Here is your chance to vote in our yearly Game of the Year Awards for the best RPG in 2018 and most anticipated game in 2019. You can vote for the best, runner up and third best (or most anticipated) game. In total our GOTY consists of making 6 choices. If you feel you do not have anything to select you can either select no game or enter a game (only for most anticipated), which is not on the list by selecting other. If you select the same game multiple times, your entire vote will be invalidated.

The lists are based on games that in one way or the other got covered at RPGWatch. The resulting list for the Game of the Year 2018 is derived from a much longer list, which has been reduced in length in cooperation with our forum members. You might feel that some games should not be on these lists for some reason. If you feel heart-broken over our decisions, don't vote for those games or don't vote at all and discuss it on our forums if you like. More information on how we got to this shorter list can be found here.

Note that voting is restricted to registered users only and those with at least 10 posts.

Boomstick Gaming has reviewed Feudal Alloy:

Feudal Alloy: REVIEW (A Aquatically Robotic Metroidvania)

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Review for Feudal Alloy, a 2d platforming metroidvania where you control a robot… as a fish?! Gain distinct abilities, socket on new parts, and efficiently manage your heat gauge during combat.

@Wccftech The co-op mod for Skyrim will be entering closed beta soon.

A team of fans has been working on Skyrim Together for several years now, with the community’s funding support via Patreon. In November 2017, Bethesda denied them the chance to distribute the mod via Steam, though they allowed it as long as they used other means of distribution. This set the mod back as its developers intended to rely on the Steam API for the lobby and party systems, but a message shared with the community a few hours ago reveals that the Closed Beta test for Patreon supporters is due soon, with public testing scheduled not long afterward.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Geeknifty reviewed Ancient Frontier: Steel Shadows and found it solid but unimaginative.

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Overall Ancient Frontier: Steel Shadows left a lot to be desired. It did the core of things correctly, but it never really got into complexities or changed things up. While some games can be forgiven for limitations, such as having a great/funny story or changing up gameplay, Steel Shadows got old fast because you could tell where the story was going and not care at the same time. However, it still is challenging and can be fun as a turn based strategy game in space. It just would have been nice to have a map of where it was all going.

Final Score: 7 out of 10

Thanks Farflame!

PSU gives five reasons why you should be excited for The Sinking City which will release March 21st.

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Investigations that have non-linear progression and multiple endings

With Frogwares being ultra-experienced at this whole detective lark (they do have numerous Sherlock Holmes titles under their belts after all), it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that all the sleuthing stuff in The Sinking City is actually pretty banging.

For a start, The Sinking City does away with the typical waypoint and quest marker system, and instead requires players to navigate their way to the destination by using landmarks and other points of interest. Additionally too, there are multiple ways to complete each case, which in turn leads to a variety of different endings too. In short, The Sinking City looks to actually make you feel like a proper detective, rather than someone who, well, isn’t.

Thanks Farflame!

The January update for cyberpunk game Sense.

#31 - Sexy Cyborgs, New Logos, and a special announcement

Posted by Benjamin W Widdowson - ProjectSenseDev (Creator)

Hello everyone! Today we have more exciting news on MANY fronts, so I'll be breaking it all down into sections to keep it all organized. 

First up, I wanted to show off the finalized Logo for Sense. We were unable to find a Hong Kong based graphic designer for a price we could afford, but having a native Hong Konger as wife and co-founder of the studio worked out just fine. With help from Kay's sister we were able to create something that's authentically cantonese and a much better representation of the game thematically and visually. Take a look! 

Sense's new logo

Next, I wanted to announce the next collaboration NPC for Sense's neon-lit streets.  Brilliant "maker" and actual cantonese cyberpunk Naomi Wu, who you might know as the "Sexy Cyborg", will be testing out some new DIY tech in up-town Neo HongKong. 

We weren't sure if KS would allow this so we decided to link it off-site. So go check out the image here!

Naomi is an incredibly talented engineer, and a leading voice for bringing girls into DIY,  open source tech, and engineering. She's also a voice for freedom of expression and an open internet. Like Count Dankula, SUZAKU is very proud to extend a hand of friendship to Ms. Wu. 

Finally, I've got a BIG announcement concerning the whole "backer-builds" part of our kickstarter campaign. We'll be announcing the date of our first build very soon!  Our production toolkit is nearly complete, and once it is we can begin implementing a lot of the art, assets, and concepts I have crafted. So much art has been completed over the past few months, so this current bottleneck going away will be a huge gust of wind in our sails. The pieces of the jigsaw have been crafted, and soon we'll be able to put them together, so to speak.

That said, this is how our backer builds will look until launch;

- This first build will include the 2.0 demo content completely adjusted to the final game's logic and chains, and will also include a new segment of gameplay made to show a new gameplay mechanic we'd like your feedback on. We'll label this build Demo 3.0.

- Demo 3.0 will also be made available to the public after the backers (we're open to suggestions on the exclusivity period, and what you backers think is most fair to you, so please feel free to comment below!) We intend to use this new demo to reassure non-backers of the quality and build interest for new potential customers.

- Each build after this will be a short segment of gameplay meant to showcase a mechanic/puzzle/ or event we're testing out for polish and quality. This is where our forums will hopefully become more active and useful. 

All this said, The past few months have been insanely busy, so I hope no one felt like we were too quiet. From the launch of Demo 3.0 we will be very careful with what we show, but will be more vocal about what is happening behind the scenes. As always, thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm, we look forward to seeing what you think of the new content SOON! 

(Oh, and subscribe to pewdiepie)

Thanks Farflame!

@DSOGaming A new gameplay trailer for Genesis Alpha One which is currently exclusive to Epic's store and set to release January 29th.

As the Captain of a Genesis starship, you journey into uncharted space on the ultimate mission. Build and manage a space vessel, explore the galaxy for resources and interesting new lifeforms and experiment with DNA and alien abilities as you clone new crew members. Your goal: Find new homes for humanity’s DNA and save the species from extinction.

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

Worthplaying reports on a new studio called Winterborn that is set to make a tactical RPG. The studio itself is made up of ex-Infinity Ward developers.

Winterborn is a passionate team working hard to bring an epic role-playing story to your fingertips as you explore a whole new world that has been built from years of tabletop play. We plan to release more information in the coming months, including interviews with the people who played the original tabletop version along with members of the development team. The goal at Winterborn is to make a game for both classic and new players that will be both rewarding and challenging as we bring the games we grew up on into the future.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Worthplaying has reviewed the card-RPG Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales:

PC Review - Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a single player role-playing game set in the world of The Witcher that combines narrative-driven exploration with unique puzzles and card battle mechanics.

In 2015, it released a fantastic RPG in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and for many, the card collecting game Gwent was a captivating piece of side content. Three years later, CDPR has spun off Gwent into its own full-fledged story-based card game, and the results are nothing short of a masterpiece. With fantastic writing, gripping game mechanics, and fun side-quests to break up the tense drama, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is a masterclass example of a well-crafted card game. It takes great strides in revolutionizing the CCG genre, and it's one of my favorite games released in 2018.

Gwent was a fantastic addition to an already vast collection of content in Witcher 3. To spin off the card game into its own stand-alone game though, CDPR needed to do much more with it, and in that regard, the title has more than exceeded my expectations. Forget everything you know about Gwent. This is a whole different animal with new rules, significantly more depth, and a ton of new factions and cards to explore. The end result is a competent card game that can compete with the best card games available today.

[...]

Overall, Thronebreaker is a revolutionary game within the CCG genre, and I hope other companies take note. With a 40-hour story to support an engaging card game, there's nothing else quite like it, and its unique nature is to its overall benefit. It's made me realize how much I can and do enjoy card games when they're done right. I always loved the idea of CCGs, but it often takes a lot of time and grinding to get up to par with others. CD Projekt Red remedies this by slowly teaching the complexities of Gwent to the player with an engaging plot to keep players enthralled all the way through. It's time to take all my hard-earned rewards and experience gained in Thronebreaker and have my ego obliterated by a horde of Nekkers controlled by a 13-year-old kid — and I couldn't be more excited.

Score: 9.0/10

The latest patch for Ghost of a Tale adds more soundtracks and a rolling quicksave for the stealth moments in the game.

Patch Release 7.91

Welcome to this special new patch for Ghost of a Tale!

In this one we've fixed quite a few things but also optimized the game even more (including the jail, commissary, etc.) in prevision for next month's release on consoles. The photo mode has also gained the often requested focus distance control and we've added a couple of items for Tilo to wear.

But most importantly, this patch contains brand new character theme tracks composed by Mathieu. As previously indicated they have been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and they're, simply put, amazing. But don't take my word for it and listen to the theme of Tam & Farrow here:

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In the same vein, whenever you transition to a new area in-game you will be greeted by new music tracks to emphasize the location's atmosphere. It's one of the things players always wished there were more of in the game.

On a different topic, over the last few months we've watched a lot of play-throughs and we've seen that most players just hit the quicksave button whenever they hide. Which means many of them will only have ONE save to rollback to (namely the autosave) if they decide they made a wrong decision in a dialog or if they stumble upon an issue that prevents them from moving ahead in a quest.

In order to alleviate that, we've implemented a new rolling quicksave system comprised of 5 slots. In other words, when you hit the quicksave button, the save will get created in the next available quicksave slot, looping from number 5 back to number 1. That way, you'll always have 5 quicksaves available for you to roll back to.

We hope this will make your playing experience even more enjoyable! :)

[...]

The Strategy RPG Age of Fear: The Free World is now available on Steam for free:

Age of Fear: The Free World

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Age of Fear is a long-running series of fantasy turn-based strategy games. Loved by fans for its tabletop wargame battle system and in-depth RPG customization.

Age of Fear: The Free World serves as a COMPLETELY FREE introduction to the series' tried-and-true gameplay, focusing on non-linear exploration and combat in an Open World style. Choose your faction (Undead Legion, Human Kingdom or Greenskins Horde), build a unique army and embark on countless exciting quests awaiting you throughout the realm! (scroll down for a list of features)

The January update for System Shock remake.

January Update

Posted by Nightdive Studios (Creator)

Hello backers! It’s Stephen from Nightdive with this month’s update. 

Due to the Holidays this update is coming a bit later than we would like but we’ve got some exciting things to share so let’s get right to it!

First up is a quick video preview we put together showing off the final art. There’s some confusion over the temporary art used in the Adventure Alpha video so hopefully this will clear that up!

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Next up is a ton of art!

Tom has been working on rest/lounge areas for Citadel employees. These areas were designed to provide a brief respite from the oppressive cold and brutalist working conditions within the station.

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Here’s an example of how we’ll be able to palette swap chunks of the environment so they match their respective level.

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Tom is also working on a vegetation system that will allow us to create some really wonderful overgrowth in areas like the Groves.

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Heretic Operative is a strategy RPG due to release February 18th which is being made by the lead designer of Age of Empires 2 Ian M. Fischer, and the lead programmer of System Shock 2 Rob Fermier.

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Magic is a sin. It corrupts everything it touches.

Those who use magic are branded as “Heretics” by the church, and heresy is punishable by death.

At the fringes of civilization, the mages of the Cultus Arcanum give themselves freely over to the Corruption – performing dark rituals to let loose untold nightmares upon the world.

It will take a powerful heretic to preserve the spark of magic against both the Church and the Cult.

You are that Heretic Operative.

• Control a secret society dedicated to using magic for the benefit of the world, at a time when all mages are considered “heretics” to be hunted by the Templars.
  
• Master over 50 different spells to overcome challenges in and out of combat. But be wary of the Corruption that accompanies magic. The more powerful you become, the greater the risk of losing control.
  
• Fight enemy cultists, zealous templars, and ravenous monsters through a unique dice-based combat system. Employ mercenaries, devastating spells, and powerful artifacts to prevail.
  
• Explore the Northern Reach, where the frayed edges of the Empire are under constant threat. From vast museums in the city of Ione, to the farms in the countryside, to ruined temples of ancient gods, to camps of raiding Orcs, every location offers unique challenges.
  
• Make contact with other Heretic Operatives and recruit townsfolk to spread your Heretical influence and stop the diabolical Cultus Arcanum.
  
• Encounter more than 270 different adventure cards, full of challenging decisions that change the way your story unfolds. Will you risk your life and mission to save innocents from a burning building or live with the stain on your soul from abandoning them? Will you stand your ground against the Orcs for honor’s sake or be more prudent and flee? Do you bother to learn all of the verses in the Elven Song of Greeting or is now the time to take a stand against ridiculous Elven ceremony?
  
• More than 7 playable Operatives (and counting), 6 different story decks, and 4 enemy cults, means your story plays out differently each time. Use different strategies and wisely deploy your resources to defeat the most challenging combinations.

Heretic Operative intertwines deep gameplay with a dynamic story to create an innovative and original experience: a unique fusion of strategy, RPG, and board game mechanics.

A new update for Battle Brothers brings changes to the Alp.

Update 1.2.0.24

18 January - rapsdjff

This update brings a rework of everyone’s favorite opponent, the Alp, and fixes a couple of more obscure bugs.

The Alp

In reworking the Alp, we wanted to have fighting them feel more varied and interesting than up to now, but at the same time not compromise their theme or identity. The Alp is a nocturnal predator that haunts you with nightmares and feeds off of it, and fighting it is supposed to have a puzzle-esque aspect to it as you navigate a maze of nightmares. In order to achieve the above, we’ve changed the mechanics of the Alp quite fundamentally.

Alps no longer inflict the ‘Sleeping’ or ‘Nightmare’ status effects – those are gone. Instead, they cast the new ‘Realm of Nightmares’ spell on ground near your men. Any tile such affected has the boundary to the world of dreams erased for two turns, which allows living nightmares to manifest and haunt your men.



Nightmares are a new type of opponent that goes down with just one hit, but whose attacks always hit and ignore armor. The more resolve a character has, the less damage they’ll take from these attacks. A single hit doesn’t do terribly much damage in any case, but nightmares can slowly eat away at your men’s sanity, health and morale. If the ‘Realm of Nightmares’ effect runs out, the living nightmares will also fade from the world.

With the new Alps, you’ll have to face off against nightmares holding you in place and damaging you a bit more literally, but you’ll also be able to get use out of more skills, perks and equipment than with the previous incarnation, and battles should end up feeling more varied and faster-paced. They’re also a bit less unique than before, which is a price to pay, but should still feel unique enough compared to fighting all other opponents in the game.

Changelog for 1.2.0.24

• Changed mechanics of Alp. See above for details.
• Changed AI to perform better when defending with and against ranged units.
• Changed Black Monolith to always drop the Emperor's Countenance as loot again when destroyed. It's no longer dropped as loot by the Conqueror himself, as players might retreat from battle without realizing that this meant that the armor would be lost forever.
• Fixed some legendary locations potentially getting sucked into nearby combat without the player having to first unlock them properly via event dialog. Requires a new campaign to take effect.
• Fixed game potentially not continuing as characters with equipped wardogs get devoured by a Kraken.
• Fixed Kraken sometimes not dropping loot.
• Fixed issue with necromancer twist of 'Root Out Undead' contract.
• Fixed player strength calculation for scaling purposes not always updating properly.
• Fixed another cause for combat between AI parties on the worldmap potentially not ending.
• Fixed issues with characters retreating without properly taking into account all opponents that can catch up with them, and thus taking improper routes.
• Fixed potential issue with contracts not continuing properly after losing your entire deployed roster in battle, but still having people in reserve to carry on with.
• Fixed various minor issues.

The survival FPS Metro Exodus will be available on February 15 - henriquejr spotted a preview on PC Gamer:

Metro Exodus takes time to truly make sense as an open world game

But it's worth the wait.

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Metro is a series I associate with dingy, cold underground tunnels, so stepping into an environment that's almost entirely sand and sun is a bit of a shock. This is the Caspian Sea section of 4A's survival FPS, set during a scorching summer, and what was once a body of water has dried out, leaving miles of hot desert and rusty remnants of a port in its wake. Variously sized silhouettes of flying demons are a common sighting across the map. Artyom's train, the Aurora—on which you're taking a year-long trip to find a better life with the other survivors—needs fuel, and the people are desperate for water. As the all-purpose errand guy, you have to arrange both.

[...]

Exodus is definitely taking a risk by going open world, but I'm pretty confident that I'll enjoy exploring these places and meeting these people. After an hour, I felt like Exodus was moving too slowly. After three hours, I wanted to see everything on the map before the Aurora moved on to its next destination, even knowing there'll be a lot of downtime in doing so.

PC Gamer interviewed CD Projekt about GOG - Good Old Games:

GOG's 10 year journey to bring old games back to life

An oral history of Good Old Games: How it began, and how they track down classic games and make them work again.

10 years ago, not long after a young CD Projekt had founded a development studio and released The Witcher, the company founded something else: GOG.com. Back then, though, GOG wasn't just GOG. It was Good Old Games, a new digital store aimed at selling only old games. So much has changed about the way we buy and play games in that decade, it's hard to remember that that was, in 2008, a strange idea.

Digital distribution is now normal. DRM-free games are pretty normal, too, and so is selling classic games. But GOG had to be pioneer these concepts as its inexperienced team of upstarts from Eastern Europe built a platform, convinced developers and publishers to join them, learned to become IP rights detectives, and figured out how to make old software run on new hardware.

This is the story of how Good Old Games began, and how GOG today tracks down classic games and makes them work again, in the words of some of GOG's key players.

Good old days

When GOG managing director Piotr Karwowski started working at CD Projekt as a web designer 20 years ago, they faced a serious problem: game piracy in Poland was rife.

Piotr Karwowski: In the early 2000s, before CD Projekt got into game development, we were distributing games in boxes. Piracy in Poland was a big issue, but what were immensely popular were rereleases of classics in a mid-price format, where in one box you could find Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment all for $15, packed with maps. It was all about focusing on value to fight piracy, and also making it hassle free, with no activations so it worked out of the box.

Years later, as digital distribution rose, CD Projekt founders Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński saw potential in using what they’d learned in fighting piracy for something new.
[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

DSOGaming reports that Final Fantasy IX has received a ESRGAN AI-enhanced Beta HD Texture Pack.

Since the reveal of ESRGAN, an AI technique that can enhance the textures of older games, a lot of gamers have been waiting for HD texture packs for the classic Final Fantasy games. And while there is currently one in the works for Final Fantasy 7, a beta version of an HD pack is currently available for download for Final Fantasy 9.

Created by ‘Ze PilOt’, this AI-enhanced HD texture pack can be downloaded from here. Now since this is a beta release, the modder stated that there might be some issues with it.

For example, gamers may experience corrupted backgrounds or bad animations. In case you experience such issues, you should report them to the modder (obviously with a screenshot and the location).

[...]

The Metroidvania RPG Feudal Alloy is out now:

Feudal Alloy

Feudal Alloy is an epic action adventure with fish-controlled medieval robots!

Hi everyone,

This is it! We’re excited to announce that after more than three years of hard work, Feudal Alloy is finally out and ready for you to try!

We really hope you’ll enjoy exploring the unusual hand-drawn medieval world with your average fish-controlled farmer robot, Attu.

Also, here’s our new release trailer! You can view it here on Steam or on Youtube here:

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Feudal Alloy is an epic action adventure with fish-controlled medieval robots! Coming to Steam, GOG and Nintendo Switch on 17th January!

If you like to help us out by sharing the news and giving us a review, that would be awesome and we’d be really grateful!

Cheers,
Eva and Lukas from Attu Games

About The Game

Explore an unusual medieval world with a fish-controlled robot, Attu. Improve your combat techniques and skills by smashing many kinds of mechanical creatures in a beautiful hand-drawn world.

Attu is an ordinary farmer robot who lives in a small cottage in sunflower fields. He had been living a simple but pleasant life until a bunch of outlaws attacked the village, stole their oil supplies and burnt his house.

Fortunately, he managed to grab his old sword and fled into the woods.
Get lost and discover a huge interconnected world, filled with a wide range of enemies, bosses, skills, and equipment. Choose which paths you take and which enemies you face. Try to defeat the evil and find your way back home.

Features:

• Fish-controlled medieval robots!
• A dynamic action-combat system with swords, grenades, dodges and other special attack moves
• A lot of different equipment that changes both player appearance and attributes
• A huge, interconnected world to explore, filled with a wide range of enemies
• Varied hand-drawn environments
• Loot, a lot of loot!
• Hidden collectibles
• Secret areas
• Achievements

The Steam page is up for Theseus: Journey to Athens and the release date is set at around February 14th with the Steam date being incorrect at this time.

About This Game

Old-school Adventure/RPG set in Ancient Hellas. Heavily based on Classical source material. Choices have consequences!

Step into the sandals of Theseus and make your way to Ancient Athens! Your story begins in the small Peloponnesian town of Troezen, where you learn about your father's identity and a dangerous plot against your life. In light of these startling developments, you must leave under cover of night and discover your family heritage.

Key Features:

• Over 20 unique locations to explore, all based heavily on primary source material.
• Beautiful artwork created by Klaudia Jankowska.
• Original music composed by Michael Landers.
• Detailed choose-your-own-adventure style cut scenes, decorated with historical artwork.
• Turn-based combat with many different opponents and items.
• Player stats and party mechanics that have gameplay consequences.

If you appreciate classical antiquity and mythology, then this game will fit the bill.

[...]

On another note, Steam is giving me a headache about changing the release date. It's not possible to release the game shorter than 2 weeks after the launch of the store page. I will therefore release in mid February; it says February 1st right now, but I will push it back another couple of weeks from there once I get the site to cooperate with my browser.

The January update for Xenonauts 2 announces the launch date of closed Beta 2, which is planned for the 23rd of January, and what that will involve.

Xenonauts-2 January Update!

Posted by Goldhawk Interactive (Creator)

Happy new year everyone, I hope you all had a great holiday season! It's time for another quick update on our progress and plans for Xenonauts-2.

We're currently working on the Closed Beta V2 series of builds. We've penciled in the 23rd January as the release date for V2, but this may slip a little - new features sometimes also bring new bugs that cause delays. In any case, we'll be sending out another update when it does go live.

The focus for V2 is to expand the playable content a bit and see if anything major breaks when you start to play multiple missions, and to start testing long-term systems like the soldier progression. We're also laying some of the foundations for the V3 series of builds, when we'll finally start considering the gameplay experience and game balance!

In other news, we're also hiring for a couple of roles:

• Freelance Writer (Remote)
• Design / Community Assistant (London, UK)

These new hires should help us generate more content more quickly in preparation for our planned Early Access launch in March, and if you're interested in applying for either of them (or know someone that might be) then please check out the links.

Finally, I just wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone that took part in the closed beta testing for the V1 builds. We got a huge amount of constructive feedback and lots of really useful bug reports, and as a result we were able to fix about seventy different issues (including fifteen different crashes) across the two weeks we were pushing out updates.

That's pretty much exactly what we were hoping for from the Closed Beta, which is brilliant - so hopefully we'll see some of you back when V2 launches in the next week or two!

PC Gamer shares their list of 2019 RPGs to look forward to.

The Outer Worlds

2019 | Obsidian Entertainment | Preview

Last year, Wes got a look at the next RPG from Fallout designers Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. He described it as a "first-person RPG shooter, with a focus on roleplaying above all else." There are multiple paths through every scenario—fight, talk, sneak—and an emphasis on player choices. And, since it's a Tim Cain game, you can play as a dumbass and be gifted with appropriate dialogue options. Check out Wes' preview for all the other details we have so far.

Shenmue 3

August 27 | Ys Net | Official site

It's really happening. We're fans of the Dreamcast classics Shenmue and Shenmue 2, for reasons Andy describes well in his 2018 Personal Pick, in which he calls Shenmue "a singular game with a bold vision, and one of the most powerfully atmospheric things I've ever played." It's slow, and that's its strength: The mundanity of feeding your cat is at the core of Shenmue's appeal, even as a revenge story burns at the edges. Finally, that story will be concluded. And hopefully the cat is alright.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

@Gamingbolt Bandai Namco have announced a Dragon Ball Action RPG which is currently referred to as Project Z.

Dragon Ball fans, rejoice! Bandai Namco have announced that they’re working on a new Dragon Ball title. Currently only being called Project Z, it’s going to be an action RPG… and that’s all we know. Other than a logo image, the name of the project (for now), and the fact that it exists, Bandai Namco have revealed nothing else. That said, they’ve confirmed that more information on the game will be revealed at the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour Finals, which run from January 26th to January 27th.

[...]

A new dev blog about Mount & Blade II: Bannerlords introduces the conversation camera.

Dev Blog 10/01/19

Greetings warriors of Calradia!
 
2019 is upon us, and we are back, as promised, with a Bannerlord blog to ring in the New Year. We want to ease back into them with a small update about a change we made quite recently to our conversation camera.
 
Those of you with a keen eye will have noticed that the conversation screenshot in our previous blog looked a little different to a standard Mount & Blade dialogue screen. And it wasn’t just the UI overhaul and new persuasion system that were on show, although admittedly, they are probably the things that caught your attention!

Immersion is something we have talked about multiple times throughout this blog series, so we won’t go on about it too much in this blog, however, it is safe to say that it was the main factor in our decision to make a change to the dialogue system camera. We want players to have a fluid and immersive experience with Bannerlord, which means that we look at all of our previous work with a critical eye to see where improvements can be made to match the high standards we have set ourselves for Bannerlord.
 
So what have we done to improve the camera? Well, this time around we have gone for something a little more subtle and understated. The new conversation UI is unobtrusive, and the camera gently shifts to focus on the NPC you are engaging in a dialogue with. The camera retains the viewing perspective you play the game from, so, if you enter a conversation in first-person, then your conversation camera is also in first-person, and likewise, if you initiate a conversation in third-person, your camera will remain in third-person. We use a depth of field effect to draw your attention to the focal point of the conversation (the NPC you are talking to) as an additional way of immersing you in the conversation and to prevent you from being too distracted by what is taking place in the background. These small changes combine together with the new conversational animations (which we discussed in a previous blog) to make a more immersive and fluid conversation system. 
 

 
Finally, we have added more characters to the conversation screens in instances where it would be appropriate (such as when being accosted by a group of bandits). It always seemed a little unnatural in our previous games to be speaking in a one-on-one conversation with a lord before a battle, or to a bandit leader looking to intimidate you into handing over your hard earned denars. In Bannerlord, you can expect to see leaders flanked by bodyguards, which we think helps to visually represent characters of their stature.
 

 
In next week’s blog, we will be talking to Gameplay Programmer, Bahar Şevket. If you have any questions you would like to ask her, please leave a reply in the comments section and we will pick one out for her to answer.

Join the conversation and comment on the forums! (96 comments)

Exiled Kingdoms received a minor update recently during which the developers next game was announced. Archaelund features real time exploration and turn-based strategy during combat.

Update 1.2.1118 released, and preliminary info about my next game.

15 January - DavidBVal

Today's update brings 100% complete Polish translation and other small improvements/fixes. You can check the full changelog[www.exiledkingdoms.com] of the game for details.

Since September I've been working full time on my next project. It's still too early for a full announcement, but there's a few things I can share about it already.

Archaelund

Prepare yourself to take control a full party of adventurers, and explore the broken lands of the vast continent of Andoria, home of the fallen Empire. The Exiled Kingdoms are claiming the shores of their mythical Homeland, but they'll find the region is not as deserted as they expected... you'll explore freely a huge world full with small details and hidden secrets, and will get inmersed in dozens of small stories and quests, and a main plot of epic proportions (no, really!).

Archaelund features a very unique combination of real-time exploration and careful turn-based strategy during combat; you'll explore the world in first-person perspective in a 3D world, much like in the Elder Scrolls games or in the classic Wizardry or Might&Magic games. But battles will happen in isometric perspective! When combat begins the camera floats up to offer a top-down view of the scene, so you can individually control your party members. The idea is to have the best of both worlds: an immersive exploration and tactical combat at the same time, allowing huge epic battles..

One of the main aspects of the game is the Geryon Rulesystem. I've been working on it for over a year already, specifically for Archaelund. I believe it offers many interesting ideas of my own, but at the same time it's deeply inspired by the versatility and flavor from my favorite tabletop RPGs from the 80s (WFRP, AD&D, Runequest, Rolemaster...) . Geryon will offer endless character development options; you can go for a straightforward approach... but it'll also allow crazy builds, even crazier multiclassing, and you'll never run out of things to try, if that's your thing.

Content is, as EK players probably guess, another essential pillar of the game. Expect the same open-world design, and the same weird combination of seriousness and silly humor and themes you "enjoyed" in EK; yeah, I am afraid the terrible jokes stay, and might get even worse.

Note: despite taking place in the Exiled Kingdoms setting, Archaelund is a completely standalone game. It's a far more ambitious project in scope, both in terms of design, graphics and depth.

There's little else I can disclose at the time since development is still at a very early stage. But I'll make a proper and detailed announcement in the next weeks/months.

A new expansion has been announced for The Elder Scrolls Online which is set in Elsweyr.

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In "The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr" the dragons return to Tamriel! "Elsweyr" is part of the "Season of the Dragon", an all-year ESO adventure. Explore sun-drenched savannahs and gorges, defend the Khajiite homeland, and command the merciless undead necromancer in the brand new chapter of the award-winning "Elder Scrolls Online" saga!

The Labyrinth game is coming to Steam on the 22nd of January. The game now comes with a good looking manual that can be picked up at the start of the game.

I could really use the support in getting the word out and trying to build up that wishlist for launch. So even just an email or tweet to your favorite youtuber / journalist / website would be a HUGE help. It's just me doing all that currently, and well, there are limits to how far I can reach -_-

Anyhow, besides all that, I've mostly been working on getting bug fixes and extra support for Labyrinth (trying to iron out some of the rough bits). I actually just uploaded a new build to itch this morning (the Linux version has had to take a back seat for a while).

For example I made an awesome manual you pick up at the start to help fill in the blanks.

I've also gotten back into the swing on Memories work (currently going through all the maps to process them with a visual upgrade pass).

The open world RPG My Time At Portia has been released:

My Time At Portia

Start a new life in the enchanting town of Portia! Restore your Pa's neglected workshop to its former glory, grow crops, raise animals, befriend the towns quirky inhabitants and uncover the mysteries this charming post-apocalyptic land has forgotten!

Armed with your Pa's workshop handbook and old workbench, you must gather, mine and craft your way to being crowned the number one workshop in the whole of Portia. Be prepared though…it won't be easy!

Inspired by the magic of Studio Ghibli, My Time at Portia whisks you away to a world of wonder that you won't forget. How will you spend your time at Portia?

The town of Portia is full of unique characters for you to get to know. They will go to school, do their jobs, workout, and have fun. They also have unique stories for the player to experience. The player will be able to get into relationships with other townsfolk; whether they are looking for friendships, romances or even marriage.

Each player is free to make their own mark on Portia and immerse themselves in a warm, welcoming little town full of experiences.

Key Features:

BUILD YOUR WORKSHOP: Build your Pa's derelict workshop into the best in Portia! Gather resources and craft your way into the hearts of the local community, as you work through daily commissions and villager requests.

RUN YOUR OWN FARM: Grow and nurture your own crops, as you convert the empty woodland surrounding your home into a quaint little farm! My Time at Portia offers an innovative approach to farming, allowing you to take advantage of planter boxes and semi-automatic irrigation systems.

GET CREATIVE: Make your house a home! Apply your personal touch with an exciting range of craftable furniture, decorations and room upgrades!

JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Become a part of Portia's extraordinary community! Filled with a vibrant cast of unforgettable faces all with exciting stories to share, energetic personalities and individual behaviors. Make sure you take the time to get to know them all - who knows, maybe romance could be in the air?

EXPLORE AND BATTLE: Delve deep into the ancient ruins and dungeons of Portia. Mine for resources and uncover what lurks beneath the seemingly peaceful land. It’s dangerous to go unprepared… Make sure you're equipped to face fearsome monsters and deadly bosses that stand between you and the secrets of Portia.

SKILL UP: Level up your character with a variety of skills to aid you in your adventures, in true RPG fashion!

AND THEN THE REST: Portia is an enriching and vivid experience, jam-packed with activities for your enjoyment! How will you spend your time? Fancy trying your hand at cooking? You could challenge your new friends to Rock-Paper-Scissors, or for the more daring how about a little bit of sparring? Take your pick! There's also tonnes of mini-games, animal riding, and festivals to enjoy. Or maybe you just want to kick-back and spend the afternoon fishing? Its up to you how you spend your time at Portia!