Age of Decadence - Review @ Gameindustry

Gameindustry had some fun and frustation with Age of Decadence:

Fun and Frustration with Age of Decadence

This review for Age of Decadence was one of the hardest that I ever had to write. I’ve gone back and forth with this one so many times. At one point I even gave up in frustration and cursed the game for all time. Thankfully, Vincent Mahoney stepped in and helped me out in a few places, and got me back on the RPG horse. I’m still not in love with Age of Decadence, but I can appreciate what the game is trying to do, and the fact that some gamers will like its style and system over a more modern one that most RPGs follow these days. But more on that in a bit.

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Age of Decadence is not a bad game. It’s internally consistent and has no bugs or anything. But having reviewed hundreds of RPGs over the years, I do think that Age of Decadence is overly punishing due to giving a player too little information, because the game refuses to give it. This forces you into a save and reload mechanic that is practically a core part of the gameplay mechanic. Age of Decadence bills itself as being difficult, but it’s a false difficulty because the game is being deliberately obtuse with its players, not giving them enough information to make the right decisions and making combat so challenging that it’s a poor fallback option.

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