''Blackguards'' is a 2014

tactical role-playing game Tactical role-playing games (abbreviated TRPGs), also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as (both abbreviated SRPGs), are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical ( turn-b ...

for Microsoft Windows and

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

. It was developed by German game developer

Daedalic Entertainment Daedalic Entertainment GmbH is a German video game developer and publisher based in Hamburg. They are best known for developing point-and-click adventure games. History Daedalic Entertainment was founded on 1 March 2007 in a small Hamburg of ...

, makers of adventure games like ''

The Whispered World ''The Whispered World'' is a point-and-click adventure game for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It is designed by Marco Hüllen, developed by Daedalic Entertainment, and published by Deep Silver in Europe and by Viva Media in the United States. T ...

'', and distributed by EuroVideo. It is based on the leading German pen and paper role-playing game ''

The Dark Eye ''The Dark Eye'' (German: ''Das Schwarze Auge'', lit. "The Black Eye") is a German tabletop role-playing game with a high fantasy theme created by Ulrich Kiesow and launched by Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH and Droemer Knaur Verlag in 1984 ...

''. Due to the successful reception of the game, Daedalic Entertainment released a sequel, ''

Blackguards 2 ''Blackguards 2'' is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Daedalic Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and OS X in January 2015. It was ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September 2017 and Nintendo Switch in June 2022 ...

''. A definitive edition was released in 2016 for

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

Plot

Story

''Blackguards'' is set in the fictional continent of Aventuria within the Empire of Horasia. The player controls the protagonist, who tries to solve the murder of a princess, with the help of various characters he meets during his long journey. There are five protagonists the player controls in varying party combinations: a dwarven bootlegger, a decadent black magician, a witch, an indigenous

gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

, and a

drug-addicted Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...

half-elf hunter.

Development and release

On 4 March 2014 the DLC ''Blackguards: Untold Legends'' added seven quests relating to one of the protagonists, four weapons, eleven battle maps, and 25 tracks.

Reception

By September 2014, ''Blackguards'' had become Daedalic's highest-grossing game. It remained in this position by 2016, which the company's Carsten Fichtelmann attributed to "a high rate of full price sales", compared to the greater sales quantity but lower revenue of the '' Deponia'' series. ''Blackguards'' received mixed reviews,

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave 68/100 from 48 reviews. For instance

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

's Rowan Kaiser rated the game 7.8/10 and concluded: "Good. Except for its muddled progression system, tactical RPG Blackguards gets a lot of things right."

Tony Vilgotsky Anton "Tony" Vilgotsky (Russian: Антон Вильгоцкий) is a Russian musician, composer, horror and fantasy writer, playwright, and musical columnist. He is mostly known for his fantasy and horror novels (''Chosen by the Pentacle'', '' ...

of Russian magazine ''

Mir Fantastiki ''Mir Fantastiki'' (russian: Мир фантастики), officially abbreviated as ''MirF'', is a Russian monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine. The name also refers to the website run by the magazine, Mirf.ru. ''Mir Fantastiki'' litera ...

'' rated this game 8/10 and said that "deepness, enthrallment and atmosphere make this game interesting not only for turn-based RPGs' lovers and fantasy adventures' fans but for very wide circle of gamers".Reviews of Blackguards
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References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 2014 video games Daedalic Entertainment games Dark fantasy video games MacOS games Tactical role-playing video games Turn-based tactics video games Video games developed in Germany Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Windows games Video games based on tabletop role-playing games Single-player video games