The Dwarves

The Dwarves is based on the fantasy novel series of the same name by Markus Heitz, and Developer King Art Games has been working on the adaptation for a while, with the release planned in early December. We had our concerns about how the translation between novel and game would work, but then we came across one particularly gruesome scene which described how someone draws a picture on canvas using the intestines of his victims, and we realised that the intense detail has translated over very well, creating this vivid narrative.

The novel is without question the main element of this ambitious tactical RPG. In about ten hours the epic story of the first book is reproduced as you assume the role of Tungdil Bolofar and his comrades. The little dwarf grows up among wizards, and thus knows the traditions and habits of the Dwarven nations only from books and from the stories of traveling traders. When, for the first time, he explores the world on the orders of his master, he turns headlong into a huge conspiracy that will plunge Girdlegard into chaos. The Orcs have joined forces with the Älfar to destroy the Humans, Elves and the Dwarves, and only the mighty Keenfire (an axe) can fight and stop this seemingly unstoppable power from the East.

The game consists essentially of the journey on a map, which looks like a tabletop simulation in which you explore a limited area and find interesting places from the novels. In this perspective you receive background information and other side stories, which contribute heavily to the atmosphere of the RPG, something that fans of the novels will surely appreciate. With an increasing number of comrades, the adventure soon opens up and focuses on the stories of the companions as well.

The Dwarves offers diverse mission design, and the tasks involve things like having to escort an NPC, deal with various sources of danger, and solve puzzles. Thanks to the solid combat system, the quests offer variety and a certain amount of replayability too. At one point we had to cross a mountain ridge, but as the orcs had built a heavily fortified outdoor post on the bottleneck, we faced a tough fight. We could either hire local mercenaries in a nearby tavern, who would help us in the battle against the green skins, or find a path through the mountains, and having these options made us seriously consider which direction to take.

The Battle System is built around tactical real-time battles, where up to four heroes face several dozen hostile creatures at a time. Since you are constantly struggling not to get pinned down, the strategic positioning of the characters is hugely important. Using bottlenecks and natural vantage points is therefore encouraged, and the fact that the real-time battles can be paused at any time, allowing you to overlook hectic situations and react appropriately to changes in tide of battle, is incredibly useful. This strategic mode is reminiscent of the one in Dragon Age: Origins, although that's where the comparisons end.

The little dwarves take on huge enemies, and you can use massive attacks that stun opponents or throw them to the ground, making them easy prey (or you could simply knock them into a gaping abyss, which we found particularly fun). Each ability you have consumes action points, and more powerful talents also have a cooldown. Since the game engine doesn't carry out any special actions, regular switching between the heroes is worthwhile in order to be as efficient as possible with your collected action points.

The PS4 version we tested, however, suffered from long and frequent loading times, frame-rate drops, various clipping and tearing errors, and a number of other minor problems. In twelve hours of play the game crashed four times, which is why we strongly advise to frequently use the manual save function, as the auto-save isn't wholly reliable at the time of writing. In some places our characters have also fallen to their death through an invisible hole in the ground which, needless to say, was very frustrating. The camera is limited in function too, and in smaller rooms the navigation was nothing short of horrible. Despite the great depth of detail, you can't zoom in as closely as you might like, so whoever wants to stay close to the action won't have much luck.

The technical quality isn't brilliant, but The Dwarves doesn't get everything wrong in this regard. The game looks rather nice, character models and environmental design is all very good looking, and all of this contributes to the atmosphere, something that the game does well. The animations are a big plus and can be compared to current modern titles too. The voiceover work makes the heavy text based experience very pleasant, and the detail of the novel is well reflected, which is important, but even the biggest fan might have a hard time enjoying all of the well implemented features, as you're too often pulled out of the moment due to the technical slips.

King Art Games has made a name for itself with titles such as Battle Worlds: Kronos and The Book of Unwritten Tales 2, and they've shown us with The Dwarves that they're also more than capable of adapting a book into a game. As newcomers to this universe we were initially quite confused by the strange names and places, and for the first few hours we simply let ourselves drift through the story until we could better understand the world around us. Eventually we were sucked in by the atmosphere, as the story and side missions work very well together and create a dense narrative experience, which is unfortunately disrupted due to some technical shortcomings. As soon as these mistakes are put right, this game should be a worthy start of a video game series based around this interesting literary series.