Blackgate borrows some mechanics and
certain gameplay elements from the console games, but ultimately decides to be its own thing and not an open - world action - adventure.
It's brilliantly distributed and well paced, and
while certain gameplay elements are stronger and receive more dedication than others, they're all surprisingly engaging and never feel enforced.
Let's get the familiar stuff out of the way: game progression involves seeking out NPCs (marked by a yellow exclamation points) who present you with quests that either progress the game's primary storyline,
explain certain gameplay elements or have you perform non-critical odds and ends.
By then a feature wasn't added to an RPG, because it's an RPG, and must have
certain gameplay elements, either done well or not, but because the developers tought they would be cool.
I don't want to make it sound overly simplistic, though, because there are
certain gameplay elements that spice up the experience.
This may or may not please fans that have grown accustomed to
certain gameplay elements.