Wishlist Wednesday: Balrum ACQUIRED

 

In this new monthly sub-feature, I revisit a Wishlist Wednesday title that I have since acquired and had the opportunity to play, sharing whether or not it is still a good wishlist item. This month's choice is Balrum by Balcony Team.

THE STATS

Name: Balrum

Developer: Balcony Team

Publisher: Balcony Team

Release Date: February 29, 2016

Genres: Adventure, Indie, RPG, Strategy

Wishlist Location: Steam

Last Appeared in Gamer Reverie: July 8, 2020

GAMEPLAY SCREENSHOTS

GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE

Did you notice something about several of the screenshots I took? Yeah, there's a lot of text -- and I am perfectly okay with that! There's a definitive storyline going on in Balrum, and you get to make choices that impact it and change the outcome. In addition to that, there are dozens of features to keep you busy as you play, allowing you to customize your character, your tools and equipment, your pets, your crops, your buildings... everything!

As a confession here, I'm not very good at the game. I haven't played very far into it because, um, there are these giant spiders and wolves and stuff? And they don't much like me. And I haven't figured everything out. One of the times I played, I didn't realize that there was a bug eating all the stuff in my inventory. Talk about frustrating! But at the same time, I think it's awesome that there are small details like that to consider as you're playing. You have to pay attention, be mindful, watch yourself, take note of details, and adapt on the fly to survive.

VERDICT

Yes, I'd still wishlist this game. As difficult as it is for me, and despite a lot of the negative reviews (which comprise of less than 25% of the overall reviews on Steam) that call it out for "bad design decisions," it's a really great isometric game. It gives more than the older games of the 90's did, but has just enough "why is this such a pain?!" vibe to make it feel legitimate. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you younger kids think all games should run perfectly and be a cakewalk? Nope. Welcome to old school gaming, where the frustration is not just from trying to defeat that one boss and it's as much about getting the game to function "properly" as anything else. I'm willing to bet a lot of the happy customers are older gamers while the less than patient negative reviewers are likely from the younger set. 

But overall, I do think you should consider this game if you're a fan of turn-based RPGs -- with the understanding that only the combat is turn-based, and the timers on everything else are constantly going. Prepare to get hungry and tired (or even die) while reading all of the story! If you can get over the lack of a pause button, the rest is small potatoes.

If that isn't enough to pique your interest, then this probably isn't your genre -- and that's okay! Check back next week for another title and let me know what you think of my selection!