NEED TO KNOW
What’s it? An immersive RPG with an emphasis on private note-taking.Launch date: Mar 5, 2026Expect to pay: $20/£17Developer: Hannah and Joseph GamesPublisher: Hannah and Joseph GamesReviewed on: Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX, RTX 5090 (laptop computer), 64GB RAMSteam Deck: PlayableLink: Official web site
Banquet for Fools’ opening drops me straight in on the deep finish, a blood-soaked combat for survival towards festival-goers gone mad whereas I am surrounded by piles of corpses, given a mild kiss by… I am not even positive what that kindly outsized bird-person was, truly, after which shoved three centuries into the long run with out apology or rationalization. After creating my very own questing social gathering crammed with individuals and expertise that largely reject acquainted RPG stereotypes, I am plunged right into a memorably distinctive land crammed with its personal imaginative little phrases (“Topa-din!” is a standard greeting), and a surprisingly detailed social construction that I have not received a hope of greedy but.
There is not one.
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There is not a dialog historical past tab both. Or a “Go right here” marker on the map. There’s a notes part, but it surely’s fully empty. As a result of I have not typed any notes in it but. Myself. With my very own fingers.
This freeform journey not solely expects however calls for my energetic participation; if I wish to keep in mind the situation of someplace on the regional map I’ve to sort it in myself. If I wish to create a customized magical spell then I will have to call it after which draw its icon by hand. What little data I’m given to maintain is discovered on elaborate scrolls and hand drawn items of paper I have to hold shut by if I wish to refer again to them later, the worth and that means of those sketchy scribbles and meandering passages left for me to decipher.
Clear paths are uncommon and signposts much more so, leaving success (and survival) largely in my very own fingers.
It is a daunting prospect, however one which shortly encourages a slower, extra attentive mindset. I’ve no alternative however to turn out to be totally invested on this society and the individuals inside it. I can not assist however discover how a lot they fear about their upcoming peppura harvest as I cross by, and I even keep in mind what time of day the guard captain I wish to discuss to stands by the entrance gate. I come to understand the work of every settlement’s wandering ghost-repelling chanter, as a result of I am not going to get very far with out their assist.
My travels throughout this barely settled land comply with the same tempo, giving me the selection of both strolling to wherever I have to go, with each route taken a aware determination, or rowing there by boat, which is not all that completely different when it comes to the time and thought required. The most important comfort the sport’s ready to supply is a community of boat companies, although the geography of the panorama means not each boatsman can take me to each port. In fact, not each city has a port, and the fare is at occasions steep sufficient to make me suppose twice.
This friction transforms journey itself into an occasion, even when I’ve already discovered each treasure and killed each bandit within the space. Clear paths are uncommon and signposts much more so, leaving success (and survival) largely in my very own fingers. It actually does really feel like I am alone within the wilderness—and this issue and isolation heightens the stress of any occasions I encounter whereas I am on the market.
A pleasant group with succesful guards and a heat campfire are greater than the promise of a quest, they seem to be a welcome reprieve from the tough panorama. A easy group of enemies turns into a nerve-jangling menace after I’m removed from residence and my restorative meals provides spoiled a day earlier. Dropping a whole individual’s weight in meals by a disinterested harvest god’s shrine is a nervous act of piety as a substitute of a easy task-ending transaction given how a lot time I needed to spend organising, sourcing, after which carrying all of it to them.
Fight on this largely untamed land is finished in a uniquely participating real-time with pause-ish means, mixing tactical instructions with the necessity to hold an energetic eye on my opponents. As with all the things else, I am anticipated to pay shut consideration and take a proactive method if I wish to get something achieved. I study to give attention to the outsized abomination fairly than the countless underlings, for instance, or to take out poison-spitting monsters earlier than less-vicious alternate options. Dodging is an energetic capacity right here, one thing I manually set off myself after I see an incoming sword swing. The energy and success of highly effective rally assaults hinges on me stopping a QTE-like marker at precisely the precise second.
What to learn subsequent
The tip end result is a bit more Baldur’s Gate: Darkish Alliance than plain outdated Baldur’s Gate. Management, motion, and response is extra direct—extra private, even. Assaults naturally comply with the arc or thrust of the weapon in hand; an axe swing connecting with all the things alongside its path, although this “characteristic” is refreshingly widespread sense fairly than a proper capacity. Assaults might be prevented just by being far-off sufficient to not get hit—not out of vary, when it comes to stats or particular measurements, however past the seen tip of a sword. It is busy, however not chaotic. A slow-filling bar determines the house between my actions, and this reserved tempo provides me time to control my social gathering members and manually swap between them if I have to tactically deploy a particular ability or spell, fairly than depart their extremely customisable AI to the job.
I care extra about my little social gathering as a result of I can really feel their combat for survival by the tough, by-any-means nature of the choices obtainable to me.
The actions I unlock over time add helpful tactical capabilities fairly than simply one other numerically potent assault on an inventory. My social gathering will stay longer if I believe to order a burly character to pin down a robust monster, permitting their allies to get in a free hit or two. Alternatively, I might have somebody cost straight right into a huddled group of enemies, scattering them and dispelling no matter bonuses they achieve from sticking collectively.
The simple nature of many strikes—I am as prone to kick an enemy down as I’m to unleash a elaborate spell—provides fight a scrappy, improvised really feel that underlines the “making do out within the wilds” side of the sport. I care extra about my little social gathering as a result of I can really feel their combat for survival by the tough, by-any-means nature of the choices obtainable to me. Since many enemies do not respawn, hours price of tense, brutal battles out within the wilderness finally result in a recreation’s price of comparatively protected climbing paths—however, as with all the things else in Banquet for Fools, provided that I am ready to take the time.
It’s at all times an effort, and there are occasions when Banquet for Fools crosses the road into irritating exhaustion. Being advised by NPCs that the one individual/monster/focal point I believe I have to give attention to is someplace “on the mountainside” or “in a marsh” with out even a lot as a imprecise compass course to purpose for can unravel into an aggravating waste of time. The sport’s strict day/night time system means it is potential to be in precisely the precise place on the unsuitable time. The reply to an obtuse puzzle might be inside some prolonged scroll I discovered hours earlier and forgot about, or skimmed over an elaborately inked element in.
One uncounted, uncommented-upon minor monster out of dozens already slaughtered idling away in a forgotten nook of 1 map has, on at the very least one event, been the distinction between a profitable clear and a quest left mysteriously in limbo for hours. One other might solely be cleared after casting one very particular spell realized in a wholly unrelated location on a bunch of frightened youngsters I occurred to encounter on a random island, revealing the monster hiding amongst them.
But even in these moments, Banquet for Fools retains me coming again for extra. I’ve cursed when a promising lead’s gone nowhere, angrily reloaded after trekking too deep into harmful territory unprepared, and scribbled bizarre fragments of notes about fairy-sayings in a grump, and pushed on anyway. Your complete recreation looks like one huge personalised secret to unravel, with each stumble one thing I can repair, and each failed battle one thing to return to later.
Not all the things in Banquet for Fools is necessary in my quest in the direction of the sport’s a number of endings. However by making me tread and retread its paths and scattered islands till native names turn out to be acquainted, and the sight of tillers working the fields looks like coming residence, merely current inside this place turns into its personal reward. Life’s onerous out right here, however I would not change it for the world.
