We all know that certain games are for certain people and Bard’s Gold is certainly for the masochists out there. Bard’s Gold is a retro slow-paced platformer with light role-playing elements, where the player has to find the key within the level and get to the door in order to progress through the game. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s slow-paced. Bard’s Gold is a challenging platformer that lets you explore sinister worlds. A goblin steals your gold and you have to get it back. Help the bard overcome the dungeon’s many perils and use your newfound treasures to strengthen your character and buy additional items and gear.
First off, I appreciate the fact that Bard’s Gold provides some backstory. Many of us here have issues when games that are supposed to incorporate role-playing mechanics fail to even address the world the game takes place in. Adding even the slightest bit of information exponentially improves the intrigue and charm. I feel many smaller developers don’t appreciate how much some exposition enhances the experience. It’s great that Bard’s Gold gives us a compelling reason to go venture into these unexplored dungeons.
The gameplay features a lot of variety and players need to avoid enemies, traps and projectiles in order to move towards the exit. Seems easy enough, right? It’s not. Being hit by any of them means instant death. You have a set number of lives and if you die before you reach the boss you have to start the level from scratch. I can’t tell you how many times I died during my playthrough. It must be in the hundreds. Difficult puzzles and towering bosses need to be overcome to reach the goblin at the end. Beware of the timer though because if it expires giant balls of fire rain down upon you making the game even harder.
According to the developers, the game doesn’t feature any tutorials or explanations. You have to figure out the mechanics for yourself. When I initially read this I thought Bard’s Gold would be inaccessible but it’s very easy to understand. If you’ve played Rogue Legacy in the past on Xbox One you’ll feel right at home. The two titles are quite comparable but Bard’s Gold is less punishing when it comes to upgrading your character after every death.
Speaking of upgrading, you collect gems throughout each level and they can be used to make your character even stronger after you run out of lives. These upgrades are permanent and will help you in future playthroughs. There is also a shop which you can access in some areas. The shop gives you one-time use items such as advanced weapons and shields to make the journey easier. Balancing whether to save gems or spend them on perishable items is a somewhat complex task. I opted to upgrade my character all the way instead of buying items. There is a catch to this though. In order to unlock new skills to upgrade your character permanently, you need to find skill books. From what I know, skill books are only found when you defeat bosses. It can be tricky permanently upgrading your character because of this.
The game has rogue-lite elements so every playthrough is different. The levels are randomly chosen so the experience feels fresh all the time. I’m not sure if I just have bad memory but I honestly felt I came across levels I had never played hours into the game despite repeating the same area again and again. There are a set number of configurations so you can potentially memorize them all but the right way to approach Bard’s Gold is to have patience and focus on perfect timing while jumping.
The controls are perfectly tuned to the experience. The main mechanic is the double jump ability which you have to rely on at all the times. It’s a treat playing the game with a controller and the slow-paced gameplay makes it less strenuous than other such platformers. It was quite enjoyable and oddly relaxing at the same time despite the threat of a timer looming on the horizon.
Bard’s Gold, despite being a polished experience, feels a little rough around the edges especially when it comes to its visual presentation. While the graphics are pixelated and quite good, the text used in the interface is blocky and strange. This might seem like an odd complaint but having text that doesn’t look good on giant screens detracts from the experience and makes Bard’s Gold look like a mobile title. It’s comical in the sense that there’s no way a game this hard would work on floaty touchscreens but it looks like one. Making the text more streamlined would’ve improved the overall first impression gamers get when they launch Bard’s Gold. The music could also do with some sprucing up.
Summary
Bard’s Gold is a short experience despite its level variety because there are only a handful of unique areas. The game takes many hours to complete because you have to master each level and vanquish the boss. In spite of all this, it’s still a lot of fun and challenging. This week the theme seems to be difficult games because one of our reviewers is playing The Technomancer and another finished Fenix Furia. Bard’s Gold definitely enjoys great company. I would recommend this game if you’re looking for a challenge that requires a lot of repetition to master. If you love titles like Rogue Legacy then definitely pick this one up.
Xian was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 162 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative.