Fight your foes
Depths of Peril is a bold fusion of action/RPG and turn-based strategy games like Civilization and stands as an enjoyably epic slice of questing. Players take control of a leader who is just starting out on the road to creating a guild in the barbarian city of Jorvik. In order to build up your forces, you compete with other guilds in a similar position,and it's this competition which is at the heart of the game. You can choose to expand in a number of ways, such as trading with other guilds, negotiating for items, declaring alliances with other guilds, mount raids and launch attacks on your rivals and even attempt to destabilize them by spreading rumors. There are also quests to complete in traditional action/RPG style while there are also vast numbers of items to collect and which can be used to customize your character's appearance extensively. Perhaps most interesting about the game is its open world nature and as you explore you'll find spontaneous events popping up which give things a nicely the realistic flavour. If you've played games like Din's Curse or even the venerable Diablo, you should have a good time here. Visually, the game is pleasant, if looking a little old hat now, but with some nice environmental and character work to give it some personality. Gameplay is fun and varied, with combat being both exciting and fluid. There are issues with the difficulty level, which can be wildly uneven, with some particularly fearsome bosses, but this and other minor problems don't stand in the way of Depths of Peril being a cracking little game.
