Hey Mortym! Skald dev here! I've been a big fan of your work for a long time and you've been a constant companion on my side monitor during the making of Skald. Needless to say, it's pretty huge to have you cover the game and I really hope you dig in once we launch 🤩 Thank you so much and have an amazing day!

I played the demo and was blown away by how much I liked this game. If you have any hesitation to play this due to the graphics I urge you to still give it a chance. The game has an incredibly immersive and exciting setting that walks the line between fantasy and horror in just the right way. Such a good game - it immediately jumped up on my list of most anticipated games of 2023

Interesting and thanks for the heads-up. That beginning gave me D:OS2 vibes with the ship and kraken.

Loved the font, and the artistic choices in general. Had it installed for a while, thanks for covering it, hope the folks making it do well.

Hmm I started watching the video with 0 expectations and by the end I was interested. Thank you again for covering games such as this one. It's one of the things that make your channel stand out

Wasn’t expecting a Deathdealer reference. Pleasant surprise to hear someone else know about it

Glad you are giving this one some attention. I felt like it didn't really get any before. Though the issue with the font is not something I have had issue with. Though then again, I am quite used to pixelated games.

I've played a bit of this. Something about it just makes it seem like it will be a lot of fun. The combat mechanics weren't obvious, though, and it took me a minute to figure out what I was supposed to do. I'm glad you showcased this. It'll probably need all the publicity it can get.

Very cool. This seems right up my alley. Added it to my wishlist.

Looks pretty promising.

I LOVE retro RPGs. This one somewhat reminds me of Champions of Krynn and the rest of the Gold Box classics. Skald looks and sound promising. I hope the devs will stay true to their vision and deliver a good product. I couldn't care less about visuals as long as the rest of the title is solid, RPG mechanics most of all. Thanks for brief look at this game, it's on my radar now.

Man, they really got the look right. If someone told me this was released in the late 80's/early 90's, I'd believe them.

I read on GOG that this Game will be released on the End of May. I like the Artstyle.

*The graphics sorta' remind me of the first few **_Ultima_** games from Origin Systems back in the 80's... Very cool! 😎👍 But I agree that they should offer more legible fonts..., at least as an option...*

Heyo Mortym! Once again, you piqued my interest concerning a game of which I was unware. Thanks for all the hardwork friend!

Love the c64 retro look. I'll definitely check this one out! :D

I get hyped for games really rarely but this is one I am really looking fowards to. I have played both the demo and prologue and absolutely loved both despite their raw state. The writing is stellar, the gameplay is snappy and especially the combat is fast paced which makes it really enjoyable unlike most other turn based systems which feel slow, sluggish and where youre forced to just sit there and wait as tons of mobs make their turns having to watch the same animations again and again and again making combat more of an frustration and something you are forced to endure than something which one actually enjoys. Not only that but I absolutely love the DOS style graphics of the game. For longest of time weve had games in style of NES and SNES and other old game consoles but the style of DOS games has been, sadly, ignored despite having huge ammount of charm and inherent beauty despite it's crudenes, something which can, as Skald shows, be leveraged with updated game mechanics and interface. Simply put, I can't wait for the full release. edit: as for the font, I personally had no issues reading it but I can see how it can cause issues for some people.

Thematically, and aesthetically it reminds a lot of Odallus, which was awesome.

I really like the look of this. I never played a cRPG like this before, but I'm willing to have a go at it!

I'm following this game for some years on Steam, the Lovecraftian tone combines with the visual style, hope it turns out good. Another retro game I'm following is Call of Saregnar, it's supposed to be like Betrayal at Krondor, but since I didn't play this one it reminds me of Might & Magic VI.

Steam RPG sale is making me spend so much money xD Can't wait to check out WotR finally. Nice vid as always!

You got me at lovecraft! Good show sir🙂

reminds me of some old Ultima series games. Mainly like IV/V. Ultima V was my first PC game. Some of my best memories.

Whoa! I've looked into Skald before and remember thinking that I was really happy about the font choice because pixel fonts can be tricky to read, but this one was great! Kind of blows my mind that two people can parse an image in such opposite ways, huh.

Looks really interesting thanks for showing it off

Outdoors looks very Ultima V. Looking forward to this releasing. I truly hope they fix the fonts it's a big part of why I never made it off the ship. Huge clear monitor with my glasses on I should not have been squinting.

I played the demo as well and I loved the game, it reminds me a lot of eye of the beholder but in a top down view which is fascinating!

Really looking forward to this one for sure

Onward to 200k. All glory to the algorithm.

Hell yeah been keeping an eye on this one. Also Call of Saregnar for more Daggerfall vibes

Mortym, You should check out the old Dark Sun SSI RPGs. Not sure if you're actually able to get them to run nowadays, but they were pretty fun Way back in the day. All of those old SSI D&D games were a staple in early gaming. Like I said I don't know if you can emulate them or get them to run on modern systems, or if they're even available, but it could provide something interesting to cover.

I have the demo on My steam! And it's wishlisted. Nice pick 👍 edit: the font reminded me of Ultima 6

Already wishlisted it, luckily enough

+1 to font options

I'll always get into these sorta games. Retro RPGs made today is the equivalent of the OSR stuff. BTW Mort, you should definitely check out Caves of Qud.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on games like Geneforge or Avernum and other Spiderweb Software games.

I'm all about this, this looks insane

Ohhh this will look amazing on the fw900

That font is awesome

Oh yeah that font definitely needs to be changed. I do love retro RPGs so I’ll wishlist this! Thank you!

I remember a pc rpg game a long time ago called Exile, there was like 3 of them if i remember. I have literally never seen anything about it, but i loved those games way back then. This just reminded me of it some reason.

Noice! "Legend of Faerghail" next?! :) Dunno if it's even possible but for the music alone it would be so sweet. Prolly the only one who remembers it hehe.

Played an early demo and was instantly immersed by the tight gameplay and atmosphere. It felt super polished for an indie done mostly by one dev, which goes to show his level of competence. Since then, the game has gotten a publisher, a budget, and a lot of love poured into it. It's gonna be awesome.

I'm down to try it when it comes out, I grew up with RPGs during MSDOS and NES era. I love RPGs, especially retro.

Since youve been bothered a lot about this and finally covered it, I will ask whether or not you plan to cover Spiderweb Software's crpgs such as Avernum and Geneforge? They have been at it for decades, released a lot of games but have almost no coverage. It would be neat that they'd gain some more visibility :)

Interesting. I'll watch this one after it's released.

i really hope they finally release it

Great video, I hadn't heard of this game before and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it. Just curious, have you played or are you considering playing Nox Archaist? It's a retro-looking RPG that I've had on my GOG wishlist for a long time, just haven't quite gotten around to picking it up. I'd be curious to hear your impressions, if you should have any.

When I see the title I immediately want to growl out Skoll!

Oh I’m all over this one

This pleases me.

I can read that font with no problem.

Yo I watch your stuff but the game title brought me here cause I listen to a band named Skald in Veum, which is a Swedish Black (unblack) metal band and wondered if this had Swedish origins.

Wow, I thought I was the only one that read the Deathdealer series of novels in the 80s.

reminds me a little bit of the Ultima series.

While I love retro look, whether 8-bit, 16-bit or early 3d, this game... I don't know what it is specifically but after playing the demo for a few min my eyes started to hurt. This almost never happens to me, but this game did managed that.

Have you played the banner saga series?

What is the name of the book series you mentioned?

This looks interesting.. Mortismal, speaking of pixel RPGs, I recommend you check a game called Kandria.

Are you going to be checking this out again now that its released?

I'm surprised you have not rated Tales of Maj'ael yet.

I can appreciate the sort of aesthetic they're going for here. I'm just not sure it works for a long, complex, contemporary RPG. It's just too taxing for modern gamers to parse what's happening with all the highly pixelized backgrounds. It's like staring at one of those magic eye puzzles. 🤷‍♂ If you had trouble with Disco Elysium, this one is gonna do wonders for you. lol

Hi Mort, any chance you're interested in covering Shadow Tactics anytime soon?

I have dyslexia and this font is impossible to read!

Seems to be an interesting game however, the map is way to hard to look at and the pixelated characters on it blend into far too much to be easily noticeable.

free comment.

Woah no one slept either

Ooof, I can't read that shit.

Not a fan of the color of brown that they have chosen for the menus and such

Looks very interesting!

I know some of you are going to love it, but I've already lived through the 8-Bit era. I like my modern Graphics along with my RPGs. Ill be passing on this one

the graphic are too old for me, I prefer BG/IWD style graphic.

Ok, i'm gonna be a little mean here. I understand indie developpers dont have the budget to invest in huge 3d engines or even 2d graphics, but i'm sure modern era has tons of tools to produce much better images than these. I understand some ppl like the retro feeling, but i dont get it when it becomes the main focus of a new game. If its a way to save some budget, then well ok, good. But this is not the mean to an end, but the end itselft. I hope i make sense.

Mortym is getting into retrogaming ? Wait... I'm still a bit puzzled at the choice of replicating completely an old style that was limited by technical capabilities at the time. Do the devs of these indie games think the devs/artists of the 80's wanted their characters to look like stick figures and their colors to be limited to a dozen ? Or is it because nostalgia is the number one selling point for a lot of indies ? It always seems like either cynical, or sincere but self-defeating : "no point in innovating, it will never be better than stuff from my childhood". Well at least it knows its intended audience and you know what you're getting into if you buy.

Morti for president