In my opinion one of the most underrated games ever. It is a very solid ARPG in a setting without elves and orcs !!!
Graphics are not really good , but never ugly and very atmospheric. Sound and music is very good and voices are great.
You will play with three different chars which can be changed during missions, which can be a lot fun .

The story is really good, especially if you like stories about Crusader, Stonemasons and the holy grail !!
I really enjoyed the feeling to be on a “little crusade” 

The game design is straight forward as in most action based RPG. You have to do a mainquest and lots of bonus quests.
Rewarded XP can be used to get new skills, upgrade skills, get more HP …..

Controlling with a XBOX Controller is solid and works good, but the game never shows Controller Button, only Keyboard shortcuts..

8 / 10

In the last few years the knights templar for gamers became synonymous with the iluminati with their representation in the Assassins creed universe.....already going off track here. When i first saw the screenshots for the game back in 2011 like many i thought it is an AC rip-off or "the poor mans AC" as i heard some say and did not even bother much until last year when i got it during summer sales.

The first templar takes place after the 3rd Crusade(1189–1192), its a 3rd person action-adventure game and features co-op.You can play as 3 main characters which are interchangeable.The game begins with Celian d'Arestide(the main character) and Roland de Saint-Omer starting their quest for the (you won't belive it) THE HOLY GRAIL !!!11 , cheesy as it sounds the story is actually very complex and has nice twists towards the end and you meet more characters during your journey .

Now lets talk about the first thing you experince, the graphics , while the game is not a triple A it still looks good with beautifull colors and textures, and while the character models look ok, there is no motion capture and it feels sometimes stiff.The soundtrack is nothing special but the voice acting is quite good.

The gameplay is where the game shines, the game has an excelent combat mechanic,as you level up you can learn new moves or improvements of already learned moves , each character has its own unique style Celian - Sword and Shield, Roland TwoHander and the 3rd main character Marie d'Ibelin has a rogue style gameplay with her weapons being daggers, althrough it seems like an rpg feature its not, there are no skill trees and in the end you can have all skills and upgrades.You can upgrade your equipment, but this is also simplified, you can use an armor or an wep set only when you have the full set, you find pieces of these sets hidden in the levels also they aren't many and give some stat improvements but they cannot be combined.Also besides figthing you have puzzles which add some flavour to the game and in some levels you can use cannons which also adds to the game.

In the end althrough the game is simpler than ther AAA games , its good story and decent combat will keep you interested as you find out the secret of the holy grail and who is the first templar :)

The good:
Combat
Puzzles
Story

The bad:
rpg features

Final Rating 7/10

Decent hack 'n slash with a fun co-op mode helps make The First Templar worth more than just a single run-through...

The story itself is pleasantly uncomplicated. I didn't even bother much with it. What's that? We're a knight in search of the Holy Grail? Whatever. Let's get our swords out and start slashing. You'll visit a variety of locations that genuinely feel different, even if it is easy to spot the direction you're supposed to go. How could it be hard? This is not an open world. Travel too far one way or another, and you'll come up against an invisible wall. Exploring too much would slow down the action, anyway. The voice acting is on the whole good, but some of the lines are just so cheesy / stiff that I doubt anyone could make them sound effective. The graphics don't look as horrible as some reviewers have stated. You will come across some incredibly low-res rocks and water at odd places in the game (usually towards the end). The faces of the characters barely move in the engine-driven cutscenes. But the general environments are nicely detailed - in particular, Acre and the d'Ibelin estate. Not earth-shattering, but nice. Fire and smoke are particularly well-rendered. And the game is light on system resources; I was able to run everything at Highest / Ultra @1080p while running an AMD R7 260X graphics card.

Single player mode works well. The controls are smooth if simple (like in a lot of hack 'n slashers), but there are a number of combos and special moves that can really change things up. You don't need to do them, which is nice; you can play the whole game with the basic attack / basic block if you want. Jumping / dodging is a little trickier, requiring a double-tap of the direction key. Now this sounds simple, but in the boss fights, you will be dodging a lot; my hand certainly needed a break afterward. But this is a minor fault. The combat is very quick to learn, and the upgrade tree is very deep. Custom weapons and outfits are only cosmetic that I could tell, but obtaining them does grant XP, in some cases large amounts. Stealth sections are simple; hold down the Shift key and time your movements. You will never confuse The First Templar with Assassin's Creed or Deux Ex Human Revolution; but there are several places where a stealthy approach is required to progress.

Switching from one player to another is simple and seamless: just hit the Tab key to change to the other character. And you will need to do this to solve some of the dungeon puzzles. Which is one of the most fun parts of the game - the puzzles. There are all kinds of traps and levers that need to be pulled in the correct order. Most fall into a few basic categories: you got your fire hazard, your spinning blades hazard, the spike hazard. There are more, and they almost always presented in combination. I never actually died completing the dungeon puzzles, but patience, tact and timing are rewarded.

If you're purchasing for the co-op, great. You have long hours of fun ahead of you with your friend. Only the hosting player gets achievements, though, so be sure to take turns hosting the game.

The game ran very smoothly, with not a single crash. There were several bugs, though, and they could appear at any time. All were related to side missions, whether looking for a series of chests or attempting to rescue a series of villagers. Sometimes, the area the chest was in would not unlock, even though I had done everything and the game itself indicated that I could go get the chest, I could not. Another time, I needed to help some soldiers, but when I went to the spot indicated on the map, there was no one there. I revisited the spot before progressing to the next level, and the soldiers were there, but I could not interact with them in any way! Incredibly frustrating, since there is no way to save your game; you are entirely reliant upon the checkpoints. The only way to fix the bugs was to reload the last checkpoint. There were also a few occasions of sound-drop (no sound, like sword 'clink' and 'clank' when there should be sound), but usually only in huge battles. I assume the sound queue got over-loaded.

Overall, The First Templar was a fun game that is worth a play-through, thanks to the engaging level design and variety of gameplay (slashing, stealth, and puzzle-solving). Not a must-buy at the current list price of $20; at $6 or less, though, it represents good entertainment value.

I won't get into story since it'd be abit of a spoiler to do so...
But like every game this one is not without it's pros and cons, if you like historical games that aren't really historically accurate yet have some truth beneath this is a nice pick up and play game.
If you hate games where you can get through by pressing the same button over and over, only to be stuck with predictable puzzles then I wouldn't bother with this.
I neither recommend or hate this game, it's more one of those games to kill a day or two of gaming never to be touched again, unless craving some random hack & slash gameplay that is best played with a friend rather than solo.

Well this game was a suprise. I got it with a bundle, not knowing what it was, and judging by the type of game it was an dteh story behind it I assumed it would be a pretty dull verison of your typicle hack and slash.

However, the game was pretty good. The story kept me interested for about 2/3's of the way through it, but it wasn't great story. The fight mechanics were like a cheaper Arkham game style, but still held up well. It also has partial controller support(even though steam doesn't say it). I however couldn't get the game to register that I was using one to play. It kept giving me keyboard promts. The controller worked fine, but the game just didn't know that's what I was using.

I wouldn't pay $60, but it was a pretty good $15-$20 game. Graphics are a little dated but it's not to bad,

Surprisingly addicting game. Too bad it's overlooked.

The graphics are dated, really dated, and you can tell that right away. But somehow, the game itself does not appear to be ugly - the game doesn't try to be anything else but a good and easy linear adventure. But in general, the graphics are STATIC. As in, there's no wind, trees are frozen in time and space, no physics, no discernible effects on the environment by your actions.

The story is extremely easy to follow though. No need to memorize names, locations and tons of redundant quests. And there's an abundant amount of history to enjoy. I'm not sure how much of it is concrete though.

There is a certain degree of suspense in some levels and sequences and there is the ability to do some stealth killing.

You can play as one of the two Templar brothers, and you can switch in between the two any time you want, eventually, another character joins in.
You can also gain experience and exchange it for some combo moves, more health, etc.
You also get to collect some items that enable you to get one or another armor and weaponry.

Let's not forget about the co-op though. The bad thing is that I'm not sure how much re-playability this game has. So I would rather see this game as a lone experience and have other games that scream co-op to have co-op (Jericho for instance). Your AI co-op partner is okaish for the most part, and your stealth moves are apt to copying your moves, but sometimes your partner with end up on the ground which is when you have to revive him or her.

Also, it's rare in games when the two protagonists tend to agree with each other most if not all the time. The two characters you play as agree with each other constantly, unlike in Bulletstorm, Enslaved, etc. So even though there's enough scripted dialogue between the two characters, I would probably enjoy to listen to some arguments about the inquisition, the church, the main quest and what not.

The game is also easy, really easy, but eventually, it does require you to pull off some combos and some well-times blocks and counter-attacks to advance further.

The voice acting is pretty poor though.

The game is pretty long. There are puzzles to solve and dungeons to crawl through. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way.

The co-op is outstanding. My best friend and I spent 3 days playing the game. A few months later, we started playing the game from the scratch.

In any case, I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to relax, who likes the hack'n'slash with tactical approach and anyone who wants enjoy a nice story.

Plus, you get to support a small company that made the game in the first place.