Games like The Bard’s Tale, Wizardry, Ultima, and Might & Magic are near and dear to the hearts of players who were enthralled with CRPGs in the days when graph paper for creating your own maps was an essential game aid. These classic games have been kept alive over the years with emulators that sometimes work, sometimes don’t, and often provide a less than satisfactory gaming experience. Now inExile in collaboration with Krome Studios has released a completely remastered edition of the first game in the Bard’s Tale trilogy and it’s terrific.
The Bard’s Tale is a dungeon crawler inspired by the early Wizardry games. It features deep character creation and magic systems, tactical, turn-based combat, excellent dungeon design, and writing that’s well above average. The Bard’s Tale also replaced Wizardry’s wireframe graphics with textured walls that appear to move past you as you move forward. The pixelated original version looks crude by today’s standards, but the remastered graphics are very nicely done. Game Intros and Finales has a video that compares the new remaster with both the original and a Windows 2004 version.
Remastered graphics are not the only changes in The Bard’s Tale remaster. The music is completely redone. Spell and inventory management has been modernized and, last but not least, you don’t have to find a place to buy graph paper if you want to play. The Bard’s Tale now has an automap. If you’re an unrepentant member of the old school who wishes the care bears that think Dark Souls is hard would get off your lawn, don’t despair. A legacy version that promises a return to the rigors of 1980’s gaming is in the works.
The Bard’s Tale Remastered is available now on Steam for $14.99. That sounds like a good price for a great game to me, but it’s just the beginning. InExile plans to release remasters of Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny Knight this Fall, and Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate this Winter for no additional cost. The aforementioned legacy version that reinstates some of the cumbersome gameplay mechanics that were present in the original games will follow. Again, at no additional cost.
If The Bard’s Tale was one of your favorite games and you’ve been frustrated trying to get a playable version running on a DOS emulator, here’s your chance to play it again without hassling with the technology. If you like RPGs but The Bard’s Tale was before your time, give the remaster a try and experience one of the games that turned your father (grandfather?) into the man he is today.
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