Silversword

Parties comprise up to seven possible characters which are created at the start of the game. Seven races are available for players to choose from: barbarians, dwarves, elves, gnomes, hobbits, humans, and high-men, all with different characteristics that affect game play.^[6] Including magic users, there are eleven character classes that can be built upon a chosen race, (1) non-magical: bard, hunter, monk, rogue, warrior, and (2) magical: paladin, archmage, conjurer, magician, sorcerer, and wizard.^[7] Character attributes include constitution, dexterity, intelligence, luck, and strength.

Many elements of gameplay from the 1980s Bard's Tale games are evident in Silversword.^[8] For example, the dungeon crawl character remains. The magic system is also similar, and the magic user classes—archmage, conjurer, magician, sorcerer, and wizard—seen in the Bard's Tale II are seen in Silversword.^[9] Nostalgic Bard's Tale players will also see some familiar faces in the game, such as "Roscoe", who ran an energy emporium for recharging spell units in the Bard's Tale I and Bard's Tale II games.^[10] During the game, players are faced with a number of riddles, traps, and puzzles—familiar gameplay features to the veteran Bard's Tale adventurer.^[11]

Combat is turn based, which allows players to consider options at the beginning of each round, plan strategy, and see the outcome of their tactics against different opponents.

An expansions set provides a new class, Dragoncaller; Alchemy, a new skill any player can learn; and other enhancements, such as the Master Thief skill for the Rogue.

Silversword received generally positive reviews upon release and in January 2018 had a five star rating in the Apple app store. As one reviewer wrote:

You build your party and plan your strategy and actually have to think. Although it's a little old school (it's based on a CRPG / dungeon crawl game called The Bard's Tale from the '80s) it's quite immersive, and you don't need to know anything about the Bard's Tale to play (although you should have a basic understanding of D&D style games). This is a lot of fun and well worth the cost, just don't expect video or MMORPG things. This is a solo effort based on pictures and text, with combat taking place in rounds. The advantage is that you have some time to plot strategy, with different tactics working better in different scenarios. When you're done, you'll love it enough to buy the "Rise of the Dragons" expansion!

The game was rated "Excellent" (Editor's Choice) by PC Magazine,^[12] which wrote:

It's hours of fun for anyone who was a fan of Ultima, Bard's Tale, or Wizardry. In my mind, though, it's the excellent support and updates from Silversword's passionate creator that make this an Editors' Choice and an example of what a mobile app should be.

The game received an 8.7 out of 10 by Gamepro.de.^[13] FreeAppsArcade.com called the game a "classically inspired RPG" that is "nothing short of a narrative masterpiece".^[16] It was rated 80/100 by Arcade Life^[14] and 6.9 by Metacritic.^[15]