Frankly, I’m a fan of Sergei Lukyanenko’s work. And, perhaps, one of my favorite works of his is the “Night Watch” series.
Yes, yes, I’m that same fan who knows the names of the main and not so heroes in detail, strives to analyze in detail all the intricacies of the plot. But the reviewer must be objective, so for the duration of our review I will try to forget about my preferences.
Let’s start the operation.
Everyone come out of the Twilight!
Press releases and interviews taken from the developers of Nival Interactive more than once made us sigh in admiration and count down the days until the game’s release on the calendar. Moreover, “Night Watch” promised to be interesting not only to those in the know, but also to completely outside players who are familiar with the Others and their magic from hearsay. Judge for yourself, incredibly beautiful turn-based tactics in familiar Moscow surroundings, flavored with magic, an entertaining plot and other goodies. Sounds great.
But, alas, fate loves to give us good kicks. In practice, everything is much less rosy. Patient on the operating table. Sister, alcohol!
Meet the Twilight
We’ve already replayed in our https://river-belle-casino.uk/login/ heads a possible way to start events? Some inexperienced student magician gets into trouble and… Sit down, two! Our hero is a murderer with the good name Stasik. A typical Hitman who surrendered his conscience to a liquor stall.
Stasik is suffering. Acute lack of financial resources. And so, to improve his unenviable situation, he accepts the order of a strange man who vaguely resembles a famous actor. The order is a pretty girl who, apparently, has so successfully sent a charge of feminine charm to Stas’s hormonal centers that he does not dare to shoot at her. The customer appears as if out of nowhere and explains that the money guys said: “Bye-bye.”!" and flew away. But they can be returned if you finish the job.
Stas faces a dilemma. But she doesn’t stand for long – the bright sorceress Olga appears in the arena, and everything immediately becomes clear.
Stas is an uninitiated other (let me clarify, this is a person with potential magical abilities who does not yet know about them), the customer is the head of the Moscow Day Watch, Zavulon himself, planning to lure the main character to the dark side.
After spectacular fireworks and folk dances with a tambourine around the fire, Zabulon retreats, and Olga brings Stas up to date.
This is the plot of the plot, and you probably guessed that our hero is now an operative of the Night’s Watch.
Magic wand – in the right hand, amulet – in the left. You know where your right hand is!? Which spoon are you holding?? This? Here is a wand in it, and in the other is an amulet!
Such an intricate title marks the transition to the actual gameplay. I think it’s not necessary for me to give the smallest details, because a pretty sensible tutorial awaits you. They will explain the most unobvious moments, teach you how to apply skills and develop characteristics.
First you have to choose one of three character specializations.
Wizard aka magician – specialist in combat, medical and household-applied magic. His main weapon is powerful spells, and this character develops, receiving new, more effective spells.
Enchanter – enchantment specialist. Takes everything that comes to hand and enchants it. But this does not mean that he can force, say, a bench to hit his enemies with tinsel. But he will create an amulet, he will make a wand, he will cast a healing spell on an apple. The choice between a magician and a sorcerer is quite difficult, but I advise you to decide this way. If you rely on your allies, take a sorcerer. He will be a great help to his comrades. If you want to complete the game by fighting, a battle mage will be more useful.
Well, the third specialization is changeling. Can transform into an animal, and his combat skills in this state increase significantly. The enemy mage will be torn into many small mages, if not with ease, then, in any case, without much difficulty.
By the way, specialization does not cement Stas tightly within a narrow framework. No one is stopping you from raising a sorcerer who can deal a sensitive slap in a magical duel, and this is probably right.
The role-playing system is shamelessly truncated. Well, what kind of role-playing system is there when the beautiful phrase “character development” refers to the gradual acquisition of new spells by him?. Yes, they are beautiful, and they can bang so hard that the fish will jump out of the aquarium, but why do all this if the depth and thoughtfulness are as big as a fool’s nose?.
The game is positioned as a tactics. Don’t believe it, friends. Until real tactics, like Fallout, Jagged Alliance And "Silent Storm Operations"It’s like visiting the city of Paris. And if such tactics are now the standard – either hang yourself or shoot the developers for hack work. Yes, there are definitely tactical elements, but even this is stripped down to the point of “I can’t”. Do you think that the character’s position affects the injuries he receives, and the degree of their severity is calculated depending on the location of the lightning or fireball?? No, there is nothing like that at all.
We either go into battle or shamefully fall off the battlefield. And the tactical element is limited to the selection of spells suitable for the situation. Very sad. But there is also an element of sober calculation here. The game is under a film license, and therefore must be friendly to the general public. If, in order to get comfortable in the gaming world, you need to study a multi-page manual, this is not very good.
But stop rambling. Give me the honest truth. And the verdict is this: hardcore tacticians, definitely, won’t like it. It’s all too simple.
We wander into the plot thicket
To my great delight, the plot is fascinating. Truly captivating. The writer Leonid Kaganov worked on it, who was recommended to the Nival residents by Sergei Lukyanenko himself. Well, both developers and players benefited from this. Very smooth, interesting and addictive story. Knots, even if there are any, don’t catch your eye. Hence the paradox. The gameplay is rather weak, there is little dynamics, tactics are mercilessly cut out as a class, but, thanks to the efforts of Kaganov, it is played with great interest.
The only complaint is the humor. No, he’s not bad. But the jokes are a little flat. More effort could have been put into such an important and necessary aspect.
Bang bang – no good. Here Ba-ba-bang – it will go.
The graphics, as you can judge from the screenshots, are not bad. Rich special effects, beautiful spells, even Twilight was not spoiled by the irrepressible flight of design ideas – in fact, one on one with the book description. Overall great.
But we can’t do without a slap. Character models, of which there are two and a half, do not add optimism. This kind of monotony is very annoying.
Portions of sound measured on pharmaceutical scales. No more, no less than needed. Fireball flies with a characteristic "Shh-sh-sh-sh"!", explodes with a loud "bang-bang", and the membrane drum vibrates from lightning discharges. Voice acting is up to par.
Let’s summarize today’s successful operation. The Patient is a turn-based “tactics” with a truncated tactical component, an underdeveloped role-playing system, good (no more) graphics, a very, very decent soundtrack and an excellent plot. It’s worth playing, if only to evaluate the scenario of a professional’s work.
Not recommended for veteran tacticians, as disappointments will most likely outweigh positive emotions. For everyone else – it’s quite possible. Especially after watching the second part of "Night Watch", which threatens to be released this year.
Let’s decide on the final score. Six and a half? Not enough. Seven? It also seems like a little, but seven and a half is already a lot. Therefore, let’s focus on seven out of ten.