General News - The Future of CRPGs

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PC Gamer asks Josh Sawyer, Swen Vincke and Robert Kurvitz about CRPGs future.

It wasn’t so long ago that the isometric CRPG seemed like an endangered species, consigned to annals of video game history, or at least the '90s when classic like Baldur's Gate were released. With the rise of crowdfunding and indie developers, however, the genre has returned in a tidal wave of spiritual successors and fantasy romps. So much of this resurgence is tangled up in nostalgia, though, begging the question: how does the genre move forward?

The friction between nostalgia and innovation is an obstacle inherent in any game trying to evoke the classics. In RPGs, it’s even more apparent because an overwhelming number of them are set in high fantasy universes full of elves, dwarves and handy magical swords. When an RPG does eschew the fantasy setting, it usually leans into science fiction.



“I don’t think RPGs are really shackled to sci-fi and fantasy, it’s just tradition,” says Josh Sawyer, most recently Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire’s game director. “I think a lot of it comes from the background of roleplaying games. Dungeons & Dragons started as Chainmail, which is really a fantasy wargame, and since then a lot of RPGs have been fantasy, trying to ape the experience of D&D.”

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The source of this stagnation goes far beyond RPGs or even video games, he says. Kurvitz believes that it’s the product of culture, particularly pop culture, slowing down. “It’s calcifying. The internal generation engine of western pop culture is just very self-referential in general. So that could be one possible reason for it—just people growing old.”
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Certainly we don't see any of that here at the watch where people get fixated on old nostalgic games and everything else is just crap :p
 
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No offense to Mr. Kurvitz but his game Disco Elysium will more then probably not sell well, but will become another cult classic talked about for years on the watch.:cool:
 
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Couchpotato said:
No offense to Mr. Kurvitz but his game Disco Elysium will more then probably not sell well, but will become another cult classic talked about for years on the watch.:cool:
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It will not sell well by industry's standards, yeah, but I don't think it will be a failure. Also, his team is pretty small, so even if it does not sell so well like, say, Pillars of Eternity 2, they will still have a huge profit.
 
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GabrielMP_19 said:
It will not sell well by industry's standards, yeah, but I don't think it will be a failure. Also, his team is pretty small, so even if it does not sell so well like, say, Pillars of Eternity 2, they will still have a huge profit.
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Yes but he wants to change RPGs, and for that to happen you need mega-blockbuster sales. Like he says he sounds elitist and reminds me of an hardcore Codex member.

To me Swen Vincke sounds more plausible and realistic compared to his vision.
 
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Couchpotato said:
Yes but he wants to change RPGs, and for that to happen you need mega-blockbuster sales. Like he says he sounds elitist and reminds me of an hardcore Codex member.

To me Swen Vincke sounds more plausible and realistic compared to his vision.
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Planescape Torment didn't sell well and it made a difference. This game will not be any different. He may not influentiate the industry as much as he wants, but he will still be able to make new games and attract a niche following. If he really inspires some two other companies, that's already a lot.
 
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I will always prefer the fantasy setting, just a personal favorite so I like what Sven has to say; just because it's fantasy doesn't mean it has to be the same thing over and over. I will play an alternate setting occasionally (fallout, pirate) but always return to fantasy. Maybe this will change with younger generations though.

All this being said, it's not so much the setting but what populates it i.e. interesting places, interesting NPCs...
 
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At least were seeing Cyberpunk and a few other settings finally. Even historical RPG's are now being made, and BioWare used to try new settings like ancient china.

Personally I want more Sc-Fi Opera themed RPG's like BattleTech & Warhammer. I can picture it already political backstabbing, Fleet-warfare, and Mech combat.:happycry:
 
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I would definitely like fantasy RPGs in more non-European, non-Japanese settings but unfortunately, the market always follows the trends of the places that make the games. The Cyberpunk genre is almost getting overcrowded these days, as it is happening with apocalyptic settings. More urban fantasy and steampunk would also be something that I would personally love.
 
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The future for computer role playing games is extremely bright, and I'll have my sunglasses in hand. I love them all, a true role playing game will work in just about any setting, at least for me.
 
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I actually prefer most other settings to Fantasy, but like several have already mentioned it's not really about the setting but what you fill it with. Favourites for me in regards to interesting setting filled with interesting lore are PS:T, Arcanum and also the more recent T:ToN.
 
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