Demonicon - TDE (Re-) Licensed

Dhruin

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Demonicon, the Das Schwarze Auge PG originally in development by Carsten Strehse' The Games Company and now with a new Kalypso studio, officially has The Dark Eye license re-attached to the project. It was originally announced as a TDE game but after the collapse of The Games Company, the situation was unclear. Alrik sent us the news a day or two back in German from PC Games.de but Blue's now has an English press release:
Kalypso Media and Chromatrix Sign ‘The Dark Eye’ License Agreement for Brand for Upcoming Action Role Playing Game
Kalypso Media and Chromatrix Sign ‘The Dark Eye’ License Agreement for Brand for Upcoming Action Role Playing Game
DEMONICON Becomes The Dark Eye – DEMONICON for Windows PC and Next Generation Consoles
Bracknell, UK – 9th February 2011 - Kalypso Media and Chromatrix GmbH have signed a license agreement granting the video games publisher the use of The Dark Eye brand for their upcoming action role playing game DEMONICON. The game, scheduled for release in 2012, will be developed using the official rules of Europe’s biggest roleplaying world and will now be titled The Dark Eye – DEMONICON.
“By integrating the official The Dark Eye rules, DEMONICON becomes the must have title in the hearts and minds for the fans of The Dark Eye world and creates a new and exciting brand for fans of action role playing games to experience” Says Simon Hellwig, Global Managing Director, Kalypso Media Group.
Dr. Stefan Blanck, Managing Director Chromatrix GmbH added: “We’re very happy to be working with an experienced global publisher and developer such as Kalypso Media. Through the official The Dark Eye license and its fantastic game world The Dark Eye - DEMONICON will become without any doubt one of the video game highlights of 2012.”
The Dark Eye – DEMONICON is currently under development by Noumena Studios, a Kalypso owned development studio in Berlin for Windows PC and next generation consoles and is scheduled for a release in 2012.
More information.
 
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I'm kinda torn about this announcement. Drakensang and the River of Time were great games but that company was bought out by a browser-based gaming company. It's so sad to see that version of TDE disappear and action-rpg 5000 to take its place. Also, TDE is a very complex rule system. I can't imagine much of the rules actually making it to gameplay. I hope Alrik has been keeping track of the game and can give us some hope.
 
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The fans are very excites despite this probably becoming an action RPG title.

It is currently unclear in how far the rules system will be implemented.

In a bitter side note, forum members from Kalypso revealed that The Games Company (TGC) hadn't been working on the game for about a year ... What Kalypso got from them was almost nothing. An early prototype, but not much more.

So, this is not only a "re-license", it is all in all an almost complete restart !

At least that's how I understood it.

And people who are not so fond of action can still back to "Satinav's Chains", the upcoming adventure game ... :D ;)
 
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I was wondering what happened to this game. It was announced last year with its own website and there was no new news for months.
 
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So, I`v just discovered a franchise that actually suits me in this modern age, and hey presto! - it`s dead :(

I think this might be it for this style of gameplay (not counting indie efforts)...perhaps River Of Time will be remembered as the last great old school RPG.
 
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So, I`v just discovered a franchise that actually suits me in this modern age, and hey presto! - it`s dead :(

I also only recently discovered Drakensang and The River of Time and was quite disappointed to learn of Radon Labs' demise - they certainly deserved a lot more success considering the quality of their games and the obvious passion they put into them. While I like a wide and diverse variety of RPGs and have enjoyed some of the newer games in the genre (such as The Witcher, Risen, etc), it was great to play what felt like an improved version of a familiar old-school design that I enjoy so much. Even though I still think that there are good things in store for the RPG genre, this might indeed be the last (half-way) big-budget title developed in this fashion, which saddens me. Then again, I thought this style of RPGs was dead before I found out about Drakensang, so there might be hope for similar games after all.
 
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There is an international Demonicon sub-forum : http://forum.kalypsomedia.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=45

There, you can post your thoughts on the franchise.

And of Drakensang, too, I think. Because personally I don't belive that people from dtp listen much to Drakensang anymore ... In the dtp forums, it's rather the community which helps out.

Since the chief of Chromatrix recently registered there as well, he might be reading there, too.

I think it is important that they learn what people internationally think about it.
 
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Yes it is a shame. Theirs so much potential in the TDE universe. Radon Labs was killed by lacking a good publisher. DTP did the company wrong. There is an international crowd that loves the game franchise.
 
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Dtp did good work here in DACH - but not outside ...
 
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Did this game really flop sales - wise? If so this surely is the sign we`re a niche audience…

Many signs hints to it … But only dtp, Radon Labs and Chromatrix can *really* tell …

Besides, that commenting guy otherwise posts *exclusively* in the Tropico 3 sub-forum … Maybe this says something about him … ;)
 
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If I look at Metacritic. it tells me that there are no English reviews of River of Time (of course there are some, but apparently none on mainstream gaming sites).

So its no wonder that a wider crowd hasn't picked up on this game. DTP should have sent out review copies to more sites (if they even sent out any).
 
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Not their job.
dtp makes contracts with local partners. Local partners send out review copies.

Maybe they would have gone for a different strategy, in hindshight.
 
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