The main city of Hawksmouth and the Quarterstone Fountain, Statue and Pit District all share a common architecture and I’m quite satisfied with the appearance of Hawksmouth with its market, the back alley next to High House Torque and the intimidating statue of a tamed Vhelgar at its centre. The whole city has a dense atmosphere and looks finished and well thought out. Quarter Stone on the other hand, capital for that matter has been disappointing and couldn’t stand a chance comparing it to Hawksmouth. The first time you’ll set foot on Quarterstone you will do so entering it by the docks next to the palace. The palace as seen on early screen shots as a collection of the High Houses built around a round plaza with a fountain is no more. At some point someone had the strange idea to replace it with some sort of building that looks like its been taken right from the East German hinterland. Not only does it give the Palace some sort of rather prison-like, I’d almost say boring look, it fails to create easily distinguishable wings for each of the High Houses. The only superficial recognisable difference between the five wings, besides their location are the banners in front of them. Excuse me, but I don’t think this is enough. People can hardly distinguish between them the first time they’ll need to find a specific wing, the difference of the banner is to small. In my opinion, if a complete redesign of the area is out of the question to at least dye the cladding of each house in a different colour. Personally I’d prefer a redesign, giving each wing a look that seems represent the nature and personality of each High House. Like adding blue crystals and floating stairs to the Rune wing, menacingly looking statues of battle fame to the one of Maul and so on. The interior of each wing should be changed accordingly.

About the Oracle District. While like the look of the Oracle – the temple like structure with a beam of light/magic – I’m rather irritated by two details. First, even if maximise the view distance in the game options. The top and the tip of the oracle building start to blur out because apparently they’re to far away even if you’re standing right in front of it. I’d like to see this being disabled for at least some of these important buildings like the Oracle or the High Houses. I’m not concerned about realism, this is about the looks only. Second issue I got with the oracle are its worshippers. No, I don’t have a problem with their religious believes but I do have a problem with short lock ups because they start to cheer. In addition I really don’t like the way they’re displayed in their worship. It doesn’t look natural, it doesn’t look very spiritual and a little to static. A possible solution? I’m not sure, maybe not placing them in clean rows will do the trick.

The before mentioned fact that Hawksmouth shares a common architecture with most of Quarterstone – namely the Fountain, Statue and Pit District isn’t an issue in the sense that I think they should differ under any circumstances which I do not. The issue is that they don’t seem to differ at all. Let me explain it using the Pit District as an example. The Pit District is the waste dump of Quarterstone, literally. Low income population, a trouble hot-spot, a place of crime where nobody likes to live. There are eviction notices on several doors for example. And yet, the district looks as clean as the high income neighbourhood of the Fountain District. The buildings, while maintaining the architecture should look like they’re going to collapse, maybe some wooden cabin should be placed on the ground of collapsed buildings. The streets should look dirty and be cracking open because nobody cares about the people living there. If you have ever been to the urban part of the Green District you have probably seen the narrow streets and backyards. This is how a city would look, this is how the pit district should look. I don’t have specific ideas or proposals in mind for the Fountain or Statue District. But just as the Pit District they apparently seem to lack the soul of a city. They seem dead, artificial and sterile. If you happen to own the art book that came with the premium box you may want to take a look at what Quarterstone could have looked like starting on page 49.