Barony

I hate to say it but I don’t like the game. I gave it an honest try but I just can’t get past the feeling that the developers are impish nerds who take pleasure in making the game unfun. At first I chalked it up to the steep learning curve but after I got past that, I started to see hints of antagonistic dungeon master syndrome everywhere. It’s everything from the new nerfs to making sure you can’t backpedal through door ways as easily as you should be able to. I don’t know, I just get the feeling that the developers want you to play in a very specific way and they’re going to patch the game until you have no choice but to do that. It’s one of those things that should be a ton of fun and not take itself too seriously but ends up being anti fun. It’s the video game equivalent of a seemingly nice, bubbly person who is secretly a control freak with a mean streak. I will likely keep playing it because I already spent my money on it so I might as well but the team who made it will never sell me another game.

So, you want a game that the Devs genuinely love? Barony is that game, a decade later, they are still here, improving the experience.

I want to like this game. I really do! But its honestly just punishing for punishments sake. Playing solo is a nasty bit of business that requires a certain kind of masochism. And playing with friends can lead to entire sessions were you spend most of your time floating around as a stupid ghost because a rock hit you coming out of an early starter door. I'm talking literally the only door you can open to start the level and they hide a rock trap right behind it. This can quickly cascade into a series of early, cheap deaths as your character falls further and further behind in levels and gear. The vibe is nice. The enemies are pretty varied. But melee sucks. And there are just too damn many cheap ways to die for me to squeeze much enjoyment out of it. On top of all that, half the game is locked behind a paywall of DLCs. I'll continue to play with friends from time to time as the game isn't awful. But it's definitely very low on my list of things to do given my many other options that don't seem as intent on pissing me off.

While the game itself is good. A Huge portion of the content is locked behind DLC. If this goes on to long, it will be another Payday 2, Warhammer 3, Stellaris ect

Barony, Barony, Barony... this is an extreme case of "Love it or hate it". You will either adore it and sink thousands and thousands of hours in, or you will hate it and leave immediately. I think you can tell which group I'm in... To those who say "Just keep playing" "it gets better later" or "it's a roguelike you're expected to fail", I raise you that I have 20 hours of trying in this game. I HAVE tried. It is not appealing. And once more, if my low hour count makes my opinion invalid, go 112% Hollow Knight on Steel Soul mode, before you have an opinion on that game

It sucks. The controls are needlessly obtuse, the combat is one dimensional, you die too quickly in combat, the tutorials will instagib you over and over before you've even learned the mechanics. Just all-around an awful, player hostile game that delights in trolling the player. Avoid.

Great game to play with friends, its hard and frustrating but once you get the hold of it, its super fun.

I picked up **Barony** expecting a fun little dungeon crawler that I could play for a few hours. Instead, I ended up losing an unreasonable amount of my free time to one of the most rewarding roguelikes I've ever played. Every run feels different, every mistake is your own fault, and every victory feels earned. The game has this incredible ability to make you feel completely powerless one moment and like an unstoppable dungeon legend the next. It's punishing, but it's fair, and that's what keeps me coming back. One of my favorite things about Barony is just how many different races and classes can be combined together. There isn't a single "correct" way to play, and experimentation is constantly rewarded. Every combination changes the way you approach combat, exploration, and resource management. Even after dozens upon dozens of runs, I still find myself discovering new strategies or realizing I overlooked an interaction that completely changes how I play. Out of everything I've tried, the **Salamander Wizard** has easily become my favorite combination. It almost feels like the game was secretly designed around it. The Salamander's natural affinity for fire pairs so well with the Wizard's spellcasting that every fight becomes an opportunity to completely overwhelm enemies before they even know what's happening. Watching fire magic tear through groups of monsters never gets old, and there's something incredibly satisfying about building a character that leans so heavily into one theme while still being surprisingly versatile. Playing Salamander Wizard also encourages a more thoughtful playstyle. Instead of charging into every room swinging a weapon, you begin evaluating positioning, spell selection, enemy weaknesses, and resource conservation. Every successful encounter feels like solving a puzzle rather than simply winning a fight. When everything comes together, you genuinely feel like an archmage who has mastered the dungeon instead of merely surviving it. Of course, things don't always go according to plan. Sometimes you'll accidentally anger far more enemies than you intended. Sometimes you'll confidently cast the wrong spell and immediately regret your life choices. Sometimes you'll spend twenty minutes carefully preparing only to get humbled by something that looked harmless five seconds earlier. That's Barony in a nutshell, and honestly, it's part of the charm. Failure never feels like wasted time because you almost always learn something for your next run. Now we need to have a serious discussion about one of the greatest items ever added to a video game: **cheese**. I don't know who at Turning Wheel LLC decided that cheese deserved to be such a reliable companion throughout my adventures, but I appreciate them. Cheese has become less of a food item and more of an emotional support artifact. Every time I find a piece, I immediately feel safer. Other adventurers are celebrating legendary equipment while I'm standing in the corner thinking, "Finally... cheese." If my inventory is full, I'm making room for the cheese. The sword can wait. The cheese cannot. There is something strangely comforting about carrying cheese through the dungeon. It doesn't have flashy particle effects. It doesn't summon meteors. It isn't legendary or magical. It's just cheese. Yet somehow, it consistently ends up being one of the items I'm happiest to discover. Every run eventually reaches a point where I'm managing my inventory, and somehow the cheese always survives while other items get thrown away. At this point, I think my character is less of a hero and more of a traveling dairy enthusiast. The procedural generation is another reason Barony remains endlessly replayable. Every dungeon feels fresh, and the randomness keeps you constantly adapting. Memorizing layouts won't save you here. Instead, success comes from learning systems, understanding mechanics, and making smart decisions under pressure. That balance between randomness and player skill is what separates great roguelikes from average ones, and Barony absolutely nails it. The combat deserves a lot of praise as well. It's simple enough to understand quickly but deep enough that mastery takes time. Learning enemy attack patterns, spacing yourself correctly, using magic efficiently, and knowing when to retreat all matter. Every victory feels earned because you know the game wasn't pulling punches. If you survive a difficult encounter, it's because you played well—not because the game decided to be generous. Multiplayer somehow makes everything even better. Exploring dangerous dungeons with friends creates some of the funniest gaming moments I've ever experienced. One minute everyone is coordinating like a professional raid team, and the next someone accidentally starts a disaster that sends the entire group running in different directions. Even failed runs become memorable stories that you'll laugh about long after they're over. The developers also deserve credit for continuing to improve the game over the years. It's obvious that Barony is a project made by people who genuinely care about it. Every update adds polish, balance improvements, and new reasons to jump back in. It's refreshing to see a game continue evolving while staying true to what made it special in the first place. Visually, the voxel art style has aged incredibly well. It gives the game a unique identity that stands out immediately, while also making the dungeon feel charming despite how dangerous it is. The soundtrack complements everything perfectly, creating an atmosphere that can switch from relaxing exploration to absolute panic the moment something terrifying rounds the corner. At the end of the day, Barony is one of those rare games where every mechanic works together beautifully. The challenging gameplay, satisfying progression, diverse character builds, cooperative multiplayer, procedural dungeons, and endless replayability all combine into an experience that I find myself recommending to anyone who enjoys roguelikes. Whether you're experimenting with new builds or trying to conquer increasingly difficult runs, there's always another goal waiting. And yes, after countless adventures, I can confidently say two things. First, the **Salamander Wizard** is one of the coolest and most satisfying combinations I've ever played in any roguelike. The synergy between the race and class is incredibly fun and makes every successful run feel like you're wielding overwhelming magical power. Second, **cheese is one of the greatest items in Barony**. You can keep your legendary artifacts and mythical weapons. I'll happily walk into the deepest dungeon carrying enough cheese to supply an entire village. If you know, you know. **10/10. Came for the dungeon crawling. Stayed because Salamander Wizard turned me into a pyromaniac, and because every successful run is made at least 37% better by finding another glorious piece of cheese.**