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Starting out without any real direction the early stages of the game are very much a matter of trial and error, and may quickly sap gamers made of less determination of enthusiasm quickly. In some ways reminiscent of classics like Rogue Legacy you’ll tend to learn about the game’s variety of traps and enemies, and their nuances, by falling to them, sometimes repeatedly. Death comes in many forms and very quickly since your hero is a one hit wonder, making death and being reset at the beginning of each stage a pretty common occurrence, especially in the early going. Thankfully the gems you accumulate will allow you to slowly but surely improve some of your core stats and skills, though certainly quite slowly. There are some elements of interest, in particular a surprising number of hidden doorways and goodies that will reveal themselves to you if you don a pair of magic glasses. Hidden rooms, in particular, can sometimes raise things to being lethal pretty quickly but surviving them tends to reward you handsomely to compensate. While the shop can be absolutely vital to your survival, providing some offensive oomph, added defense, or added lives among some other things, always be aware that once you lose a single life you’ll lose whatever you’d picked up, so once you’re a bit more juiced up be sure to be a bit more careful as you explore. Where some roguelikes manage to feel like they’ve given you the tools to overcome adversity if you’ve got the skill and determination, there are others that feel like they’re geared to chipping away at you one cheap shot at a time. Unfortunately, I’d say Bard’s Gold falls into that second mold, especially if you’re trying to play in handheld mode. Even with a larger screen certain triggers and traps only barely reveal themselves, whether in the form of a pressure plate or hidden spikes, but on a smaller screen they feel like they practically pop up randomly. Even if they were a little easier to see being one-shot killed by a small flying book is deflating, especially when you couldn’t really see it well. Overall, it’s these small frustrating moments that chipped away at my enthusiasm for the title. It’s not necessarily that the game is too hard, just that the degree of satisfaction playing it balanced against the aggravating cheapness doesn’t compare favorably to numerous other titles in the eShop.
Justin Nation, Score:Fair [6.0]