Drakensang: The River of TIme is the prequel to the apparently-fairly-popular-but-definitely-budget Drakensang: The Dark Eye. Playing the original game factors not at all into the enjoyment of this game, though it's still a decent deal for the price if you're interested. Aside from the presence of two characters present (one post-mortem) in the Dark Eye, there is very little to connect the two episodes.
While there are some important differences, the easiest way to imagine Drakensang is to think of it as a relative of Dragon Age. Combat is party-based, with the player having full control over his party members, and can be paused. Fighters have combat abilities like knockdown and taunt and mages have all sorts of spells, including, much like Dragon Age, healing. There is a somewhat daunting amount of depth in the character creation process, with far more skills to choose from than any D&D based game, hearkening back to the game's German P&P roots, but ultimately, it's pretty hard to mess your character up if you don't try to play the game like Fallout or Planescape. You are not going to talk your way through any encounters no matter how many different conversation skills you've maxed. (There are three, I believe.) It's for the best because combat is the game's strongest suit.
Make no mistake - there are several aspects of Dragon Age you will *not* get in the $20 bundle. Your companions will not stand around and talk to you about their past until they decide you're attractive enough to have sex with. Their dialogue is purely plot-related - they banter with each other regarding the events that are unfolding and occasionally offer multiple paths to completing a quest. You will not be judged by the Twelfgods on the morality of your actions - the only thing you stand to gain by refusing a reward (which is sometimes offered) is a lingering sense of regret that you might have used it, and if you can extort an NPC for money, there's no reason not to.
The last and most important thing you won't be getting is an epic narrative. There is no suggestion that you're saving the world, and even the implication that you're saving the empire seems a bit far-fetched. You're on a quest to recover some stolen royal jewels, with the entire adventure confined to ports on "The Great River". One of the reasons I give this game a better score than the first one is because the limitations of the storytelling are much better suited to a traditional, confined adventure than some grand epic - the game's engine and voicework simply has no power to induce a sense of awe or emotional connection.
All of these things probably sound like a lot of criticism for a four star review, but as my title foreshadows, the game focuses on what it's good at. The game has plenty of charming flavor and witty writing, I laughed quite often at the dialogue. And when the game throws a tough fight at you, winning is every bit as rewarding as it is in Dragon Age, requiring positioning and strategic spells to keep your fighters alive against overwhelming odds. And so I don't mark it down for any of those faults I mentioned before, because they aren't truly missed. It's a good length, too - I spent a weekend and the better part of three evenings beating it, with plenty of worthwhile sidequests and a pace that generally doesn't have you lingering in one place longer than it takes to get bored with it. You may feel like the story ends abruptly, having never achieved escalated to the point you're accustomed to in an RPG, but again, that was never its intention.
I will mark the game down for a screwed up economy, where players have to pinch every penny to get halfway decent armor at the beginning but are flooded with ducats at the end, leaving no steady sense of upgrading. Additional problems are a slow run speed, making travel annoying (though instant fast travel within a zone has improved from the first game), poor voicework from one of your main characters, and a poor selection of companions. Consider yourself forewarned that at an early point in the game, (Minor Spoiler): You will have to sacrifice one of your party members. If you're the sort who wants a girl in your party, even if you can't bone her, I recommend you make your main character a mage of some sort. If that doesn't make much sense as stated, it will. Variety aside, the simple number of companions is very slim. Parties consist of four members (including the PC) and there will only be one spare left behind when you go onto missions. This was likely necessary for this game to improve on the original's context-specific dialogue (which it did, substantially) while maintaining its budget price, but it is an area where the game does not sufficiently distance itself from AAA competition to avoid an unfavorable comparison.
If this game cost more, I probably would only have given it 3 stars, but at $20 on steam - almost as low as a premium XBLA title, you're getting a lot of game for your buck, and one that is substantially more fun than frustration. If two weeks is too long to wait for your next Dragon Age fix, go for it. Or if not, wait til you're done. It'll keep.