Scarmonde

Fun game, just needs optimization for some quality of life (saving and always dash are good).

As hooks go, this is effective, and without belaboring itself with the kind of needless dialogue that modern RPGs do, it carries you through the experience.

The standout feature was the deep class system and character customization, be it through skill acquisition, gear that can profoundly impact a character's playstyle or the sub-class system.

I do like the battle system with things like aggro (which works well with Duskar who can drain life when attacking), and weapons having different abilities (Bard stunning with a club is cool).

Every tool at your disposal (damage, healing, tanking, buffing, debuffing, status ailments, stealing, etc) is useful, and they feel necessary, as the difficulty level is just high enough to provide friction.

The art style successfully captures the charm of retro fantasy adventures without feeling like a mere imitation.