There is a certain sense of wonder and exploration that I long for in role-playing games. These days, most modern RPGs hold your hand. They want to guide you along the rails through the experience, ensuring you don’t miss any story beats. I prefer something more open-ended, with replayability in mind. That’s precisely what I encountered in this Dread Delusion review. It’s similar to Morrowind in all the best ways, yet unique enough to stand on its own floating island in the sky!
Editor’s Note: The Guide Hall received a review copy of the game from the developer/publisher/PR for the purpose of this review. Their generosity does not impact our overall opinion or thoughts on the game!
The mark of an excellent role-playing game is in its ability to draw you into the game world to ensure a sense of wonder and exploration comes to the forefront, and I think that’s where Dread Delusion excels the most. It’s a large, open world with numerous routes and solutions to your many problems as a prisoner of the Inquisition. But in its openness lies countless ways to complete objectives. It’s freedom in a mystical world, and that’s precisely what I want from an RPG!
Before we dive further into the review, let me get my only gripe out of the way. There’s clunk in Dread Delusion, from the controls to the movement. It’s clunky and occasionally frustrating to perform mundane tasks. At times, I would have to repeatedly click on a door or character to open their dialogue or interact, as the game didn’t want to register my action. Then, you have the movement speed. It’s so prolonged that you want to rush to acquire the airship to travel across the lands faster. Yes, this is an RPG about exploration, but increasing the movement speed would still allow for the same sense of wonder as you move through the environments, albeit quicker.
Furthermore, it’s not a problem for me, but the graphics are obviously incredibly niche. It’s for a specific type of RPG player, so if you understand what you’re getting from this experience, you’ll have an absolute blast. If you’re on the fence, it might be that the old-school appearance and feel scare you off. There’s nothing wrong with that; there is a game for everyone!
With that out of the way, let’s dive into all the fantastic ways Dread Delusion impressed me over the past week!
First and foremost, allow me to talk about one of my absolute favorite features of Dread Delusion! I wouldn’t say I like hand-holding in games. I love to explore and discover points of interest for myself, and this is one RPG that allows for that in its mapmaking system. You don’t start with a map. You must learn the art of cartography, discover unique points of interest, and then draw them on your map once you learn the ability via books. It’s so much fun seeing your map take shape, knowing you charted a mysterious landscape yourself.
And speaking of the landscape, there are so many beautiful points of interest to uncover. Relatively early in the game, you’ll stumble upon the small town of Pwyll. It’s a cute fantasy town with a giant mushroom growing up over the tops of its buildings, but that’s not the most exciting part. If you walk up to the ledge behind the mayor’s house, you’ll note a massive floating eye creature soaring above castle ruins. It’s thrilling because you can walk down the path and discover that location yourself, but you might not want to just yet. That beast proves challenging!
Of course, the world of Dread Delusion features countless unique enemies, from mechanical steampunk monstrosities to more alien-like fauna that attack on sight. There’s a new challenge around every corner!
If you played through Morrowind, you’ll find that combat is quite similar. It’s slow-paced, with the swing of your sword requiring stamina and precision. You’re not going to whip out a two-handed claymore and slash everything in sight. It would be best to tackle combat encounters with immense care, planning your optimal route through enemies and how and when to attack. It’s very strategic and feels like every step matters.
Dread Delusion, to me, is all about its sense of wonder. It’s a sprawling open world with so much going for it, so much more than just simple nostalgia that I’ll find the time in the coming weeks and months to delve in deeper. Despite my foreseen workload, I want to do multiple playthroughs, but I’ll make the time for this one!
The Guide Hall highly recommends Dread Delusion to anyone who wants an old-school RPG with immense flair!
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