TLDR: Recommended for hardcore RPG enthusiasts and lovers of novel like game experiences, the game has a pretty high learning curve and people not accustomed to the "real time" battle system and quick-time events will probably struggle in more difficult combat encounters. Play it on easy for the AMAZING story if you find it too difficult, Normal difficulty seemed very very tough but doable and ultimately a difficult but worthwhile challenge. I got over 20 hours in just 1 playthrough and the game is regularly on sale, I would have not even been disappointed if I had paid full price.

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf HD Remastered is a game that took me a while to actually begin to enjoy. Let me be first to say that the combat system is pretty unorthodox, the combat segments are done in 3d combat arenas where you can use a variety of skills, potions and magic to tackle your enemies. Your ability to time your attacks correctly in QTEs will determine a lot of your success here and it will take a decent amount of time to understand the "flow" of the combat. It's unfortunate that a lot of reviewers seemed to abandon the game simply because they found the combat system hard to adjust to.

I'll be the first to say the combat in this game at least on Normal difficulty is REALLY tough but overall fair, bordering on unfair depending on your ability to know, when to attack/heal and when to defend or strike, etc. This is not a game that you can just turn your brain off and grind and expect to come out on top, every single decision is going to require tactful thinking and this ultimately made the game difficult but enjoyable once you start feeling like the badass that Lone Wolf is. I've heard Easy difficulty is a lot more accessible, so I'd choose that if you wanted to get this game moreso for the story.

If the combat is an absolute dealbreaker for you you won't enjoy the game, there is a LOT of combat here but there's also an AMAZING story and a ton of playerchoice outside of the combat encounters. The game gives you so many awesome options and choices, how to open up locked chests, taking which direction you want to go, choosing to explore or run, save or don't save people, etc. and many options are given to you sometimes before combat encounters where you can choose one of multiple options depending on your skillset, i.e. "You see a group of giaks up ahead, do you" A. Shoot an arrow across them, B. Call in a doomhound to attack them C. Attack them unaware with a mind blast attack.

The game giving you these options really allows you to play Wolf in the way you want to, you can be a more agile/archer type, a stoic barbarian type, or a Kai master focused on his magical skills to influence things around him. There are some choices that will alter where you go in the story but a lot of the decisions are strictly tactical, where different options may give you an unexpected result or perhaps damaging/stunning enemies before the round has started.

The puzzle cubes in this game are another aspect people really hated, I also found the puzzles to be a little bit confusing at first, I highly recommend anyone who is bad at puzzles make use of the Sixth Sense magical skill that will allow you help in finding the solutions to the puzzles. Some of them were frustrating but the puzzles are not actually that in depth and may require a few restarts.

There is some frustrating aspects of the games design as I've mentioned already, and it's such a shame those aspects turned people off so hard because even without having read any of Joe Dever's books this game deeply engrossed me in the story he's painted, the universe is very vivid and there's a lot of attention to detail in the really amazing script, much of the game between combat encounters is going to be you making decisions on what to do next with different options, meeting different characters and villains along the way. The characters feel very real and endearing and the writing is so many notches higher than many other RPGs that I've played, I was often pretty entranced by the beautiful and vivid picture that went into this game's script, it's really like a beautiful interactive novel experience with a real time combat system for the encounters.

The game is dense and beautiful and also has some great sound design, and by the end I genuinely didn't care about the things that frustrated me, I found it easier and easier to get along in the game as I experimented and figured out what tactics were going to be best. I was very very sad to hear that Mr. Dever had passed away before I had even started the game because he created something although quirky and unusual is a beautiful experience.

If you LOVE good RPGs such as Mass Effect 1 or Dragon Age Origins you HAVE to check this one out, definitely satisfies the roleplaying and adventure seeking desires. For Sommerlund and the Kai!