The Xbox Hub checked out the tactical RPG The Hand of Merlin:

The Hand of Merlin Review

Well, I guess I am now officially seen as a tactical RPG correspondent, as any and all tactical turn-based RPGs that come through the door seem to find their way to my desk. This is not a complaint, you understand, I do love a good turn-based RPG. The question is, will The Hand of Merlin join the list of good ones, seeing as how the developers Room-C Games have decided to take a winning formula and inject it with the sadness that is a roguelite mechanic. I’m not particularly a fan of roguelites or roguelikes, feeling that I would like something to show for my efforts in a game. Still, I strapped on my armour and dived in to a world of magic, magicians and mayhem.

The Hand of Merlin is, as you may have surmised from the title, based on Arthurian legend. To be honest, the game had me hooked as soon as the first cutscene ran and explained what was going on, as I am a sucker for tales about King Arthur. I’ve been to places linked to the Arthurian myth in real life and so this was right up my alley; a tale of Merlin, who has departed from this world and become weaker, found trying to guide a group of adventurers on a dangerous journey from Albion to Jerusalem, carrying the Holy Grail. The people behind the narrative here also have Serious Sam 4 on their resumes, but it is good to see that they can craft a very compelling story that keeps you trudging on towards the goal. All in all, the story of The Hand of Merlin is a real highlight. 

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All in all, what Room-C Games have created in The Hand of Merlin is pretty special, mainly due to the fact that there are so many paths to take, the abilities are random, and because it’s challenging in the right kind of way. It’s a game that will have you going back for more, running the old adage of “Treat ’em mean, keep ‘em keen”. 

Score: 4.5/5

The Indie Gaming Guild checked out the The Hand of Merlin:

The Hand of Merlin - 5 Things YOU SHOULD KNOW Before Buying (Mini Review)

The Scarlet Seeker checked out The Hand of Merlin:

The Hand of Merlin Gameplay Overview | 2022

The Hand of Merlin is the new game we are looking at today with an Overview/Review of what it is and how its gameplay plays. First we will review the need to know basics of The Hand of Merlin before jumping into deeper gameplay impressions. The Hand of Merlin is a turn-based rogue-lite RPG in which Arthurian legend meets with sci-fi horror. Recruit mortal heroes to explore lands rife with otherworldly evil, make narrative bending choices in unique interactive encounters, and search for the lost fragments of your soul across the multiverse!

The turn-based rogue-lite RPG The Hand of Merlin has been released:

Patch Notes - Release Build 678860

1.0 - Full Release!

New features:

• Added a new game mode: Endless. It's a survival gauntlet in a brand-new biome (the heart of the Cataclysm) which is unlocked after beating the Campaign once.

General fixes:

• Fixed a bug where Surge (from Ranger's Surging Shot) was being granted based on damage dealt by any member of the warband instead of the attacking Ranger.
• Fixed a bug where Ranger's Hunter's Spree skill (upgrade of Shoot) and Hunter's Prize (upgrade of Hunter's Mark) interacted incorrectly with each other, causing only one of them to apply.
• Fixed a few small visual issues with tooltips.

Quality of life changes:

• Enabled selection of graphics API in the Editor.

Opattack interviewed developer Robert Sajiko from Room C Games about the tactical RPG The Hand of Merlin:

The Hand of Merlin Interview: Gameplay, Inspirations, Release Date, Future and More

If you are fan of turn-based rogue-lite Tactical RPGs, there is a chance that you must have heard about The Hand of Merlin developed by Room C Games, Croteam. While it’s a roguelite Tactical RPG, the primary focus of the game lies in the freedom it offers to the players. The Hand of Merlin has been in Early Access for a year and now, it’s all set to release for everyone.

We had a chance to talk about the game with developers of the game. Robert Sajiko from Room C Games was kind enough to address our questions. Our full interview about The Hand of Merlin is as following:

Q: As a person who hasn’t played the game, how would you describe it and which audience is this game for?
The Hand of Merlin is a fusion of genres. At its core, it is a roguelike: your party of three Heroes explores the world by visiting locations on a map, each offering a random encounter with various risks and rewards. This part of the game is about making tough choices. Do I take this pass and risk a difficult combat encounter, or do I take a safer path but with less chance of getting a cool new item? These choices matter, because as in any true roguelike they’re all permanent throughout a run, as is death!

But the game is also a turn-based, tactical RPG. To resolve those dangerous combat encounters, you’ll have to come up with successful strategies. You’ll have to carefully position your squad on a grid, make use of cover to protect your Heroes from enemy fire, and flank your enemies to overcome their own defenses.

There’s also synergies to be found between your Heroes’ skills, and combos to execute. For example, there’s something very satisfying about setting an area on fire with your alchemist, pushing an enemy across several tiles through said fire with your warrior, while also triggering a reaction attack from your ranger. :)

And, being a roguelike, the skills you discover are drawn from a random pool, so every run will feel fresh, with new synergies to try out. Oh, yes, you probably will have to die a few times, learn the mechanics, what the enemies do, how your skills work… But that’s what roguelikes are about: feeling good about yourself when you finally master the game and beat it.

I also have to mention the setting, since it’s sort of unique. The game is based on Arthurian mythology, and you, the player, are the titular Merlin. You are on a quest to gather what knights you can, and take the Holy Grail from Camelot, across Marca Hispanica and al-Andalus to Jerusalem… in order to seal a celestial doorway through which ancient beings from the deep cosmos seep into our world.

Oh, and Merlin is in fact a powerful alien being too, who travels across stars and dimensions in his vessel, Avalon. So, a bit of a twist on the classic Knights of the Round Table tales. :) But the narrative fits our roguelike mechanics like a six-fingered glove. The dimension-hopping aspect allows us to make the world slightly different for each run you attempt. A different King may rule in Albion. Landmarks like Stonehenge will be there, but new events may occur. So while there isn’t a set story to follow, the events that happen and the choices you make will create your own story.

And speaking of story, we actually had some players drawn to the game for that aspect alone, who struggled with the game’s intended difficulty but wanted to explore our strange, off-kilter Arthurian world nonetheless. We actually added Story Mode at one point, just for folks like that!

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The tactical RPG The Hand of Merlin will be released on June 14:

Dev blog 119 - Release date!

Hey folks!

Since we’re still in playtesting and bug fixing mode, there aren’t a lot of juicy design topics to ramble about. We’re steadily ironing out the kinks from the game, and every report we’ve received on both Steam or Discord has already been fixed.

The only temporary setback to get those fixes out is a planned power outage that will affect our builder infrastructure. We were planning a patch for today, but due to this we’ve decided to push the patch for next week. We don’t want to risk releasing a patch today without a way to react to any unexpected crashes or critical issues it could have. Note that when I say unexpected, I really mean unexpected - the expected ones would have been fixed before the patch went out!

So in short, expect a patch next week with fixes to everything that has been reported on Steam so far, and likely anything that gets reported from today until then.

As for the title of the blog post….
*drum roll*
June 14th!

In less than a month, the game will receive the final Early Access update, Update 8: Endless Mode, and leave Early Access to become the full 1.0 version!

It’s been a long, bumpy and fun ride since we started Early Access. I’m sure we couldn’t have made the game as good as it is now without the support of the people who gave us feedback. Whether that feedback was some tiny annoyance or some larger concern (like character uniqueness), we tried to improve the game with all of those in mind, and even if we didn’t end up resolving every suggestion, I can assure you that each one was at least discussed.

That said, we’re still open to feedback and are ready to improve the game the best we can with our limited capacity all the way until release! Just note that, after all, we are just 3 programmers out of 8 people in total, so there’s a natural limit to what we can pull off.
So if you have the game and would like to suggest improvements for before or after 1.0, report bugs or give us some constructive criticism, come talk to us directly on our Discord server, or post here on Steam and I’ll reply as soon as I see the message!

Thanks for the support!

MarkoP

RPGamer reports that The Hand of Merlin received its last planned update for the Early Access.

The Hand of Merlin Gets Final Early Access Update

Versus Evil, Room-C Games, and Croteam released their final planned major Early Access update for The Hand of Merlin ahead of the game’s planned full release in early 2022. The “Gathering of the Gods” update adds two new Guardians to aid players: Oberon and Atlantes. The Guardians each give the party their own unique benefit, as well as selection of spells. The update also includes a new Nourishment system, new Relics, new sound effects, improved spell visuals, and numerous bug fixes and balance improvements.

The Hand of Merlin is billed as “Arthurian legend meets with sci-fi horror”. The game sees players recruiting three mortal heroes on a journey from Albion to Jerusalem as the world is on the brink of the apocalypse. Combat features cover, ambushes, coordinated attacks, and magic as players battle human and demonic enemies. The Early Access version is currently available on Steam, GOG.com, and the Epic Games Store.

SplatterCatGaming checked out the tactical RPG The Hand of Merlin:

Hand of Merlin - Arthurian Eldritch Slaying Tactical RPG

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Hand of Merlin Gameplay with Splat! Let's Play Hand of Merlin and check out a game where you'll lead a group of adventurers through harrowing events, battles, and magical anomalies to right the wrongs of Camelot.

The Turn Based Lovers checked out The Hand of Merlin:

The Hand Of Merlin - Gameplay First Look

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The Hand of Merlin will release into Steam Early Access May 11th.

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Hi folks!

Some people have noticed that our updated store page now has a release date!
It’s May 11th!

Last week we had a news site announce our release date. I wanted to make a proper blog post announcement the next day, but some important programming stuff came up, and it slipped my mind. Indie teams and wearing lots of hats does that, unfortunately, so sometimes my “lead programmer” role comes ahead of my “community person” role. So, I decided to dedicate an entire blog post to talk about our early access release.

The game will release to early access next week, May 11th, 6 days from the time of this blog post.
Our efforts in the days before it goes live are mostly on ironing out the UX stuff we know about and fixing any obvious issues. Funny thing about obvious: when the QA team affiliated with Versus Evil started going over the game, they found a bunch of obvious issues that we just didn’t see. :)
We’re making sure that all unlocks work. We’re adding missing illustrations to the encounters. We’re playtesting the whole game from start to end to see if there are any wild balancing issues. We’re fixing up bugs, adding QoL features, updating UI where needed, etc.

The state of the game is, in our opinion, good. That said, there might be obvious issues (see the note above about QA) that we’ve become completely blind to. If you find anything you have issues with, please tell us about it because we can’t fix it unless we know about it. Our current plan is to do weekly patches, most probably on Fridays. The patches would contain any fixes done during that week by our 3 programmers, any balance changes our designers Mat and Mia decide on, and any visual polish and alternate maps and general art improvements our 4 artists do.

Please keep in mind that we are not a large team. As you can count above, we’re 9 full-time people who are trying their best to bring this game to life. We can’t do everything under the sun (like, for example, custom party character creation), but we try our best and prioritize things based on impact, importance, and reality. The more people tell us something is broken or something should change, the more likely those things do get prioritized and done, assuming they're even possible.

Some changes might be easy, some not. I’ll try to communicate these things via blog posts where possible, and we’re always present on our Discord server and Steam forums. If you want/like immediate communication, Discord is your best bet. If you’re on the other side of the world from Europe or we’re asleep, Steam forums are good enough as well. I usually make it a point to myself to respond to most questions and topics that benefit from an answer or at least an acknowledgment.

The Hand of Merlin is described as a turn-based rogue-lite RPG in which Arthurian legend clashes with sci-fi horror. It is set for a Q4 2020 release.

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The Hand of Merlin is a turn-based rogue-lite RPG in which Arthurian legend clashes with sci-fi horror. Recruit a company of up to four mortal heroes and guide them in spirit on a desperate journey from Albion to Jerusalem. Explore a richly-imagined medieval setting on the brink of apocalypse. Trade with merchants, improve your heroes, and unearth ancient relics. Search for the lost fragments of your soul, scattered across the multiverse - and save as many worlds as you can.

KEY FEATURES:

A Roguelike Experience

Carve a path across the lands of Albion, Marca Hispanica and Al-Andalus. Will you take a dangerous route, risking life and limb in pursuit of a legendary relic? Or will you choose a safer path? Plan and prepare. Negotiate, barter, fight. Tackle challenges. Suffer losses. Recruit new Heroes. Earn Gold, Supplies and Renown. Be careful: your choices are permanent, as is death. But don't tarry - evil never rests.

Tactical Turn-Based Combat

Master the tactics of squad-based and turn-based combat to conquer both human and demonic foes. Your enemies will be tough and ruthless; make use of high ground and cover, set up ambushes and coordinated attacks, harness synergies between different Hero classes and skills.

Non-Linear Narrative

Enjoy a compelling story inspired by Arthurian legend, the Matter of France, and the history of Al-Andalus - with an unusual twist. Make choices in interactive encounters that change every time you play. Written by Jonas Kyratzes (The Talos Principle, Serious Sam 4) and Verena Kyratzes (The Lands of Dream, Serious Sam 4).

Dynamic Leveling

Use Renown to level up your Heroes, and choose between a randomized set of new skills or improved attributes. But choose wisely! Select skills with great synergy and balance your party for the road ahead.

Equipment Upgrades

Seek out towns to improve your arms and armor, or stumble upon hermit artisans in the wild. With every day that passes, the world plunges deeper into darkness, and you will need all the equipment gold can buy.

Relics

From a peasant's humble luck charm to the legendary sword wielded by Arthur himself, items imbued with magical power are scattered about the world. Some you will be able to purchase from merchants and collectors, but others will have to be earned through acts of heroism - or displays of wit.

Spells

Rain thunder and brimstone upon your foes! Seek out and gather Soulstones to restore your power and unlock new Spells. Even if defeated, your spirit will retain all of your collected arcane knowledge as you jump into the next dimension.

Alternate Dimensions

As you jump from one parallel dimension to the next, history is reshaped. Different kings rule the land, changing the encounters, characters, and events. No two worlds are ever quite the same, and each journey will be unique. And should your heroes fall, remember: defeat is not the end, only a new beginning.

There are as many worlds as there are stars in the sky. In each stands Camelot; in each there is a Grail. But there is only one Merlin, and his eternal burden is to stand against the horror from beyond. Each world that is saved is saved forever; each world that is lost is lost for good.

Thanks Farflame!