Hard to be a God Preview
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Good RPGs are hard to find and good RPGs with a solid, engrossing storyline are even harder to find. Oftentimes the promises made by such games to provide many hours of entertainment and a 'deep, absorbing narrative' fall along the wayside, leaving so many empty husks of potential. So it was with some cynicism that I approached Hard to be a God, a game that, on the surface, appears to be like any one of the hundreds of RPGs available at the moment. But, like the adage says, you should never judge a book by its cover, or a game, for that matter; pretty quickly I realised that Hard to be a God had much more in store than most of its ilk.Spotted on RPGWatch.
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However, despite these engaging side quests it's the main storyline that truly excels. After graduation I was sent off to Arkanar, a distant city, to assassinate a couple of fellows who had done something they shouldn't have done. Along the way I was set upon by Monks believing they should purify the land, had to break out of prison and ended a rivalry between two nasty sorts just so I could get the city gates open. Oh, and I also had some rather enlightening conversations with myself. This is how much of the plot is filtered through: from time-to-time I was transported 'somewhere' and told snippets of events obviously far larger than anything happening in Coronation Street this week. Hints of a new messiah, betrayal in the monarchy, some trouble with the timelines and some other pretty dark stuff all presented themselves and every time I was confronted with my alter ego, a new twist on the plot set me thinking about my own motives for fulfilling this mission. Just what was going on and why was I here?
Tantalising morsels of plot fell onto the plate of understanding, only to be snatched away by the hungry dog of deceit however - and boy does that dog have an appetite! New twists and turns in the labyrinthine narrative were replaced by half-truths and rumour as quickly as I had tracked down their origins. By the time I had finished only half of my original quest line I had acquired a journal literally bursting at the bindings with allegations, secret meetings and clandestine plans. Not that it ever became confusing or obscure; I could still follow what was going on easily - and that's no mean feat, incorporating the type of deep, absorbing narrative usually found in best-selling novels, without completely baffling the player. I kept on going just to try and find out what was actually going on and it is a rare game indeed that draws attention from its plot alone, especially when that game is billed as a hack 'n' slash. Hard to be a God offers inspired intrigue of the highest calibre.
