SKALD: Against the Black Priory on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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SKALD:Against the Black Priory is a retro-style party-based RPG set in a grim-dark fantasy world of tragic heroes, violent deaths and Lovecraftian horror. Take a chance and roll the dice as you embark on a compelling story filled with deadly creatures, branching story and tactical, turn-based combat
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is a strategy, singleplayer and minimalist game
developed by High North Studios AS
and published by Raw Fury.
Released on May 30th 2024 is available in English on Windows and MacOS.
It has received 2,958 reviews of which 2,785 were positive and 173 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 14.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified SKALD: Against the Black Priory into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel i5 or AMD equivalent
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel Iris / AMD Vega or equivalent
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 500 MB available space
MacOS
- OS: macOS 14
- Processor: M1
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Storage: 500 MB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
A little rough around the edges, but a great game. Worth its base price and definitely on sale. I'll start with the praise, because overall I recommend grabbing this one. Music: I love the soundtrack and my only gripe is there aren't *more* tracks. Story: Pretty traditional Lovecraftian horror story, but well executed. World building is light and vague, but it absolutely is ripe for expansion. Gameplay: QoL improvements over classic games in this genre eliminate a ton of the time-wasting present in such titles. Combat mechanics are fun, visuals and sound effects are gratifying (critical hits come with a lot of pageantry for which I'm a total sucker) Art: I LOVE the retro art and imagery that is generously placed at different story beats and encounters. Even if the combat or adventure aspects didn't exist, I'd suggest this game solely for the story and art presentation. It doesn't go too deeply into companion relationships or backstories or their dynamics with one another; it's a fairly linear tale that revolves around you, "Protagonist", but it doesn't forget what it is throughout the game, and you meet interesting characters with dark Cthulhu-centric tropes and references. As for the light criticisms: The best way I can describe it is it has a strong foundation; good bones for an RPG, but it feels like some parts of it could have done with more testing or polish. Playing on the standard difficulty, I found myself flush with food and reagents for crafting and never had to concern myself with injuries or resource management when I could easily go a brief distance to rest and fully recover. There are a good number of skills but many of the skill checks in the game sorta feel like they were wedged in to ensure players *felt* like their feat investments for bonuses to said skills mattered. Many outcomes for skills are binary; pass/fail doesn't have a lot of variance aside from things like 'less efficient solution/spend more resources/take damage'. Combat encounters are fun, the mechanics and rules - to me - are plenty enjoyable but there are a few things that aren't fully realized; debuffs/status effects: -On enemies, it's mostly just about stunning them, and unless I'm mistaken, there's no initial save for stun - I've never seen it - just an end of turn saving throw, but that still means spells like Thunderclap stun the entire array of enemies who thus become unable to act for at least one turn *AND* flat-footed for backstab (sneak attack) bonuses. So once you get to Air magic mastery with a caster, you trivialize most fights. -On the player-party, it starts out being significant. Poison is dangerous and diseases' attribute penalty hurts, so as a Champion (sorta like paladin) I invested in the ailment curing spells... but the volume of potions you can craft and buy and the fact that resting purges ailments means I've used those spells only a handful of times throughout my playthrough. Buff spells are lackluster and provide marginal differences that don't seem to make a meaningful difference. There are more, but those are what really stood out to me. Again, though, the framework for the combat system and character progression is great, and I can easily see a mod community flourishing if this game gains enough momentum.
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This is the unusual example of a game that I absolutely loved, but I don't know anyone who I can recommend it to. So this recommendation goes out into the ether for folks who share my tastes more than my friends do. This game isn't well served by its comparison to its algorithmic relative. There's strategy and exploration and resource management and tactics, yes. But if you're expecting an open-world, or a Baldurs Gate 3 level tactical nuance then you're going to be disappointed. What this game has is VIBES. From the art, music, tone, music, and even limited scope of tactical expression; this game feels like the better-than-reality memory of the best dark fantasy computer RPGs of the 90s. Worth the purchase, in my opinion, whether you're interested in this as a nostalgia-inducer or as an exploration into a design space that has become more and more niche over time.
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Easy recommendation. Skald is more of a narrative RPG broken up by combat. There is some depth in the combat system, but frankly the game is pretty easy. If you're looking for a challenge, feel free to try a higher difficulty than the default option - you can always lower it later. I wish there were more rare loot to fiddle with builds and give me a reason to come back to this game. It truly does ooze atmosphere better than most RPGs, but alas, this feels like only a bite of a larger universe. If you're looking for a good, simple, and short CRPG, Skald is the best option out right now.
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Excellent distillation of modern CRPG design into a DOS-colored dream. Cosmic horror themes, Lovecraftian almost explicitly. Deeply respectful of your time while also telling an excellent story, this is an extremely ECONOMICAL game. Sometimes this economy works to its detriment--I would have liked a little more crunch in the combat and character building, but this is nitpicking, and I am a sicko.
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It's good to understand what this game is, first. SKALD is a story about struggling very hard against entities and cosmic movements you can hardly understand, much less hope to prevent. As a writer and a lover of Horror and Fantasy books, it is also perhaps the best written game I can remember playing. The person who wrote this really knew what they were doing. There isn't a single bad quest, side-quest or encounter (except maybe the random encounters -- but you can turn those off). It's also one of the only video-games I can name which actually capture a sense Cosmic Horror, instead of just the tentacled and mind-flayer cloaked aesthetic. I'd definitely recommend this one. It's an experience you won't find elsewhere. The pixel art is also gorgeous. It's not perfect, of course. I really would call it a "story you play" as much as a game. It's a campaign, basically. The game-play is good, and definitely nothing to sneeze at, but you can see through the cracks in its design. But I mostly say this because things are (for the most part) linear, with only a few side-quests, and no really big choices to make. Normally I wouldn't even bring this up (after all, I wouldn't critique a FPS campaign or a traditional Horror game for being too linear), but the way SKALD presents itself is a lot closer to more open-world, big-decisions-matter, many-factions, type games, when it really isn't that. This isn't a bad thing, but it is something to be aware of and understand going in. (Also worth noting my playtime was inflated by leaving the game open in the middle of a fight while eating dinner a couple times. The actual full playtime is probably more like 12-18 hours depending on how thorough you are.)
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Frequently Asked Questions
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is currently priced at 14.99€ on Steam.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 14.99€ on Steam.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory received 2,785 positive votes out of a total of 2,958 achieving an impressive rating of 9.02.
😍
SKALD: Against the Black Priory was developed by High North Studios AS and published by Raw Fury.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is playable and fully supported on Windows.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is not playable on Linux.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is a single-player game.
There are 3 DLCs available for SKALD: Against the Black Priory. Explore additional content available for SKALD: Against the Black Priory on Steam.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory does not support Steam Remote Play.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for SKALD: Against the Black Priory.
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 28 January 2026 03:25 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 20 January 2026 15:25 |
| Steam price | 28 January 2026 20:28 |
| Steam reviews | 26 January 2026 17:55 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about SKALD: Against the Black Priory, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about SKALD: Against the Black Priory
- SteamCharts - Analysis of SKALD: Against the Black Priory concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck SKALD: Against the Black Priory compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
40
Developer
High North Studios AS
Publisher
Raw Fury
Release
30 May 2024
Platforms
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