Darth Canoli
Arcane
After the short module from felipepe (Cragmaw Castle, also available on Nexus), here's the first full fledged module on the KotC 2 engine (official website/database), Hearkenwold, by Dorateen
I didn't take any screenshot so i'll just post Dorateen's screens from the Nexus page.
I played the module before in the iceblink engine but it was an earlier version and i completed about 20/25% of Hearkenwold actual content, it was very good but the KotC 2 engine UI is way better.
On top of that, you get all the races, classes and spells from the KotC 2 engine.
And it's a lot, 36 subraces divided between 10 races, 22 classes, some rarely seen in a cRPG (Death Knight, Gladiator, Champion, Psionicist ...) or never seen at all as far as i know (Psychic Healer and Psychic Warrior) in a cRPG and a plethora of spells and psionic powers.
Hearkenwold (slight SPOILERS)
Following the main story is not that easy, you should take some notes and pay attention to the dialogs as the auto notes are extremely scarce and only concern the main quest.
There's also a lot of side quests and a whole open-world to explore.
My favorite side-quest is the dwarven citadel but i wished it was open to a lower level party (from lvl 3 or 4), i got there by level 6 and unfortunately, it was quite easy and the final battle offered no challenge either, a real shame because everythign is great, it just needs a slight difficulty boost or being able to tackle it earlier.
Cities are well done, i really like them until Skardale, lot of content there and the city is divided into 6 districts, which is a bit overwhelming and makes it harder to follow some quests.
Aside from that, Skardale has obviously the most content (aside from the dwarven citadel, maybe) and you'll get some great fights there.
Combat
The arena offers some real challenge.
Up to level 3, the one with basiliks and cokatrix, next level is unfortunately not so tough because 20 squishy mages don't stand a chance against a cone of energy and bard crowd control spells.
The witches too, really tough fight and of course the cokatrix fight.
The witches too, really tough fight and of course the cokatrix fight.
Quests
It's interesting, there's some variety, dwarven mountain really stands out but there is some nice ones along the way.
As far as mods go, it's top notch.
There's one i really didn't care about.
The witch and the necromancer, west of skardale, what the hell did they both do on the side of the same road, just one map apart, why don't they tear themselves into pieces on their own?
And why would we care? Both their stories sucks so i just talked to them a couple of times because i couldn't chose and finally killed them both.
And why would we care? Both their stories sucks so i just talked to them a couple of times because i couldn't chose and finally killed them both.
The main quest is solid as well, I just had some trouble to trigger the next even in the manor, for some reason but it might be because of a reload, maybe i thought i tried to triggered multiple times but i only did it once before reloading and doing it again.
World design
It's good, i like the consistency of the
Also different locations and alternate combat maps.
The basic maps feel a bit small at first, being a good fit for the iceblink engine but a bit small for KotC 2 engine but you get used to it and thanks to the combat map it's never a problem during combat.
Just don't play it with the token nor the new generated 3D sprites, the old pixilated sprites (as in the screenshots) fit perfectly.
TL: DR
Excellent mod, 39 hours of fun (might be shorter for you) if you backed KotC 2, just play it already, if you didn't, well, you'll have two games for the price of one when you get it on GOG or Steam.
Last edited by a moderator:
