Realms of Antiquity: The Shattered Crown

one of the best CRPGs ever crafted. also wild in scope.

EDIT: Now that I've just beaten the game, and you're reading this review - JUST BUY THE GAME. If you're looking at the reviews for a retro CRPG then there's not much to mull over - this is an excellent, excellent game. You won't be disappointed. ___ I am leaving this review whilst being part-way through the game. You are set free in a world where you're not sure what is going on and which begs you to explore it. There are no mundane quests (like fetch quests), and seemingly innocuous quests end up being far more interesting than you would expect. The pay off is generally at a longer term time scale, in the sense that you end up completing quests after having explored more of the world. By way of example, there was an early game quest to check out a graveyard which I stumbled upon c. 10 hours into the game. I ended up resolving this quest 30 hours in after having traversed a good chunk of a certain area of the map. This is very good game design as it necessitates exploration. Although you level up and have skill points to use, real power comes from exploring off the beaten path and finding powerful items or relics. There also doesn't seem to be any HP bloat. Another point to good…

Fantastic game! Brought back many memories of old school RPGs. The world is huge with many biomes and every dungeon, ruin and crypt is cleverly designed. Some are quite evil. I had so much fun! 10/10

A stunning achievement that would have been an instant classic in the 1980s, this game is also very fun in 2025. Plays similarly to Ultima 4 and Ultima 5 in terms of combat and exploration, although I think both the combat and the exploration are done better here. It feels like this was a 1980s era RPG made with the knowledge of the past few decades of RPG development. I especially liked the secrets and exploration. The combat itself was fun, but there eventually was so much of it that it got a bit tedious towards the end. I also would have liked the ability to have harder difficulty settings, but I think this can still be enjoyed by people who like a really difficult min/max experience like me, even if that is not really what this game is. I was also surprised that the story was actually pretty good, and I was stunned at the size of the game. This is really a must buy if you enjoyed 1980s RPGs and want to play one again. I'm a little bewildered at the low number of reviews and therefore perhaps sales. The game I played before this one was Moonring, which, while free, has had thousands of players. I would say I preferred this game slightly over Moonring, so it's sad so few…

This is the best Ti-99 RPG out there. If you liked Nox Archaist then I'm sure you will enjoy this also. Though it's old school. You need to keep track of your quest and things of note on a notepad. But it's very rewarding. Also it runs no problem on Linux. I haven't had one crash or bug yet. I'll update my review if I do.

If you are old enough to remember the Ultima series then you are old enough to sign up for an AARP membership at the old folks home. also this game is meant to look and feel like those RPG's from the late 70's early 80's so this would be the game for you ie Ultima: First Age of Darkness. i highly recommend it. i give it a "Life Alert I've fallen and can't get up Ad" out of 10