Inquisitor (game) - Critical Review

Critical Review

With the release of Inquisitor came two reviews by RPGnet.

The first, in July 2001, was written by Charlie Engasser on the product. In his review, he states that the good aspects of the game are that "the production values as far as the printed material are excellent" and "Anyone familiar with the Warhammer universe will be pretty much at ease here." On the other hand, he describes the bad aspects such as the cost of the game and stated that "Completely ignoring races like the Space Orks, Eldar and most importantly, the Tyranids is a pretty glaring omission." The later release of random character generators (such as in White Dwarf Magazine, issue 258 and the second issue of the Inquisitor supplement Exterminatus) has partially rectified this problem, as well as the release of a supplement specifically describing a campaign against the Eldar.

The second, in August 2001, was written by Sean Broughton-Wright on the game mechanics and playing. After noting problems with the variability of product quality ("the usual excellence displayed in such figures as Artemis to the rushed look of some others like Slick Devlan") and complimenting the quality of artwork ("all the good stuff that you'd expect of a Games Workshop product set in the 40K Universe"), he discusses the mechanics; he states, "The great strength of the GW game in its gearing towards competitive play is understandably missing here. As a war game it isn't very successful either." Among other issues, he was "bogged down in rules" and that he "Can't help but feel this would have been better as a first person shooter." This revolves around the issue that he points out, that "There seems to be very little support, even when compared to other sideline games like Mordheim."

However, while the above points on competitive play are accurate (although there is an annual tournament, the players are primarily ranked on their contribution to making the game an entertaining story), the introduction to the game rulebook sets out the game as a narrative game focused on the internal machinations of the Imperium allowing players and their Gamesmaster a large galactic sandbox, and that it should not be perceived as a balanced competitive game.