HomeReviewsSkald: Against the Black Priory
Skald: Against The Black Priory review: the best of 80s RPG design without the baggageLanding in hot water
Landing in hot water
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Raw Fury
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Raw Fury
I regret not coveringSkald Colon Against The Black Priorywhen its developer told us about it 2019. I’d get to be so smug now.
Skald is terrific. I’ve tried to come up with a clever angle on its journey, but they all wind up saying the same thing: For all its retro stylings (right down to party portraits taking up an unnecessary quarter of the screen at all times), it’s an accessible, charming treat, and the best modernisation of 80sRPGsthat I’ve ever played.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Raw Fury
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Raw Fury
Beyond a plot-relevant childhood, you’ve a lot of options in character creation, levelling up the various preset party members you’ll meet, and/or hiring custom characters to round out your toolset. You can tell newcomers to shove off, and stash anyone at camp while reshuffling the party. It adds a lot of replay value, even if the overall plot can mostly only go one way.
A straightforward d20 system dictates combat, with rolls to hit vs dodge, damage rolls vs “soak”, and a big emphasis on positioning thanks to flanking bonuses, limited combat space, and a lack of ability to pass through friendlies. A D&D-ish action economy makes extra attack feats very powerful, but so too are roguey passive skills like free disengage (freely stepping out of melee range, which otherwise ends a turn) and swapping places. Unfortunately I found magic a tad lacklustre, with my healer never touching eight out of ten of her spells, and my fancy fire mage mostly relegated to Lore Nerd duty. My rangers got a spammable “mark target” skill that buffed the whole party, plus cheap healing that rendered the cleric/paladin even more benchable. But the combat MVP was “guy with massive hammer who hates nails”. His entire move set was “hit it” and “hit it again” and he never failed me.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Raw Fury
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Raw Fury
That they might be bigger in my imagination speaks to Skald’s greatest success: I’m super into it. It’s crunchy but friendly, playfully secretive, and familiar in many ways but nonetheless refreshing. I lost half a day to “fact checking and screenshots” for sheer desire to keep playing, and a few minor issues aside, my only real problem is that there’s only one of it.
