Barony from Turning Wheel is a first-person roguelike RPG for up to four players, locally or online. Learn more in our Barony review!
Barony from Turning Wheel is a first-person roguelike RPG for up to four players, locally or online. Summer is a wonderful time to get your gaming on, and along with the many games up for review, I’ve also indulged in a game or two, thanks to the many sales on the platform. As for today’s review, this time around, I’m diving into a complex roguelike with real-time battles that will hopefully be up to your taste. The people turned on a greedy ruler who worked them to death to mine riches for him. He was one day locked in the mines and died. The people of Barony rejoiced.
Unfortunately short-lived as the curse of Baron took up residence. This has prompted adventurers from far and wide to take on the challenge of ridding the town of Baron Herx’s curse before it’s too late. Unfortunately, none of them ever came back! They were probably trapped and ended up lost in the dungeons. Others most likely died a horrible death! The question is, can YOU conquer the curse and come back from the dungeons alive?
Turning Wheel took Barony to Kickstarter back in 2020, right in the middle of the first year of the whole Covid-19 pandemic. The indie studio was seeking $35,000 in funding to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to the support of almost 700 backers, the crowdfunding campaign ended up with over $40,000 in funding. While the initial plans were to release the game back in 2021, things changed, and the launch was bumped to 2023.
The dungeons themselves are randomly generated, so no two playthroughs are ever the same. Learning your way around the maps is just not possible. The tutorial section only teaches you the very basics of the game, so you will have to learn the rest and you play. It is not recommended to rush through the tutorial, as that will lead to your death! I… learned this the hard way. Loot is also randomized, so there is no telling what you can get and where you can get it. But the loot is always plentiful. You can get weapons, shields, armor, spellbooks, and potions of all kinds, including healing. Some items need to be appraised before you do anything. Thankfully appraising items is a passive skill, so you don’t need to learn it since it is available right out of the box, which is a huge help.
The dungeons are absolutely littered with traps and hazards that you must avoid if you value your life! There are altars and fountains that can bestow you with useful effects that can help you on your journey. A decent and successful run is dependent on having good gear and good gear management. There are many menus to deal with as well, and controls do take a lot of time to get used to. The game wasn’t initially designed for the Nintendo Switch as it was ported over from PC. Because the controls haven’t been fully optimized, it’s a game that can, at times, feel a bit overwhelming.
Barony brings us a challenging first-person roguelike RPG on Nintendo Switch that will test your skills in full. I absolutely loved the voxel art style, which reminds me of games such as Minecraft Dungeons and other voxel-based experiences. And, as has happened before for other PC-to-console ports, the in-game text is a tad bit on the small side, so a slider to increase the fonts would be lovely. Barony is launching on Nintendo Switch on August 1st with a $19.99 price tag. If you act now, you can pre-order the game at a 25% discount.
Disclaimer
This Barony review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Turning Wheel.
