Blackguards 2

Blackguards 2 is a turn-based tactics RPG set in the dark fantasy world of The Dark Eye, and it leans hard into the 'dark' part. You play as Cassia, a noblewoman who has spent years rotting in a dungeon and comes out with a serious grudge and a plan for violent political revenge. You recruit a crew of murderers, thieves, and general degenerates, then fight your way across a hex-grid battlefield toward a throne. The premise is genuinely interesting for about the first third of the campaign, and Cassia herself is a more focused protagonist than the loose ensemble of the first game. The combat is where Blackguards 2 earns its keep. Hex-based encounters are built around battlefield positioning, environmental hazards, and a surprising amount of spell and ability variety. You have access to mages, warriors, and rogues, each with skill trees that reward specialization. Crowd control matters, flanking matters, and a few fights have clever multi-objective designs that force you to split attention across the map. When the encounter design is firing properly, there are genuinely satisfying tactical puzzles here, especially on higher difficulty settings. Build variety is decent through the midgame, though characters can start to feel samey if you spread skill points too thin. The problems are real, though, and worth knowing before you buy. The narrative payoff is shallow. Cassia's arc has a strong setup and then coasts on the same beat - anger, betrayal, ruthlessness - without much evolution. Side characters are underdeveloped, and the dialogue rarely does more than functional work. If you come in expecting the kind of writing that rewards re-reads or that makes you sit with a choice after the credits roll, you will be disappointed. Compared to contemporaries in the CRPG space, the worldbuilding stays surface-level, and the branching in story decisions is limited. Choices feel meaningful in the moment but rarely ripple outward in interesting ways. There is also a pacing problem in the back half. The campaign stretches out through maps that start to repeat the same tactical beats without escalating complexity. A few missions feel like filler dressed up as conquest, and the game does not have enough narrative momentum to carry you through the slower stretches on story alone. The mixed Steam reviews reflect this honestly: players who came for tactical combat found enough to appreciate, while those hoping for RPG depth left unsatisfied. Blackguards 2 sits in an awkward middle space. It is more polished and focused than its predecessor, with better combat structure and a clearer protagonist. But it is not deep enough in writing or system complexity to sit alongside the genre's best, and the 74 Metacritic score is an accurate ceiling, not a floor. If you want tactics-first dark fantasy with low narrative expectations, there is real fun here, especially in the early campaign and on challenging difficulty. Just do not go in expecting your choices to haunt you. Monika, Scout Team