You don't know the story of the Round Table in detail? Do you know nothing of all the betrayal and tragedy, of Excalibur and Merlin? No problem: In Pendragon, you experience the legend piece by piece from several perspectives, in small but finely written dialogues, in which you can also decide - for example, after compliments an affair can arise or a companion can join.
You slip into the role of more or less well-known characters like Guinevere, Lancelot & Co, unlocking new characters with each attempt or adding more to your party along the way. The goal is always Camelot, which is hidden somewhere in the north: There you have to influence the last battle of King Arthur and Mordred - who will win? How is this story told? One always experiences a new variation, so to speak.
The path to King Arthur illuminates different facets each time and leads through ancient Britain, represented by an abstract map reminiscent of colorful storybooks that you could open to see the hills and castles. Each character has a different starting point, a different relationship with the king, plus special maneuvers such as the archer, and depending on the route chosen, uncovers other places such as ruins, villages, forests, swamps, or crossroads.
The journey exhausts the party, so you can lose hearts and also morale - the lower the latter is, the less time you have in the battles. So you should also rest and take rations from time to time. Because if you reach a place, the camera switches to the oblique top view of a chessboard. The goal is to reach the brightly marked exit, which can also lie in the dark along with the enemies. And be careful: If they reach their starting point, resting companions die there or it's Game Over!
On this game board grid, the interesting round tactics begin: In this case, only one maneuver such as wait, move, attack, or change of posture is executed alternately. Why is this important? Because pieces can either move vertically or horizontally (and attack in this posture on the next turn) or move diagonally (and not attack in this posture on the next turn). Also, with each move, you color squares, as does the enemy. Sounds more important than it ultimately is, unfortunately. After all, if the terrain consists of your color, more maneuvers are possible, which in turn change depending on the character and the course of the story - usually, you can also choose one of two possible ones.
Conclusion
They still exist, these little treasures! Pendragon is an atmospheric adventure that is well narrated, interesting in terms of turn tactics, and charmingly thematizes the Arthurian legend. Even if the inkle studios are not quite as enthusiastic this time, because they leave some tactical potential unused and the principle of repeated quests doesn't quite work out despite many surprises, they once again prove a creative hand for storytelling and lovely design. If you like good stories and board game flair, you should follow Britain's mythical king to Camelot.
