Ren'Py - Completed - Heads Will Roll: Reforged [v1.0.6] [1917 Studios]

heads will roll reforged is a turn based game where every combat interaction will do a random success roll based on stats check which include str, agility, endurance and coordinance.

you can train your character stats in exchange for fatigue which need to be restored.

the longer the fight drags on, the easier for you to hit your opponent and vice versa unless you are patience enough to maintain your stamina and fatigue by wasting more turn.

the main objective of the game is basically survive.
the combat is pretty simple, maintain your body at top shape even during the prolonged battle or just die.

if you are doing something not related to personal survival then you are gonna die alot in this game and vice versa which is you will never die.

the most important mechanic in this game is maintaining fatigue and looting corpse.
the game will always let you choose to completely restore fatigue or getting few item for each enemy killed between combat scene which means extra money if you can always maintain fatigue in top shape.

personally this game is very easy for me and i am sure people gonna disagree because it's very easy to get killed without understanding how the game works and important decision to be made.

minor spoiler regarding difficulties of combat :

there is only 1 optional unfair fight in this game

decent amount of hard fight where the game allow you to retreat after surviving 15 turn.

few optional boss fight.

the rest is basically mobs unit which can't even hit you once if you train enough and maintain top shape.

you think this mob with almost 0% attack chance can kill you ?
yes they can with their sucessful 25 str shield bash toward your 55 str character and stunned you.

so take this game with grain of RNG salt.

pro tips : always check what enemy wear by clicking their icon.

This game is one I'd been looking forward to for a long time as a fan of CK3 and Medieval settings in general, but the final product most certainly was not what I expected.

Story
The story isn't bad, and it's certainly interesting how it branches into two completely different geographical locations depending on one choice early in the game.

Unfortunately, the branch that I experienced was so riddled with bad attempts at humour and anachronistic dialogue that I couldn't enjoy it in the slightest. Important characters make modern pop culture references or use modern slang to tell unfunny jokes so often that there is no sense of immersion whatsoever. Perhaps if the game had advertised itself as a comedic romp through the Middle Ages I wouldn't have found this so jarring, but it very much advertises itself as a 'serious' RPG along the same vein as Kingdom Come Deliverance - which it most certainly is not.

Honestly, the 'Fantasy' tag is very fitting for this game.

Characters
Besides the aforementioned problems, the female characters just aren't very interesting, though they all certainly look beautiful enough.

Another critical issue for this game - the English is just terrible, especially in the latter parts of the game. I'm assuming that English is not the creator's first language, but the mistakes are so myriad and awful by the endgame that I don't doubt a website like Deepl could have done a better job with copy-pasted dialogue.

Gameplay
It wasn't awful on the easiest setting for the branch I played, but it's certainly grindy enough that I have no desire whatsoever to even try the other path.

This game also makes the Renpy engine far worse than it should be - you can't load from anywhere but the main menu, the dev tried (and failed) to make saving exclusive to the PC's home base (In an attempt to make long fights even grindier?) and the game suffers from bad coding which means you can't even boot it up if your Unicode is set to an Asian language. The menus, furthermore, are a pain to navigate.

This game would definitely have benefited from just being a VN.

Positives?
Well, the music is nice enough, albeit repetitive. A lot of research was also done on the setting (Particularly evident in the earlier parts of the game), and the character art really is gorgeous. These few factors keep the game from being terrible, but they don't save it from being an absolute slog to play through.

In conclusion, I personally think that if you're looking for an RPG game set in the Middle Ages, you should first try Crusader Kings 3 or Kingdom Come Deliverance before even thinking of this one.

[v1.0.3]

Awesome game. Not for porn, but just as an actual game. There are a few sexy illustrations and implied sex, but it's even tamer than what you might find in the Witcher or whatever.

But the game itself is damn fun. It's a "soldier's life" kind of thing with a time pressure. In each chapter, you train your skills, do quests, make money, improve equipment, work on your relationships and reputation until time runs out and you have to proceed to the next major battle.

Those who've played the original version of the game will notice the vast improvements in balance. They added a squad system (after the first few chapters) to remedy the extremely ridiculous prospect of always fighting outnumbered from the original game. Crafting and improved resting options also let your character keep up with the enemy's scaling.

The "Heads Will Roll" difficulty is basically the hard mode with a roguelite progression mechanism where you get progressively more points at character creation as your characters die or win (probably die). Eventually, you should have a strong enough starting character to take on the brutally unforgiving world that is Heads Will Roll.

The battle mechanics are what takes center stage in this game, but the art, atmosphere, and writing is great as well.

Overall, I recommend this for players that loves a true challenge. If you are a casual player or looking for a porn game, this isn't it.

Knight's Wars

A mixture of visual novel and RPG. Elegantly detailed atmosphere of the Middle Ages. Mountains of equipment, tactical battles, tough fighters and some nice girls.

PLOT

We will be told about the life of a simple warrior who ended up in the militia collected by the king of England during the attack on his eternal rival - France.

The hero was unable to buy himself out of conscription and ended up in the most worthless troops, which means he will have to go through the entire military hierarchy from the very bottom. I won’t focus on the plot so as not to spoil your pleasure. I can only say that the story is interesting, with plot twists and is perfectly presented in alternation with small events, training, battles and other activities.