This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I own this game on PC (Steam), not XBox, but I saw the one star review and felt the need to set the record straight. No iteration of The Bard's Tale has ever been multiplayer. Also, the original trilogy (which I haven't played but own the remastered versions) predates the PlayStation by 6 years. There was a 2004 game called "The Bard's Tale" released on PS2 and XBox, but it was single player and more of an action RPG in a similar setting than a true sequel.
The Bard's Tale IV is a tactical RPG that consists of first-person exploration and dungeon crawling with puzzles and tactical turn-based combat on a grid with each side having a front and back row like many Final Fantasy games. However, enemies don't respawn, so grinding isn't a thing. Most of the game can be enjoyed without having to look stuff up or try too hard, but there are easily-missed secret chests and areas which require backtracking once you unlock more skills, so a guide is helpful. The story is okay (probably better if you played I-III for the references), but there aren't any choices to make besides how to invest skill points, equip items and skills (you only get 4 action slots, 1 trinket, and 1 move action), and the order to do the limited number of side quests. I don't know how console graphics compare, but the game is gorgeous on PC.
