Heretic Kingdoms - Reluctant Hero - Dead…but Reborn?

Readers might remember that Heretic Kingdoms (aka Kult) designer Chris Bateman wrote a diary or two for us way back when on an ambitious design for their second RPG, titled Reluctant Hero, although the game never made it to production. On his blog Only a Game, Chris has a poll on the value of non-violent options in RPGs, hinting at a chance for a re-designed Relunctant Hero to get signed:

As for the point of the poll: well, the PC Reluctant Hero is "dead", but the third attempt to push this game forward into production is already well underway, and I expect to be able to announce the new project shortly. Since we have to redesign, we are looking at what we can throw out of the old design at this point to streamline the project - one of the main questions is whether supporting non-violence is time well spent…

The sub-text unfortunately seems to suggest they need to simplify the game but we'll keep an eye out for more hints.
More information.

Religion is death, and death to religion

I still have hope!

I hope "the PC Reluctant Hero is "dead" and "redesign" remarks don't mean this is an attempt for a console-only release. I would love a sequel to Kult, violent or non-violent.

Does anybody know how Kult sold? If I remember correctly it got some great reviews (not only from myself ; - ) … but I don't think it sold well. In any case I'd appreciate any game with a similar approach (in story-telling and/or game mechanics).

I don't know, but I don't think it sold well.

Maybe because of that, it is very, very difficult o find nowadays, I suspect.

The gameplay was questionable, but the the story and premise of the game was unique and somehow VERY good.

I really enjoyed the gameplay, actually. I don't think the Attunements system was perfect but I'd love to see a sequel fine-tune it.

I have an email somewhere with a vague comment on the sales performance…I think it was something along the lines of "didn't meet the publisher's expectations". That said, I think a lot of blame can be placed at the feet of the publishers for relatively poor exposure.

Chris's comments sound like a console release to me but then, I'm not sure 3D People are big enough to get console certification…dunno. Very interesting that a new post from Chris says the non-violent solutions is a "major game system" and "not just a little dialogue scripting on the side". Cool.

I heared a lot about Heretic Kingdoms and it was a lot of good but I have never found a copy myself so I am interested

I bought it when it first came out but haven't seen it around in a while, but with the power of Amazon.com you can find anything

http://www.amazon.com/Kult-Heretic-K…4395167&sr=8-1

Also found it over at Fry's.com but it's currently sold out.
http://shop2.frys.com/%7BBjnWBa0OU19…H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Anyways, I played it and passed it awhile ago. It was fun enough to actually invest the time to pass the game but not so great that I remember too much about it. I think I'll have to replay that one pretty soon.

I enjoyed this game, though it struck me as being a bit short (the ending kind of rushed up on me, I remember not being ready for it). It looks like there are still a couple of options for getting a new physical copy-

http://www.merscomstore.com/items/ro…137-detail.htm

That is pretty reasonable at $19.99, unfortunately they only ship to NA, I believe.

http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec…DE=&CACHE_ID=0

That's linked to from the North American Heretic Kingdoms page, and apparently they will ship internationally (there are some fine print restrictions- ship-to country can't be under sanction by the U.S. etc). They have it for $29.99, which isn't bad, but the shipping costs are just unreal outside of the U.S. If any of you have ordered internationally before, though, maybe there won't be as much sticker shock?

I'm a little surprised that there was never a bargain/jewel case edition? I can only imagine how thrilled I would have been to find a game of this quality in the $9.99 or less rack. It might be good for them to investigate a re-release at some point, even if only to re-introduce themselves and the setting before the next game.

I felt that the publishers botched the NA marketing … I grabbed directly from Merscom almost 6 months before it hit the US to no fanfare.

I'm with Dhruin - really enjoyed it, but it was far from perfect. Too bad the follow-up died … hope its' rebirth happens!

If you're in the US and haven't played it, gogamer has it on sale.