Baroque interprets the roguelike formula in a uniquely macabre way. There is sometimes little difference between winning and losing. Navigating its strangely industrial corridors is haunting and tense, and this tension is further catalysed by the game's unsettling sound design and music. This is a very beautiful game by all metrics, one of the best looking games I've seen for the Saturn (which is the version I'd recommend playing) complete with absolutely dope CGI FMV sequences.
The game really is quite FUN, but sadly just a little too brutal. It has an interesting and tactical item system and unique enemies with different strategies, and the combat feels better than you'd expect, but you can very easily find yourself stuck in a run that is doomed to fail. And since the character controller has such sluggish movement, losing a run can mean sacrificing an hour or two for absolutely no progression in the main story. Roguelikes are at their best when you can play them at your own pace. Baroque's moment-to-moment gameplay is just too slow for the rather interesting strategy game beneath it. On the other hand, the slower pace fits the atmosphere perfectly. There is some dissonance between Baroque's intention to be a narratively substantial RPG and its commitment to traditional roguelike trappings, and that can be frustrating as someone who is invested but not enough to play the game for hours at a time just for breadcrumbs.
Still, there is no other game that feels the way Baroque does, and despite its obvious borrowings from games like King's Field and Mystery Dungeon, this is a game that has no substitute - not even the remake for the PS2 and Wii. Ultimately you have nothing to lose playing through the dungeon once or twice, and I recommend doing so just for the wicked vibes alone. Check out the HQ concept gallery download from this page if you wanna see some crazy shit: https://nervetower.neocities.org/download
The game really is quite FUN, but sadly just a little too brutal. It has an interesting and tactical item system and unique enemies with different strategies, and the combat feels better than you'd expect, but you can very easily find yourself stuck in a run that is doomed to fail. And since the character controller has such sluggish movement, losing a run can mean sacrificing an hour or two for absolutely no progression in the main story. Roguelikes are at their best when you can play them at your own pace. Baroque's moment-to-moment gameplay is just too slow for the rather interesting strategy game beneath it. On the other hand, the slower pace fits the atmosphere perfectly. There is some dissonance between Baroque's intention to be a narratively substantial RPG and its commitment to traditional roguelike trappings, and that can be frustrating as someone who is invested but not enough to play the game for hours at a time just for breadcrumbs.
Still, there is no other game that feels the way Baroque does, and despite its obvious borrowings from games like King's Field and Mystery Dungeon, this is a game that has no substitute - not even the remake for the PS2 and Wii. Ultimately you have nothing to lose playing through the dungeon once or twice, and I recommend doing so just for the wicked vibes alone. Check out the HQ concept gallery download from this page if you wanna see some crazy shit: https://nervetower.neocities.org/download