Band of Crusaders

Band of Crusaders is a classic RPG game enriched with strategic elements, which takes us to an alternative version of medieval Europe, overrun by hordes of demons. The game is the debut project of the independent Polish studio Virtual Alchemy from Warsaw.

Plot

Band of Crusaders presents us with a grim, fantasy vision of Europe in 1350, where an invasion of hellish forces is rolling through. During the game we take on the role of the Grand Master of the knightly order of crusaders, who has declared war on the abominations and is trying to drive them from the continent. Our actions and the choices we make will determine whether the brave warriors will be able to accomplish their mission.

Gameplay

In Band of Crusaders we view the action from a bird's eye view. We traverse Europe, looking at its map from a great distance and choosing the destinations for our next trips. After our team of warriors reaches a certain location, the camera moves above their heads, and all we have left to do is to start accomplishing the mission's goal and face the dangers lurking for us.

The game puts at our disposal knights diversified in terms of attributes and active and passive skills. The latter are directly linked to the weapons wielded by our subordinates. The game has implemented a classless character development system, which allows us to create versatile warriors. In total, the team can consist of a maximum of 20 crusaders, each of whom has their own strengths and weaknesses as well as character traits. Since we take smaller squads for the next escapades, we need to compose teams in such a way that their members work well together and complement each other.

As for battles with enemies, the fights take place in real time with the option of drastically slowing it down (which is a variation on the active pause), allowing us to calmly issue orders to individual units. On the battlefield, not only skillful juggling of character abilities plays an important role, but also their proper positioning. All this is important because the death of a given crusader is permanent, and the loss of a trained warrior can hurt greatly.

The crusaders encounter all sorts of monsters, inspired by biblical motifs and European folklore. Moreover, they have to deal with heretics and other hostile people. Our actions on the battlefield and interactions with the inhabitants of the continent influence the overall picture of the war with the hellish hosts and its further course. In addition to the presence and number of demons in a given region, the gameplay is also influenced by the seasons and the daily cycle.

In breaks from our dangerous journeys we come to a camp which is our base of operations, which we expand over time. Here we can recruit new warriors, heal the wounded, repair equipment, or train knights.