The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut launched on Steam two weeks ago today. For developer inXile Entertainment, the new version was to address many of the complaints held by fans of the original game, which came out last year. The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep was a buggy mess, marred by technical failings. It quickly earned a mixed rating at Steam, as owners lambasted the game for all its faults. The Director’s Cut version, however, which launched on Aug. 27, is not the hero the people sought. To some surprise, the Director’s Cut still has a lot of technical problems. And as of today, its Steam user score matches that of its predecessor. Developer inXile, though, is trying to patch holes in this old, sinking ship.
What a sad fate for our dear bard. The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut was meant to wipe the slate clean. Coming with a host of changes, it would bring “thousands of fixes and improvements across the game.” Additionally, the Director’s Cut was supposed to rebalance combat, as well as improve the graphics after moving the game over to the Unreal Engine.
Steam users have been vocal on the Director’s Cut. One reviewer wrote that the new version is “a downgrade straight across the board. The same bugs from the first release of [The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep] are still present…” Granted, some low-scoring reviews panned repetitive puzzles and an inconsistent story. Regardless, the persistence of bugs and glitches are one of the most common complaints.
Righting the course
But it seems that inXile Entertainment is aware of the complaints. In a message on the Steam Community site, the developer dropped some patch notes for an update that came out earlier today. The patch addresses many known glitches in the game, such as character collision, environmental clipping, and possible events of the game crashing.
Whether or not the update will address all the latest complaints remains uncertain. With an average score of “mixed,” it will still be a fight for The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut. And we still won’t disregard the possibility that there are even more problems to iron out. Hopefully the game will be at a stable point, because I don’t think players want a Director’s Cut Part 2: Electric Boogaloo in their near future.
