Demo code used with many thanks to Player Two PR.
Buskers, party animals, troublemakers. They’ve been given many names, but they call themselves Baladins! These legendary heroes wander from town-to-town to fulfil their sacred quest: entertaining the masses! It’s a difficult task, but one the Baladins take in stride. From helping those in need to throwing parties, they bring surprises wherever their travels take them. All that matters to them is bringing joy to the people who inhabit the bright and lively world of Gatherac!
Baladins is an upcoming adventure role-playing game that features local or online cooperative play. It is developed by Seed by Seed and due to be published by Armor Games Studios in 2024. The Baladins demo is available on Steam (Windows).
The Story of Baladins
The story is structured in ‘weekly’ campaigns. These week’s campaigns decide which players turn it is and how much story progress can be made. At the time of writing, there was one campaign within the demo. However, it was a tabletop-inspired game. There are multiple-choice options with every interaction you make within the game. Therefore giving the demo even more replayability value.
Initially, in the demo, you will play the first ‘week’ within the campaign, which introduces you to NPCs, quests and other character interactions. After the first week of the campaign, the game essentially resets due to a dragon attack, but this does not delete any questline progression but does reset character traits.
Gameplay
Baladins takes the high fantasy of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and converts this concept into a simplified version of this as a game. Upon starting a campaign or continuing, a player can pick between the Cook, Luxomancer, Bard, Dancer or Pyro to be their playable character. Each character has unique traits that can be enhanced through the gameplay and story, such as character challenges. These unique traits are Physique, Finesse, Knowledge, Creation, Destruction and Gold. The character challenges will require the player to ‘roll a dice’, and this stat is compared against the NPC stat requirement for the challenge. Any current points within the unique trait used will be added to the dice roll.
Within each turn, a player has the ability to use MP and AP. MP or Movement Points determines how far you can walk within the overworld before needing to rest. AP or Ability Points determine how many interactions you can perform before needing to rest. Each character starts with a different amount of AP and MP, for example I played as the Pyro which had 4 MP and AP.
Presentation
The game is presented with a couple of visual styles that utilise both 2D and 3D presentation elements. Baladin’s art style reminded me of the older Paper Mario art style. Both games utilise 2D character sprites with limited animations, but each animation is full of character.
The environments and map design are rendered in 3D graphics with bright colours that allow the map of Gatherac to stand out. I especially love the designs of the map terrain when in a story sequence as, again, it reminds me of the ‘stage’ arena within the Paper Mario titles. For a demo, Baladin’s presentation is clean, easy to understand and pleasant to look at.
Final Thoughts
The demo features full controller support, keyboard controls, and local and online multiplayer options, which makes this game a full way to play. Baladins is presented cleanly, is easy to play and gives the ability to play with friends, which goes a long way with tabletop-inspired games.
If you are interested in delving into the world of tabletop-inspired games but want a simpler introduction, I’d recommend checking out the Baladins demo here during the Steam Next Fest (February 5th- February 12th). This provides an experience that can be enjoyed with friends. Play the demo, get a feel for the gameplay, and maybe save it to your Wishlist for when the game is released later in 2024.