Pendragon Video Boardgame Review

Abstract: A cross between chess and write your own adventure with beautiful art and sound and entirely bug free. I recommend this game.

Review

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this game to review.

Pendragon is a video roleplaying-boardgame developed by Inkle Studios. It is a roleplaying game in the sense that you take on the role of Guinevere or Launcelot (more characters are unlocked later) and make choices ostensibly in line with their character. For example one of the first choices Guinevere must make is whether or not she still loves Arthur.

It is a boardgame in that the presentation is that of paper dolls moving across a two-dimensional landscape in strategic movement and across an almost chessboard in tactical movement.

The choices one makes on the character’s behalf, unlocks a new ability (much like a D&D 3e feat). However, each character can only have a single ability so one must take care when deciding to replace an ability or not. The choices also drive the story to some extent. For example, careful roleplaying can diffuse tense situations with potential opponents and even convince an opponent to travel with you.

The overarching story is that the Player Character must travel to Camlann to aid Arthur in his final battle with Mordred’s army. Along the way, there are opportunities to acquire companions and improve one’s special move which could be offensive or defensive in nature.

The Good

The artwork for the most part is beautiful. The style is reminescent of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959), Fractured Fairytales (early ‘60s), and the original covers for the Balltine Books printing of the Lord of the Rings.

With the execption of Sir Kay and one opponent, all of the characters and opponents are depicted in a stylised fashion that fits in with the background art. Noteworthy is in the depiction of Lady Ealasaid with her dark complexion, Lady Elaine depicted as an old woman, and Guinevere as a mature woman with an ample figure. Inkle is to be applauded for the variety of positive depictions of women.

One special effect that impressed me is seeing the character’s breath on cold nights. At first it looked a bit weird as if the paper cut-outs were smoking but I soon came to appreciate it.

The sound effects and music are top knotch and fit the story and art nicely.

The Okay

I found the game to be a bit short. Not only is the player encouraged to reach Camlann quickly, the PC’s morale drops if a battle takes too long. Consequently the story felt a bit rushed and superficial. Since there is a bit of randomisation to the encounters, I suppose that Inkle intented for a great deal of replay to bring out all the potential elements of the story.

The Not-So-Good

There is no manual and the help system is quite limited. The tutorial is very brief and so the player is thrown to the wolves — in some cases literally. As such, the learning curve is a bit steep. As mentioned above, if the combat goes on too long the PCs lose their morale and run away. Although later, (perhaps after a patch, I'm not sure) there is an option to fight to the death or run away. Fighting the death can be quite satifying as in that mode, the music switches to a tribal beat and the PC goes beserk but at the price of a permanent loss of one life point. I got a kick out of the retainers getting scared when Guinevere went beserk. What was also odd, is that I was unable to defeat Mordred and “win” the game until I played as Sir Launcelot. I do not think that it had anything to do with Sir Launcelot per se, but rather the not-as-random-as-it-should-be nature of the game. In that run, I easily acquired a slew of companions and defeated Sir Mordred without too much difficulty. In the very next run as Guinevere, I had to flee from two or three fights but still managed to defeat Mordred. It should not have taken me nine hours to win the game on the very easiest diffictuly level with the two different PCs. A manual, walk-through, or better tutorial would have made a big difference.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I found the depiction of Sir Kay offensive. There is an opponent with a similar shape to Sir Kay so I found him almost as offensive. Why does Inkle think that it is acceptable to depict obese men in a comical fashion? As the Bard so eloquently put it, “If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”

Bottom Line

Is this game worth one's time and money? Yes, I do believe so especially if one enjoys Arthuriana. Both GOG and Steam have the game for less than USD $20.