- and turn-based-strategy elements, will take players back to the dark south of Aventuria.

The second video showing off new features of Blackguards 2, which is about the gameplay and how to overcome your enemies.

Usually games are more expensive in Germany than in most other countries, but this time the Germans get special treatment. Daedalic will relase two retail editions of Blackguards 2 in January. The standard edition only costs 19.99€, the premium edition 29.99€. The latter includes a DRM-free game on DVD, soundtrack and other digital bonus content, and a Steam key.

Here is the PR:

Blackguards 2 in zwei Editionen im deutschen Handel – „Box günstiger als digital“

Hamburg/München, 26. November 2014 – Daedalic Entertainment und EuroVideo Medien bringen Blackguards 2, den Nachfolger zum SRPG-Erfolg im Universum von Das Schwarze Auge, am 20. Januar 2015 in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz in zwei verschiedenen Editionen in den Handel.
 
Zum unverbindlichen Verkaufspreis von 19,99 € bieten Daedalic und EuroVideo eine Standard-Edition an, die das Spiel und ein Handbuch enthält. Für 29,99 € (UVP) erhalten Spieler eine Premium Edition, die neben der DRM-freien Fassung des Spiels auf DVD zusätzlich eine zweite, über einen Steam-Key aktivierbare Version, eine Soundtrack-CD, einen Strategie-Guide und ein Poster enthält.
Weiterhin wird Blackguards 2 über Steam, GOG und weitere digitale Download-Portale zum Preis von 29,99 € erhältlich sein.
 
„EuroVideo und wir bieten mit der Standard-Edition von Blackguards 2 eine Box-Version an, die deutlich günstiger erhältlich ist als die weltweit veröffentlichte Digitalfassung. Käufer der für 29,99 € erhältlichen Premium-Editionen erhalten natürlich auch digital entsprechende Zusatzinhalte, die ihr Geld wert sind. Mit der Standard-Edition wollen wir aber ausdrücklich den Handel unterstützen und einen Anreiz dafür schaffen, dieses Spiel als physische Kopie im Laden zu erwerben“, erklärt Carsten Fichtelmann, Gründer und CEO von Daedalic Entertainment.
 
„Wir hoffen, dass der Handel von diesem Angebot regen Gebrauch macht. Wir haben uns bewusst dazu entschieden, nur die Box-Version in zwei Editionen anzubieten, so dass der Handel Blackguards 2 zu einem starken Preis anbieten kann, aber auch die attraktive Premium-Edition im Sortiment hat, die die gleichen Inhalte bietet wie die zum gleichen Preis bei verschiedenen Online-Portalen erhältliche Download-Fassung“, ergänzt Steffen Hippe, Sales Director von EuroVideo Medien.
 
Mit Blackguards 2 veröffentlicht Daedalic Entertainment Anfang 2015 den Nachfolger zum erfolgreichen SRPG im Universum von Das Schwarze Auge: Wieder entführt der Mix aus Rollenspiel und rundenbasierter Strategie in den düsteren Süden Aventuriens. Gut drei Jahre nach den Ereignissen im ersten Blackguards-Spiel hat der Sklavenhändler Marwan die Macht über Südaventurien an sich gerissen und regiert die Region mit eiserner Hand. Den Blackguards ist Marwan als Betreiber der  „Neun Horden“-Arena in nicht wirklich bester Erinnerung geblieben – kein Wunder, dass die Schurken trotz ihrer kriminellen Vergangenheit nun wieder als erste Wahl gelten, wenn es darum geht, Marwan zu stürzen und sein Terrorregime zu beenden. Freiwillig mischen sie sich allerdings nicht in die aventurische Politik ein, dafür hat sich in ihrem Leben in den letzten Jahren zu viel verändert: Zwerg Naurim schwelgt in unermesslichem Reichtum und ausufernden Feiern, so dass es kaum einen Anreiz für ihn gibt, wieder in Abenteuern und Kämpfen Kopf und Kragen zu riskieren. Zauberer Zurbaran hingegen ist zurück in Gefangenschaft und muss sich als Sklave verdingen. Und der ehemalige Gladiator Takate hat aus all seinen vorherigen Abenteuern nichts Gutes gelernt und betreibt nun seine ganz eigene Arena, in der er sich am liebsten an der ganzen Menschheit für all das rächen will, was ihm angetan wurde. Es bedarf schon einer ganz besonderen Person wie der neuen zentralen Heldin Cassia, um die Blackguards noch einmal zusammenzutrommeln…
In rundenbasierten Kämpfen treten die Spieler von Blackguards 2 gegen Marwan und seine Armeen an – unter anderem erwarten sie dabei übernatürliche Kreaturen – Zwischenwesen, die halb Tier, halb Dämonen sind, erschaffen von Chimärologen im Auftrage Marwans. Wie auch schon im ersten Spiel bieten die Kämpfe in Blackguards 2 viele optionale Elemente – etwa interaktive Gegenstände, die sowohl Spieler als auch Gegner zu ihrem Vorteil einsetzen können, sowie zusätzliche oder alternative Questziele, die jeden Kampf zu einem einzigartigen Erlebnis machen.
Als Rollenspiel wartet Blackguards 2 nicht nur mit einem non-linearen Spielverlauf auf, in dem die Städte und Gebiete Südaventuriens erobert oder auch vor Marwan verteidigt werden müssen, sondern auch mit vielen Nebenquesten, die zusätzliche Spannung versprechen.
Zusätzliche Unterstützung erhalten die Spieler in Blackguards 2 von Söldner-Anführer Faramud und seinen Truppen: Künftig können seine Mannen in Kämpfen und darüber hinaus unterstützen – solange sie denn entsprechend entlohnt werden. Auch außerhalb des Kampfes bieten die Söldnertruppen wertvolle Dienste an – dann und wann erlauben sie etwa das „Verhör“ von Gefangenen, um an wichtige taktische Informationen für bevorstehende Schlachten zu gelangen. Spieler können sich so etwa Überraschungsangriffe oder zusätzliche Belohnungen freischalten.

Das Rollenspielregelwerk, das Blackguards 2 zugrunde liegt, wurde zudem an die Wünsche der Blackguards-Community angepasst: Viele Bereiche wie etwa Regelentscheidungen oder die Charakterentwicklung während des Spiels wurden zugänglicher und verständlicher gestaltet, ohne jedoch die DSA-Wurzeln aufzugeben.
Größere, komplexere Kampfkarten, viele neue Questen, Gegner, Waffen und Ausrüstungsgegenstände und vieles mehr erwarten die Spieler in Blackguards 2. Die Veröffentlichung für PC und Mac erfolgt Ende Januar 2015.

 So this time the retail version is cheaper than DL.

Daedalic isued a PR confirming the already circulating release for Blackguards 2, adding some details. Here's the whole thing minus the company blurp:

Blackguards 2 release date revealed 
Daedalic Entertainment announced that on January 20th 2015 gamers will be able to jump into even more challenging and strategic RPG battles as Blackguards 2 will be released worldwide for PC and Mac.

Listening to Blackguards fans’ feedback throughout the development process, Daedalic’s team added desired features, unique enemies as well as enhanced and improved gameplay. In Blackguards 2, battles will be even more epic, with their handling being significantly tweaked to make them more straight-forward, but also more challenging. Players can test just how fun these new features are in Blackguards 2 from January 20th onwards.

For £22.99 Blackguards 2 will be available on Steam, GOG and other major online stores, featuring full English and German localization as well as subtitles in Spanish, French, Russian, Polish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Korean.

Blackguards 2 will again be based on the RPG rulebook of The Dark Eye and will stay an SRPG focussing on turn-based, strategic battles with a group of scoundrels as anti-heroes.

 Our German readers should have at the other newsbit nearby. ;)

 Thanks  m00n1ight!

While no official announcement has been released yet The Humble Store allows you to now pre-order Blackguards 2, and lists the release date as January 20, 2015. 

At the core of Blackguards 2 is the conflict between Cassia – who starts a military campaign against the tyrant Marwan. Marwan rules the country with an iron fist from his throne in the city of Mengbilla. The ultimate goal of the game’s many turn-based battles is to conquer as much territory as possible and free it from Marwan’s influence, so that Cassia can claim the Shark Throne of Mengbilla herself.

Blackguards 2 focuses, on turn based battles as its core gameplay, based on the popular Dark Eye Pen & Paper tabletop rule set.

Battles, no matter if fought by one or more squads, range across multiple screens, lead through dungeons, ruins, or bridges spiked with traps and are, of course, inhabited by dangerous creatures. 

Whatever the player decides, it will have an impact on the events to come, what side quests are available and how characters will react in camp and in conquered areas.

Daedalic Entertainment released a trailer for Blackguards 2 about the new features.

This feature first video introduces all-new heroes rallying around the game's protagonist Cassia, and gives a first impression of the game's turn-based battles as well as new useful combat tools.

Here is the summary of what I saw at Gamescom combined with what Senior Producer Kai Fiebig told me about Blackguards 2.

Johannes and Kai mentioned that one of the biggest problems with the first Blackguards was that players did not know how the rule system worked. The Dark Eye P&P rule system can be pretty complex and not easy to understand. In Blackguards 2 many of these more complicated rules have been implemented such that they are better understandable by the player. The word simplified comes to mind with some of the changes that were mentioned by Kai, such as the 16 attributes that are in TDE and are now grouped together to seven and the more direct relation between incrementing an attribute and the effect that would have for that character in the game.
Although things have been made easier to understand, Kai emphasizes that the game has become less complicated, but at the same time has become more complex.

I found a new Gamescom presentation video for Blackguards 2 with  Producer Kai Fiebig on Orkenspalter TV. Were also on luck as the video audio is in English.

Daedalic Entertainment released the first trailer for Blackguards 2 earlier today.

Our Blackguards are back – better than ever before!

We listened carefully to all the community- and press-feedback on the games’ successful first appearance to make the second one even better.

Blackguards 2 will again be based on the RPG rulebook of The Dark Eye, but it will come along with some revisions, optimisations and simplifications. The gameplay will focus on turn-based battles once more and will now feature fraction-based gameplay-elements where you can can recapture the enemies’ territories.

If not in a battle, you have to take care of a lot of quests and the development of your characters. As common in RPGs, the quests will offer optional and alternative plotlines.

Furthermore, Blackguards 2 will have new weapons, armour, enemies and stamina as additional battle resource.

On top of that, Blackguards 2 will involve mechanics that have been requested by the community of the first game, like improved line of sight, cover and formation.

Blackguards 2 is planned to be released in early 2015.

http://www.blackguards-game.com/
http://www.blackguards2.com/

The RPG Codex's Crooked Bee took the time to interview Game Producer Kai Fiebig of Daedalic Entertainment to ask a few questions about the next Blackguard game.

So, since Blackguards 2 is a thing, we’re going to assume that Blackguards sold fairly well. Could you talk about just how well it did for you - if not in absolute terms, then at least relative to your pre-release expectations as well as the game's budget and development time?

Kai Fiebig: Small profit kinda well… From the beginning we were aware of the fact that most people would say “’Daedalic’ the adventure-guys, doing an S-RPG, nice joke!” Right now, it’s selling pretty well and we are all in all happy with the results. In terms of budget, to put it simply, we reached break even and everyone is earning money. Development time was a little more than 2,5 years, so a little longer than we are working on our adventures.​

It was a bold move to jump from adventure games into RPGs, with a tactical turn-based RPG to boot - admittedly a niche subgenre. Our reviewers did enjoy and praise Blackguards a lot (which isn't something that happens often with our reviewers!), but there was also some not-so-positive feedback from the mainstream press, a lot of it related, predictably, to the game's difficulty. From the developer's side of things, how do you feel about the reception that Blackguards got? What were the lessons you learned from it (aside from "damn those game journalist noobs")?

Kai Fiebig: It was indeed a rather bold jump - but a slightly scary one as well and rather a jump into icy water than into a well tempered pool.

In general, the reception actually was really good. Sure, there were a few mixed reviews as well. But we learn from those just as much as from the positive ones. We received feedback from Mainstream, Casual, Hardcore and Gamer Magazines, which means we got everyone's awareness with our first try in the genre.

What we’ve noticed, for example, is that, as Blackguards is based on The Dark Eye pen and paper system, character development turned out to be unnecessarily complicated in some parts. Unfortunately this didn't become apparent until after Beta, probably due to the fact our Beta volunteers were mostly experienced RPG players. To improve this in Blackguards 2, we are not going to sacrifice the complexity of the combat system, but we will clean up the whole character sheet and leveling, so the players know exactly which XP investment results in which improvement for combat.

Another problem was: a lot of reviewers seemed to expect more typical open world RPG elements like exploration and trading for example. The focus on tactical combat was an early design decision, and I still think it's a good one. I'd sure like to work on a game like Skyrim sometime in the future, but Blackguards, as it is, works differently. The story supports the combat scenarios, not the other way around.

Blackguards 2 will focus even more on tactics and this time even more on strategy.

One lesson we learned is that freedom has its price. To give players a whole bunch of options is a nice idea and they will get some more of them in Blackguards 2. But to present this within the game in a way everyone will notice is a whole different story. So we will keep an eye on this as well.​

RPGFan posted a short impression of Blackguards 2 from E3 2014.

For Daedalic Entertainment, the next year or two is shaping up to be just as productive as the last couple have been. While at E3 2014, we got the skinny on one of their upcoming titles, the strategy RPG follow-up Blackguards 2. While the game is still in the earliest production stages, we saw some concept art and graphics, as well as lots of details on planned features, many culled from design team and community feedback on the original Blackguards.

Taking place a few years after the conclusion of the first game, Blackguards 2 tells the story of the cunning, ambitious, and generally unscrupulous Cassia, a woman who desires above all else to rule. Her journey will take her all over the southern area of The Dark Eye’s Aventuria (and to a few locations from the previous title), as she seeks out the masters of the Nine Hordes to help her topple the current despot Marwan.

The planned increase in the scale of the game has panned out the figurative view, as you’ll be leading your troops through a variety of tactical maps, taking supply routes, discovering hidden paths, and capturing enemy estates. Compared to the first game, the progression of the story is promised to be less linear and more adaptable based on your choices and performance. There will be a variety of new monsters drawn from the pen-and-paper fiction, along with many new gameplay mechanics. Stamina, line-of-sight, defensive stances, and cover objects are all planned, along with a new mercenary recruitment system. You’ll be able to enlist the aid of these bottom-liners to aid in training, outfitting, and informing your own campaign; spy units, for example, might offer you information that helps you initiate a pincer or surprise attack on a particular skirmish, or else otherwise go into battle better-prepared than you otherwise would have.

The sequel to Blackguards, which is obviously named Blackguards 2,  has been announced today by Daedelic Entertainment.

Blackguards 2: Daedalic announces sequel to its SRPG success

Hamburg, June 10th, 2014. Not much time has passed, but a lot has happened in the time between the events of the turn-based RPG-hit Blackguards and its sequel Blackguards 2, which is officially announced today by Daedalic Entertainment and EuroVideo: Blackguards 2 is set only few years after the story of the first game, but will bring along many changes – for the well-known characters as well as for the players.
 
Blackguards 2 will stay an SRPG focussing on turn-based, strategic battles with a group of scoundrels as anti-heroes. Some of the best-known Blackguards from the first game will be part of the team again – unfortunately, their lives didn’t go very well since then. Dwarf Naurim, for example, has rest on his fame as a successful gladiator and defeater of the Nine Hordes. He used his popularity for shady businesses and excessive parties and got quite potbellied – not a very good condition for battles, and so he hung up his axe and ditched his old gang, as long as they wouldn't yield any profit.
 
Wizard Zurbaran was even less lucky: His mistress could track down the former slave, who was able to escape his servitude. She shackled, mortified and sold him for one symbolic copper piece at the slave market.
 
Takate, on the other hand, is back among the forest people and arranges his own gladiatorial games, letting humans fight for their destiny, just as he was forced to. He believes that there are no challenges left, after he has defeated the Nine Hordes, and gets bored with sending others to their death.
 
Nevertheless, the fame of the defeater of the Nine Hordes seems to be everlasting – at least for the three survivors, as all others have found their end. Cassia, main protagonist of Blackguards 2, is looking for them: Cassia’s only goal is to rule from the Shark Throne at all costs, even if it’s only for one day. In the Blackguards she sees the fighters and the power she needs for her plans, even if they are a shadow of their former glory: Naurim became fat and lazy, but also more cunning; Zurbaran lost his self-confidence and Takate seems to have lost his killer instinct.

Together with Cassia the three remaining Blackguards will be the main characters of Blackguards 2. In many quests the group will travel through South Aventuria to fulfill Cassias dream.
 
Blackguards 2 will again be based on the RPG rulebook of The Dark Eye, but it will come along with some revisions, optimisations and simplifications. The gameplay will focus on turn-based battles once more – this time the players have to conquer Cassia’s lands and defend them against intruders when the need arises. As in a fraction-based game the enemies can recapture the territories from the Blackguards.

If not in a battle, players take care of a lot of quests and the development of their characters. As common in RPGs, the quests will offer optional and alternative plotlines.
 
Furthermore, Blackguards 2 will have new weapons, armor, enemies and stamina as additional battle resource.
 
On top of that, Blackguards 2 will involve mechanics that have been requested by players of the first game, like improved line of sight, cover and formation.

 
Blackguards 2 is planned to be released in early 2015.