Battlepaths RPG Now On Linux, And We Take A Look

Battlepaths an interesting little 2D RPG has recently been ported to Linux, and we take a look to make sure you know if it's any good. The game is like a simple version of Diablo or Torchlight, and that's not a bad thing. Some of the music is also very Diablo like, and you can see it does actually take some inspiration from it.

Sadly it suffers the same problem a lot of ported games do on Steam, as it doesn't show up on the Linux new releases section, as it's not a brand new game, so it needs some highlighting as I doubt many Linux gamers are aware of it.

The graphics in the game are quite simple and aren't even close to being in the class of the bigger RPG games, but don't let that put you off as that's the style it's going for it's more of a happy go lucky form of RPG.

The games battles aren't done in real-time, but instead they work on Dungeons of Dredmor type turn based system, and that actually works quite well for a simpler game like this. It has the standard RPG mechanics were you battle for experience points to level up.

When you level up you get to choose a statistic to level up like Strength or Speed, and Speed is a good one as it can give you more attack turns during a battle to end them quicker, and you need it quite early on as even the starting area spiders have multiple attacks per turn, and you can quite easily die early on.
You also get access to special abilities as you level up which can also help turn the tide of a battle, but to use them you need to battle normally to fill up your Special Charge metre. When you use a special you get a sort of Dungeons of Dredmor style funny voice over, so it's easy to see parts of other games in Battlepaths while being its own game as well.

Be careful about dying as the game is a bit ruthless as you not only lose gold, but you lose experience points too! Luckily though you don't seem to lose any of your equipment.

The more you play the more it does feel like you're playing a simpler form of Diablo with runes you activate to give you stat boost, and picking up magical stones to slot into items.

There's only two things I didn't like about Battlepaths is that I summoned a creature to help me, and the bat just sat in the same spot and never moved. So, that felt like a waste as I spawned it in a room I had already cleared and the little bugger didn't follow me.

Then there's the bland maps, and I'm not talking about the caves as they actually look reasonably good, but the over-map like the forest. If there were some simple weather effects now and then it would like much better.

To get a better idea of how it plays out here's a simple video of me completing the first quest you get:

It took me quite a while as I picked up a side-quest I completed before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFyBDAvjI38
Overall I enjoyed the time I spent on it, and after my first run I looked up how much time I had spent on it and was shocked nearly an hour went by so quickly, so that goes to show I was having fun without any regards for how much time I was putting into it. If you're a fan of simple RPG games that you can sink a lot of time into you will probably like it. Just don't expect the level of action in Battlepaths that you find in bigger budget RPG games.

Check it out on Steam now. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.