Strong Lovecraftian story and writing
Mentioned in ~3 in 5 positive reviews
“The story is very good, and one I won't ever forget.”
Steam review · 18.4 h played ↗
SKALD: Against the Black Priory
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 94%Very Positive · 94%High North Studios AS2024Horror · Turn-Based Strategy · Strategy
$14.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 1 h ago
The verdict
A short, atmospheric Lovecraftian retro CRPG with superb art, music and writing, but simple combat, a rushed second half and a divisive ending. Skip it if you need controller play or readable modern visuals.
Great for
Fans of Ultima/Gold Box-style CRPGs and cosmic horror who value story, art and atmosphere over combat depth
Main risk
Repetitive combat and a rushed second half with a bleak ending that negates your choices
What players love
Atmospheric retro art and music
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“The art is glorious, and the best part of the game, in my opinion.”
Steam review · 28.2 h played ↗
Old-school CRPG feel with modern QoL
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“Feels like one of the CRPG greats of old, but with much better QoL.”
Steam review · 18.4 h played ↗
Fun tactical combat and class system
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“you can actually feel the impact of caving in some monster's skull”
Steam review · 21 h played ↗
Great value and compact length
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“Then they ask you for less then 10 bucks. That's less than a movie.”
Steam review · 47.8 h played ↗
Customizable difficulty and CRT filters
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 positive reviews
“it genuinely makes a big difference in visual clarity and eyestrain”
Steam review · 21 h played ↗
What players complain about
Hard-to-read pixel graphics and fonts
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“it's extremely hard to see what's what during combat and I frequently end up mis-clicking”
Steam review · 14.1 h played ↗
Rushed second half and weak ending
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“A game that was clearly rushed. The first half is excellent.”
Steam review · 22.8 h played ↗
Combat becomes repetitive and trivial
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“The combat system is solved very early, the rest of the game is repeating the same easy encounters against enemies that take progressively longer to kill.”
Steam review · 17.5 h played ↗
Clunky combat, misclicks and no diagonal attacks
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“You cannot move or attack diagonally and every time you kill an enemy in melee the attacking character advances into the space the enemy previously occupied.”
Steam review · 11.9 h played ↗
Bad controller and Steam Deck support
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“D-PAD to navigate in menu? HAHA NOPE. They're shortcuts for other stuff. Down d-pad opens the console.”
Steam review · 0.6 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: VerifiedController support500 MB
Minimum
OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel i5 or AMD equivalent
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsIntel Iris / AMD Vega or equivalent
Storage500 MB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel 7th Gen or AMD equivalent
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNvida GTX Series 10 or equivalent onboard graphics
Storage500 MB available space
OSWindows 10
ProcessorIntel i5 or AMD equivalent
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsIntel Iris / AMD Vega or equivalent
Storage500 MB available space
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analyzed 26 min ago
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