GAME ON | OPINION: First effort OAG game hidden gem | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

One of the great aspects of Steam’s seasonal sales events is that I get to find hidden gems I might not otherwise notice, or find worthy of our ever-shrinking dollars. This year I found a, well, I wouldn’t call it a diamond — maybe a citrine in the rough? A tourmaline in our hearts?

And that’s not to knock it — the tactical role-playing game Our Adventurer Guild is the effort of a solo, self-publishing developer, GreenGuy, who wanted to see if he had the chops for game development and spent two years making what really seems like a love letter or homage to his favorite games, such as Battle Brothers, Darkest Dungeon and Fire Emblem (with a smattering of Dungeons & Dragons, too).

Players learn they are the new Guildmaster of an adventurer’s guild — an important place in many high fantasy novels, video games, and TV shows — and must manage a stable of men and women seeking to make a living by defying death. Starting from humble beginnings, the adventurers must seek out wolves, bandits and the undead while returning home with treasure and other valuables. And if they survive long enough, they’ll one day head out to do battle with the likes of trolls, giants and dragons.

Adventurer’s missions are similar to those in Darkest Dungeon — squads of four are sent out to do battle, taking with them supplies needed to survive the trip, and then they must rest and heal once they’ve returned. In the meantime, other squads will rotate in, fulfilling daily requests and growing the guild’s infrastructure.

And while the Guildmaster is technically a non-combatant role, when squads go out, the player controls the party on the battlefield. The party must explore an overmap, either avoiding or seeking out wandering groups of enemies while disarming traps, lockpicking chests of treasure or gathering crafting materials.

When meeting an enemy, the map shifts to a tactical grid and combat plays out turn-by-turn. Each adventurer has class — with well-known classics such as warriors, rogues, mages, priests and archers serving as the entry-level classes. It’s a familiar scene — the heavily armored warriors serve as a front line, while archers and mages use ranged attacks and rogues stab from the shadows with daggers.

With victory comes experience, and an increase in level. And here OAG shines, with more than 100 unique skills, advanced classes and an excellent touch of randomness thrown in. Not every adventurer is created equal — each has a history and some positive or negative traits, such as being extra brave or strong — or weaker, or scared of fire, and so on. In addition, many traits can be acquired over time.

What makes OAG scratch that tactical RPG itch for me is that I don’t know whether a new adventurer recruit is going to be a boom or a bust. On level-up, he’ll get a Fire Emblem-esque randomized boost to various stats, so it’s tough to predict how strong a Level 1 will be at Level 24. The adventurers also have their own thing going on, too. They’ll become friends with each other, or lovers, or enemies, and the guildmaster must do a lot of managing their mood, keeping them happy with pay bonuses or booze.

I will say that graphically, the art can be a little off-putting. It’s very JRPG-like in many ways, with pretty flat, uninspired characters and backgrounds. But when I said one guy made this, I mean the developer was also the artist and personally drew everything. It’s, you know, OK enough, I guess. Eventually you sorta get used to it.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with Our Adventurer Guild, the developer’s first game effort. It’ll never sell in the numbers that AAA games from the studios that employ thousands can do, but if it sounds interesting to you, there’s a free demo to check out.

After more than a decade as a reviewer, Jason Bennett has an unhealthy love for rogue-lite survival games and terrible puns. Questions or suggestions? Reach out to him at [email protected]