Hoyfjell is the story of a goofy action game that became a turn-based, open-world RPG - a crowdfunding campaign has just started:

Key Features:

• Industrial-Fantasy. Explore abandoned military bases along with haunted castles.
• Non-Epic. You are not saving the world from the ultimate evil, but your quest is not evil either.
• Open-World. No quest markers, no level scaling. Most of the world is available for exploration right at the start.
• Hand-Crafted Experience. The world that's built with passion and love.
• Turn-Based RPG. Take your time - no need to hurry. And top-down camera allows you have a better view of the situation.
• Build Your Character. With classless role-playing system that allows flexibility and great degree of customization. Want to be a wizard-sniper? Or a rogue with telepathic abilities?
• Explore-and-Discover. Because exploration is the heart of adventure. And adventure is the heart of RPG.

-> Background story.

A new gameplay trailer for Magic: Legends.

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Check out the first trailer for Magic: Legends, coming to PS4, Xbox and PC in 2020.

PC Gamer reports that modders have build a fully fledged Harry Potter RPG in Minecraft.

Would you like a free Harry Potter-themed RPG built entirely inside Minecraft? Of course you would want that. You—at the very least—would not not want that. Well, a team of “poor students” called The Floo Network have spent the last four or so years making a sprawling Minecraft map that runs as a complete Harry Potter RPG inside vanilla Minecraft. What first started as a the team’s decision to spend a couple years making detailed models of various Harry Potter locations inside Minecraft—something you might remember from 2017—has become a massive undertaking that gives us… Minecraft School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Here’s the trailer: 

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[...]

GamePressure reports on the development of a new science fiction game based on the literature of Stanislaw Lem.

Retrofuturism and Atom Punk

"Lem never entered the era of digitization in his books. We still have giant computing machines that download information using punch cards. No flat screens – just heavy, cathode-ray tubes and oscilloscopes. We're closely following the same trail. People explore space, but no one’s ever heard of mobile phones," says Michal Galek.

Piotr Mierzwa (hardsurface artist) is designing one of the robots we'll meet in the game.

Indeed, all the displays I saw in the game were old, convex CRTs, and the gadgets I used resembled devices used in the 50s or 60s. Lem imagined the future that derived directly from the present. That's why today, his approach is defined as retrofuturism. Consequently, all the devices in the game are analog. The creators emphasize they devote a lot of time to properly designing the machines – "We wonder how the device should look in order to evoke the analog era. A touch-screen, wireless tablet would be a show-stopper for us."

You can imagine the problems such an approach creates. Just take the map, for instance – Lem had no interactive maps, nor modern UIs that would display points of interest. Things ought to be quite similar in Project I – about the only aid we will get during exploration will be an absolutely regular map, and we'll have to mark navigational points manually. Let's remember – you are a scientists on an alien planet. Your main job is exploration, and that just can't be easy without digital systems. Doesn't such a concept curb creativity? "These limitations create the impression of integrity of the entire game. It requires some effort, but once we finally implement, we get massive satisfaction from creating something that challenges the regular approach; something original,” explains Marek Markuszewski.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

A new story trailer for Broken Lines.

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Broken Lines is a story-driven tactical RPG about a small and disorganized squad, who are stranded behind enemy lines during WW2.

War is about hard decisions and moral gray areas - in Broken Lines you'll make hard choices to ensure your squad's survival.

Immerse yourself in a unique and very personal story, experienced through the eyes of eight distinct soldiers.

Starsector is described as an open-world single player game featuring space combat alongside roleplaying, exploration, and economic aspects.

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Though it is in-development, you can purchase Starsector now at a discount to gain access to ongoing builds. Starsector supports custom content & mods and is available now for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

Current Features

• Pilot your ship in top-down 2D combat
• Command your fleet in tactical battles
• Gain experience to level up your skills
• Detailed space combat mechanics
• Customize your ship’s loadout before battle
• Hire officers to give skill bonuses, pilot auxiliary ships, and oversee your operations
• Explore war-torn star systems
• Exploit events to trade goods for profit
• Win the favor or scorn of powerful factions
• Discover new worlds and salvage lost derelicts
• Mod support for diverse user-made content
• Claim new worlds, build outposts and industry

PC Gamer reports that an ambitious Chinese RPG called Sands of Salzaar will be getting an English translation.

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Sands of Salzaar of which the Chinese title translates more directly to Tribe and Machete) only released on January 2, but in that time has rocketed to into Steam's global top seller list with an estimated 50,000 sales in its first week. That number is expected to reach 200,000 by the end of January. Though it's only available in Simplified Chinese, Sands of Salzaar has amassed over 2,600 "mostly positive" reviews and is currently the 31st most-played game on Steam by concurrents, with peak concurrent players reaching 21,000—in the neighborhood of games like Stardew Valley and Skyrim.

And, by the looks of it, Sands of Salzaar absolutely deserves its success. From reading reviews and watching some gameplay, Salzaar is an ambitious, Early Access open world RPG in the vein of indie darling Kenshi. Set in a mystical desert, you recruit characters and explore a dynamically-generated world, making friends (or enemies) with various factions. I particularly enjoy the look of the enormous battles, which evokes Dynasty Warriors mixed with Diablo.

[...]

JRPG Jungle's JRPG top list for 2019 and most anticipated list for 2020:

2019 GOTY! My Top 5 JRPGs of 2019

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My 10 Most Anticipated JRPGs of 2020

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TurnBasedLovers share their list of upcoming turn based games in January 2020.

NECRO WARS – 3rd January

The Elves have broken the pact and attacked without reason or warning. You must gather your army and push the enemy back before they pillage and burn your kingdom. You must use the terrain, fog and enemy weaknesses to your advantage in this turn-based 3D strategy game.

Key Features:

• Strategize & defeat your foe: Using the terrain, fog of war and enemy unit weaknesses to your advantage you must defeat all the enemies or capture their headquarters to win the battle.
• Build your army: Capture barracks’, docks and skyports to create ally units and strengthen your army.
• Command your forces: As you progress you’ll unlock unique commanding officers each of which have their own unique unit abilities and passive powers. Utilizing each of them and their unique talents is vital to victory.

Very soon on Steam!

REVERSIQUEST2 – 7th January

ReversiQuest2 is a single-player tactical JRPG with a battle system based on Reversi.
Those good ole days of pixel art, characters, and sounds reminiscent of
video games of the mid 90’s.
No need to know the previous ReversiQuest to enjoy ReversiQuest2!

â—�Sharpen Your Tactics!â—�
Stay alert! Every move drastically turns the tide of the battle!
Never give up, even on a verge of death – a victorious reversal awaits!
The strategies are infinite! Triumph over enemies with Reversi skills,
various characters, gears, or spells…the choice is yours!

â—�Story and Gameplayâ—�
A young man who grew up in a remote village in Othellia Island, Nym,
saves a girl named Imogen from a monster…but how will their fate turn out?
Advance through board game-like fields full of gimmicks in a sandbox world
drawn all in quarter view and pixel art!

You can buy it on Steam.

ORANGEBLOOD – 14th January

Orangeblood is a JRPG, with a fantastic pixel art style, set in the ’90 on a historic timeline different from that which we know.
You will guide four “kawaii” soldiers which couldn’t care less about little photo stickers… They’d rather play with some 7.62x39mm rifles and filthy, filthy cash!

After a short delay it seems to be finally ready for the store! On Steam.

THE ALLIANCE ALIVE “HD Remastered” – 16th January

The Alliance Alive HD Remastered marks the glorious rebirth of the acclaimed RPG brought to you by FURYU Corporation. Uniting the talents of writer Yoshitaka Murayama, designer Kyouji Koizumi, art director Masayo Asano, and composer Masashi Hamauzu, this epic adventure comes to life with innovative gameplay on a backdrop of vibrant visuals and a classic tale. Players can develop their party’s skills through combat-based character progression, immerse themselves in the game’s lush world via dynamic vehicle-centric exploration, and form alliances with various guilds and factions. Venture further into the world to discover new vehicles to traverse in, magic to wield, places to visit, and more to experience!

On Steam!

[...]

Gamepur has chosen the best PC games of 2019:

The Year in Review 2019: Best PC Games of the Year

Picking one game from any year and calling it the Game of the Year is rarely an easy task. With such broad genres, release schedules, team sizes, and budgets, it almost feels unfair to throw a full year’s worth of games into a big pile and sort through it to name one of them the best.

This is true for most years, but not this year. This year the decision was easy.

[...]

Honorable Mentions:
Apex Legends
Slay The Spire
The Outer Worlds

Runner Up:
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

PC Game of the Year:
Disco Elysium

F Game Killer put together a list of upcoming RPG titles:

TOP 20 AMAZING Upcoming RPG Games 2020 & 2021 ( PS4, Xbox One, PC )

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1: Final Fantasy VII Remake
2: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 
3: Elden Ring
4: Gothic Playable Teaser 
5: Nioh 2
6: Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance 
7: Diablo IV
8: New World
9: Persona 5 Royal   
10: Godfall
11: Cyberpunk 2077
12: Chivalry 2 
13: Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood
14: Magic: Legends 
15: Project Sakura Wars
16: The Elder Scrolls VI
17: Tales of Arise
18: Babylon's Fall
19: Trials of Mana 
20: Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

The Turn Based Lovers put together some more lists of their favourite genre:

Upcoming PC turn-based strategy Rpgs 2020

-> Part 5

00:12 - Curious Expedition 2
00:36 - ReversiQuest 2
02:26 - Archmage Rises
05:18 - Gamedec
06:31 - Spellsword Cards
08:30 - Fractalis
10:34 - Mortal Glory
11:12 - Tainted Grail
12:42 - Void Eclipse
15:00 - Warhammer Underworlds: Online

-> Part 4

00:12 - Auto Fire
02:25 - Broken Lines
03:30 - Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game
04:42 - Dark Drive
06:45 - Get in the Car, Loser !
08:42 - Graywalkers: Purgatory
10:39 - Griftlands
12:06 - King's Bounty II
13:28 - Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk : L'Amulette du Désordre
14:24 - Veil of Entropy: Norfolk Warriors
16:09 - Ragtag Crew
17:12 - Songs of Conquest
18:36 - Tenderfoot Tactics

-> Part 3

00:12 - Cris Tales
01:14 - Crown Trick
02:35 - Rising Lords
03:20 - Tactical Breach Wizards
05:20 - Tale of Ronin
06:48 - Talespire
08:50 - Terra Randoma
10:01 - The Hand of Merlin
11:11 - Urtuk: The Desolation
12:39 - Wasteland Raiders

Part 1 and part 2 were already in the news:

-> Part 2

-> Part 1

Gaming Bolt made a video about the 15 most underrated RPGs of all time:

15 Most UNDERRATED RPGs of All Time

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Amid all the big-budget RPGs, loot shooters and free to play titles of our time, there are a number of role-playing games which have faded into history. Many are still excellent to this day or enjoy a small but passionate group of fans. Let's take at 15 of those underrated RPGs here and what makes them worth playing.

Shadow of the Road has been announced and is described as a turn-based RPG set during the dusk of the Japanese feudal era.

The boshin war is tearing Japan apart. Followers of the Emperor constantly face the forces of the shogunate in brutal battles. No side wants to surrender, both fighting not only for power, but also for something greater and much more important - for a place in history. The stakes have never been this high. You can feel the tension in the air; the restlessness, the weight of the entire conflict, the resolve of both sides to see things through to the very end. But not everything is as it seems and it's not just humans that want to secure their place on this land.

During the commotion, a ronin known by the name of Satoru is left hopeless and disgraced by the fall of his master, Mochitsugu. Without a master and no reason to fight, it seems like he no longer has a place in this world. However, it all changes when a certain young boy crosses his path, suddenly surprising him with a crossroad he never assumed he would have to face.

Join Satoru and a few other outcasts during the battle for peace, for power; decide what road they should take. But be warned - selecting one does not mean that the shadows of another won’t try to follow you.

This turn-based RPG will bring you to the world of Japan right at the downfall of the feudal era and will let you test your skills against enemies that are clearly human, but also those that somehow escape such an easy classification. What’s more, the Emperor is supported by East Nippon Company, a British trade conglomerate with unclear intentions, equipped with powerful steam-powered machines wreaking havoc among the forces of the shogunate. Will you be able to overcome all the obstacles thrown your way? Or will you give in and choose the easy way out?

Create your own path by making multiple decisions that will eventually influence the outcome of this immersive story - stay true to yourself and your principles or choose a darker path of sacrifice for your own gains. Haunt or be haunted. Overcome the shadows or let them consume you. The choice is yours, as it has always been - even if you can’t comprehend it yet.

GamePressure reports that Moon Studios, makers of platformer Ori and the Blind Forest, are seeking people to develop a 'revolutionary' action RPG.

A job offer on Gamasutra suggests that Moon Studios, the creators of Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps (the latter will debut in March), are working on a new title. Their next work will be an action RPG. Developers have an ambitious goal to revolutionize this species.

[...]

Gamecrate has chosen their RPG of the year 2019:

The 2019 RPG of the Year

In the dark cyberpunk future of 2019, everything is an RPG. Leveling systems and inventory management are a part of every game from NeoCab to Call of Duty. Devs attempt to weave powerful narratives into almost every single player experience. No game genre is harder to define than the RPG, so this list was particularly tough to compile.

The games below were chosen because their combination of story, setting, mechanics, and meaningful choice created memorable experience and pushed the genre forward as a whole. Some are spiritual successors while others are entirely new, borrowing mechanics from other genres - a reversal of the slow bleed of RPG leveling mechanics into everything. All of them are exciting additions to the most immersive genre in gaming.

[...]

Honorable Mentions:
Greedfall, Impressions: Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Zanki Zero, Kingdom Hearts 3

Runner-Up: Indivisible

Runner-Up: The Outer Worlds

Runner-Up: Fire Emblem: The Three Houses

Winner: Disco Elysium

OnlySP reports on The Soulkeeper Chronicles which is a new RPG for PC and VR. The game itself is fully playable without VR as it boasts two separate designs. OnlySP interviewed the devs about the game also.

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HELM Systems has announced a new outing in its dark fantasy RPG universe with The SoulKeeper Chronicles, a new game built from the ground up for both PC and VR platforms.

The scale of this new project is enormous, with the developer promising three single-player campaigns. One will follow a magic-wielding monk named Isoropos, a second will feature a ranger called Edwyn, and the third will  follow Ulvar, a raider.

Across these separate campaigns, players will have the freedom to pilot boats, ride horses, and fly dragons in both exploration and combat.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

A gameplay trailer for Rustler, which describes itself as a medieval GTA.

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Rustler - a medieval GTA type of game. Add to your STEAM Wishlist today! 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/84...

Thanks Farflame!

PCGamesN talked to the developer behind Where Are We? and asked about the application that adds a UI to many 90s RPGs like Might and Magic.

Unlike clumsy auto-mapping programs that stumble into the dark, Van Heest’s system is based on an exhaustive knowledge base and only shows you as much information as you want to know. Its FAQ-like walkthrough mode reveals all, and another fog-of-war one forces you to make your own discoveries. The automap, which incorporates scans of some of the old fold-out versions, isn’t the only feature: There are tidy, if not glamorous, windows detailing the party’s inventory, spells, stats, combat encounters, various worldwide variables, and quests.

The supported early first-person classics ranging from 1980 to 1993 – Might and Magic 1-5, Wizardry 1-5, and Bard’s Tale 1-3 – are difficult to revisit and have always necessitated some kind of paper mapping, with a few exceptions. And besides, comparing two fantasy weapons without the aid of a UI full of tooltips is a forgotten skill, like editing a config.sys file. The world graphics can be repetitive, stacking up 2D images in a way that makes Wolfenstein 3D look like Unreal. You can easily get lost, yet the games never take themselves too seriously and have remained fun and surprising on their own terms.

[...]

Godfall is a fantasy hack 'n slash game that was recently announced.

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Learn more about Godfall: http://www.godfall.com

Godfall is a third-person fantasy looter-slasher focused on melee combat, coming to PlayStation 5 & Epic Games Store Holiday 2020. Developed by Counterplay Games & published by Gearbox Publishing.

Follow Godfall Twitter: twitter.com/playgodfall

Facebook: facebook.com/playgodfall

Instagram: instagram.com/playgodfall

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a story-driven, turn based RPG being developed by Airship Syndicate and published by Riot Forge.

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Set after the events of Burning Tides, players will take control of LoL champions and explore the bustling city of Bilgewater and the mysterious Shadow Isles in a game for the first time.

Featuring fan favorite champions, innovative turn-based combat, and beautiful art direction along with brand new surprises and plenty of poros, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story advances the stories of many champions in the LoL Universe and offers an exciting new way to experience the World of Runeterra.

To learn more, please visit www.ruinedking.com or join the #ruinedking conversation:

Twitter (@riotforge)

Official Riot Forge Website: https://www.riotforgegames.com

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York has been reviewed by PC Gamer.

...

There are, sadly, some technical issues at time of writing which dispel the carefully crafted atmosphere whenever I encounter them. Sometimes, a page of dialogue is attributed to the wrong character, or is presented as narration when it isn’t (or as character speech when it is). The story already suffers slightly during second and third playthroughs, due to some events and dialogue being unavoidable regardless of your character or in-game choices. There’s no way of skipping dialogue without constantly hitting a button, either, which risks accidentally hitting a choice you didn’t want. These are problems the game didn’t need.

Then there’s the bizarre save system. The only way to save is to exit the game through the menu. So, if the game crashes (which happens to me twice), I lose all progress since my last save. Odder still, each time the credits roll, the game deletes my save, which is painful when I test out whether making an obviously stupid choice at a fairly early stage results in death (it does). Nonetheless, this game holds me in its power, and I happily submit to its charms.

PC Gamer reports that there are seven or eight D&D games in the works.

The announcements of new Baldur's Gate and Dark Alliance games suggest a change, and that's backed up by Wizards of the Coast. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks explained that this is only the beginning and there are "seven or eight" videogames based on D&D coming out in the next few years.

"We want each game to have a point of view, and to really keep on just a couple of things and do it really, really well," he said. "What you don't want to do is have every game in the franchise try to do the same thing, and try to do everything all at once."

[...]

@VentureBeat Dark Alliance is a D&D action RPG announced at the Game Awards.

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It’s curious why Tuque and Wizards picked Icewind Dale for the setting of this action-RPG. In Salvatore’s latest novel, Boundless, Drizzt found himself in a desperate flight against demons and abyssal constructs as his friends once again faced danger at the hands of those seeking power and the death of the renegade drow to appease the evil god Lloth.

Being set so far in the past, I wondered if this signified Wizards of the Coast’s newfound interest in telling stories set in any period of the Forgotten Realms, not just the current timeline.

“Dark Alliance is intended to appeal to existing D&D fans who already know and love Drizzt and the companions, but it’s also meant to attract new D&D fans through a different platform and style of gameplay. It made more sense to start earlier in the Legend of Drizzt as an entry point for the newer fans,” said Nathan Steward, the vice president for Dungeons & Dragons for Wizards of the Coast, over email. “For people who know and love R.A. Salvatore’s work, it gives a new adventure for the companions set in between his novels.

[...]

Immersive sim Weird West has been announced by WolfEye Studios.

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Survive and unveil the mysteries of the Weird West through the intertwined destinies of its unusual heroes in an immersive sim from the co-creators of Dishonored and Prey.

Discover a dark fantasy reimagining of the Wild West where lawmen and gunslingers share the frontier with fantastical creatures. Journey through the origin stories of a group of atypical heroes, written into legend by the decisions you make in an unforgiving land. Each journey is unique and tailored to the actions taken - a series of high stakes stories where everything counts and the world reacts to the choices you make. Form a posse or venture forth alone into an otherworldly confines of the Weird West and make each legend your own.

The 2D JRPG The Disguiser of Fate will be coming to Steam on the 19th of December.

China –December 11, 2019– For lovers of traditional 2D top down fantasy JRPG’s, independent games developer XNZONE will be releasing The Disguiser Of Fate on Steam on December 19.

The Disguiser Of Fate is a 16-bit like role playing game starred by a black knight and a slave maid who embark themselves in a dangerous adventure with more than 20 monsters to fight against.

“The Disguiser of Fate captures the spirit of classic JRPG’s”, says Winward_Birds, developer at the studio XNZONE. “Fans of the genre will find dungeons, puzzles, dialogues, and a vast world to explore”.

Just as true classics, The Disguiser of Fate features anime-drawn characters, huge world maps and ATB combats. Equip your characters with weapons and armours as you discover the secret of the magical masks.

Features

    Traditional 2D top down fantasy JRPG
    16-bit like role playing game starred by a dark knight and a slave maid.
    Over 20 monsters to fight against, each with their own strengths.
    Dungeons, puzzles, dialogues, and a vast world to explore.
    Anime-drawn characters and ATB combats.
    Equip your characters with weapons and armours.

The press release also stated that the game will be fully translated to English.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York has a trailer for all companions.

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Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York coming December 11th 2019 to PC. Game presents the conflict between two vampiric factions: the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs. It's a unique, atmospheric, single-player narrative experience, set in a rich, fully licensed, globally recognized universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
Coming December 11th 2019 to PC and Q1 2020 to Ps4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

Thanks Farflame!

The developer of tactical turn-based steampunk game Shardpunk: Verminfall was interviewed by IndieGraze.

Interview: Shardpunk: Verminfall’s Slawomir Bryk

Gameranx listed their top 10 RPGs of 2019:

10 BEST Role Playing Games of 2019

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#10. My Time at Portia 
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE SWITCH

#9. The Division 2
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

#8. Remnant: From The Ashes
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

#7. Outward
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

#6. Code Vein
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

#5. Greedfall
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

#4. Disco Elysium
Platform: PC 

#3. Borderlands 3
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

#2. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Platform: SWITCH

#1. The Outer Worlds
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE SWITCH[2020]

BONUS
The Surge 2
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

Pokemon Sword and Shield
Platform: SWITCH

Sekiro (sort of an RPG, although the creators have dubbed it an Action-Adventure game)
Platform: PC PS4 XBOX ONE

Children of Morta
Platform: PC

Roadwarden is an RPG announced for next year and described as illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction. 

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Who or what is a Roadwarden?

You are a Roadwarden, a brave stranger putting his life in danger to make a difference in this grim world. While most people would never risk a solitary journey through the wilder parts of the land, you – as a Roadwarden – willingly accept the struggle to live up to your promise to guard travellers, connect isolated villages, support merchants and repel attacking creatures, bandits or even undead.

What's the story about?

A powerful merchant guild has called on your services, sending you on a journey into the unknown planes of a mysterious peninsula in the hopes to expand the guild’s influence even further. You are meant to explore this place and gather as much information as possible to reveal the secrets surrounding the area. It’s a dangerous task, but an equally respectable one. Do you have the courage to meet all the requirements that define a Roadwarden?

How to play?

Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games and interactive fiction such as inventory puzzles, dialogue choices, character abilities and development, hit points and other resources, simple survival mechanics as well as quests restricted by in-game time.

FEATURES

Explore and change the world!

Discover the secrets and face the vast challenges of a hostile fantasy world – inevitably unveiling its uniquely fierce lore.

Grow with the challenge!

Create your own background, abilities, beliefs and personality to shape your very own future as a Roadwarden.

Classical attitude!

Prepare yourself for an adventurous journey, either as a warrior, mage or scholar and define your character‘s traits, like friendly, playful or intimidating, during interactions with NPCs.

Get lost in conversation!

Immerse yourself in profound dialogues and sidequests with dozens of NPCs to gain their trust and support.

Mysteries unfold!

Use your savvy and be witty when investigating and drawing your conclusions to understand the true nature of this world.

Overcome your weaknesses!

The world is full of dangers and nobody can be trusted. Be the Roadwarden you want to be and find your path to success against all odds!

CGMagOnline reviewed Kingdom Under Fire 2 and found it wanting.

The Kingdom Under Fire series has mostly been comprised of real-time and active strategy wargames, however, the latest installment puts a twist on the basic formula by functioning as an MMO with various RPG elements alongside the traditional strategy gameplay. The MMORPG-RTS hybrid style of Kingdom Under Fire 2 is an interesting direction for the series after 2007’s Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom.

However, despite the 12 years between Circle of Doom and KUF 2, there really isn’t much to recommend the new game. It isn’t a bad game, as it mostly functions as needed, but there’s very little about the gameplay, characters, or world to really recommend it. Add on a by-the-numbers RPG plot and bizarre visual animations, and the player is left with a flawed but functional product.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

TheGG reports that the fantasy ARPG Crumbling World has released its Alpha Demo.

NOVEMBER 21ST 2019, MALIBU – Crumbling World developer Dume Arts is delighted to announce that a brand new free alpha demo for the game is now available, giving players their very first chance to dive into a rich fantasy location and explore some early levels.

Players can gain instant free access to the alpha via the game’s website. A brand new trailer is also available, setting the scene for this dark fantasy action-RPG, due to release next year for PC and Mac.

Set in a sinister, slowly decomposing land. In a world where humanity has been driven to corruption, aligning with dark forces for survival, the players’ task will be to traverse gorgeous diorama-like levels in an attempt to bring back the age of light – before the world crumbles away entirely beneath their feet.

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

The latest dev diaries for the Starflight Remake look at strange alien encounters and the creation of alien communications.

Are You Friends of the Elowan?

(Originally posted by Marvin 20/12/2018 HERE)

The Thrynn have been born. They were pretty easy to create since there were already a few pretty decent gecko and lizard models out there on the Internet. I found one that I could use, but it was in Maya format. So I installed Maya for the sole purpose of exporting the model out into the FBX format. I imported the model into 3D Studio Max and then started my work on it. The only thing I really did to the model was to elongate the snout a bit and to bend the body so it looks like he is standing upright. I also rigged and skinned the model so it could be animated in Unity. This is what the Thrynn looked like in the original game:

I also built the eyeballs and created the cat eye texture maps for them. I used the body texture maps that came with the model nearly as-is – the only change being the general color tint. The original color was brown/tan, and I tinted it to green since that is the color the Thrynn appeared in the original game. For the background, I found some interesting looking sci-fi wall and used that.

Here are the pictures and video!

[...]

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[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Click4Gameplay shares his thoughts about believable open worlds in RPGs:

Believable Open Worlds in RPGs

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Creating believable worlds in RPGs, or games in general is not an easy task. It’s also hard to define what this actually means, and it can be really subjective. 

The Turn Based Lovers show us part 2 of their upcoming turn based RPGs list:

Here's the list:

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00:12 - 1971 Project Helios
1971 Project Helios is a turn-based strategy game that combines modern warfare military tactics and close combat. Firearms and vehicles are scarce, conflicts and hostilities have no end, and the terrible freezing cold annihilates friends and foes in its path.

02:14 - End State
A turn-based tactical game inspired by games such as Xcom and Jagged Alliance. But it is from the latter that he takes more inspiration and that from the first screenshots reminds me a lot of Jagged Alliance 2. Could it be the real successor of the Jagged Alliance that we are all waiting for? Let start with my End State overview.

03:22 - Ikenfell
A turn-based tactical RPG about a group of troublesome magic students. Use timing mechanics to power your spells and block attacks, explore the twisted halls of a vast magic school, fight challenging monsters and bosses, and uncover dark secrets never meant to be found.

06:15 - Iron Danger
Iron Danger is a tactical combat game with a unique time manipulation mechanic. A never before seen combination that combines the tactical depth of turnbased games with the exciting action of real-time games.

07:25 - Land of Arxox
Explore the 8-Biomes of Arxox. Live the life of a Dwarf, Elf, or Human folk hero. Hunt. Fish. Master spell runes of the ancients and defeat a powerful Arch Villain.

07:43 - Sacred Fire
A highly original turn-based RPG by indie Poetic Studio where the feelings of the characters will influence the course of the story and even the combat phase.

10:12 - Small Saga
Venture below the streets of London, and you will find the bustling kingdom of Rodentia, home to creatures great and small.

11:37 - Space Wreck
A passenger shuttle is damaged after pirate attack and you must find replacement parts on nearby derelict space ship. -- Intentionally short hardcore role playing game that borrows as much as possible from best isometric RPGs (Fallout, Fallout 2, Arcanum).

12:50 - Sentinels of Freedom
Prepare for a story-driven campaign within the Sentinel Comics universe as you join forces with an ever-growing team of heroes to face a wide variety of villains.

14:32 - Wizards of Unica
When turn-based combats are combined with roguelike elements, puzzles, and spells, Wizards of Unica comes out.

15:15 - The Last Spell
The Last Spell is a turn-based tactical RPG immersed in roguelite mechanics in which you lead a team of hardened heroes to defend the last bastion of humanity against hordes of monsters.

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RPGs offer many things to many people! Now, there are many great games in this list and a myriad of styles, so I'm sure you'll find something to fall in love with. Not to mention another 30 bonus games mentioned after the main list for a total of 60, so be sure to watch all the way through to find your true calling.

Shardpunk: Verminfall is a tactical squad-based survival strategy game which has a demo available to try.

"Shardpunk: Verminfall" is an upcoming indie tactical squad-based survival strategy game, based in a steampunk setting. Gameplay-wise, it is a mix of XCOM and Darkest Dungeon games, mixing all the best features from both. All of this is presented using great pixel art graphics.

The game is currently being developed as a side project.

Backstory: there has been an unexpected breakthrough during long and exhausting siege of The Empire's Capitol. Rat Swarm managed to breach the walls and flooded the city with vermin. Group of survived city dwellers are trying to escape - and possibly rescue some additional people, if necessary. They will need to scavenge the destroyed city for resources, fight off rat vermin and make their way through the Capitol - all of this to finally get safely out of the city.

Similar to new XCOM games, there will be a combat layer and a strategy layer.

Turn-based tactical combat (which is present in the tech demo) makes use of cover and flanking mechanics. Due to the characters having to cope with stress and having their own quirks there is a fair chance that something will go wrong during the playthrough. Additionally, characters need to scavenge for resources during combat in order to survive.

The strategy layer will allow the player to plan their next missions, handle upgrades etc. Characters will be navigating through the destroyed the Capitol in a prototype airship that requires repairs and maintenance. Character themselves need to be taken care of as well, as they require basic resources (e.g. food) to survive.

Features

• Lead the group of Survivors in the search for sparse resources necessary to survive
• Use cover and flanking mechanism to defeat the Rat Vermin in turn-based combat
• Customize the appearance of your characters
• Make your way through the remains of the Capitol and uncover its hidden secrets
• Pay close attention to the sanity of your survivors, or face dire consequences.
• Rescue more team members and don't allow existing ones perish
• Upgrade your character's equipment and weapons
• Experience a different run every time, thanks to the randomized nature of the game

Spy thriller RPG Sigma Theory: Global Cold War has released on Steam.

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STORY

From the creators of the award-winning sci-fi game Out There...
In the near future, a paradigm-shifting scientific discovery looms over the world, promising radical new technologies. The world’s superpowers realize they could have the power to destroy the global financial system, wipe out entire countries or even gain access to immortality.

However, this discovery — called “The Sigma Theory” — can only be harnessed by a handful of scientists. You are placed at the head of your country’s Sigma division. Your objective is to ensure that it is your nation that reaps the benefits of Sigma Theory before anyone else.

To achieve this you will have powerful resources at your disposal: a cadre of the world’s most elite covert agents, advanced tactical drones and, of course, your own skills in diplomacy and subterfuge.

It’s a cold war out there, one in which mankind must face up to its future.

THE ULTIMATE ESPIONAGE SIMULATION

Turn-based espionage: Use your special agents to dominate the world. Seduction, blackmail, manipulation, industrial espionage… Every low blow is both permitted and encouraged.
Dynamic narrative: Develop and manage your relations with over 100 NPCs: lobbies, armed groups, politicians… Alliance, deception or assassination, you choose.
Field operations: Direct the kidnapping of your targets during gripping pursuits through the world’s greatest cities. Discretion or direct confrontation, your agent’s life is in your hands.

Recruitment
First, recruit a team of four special agents from 50 unique unlockable characters to support your missions. Each comes with their own story, motivations and traits that define their behavior during missions.
Access the investigator, soldier, hacker, seducer and other archetypes to complete your Sigma division and execute your strategy.

Espionage
When your team is ready, assign them missions around the world to gather scientists, discover compromising documents on local politicians, and more.
Exploit your agents’ abilities to seduce, manipulate and bribe your targets over to your side or have them neutralized.

Counter-espionage
Other nations will also use their agents to infiltrate your country and seize your scientists. Track, capture and interrogate them to gain information on your enemies, then exchange them for ransom when they are no longer useful.

Exfiltration
Order your agents to exfiltrate scientists recruited to your cause during gripping turn-based exfiltration phases through the world’s greatest capitals. Choose the position your drones wisely to support these delicate missions.

Diplomacy
In Sigma Theory, diplomacy is the key to achieving your goals. Meet your foreign counterparts and further your objectives using flattery, threats or blackmail. You can also recover your captured agents, advance your research, and much more. Develop your relations with powerful lobbies and armed and influential groups to obtain their favor. But be careful, they may turn on you.

Tech Tree
Sigma Theory is the cause of this cold war. Rally scientists from around the world to your cause to discover new technologies to gain the edge and change the world. Mind control, destabilization of the world economy, robot soldiers, immortality… Will you keep these discoveries for yourself or share them with the world?

Dungeon Defenders: Awakened has entered Closed Beta. The game itself is a tower defense, action RPG game with co-op.

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DEFENDERS,

It’s time. It’s FINALLY time. Oh good golly gosh, it’s finally time… BETA IS HERE! Today we launched the Beta, getting Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into the hands of Etheria’s brave Defenders. There’s so much to cover, that we’re not going to cover it all. We want you to discover all the beta has to offer on your own. Let’s get into it!

Beta Release
The current Beta is available to our Kickstarter Backers first. This is a promise that we made during our Kickstarter, and are going to make sure to uphold. Kickstarter Backers currently have advanced Beta access. On Friday, November 22nd, we are going to open up the Beta to everyone who has purchased the $40+ preorder packages.

Beta is currently scheduled to run for roughly three weeks! Starting on November 22nd and ending on 13th, this gives us a great window to gather feedback and be able to make necessary changes before launching in February.

Progress and data from the Beta does NOT carry over to the release of the game. Beta is used as a testing ground to make sure that the game is in the best possible state. Keeping data from Beta (ha, it rhymes) can cause major issues when updating to the release version.

If you did not receive a Beta key, and are a Kickstarter Backer, make sure you have filled out the surveys that were sent to your registered Kickstarter E-mails from "Backerkit". If that survey is not filled out, then the Beta key is not sent.

If you preordered at the $34 and $100 tiers, your additional beta keys will come on Friday (Nov. 22nd) with the rest of the preorder keys.

Streaming and Content Creation
During the Beta, you are free to stream, make videos, or whatever content you want. We want Defenders to enjoy and share as much as they want when it comes to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened!

What’s Missing?
There’s a lot to cover what’s in a game. Patch notes usually say what’s new, but with so much of the game being new, we’re going to let you explore the game. Instead, we're going to outline what may not be in the Beta that we are currently polishing and iterating on to get in for release (we may be missing some things from this list as well):

Tactical Map
This is currently in a functional state. We’re going to be updating the map images, and make sure it’s a lot prettier come release.

Challenge Maps
We’re currently wanting to make sure that balance feels good across the map in general. Challenge Maps are coming your way on release!

Maps
There are a total of 15 maps in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. Not included in the Beta is Act II, Act III, and the Bonus Maps. Act I is the big focus for our beta test, helping us set the foundation so the rest of the maps bring the right amount of challenge.

Difficulty
Nightmare and Massacre are not going to be included in the Beta. We don’t want people beating all the hardest content during testing. Gotta have something scary hard for you to master on release!

Enemies
With Nightmare not in the beta, Sharken, Djinn, Spiders, and Goblin Copter will not be spawning in a lane near you.

Weapons
All of our weapons are not in the game. We have a pool of roughly 5 different weapons per hero to simulate the amount of weapons you would see during your playthrough of Act I on release. Weapon random colorization is also not reflected in the beta build, but will be implemented for release.

HUD
We’re going to be adding various improvements to the HUD. Currently we have it setup for beta to be functional. There’s a ton of work that we’ve done not in the Beta, but expect improvements on launch.

Armor
Currently we have placeholder armor models in. The final models are currently getting a last pass and will be sparkling and shining on release.

Set Bonuses
Set bonuses are working but may not currently be showing up correctly.

Split Screen
We’re testing base functionality currently, so split screen is not available during the Beta.

Social
We’re wanting to make sure that getting your friends into a match is as easy as possible, give hosts control over their sessions, and showing who’s in your party. These are currently not in the beta, and can be expected on release.

Hardcore
Currently not in Beta, coming on release.

Twitch Integration
Currently being developed, it will not be in the Beta.

Game Modes
In the Beta we have Campaign and Survival. Other game modes are coming on release.

Pets
There are a total of four pets that are available during the Beta. On release, there will be much more!

Elemental Weapons
Some weapon elemental affinity visuals may be disabled, as we’re making sure performance comes first. Your weapons will be shooting flames and electricity during release.

[...]

Yodha is a new RPG by indie developer Ogre Head Studios.

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Yodha is an upcoming Indian role playing game in development at Ogre Head Studio. Watch out for more news about the game at

https://www.ogreheadstudio.com/yodha.

Ogre Head Studio is an indie video game company based in India.

GamesIndustry reports that Raphael Colantonio and Julien Roby, formerly of Arkane Studios, are launching a small studio called WolfEye.

"I notice both as a developer and a gamer, I think it's been two or three generations of games now, I've been playing the same game," Colantonio says. "The only difference is that it's more beautiful, higher resolution, more shaders, but really the game is the same.

"I remember this funny moment where we were doing Dishonored, and I asked my lead programmer how many characters I could have in combat. And he answered something between five and six. I thought well, okay. It makes sense. The AI is what it is, and we had characters with 10,000 polys or whatever they were. Fast forward four or five years, we're doing Prey. It's a new engine, new technology, new hardware. I'm back with my lead programmer, same question. How many characters can we have? Maybe five or six. The only difference between one generation to the next was that the budget had doubled, and because the budget was doubled, it goes into more people, instead of taking three months to make a character it takes six months now, there's more optimization that is required, more of everything, every detail, making sure the eyes are perfect and the sun shines the right way.

[...]

For now, Colantonio and Roby are understandably tight-lipped on any information surrounding the studio's first game. What they will say is that while no one should expect a new Dishonored game from them, fans of Arkane games will probably like what they make in the same way a Quentin Tarantino fan will probably like whatever his next movie is regardless of particulars.

Gematsu reports that action RPG Gujian 3 is now available in English on Steam. The game was previously only available in Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

Publisher Wangyuan Shengtang and developer Aurogon Info & Tech Shanghai have released an update for the December 2018-released action RPG Gujian 3 that adds an English language option to the previously Chinese-only title. It is available via Steam for $29.99.

Gujian 3 is the first entry in the Gujian series to be released in English. Both the June 2010-released Gujian and August 2013-released Gujian 2 only support Simplified Chinese.

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

Terminator: Resistance is a shooter RPG set during the future war scenario of Terminator 1 and 2. The game is now available on Steam.

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Purple plasma! John Connor! Post-apocalyptic romance! After examining every video, trailer, screenshot & press release, here's EVERY bit of info you should know about Terminator: Resistance, the upcoming game set during the Future War. This isn't my usual sort of content, but it seems like I'm the only person on the internet to have noticed half of this stuff, so I thought it was worth getting the word out!

About this Game

There is no fate but what you make.

Experience the events leading up to the decisive final battle for the fate of mankind in the war against the machines. Terminator: Resistance, is a first-person shooter set during the 'Future War' scenario that was only glimpsed at in the iconic films, 'THE TERMINATOR' and 'T2: JUDGMENT DAY'. The machines are destined to lose, but at what cost?

• Run and gun or sneak and hack through Skynet’s defences!
• Level up your skills and explore a post-apocalyptic world for scraps to trade and craft!
• Interact with a motley group of survivors and change their fates!

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York has a new gameplay trailer.

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Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York presents the conflict between two vampiric factions: the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs. It's a unique, atmospheric, single-player narrative experience, set in a rich, fully licensed, globally recognized universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
Coming December 4th 2019 to PC and Q1 2020 to Nintendo Switch.

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USGamer believes that The Outer Worlds represents RPG's of the past while Disco Elysium represents its future.

Disco Elysium covers more than a single block, but it feels dense, with every interaction impacting the story in some manner, even if that's not entirely apparent in a single run. It's a vast Jenga tower, and every piece is important. That smug, clearly-high child you meet in the early hours may be the lynchpin to the case, or a punk you had to shut up with your fist. You determine the direction you go, and the game is very responsive to even your smallest actions.

It's this depth that makes Disco Elysium such a revelation, and it's changing the conversation around another recent RPG: Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds. Like a few other reviewers, I played Disco Elysium and The Outer Worlds back-to-back. The Outer World is a throwback to Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas, which itself was a throwback to the original Fallout. The quests offer a number of choices, but the outcome is fairly localized. Skills allow you to navigate through conversations, but it's a rigid binary: either you have the skill level to pass a persuasion or intimidation check, or you don't. If you do, it works every time. The Outer Worlds is an older, standard style of RPG, executed to a high degree. 

[...]

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VGU checked out The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III - which is still NOT available for PCs:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Review

Following the release of the PS4 remasters of Trails of Cold Steel I and II earlier this year, the long awaited third instalment of the long running saga has arrived in English. On a side note, fans of the series will be pleased to know that Trails of Cold Steel IV is already out in Japan, so the wait for an English translation will hopefully be significantly shorter than with the previous instalments. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III has once again been developed by series creators Nihon Falcom, with NIS America to perform translation and publishing duties instead of XSeed Games. The third game in the Trails of Cold Steel series promises to be a strong JRPG like its predecessors, but does it live up to the legacy that it hopes to continue?

[...]

Overall, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III is the strongest entry in the series to date. This third entry refines the various gameplay mechanics such as the Fast Travel and Bonding Events, whilst incorporating new elements such as the teammate involvement during the mech battle sections to make the game more enticing for returning players. If you have been looking for an RPG to fill your time until the arrival of Final Fantasy VII Remake and Persona 5 Royal next year, Trails of Cold Steel III could be exactly the experience that you have been waiting for.

Score: 8/10

Wildermyth is an RPG that will arrive in Steam Early Access November 13th.

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Wildermyth is a character-driven, procedurally-generated tactical RPG, designed to help you tell your wildest stories. Like the best tabletop roleplaying experiences, Wildermyth gives you choices and answers your every decision with consequences that drive your characters forward.

Lead a band of heroes as they grow from reluctant farmers into unique, legendary fighters. Combat unexpected threats and strange monsters across interactive battlefields. Unravel mysteries and share pensive moments in an ever-new fantasy setting that blends hard truths and sacrifice with humor and personal storytelling.

Where does your myth lead? Come help us uncover it!

• Reminiscent of tabletop roleplaying, unique heroes are born in unique settings every game. They age, transform, fall in love, disagree, and make harrowing sacrifices.
• Each hero brings their own organic history and personality with them, but your choices and combat skills are what decide their paths and outcomes.
• All heroes die someday… but you get to hold on to your favorites. Reintroduce them in the next adventure, and over many lifetimes the myths you make will form your own legendary pantheon.
  
  An Imaginative Papercraft World
  The Yondering Lands, where the game is set, is a richly layered world populated with hand-painted 2D characters and scenery. We’ve paid loving attention to breaking molds and exploring new ideas: no orcs, elves, or goblins here—but watch out for the telepathic insect-dragons and the clockwork undead.
  
  Extreme Character Depth
  Each of your heroes has their own unique generated history, personality, and appearance, and will form relationships with your other heroes. All of these elements change and develop over the course of a playthrough, as characters age, encounter mysteries, and overcome challenges.
  
  Choices That Matter
  Your hero may choose to trust the enigmatic wolf god, leading to a hair-raising change in their appearance and combat abilities. Or they may pursue a romance with a fellow hero, giving each of them a shared buff and more story opportunities. Encounters and events have permanent, character-defining effects, letting you craft the arc of each character.
  
  A New Approach to Death
  Did your favorite character get one-shotted by a tentacled horror-bear? Choose to let a hero "fall back" with a maiming that will lead to some transformative new paths in their legend, or let them go out in a blaze of glory to be remembered for generations to come.
  
  Deep and Creative Tactical Combat
  Combat in Wildermyth emphasizes teamwork and careful positioning, as well as imaginative use of your evolving capabilities and surroundings. Walling and Flanking mechanics provide clear but conflicting incentives, while mystical interfusion lets you remake the battlefield with explosive magic. Multiple difficulty levels mean you can get as intense as you want to.
  
  Endless Replayability
  Pick and choose from a huge bank of combat abilities as your heroes level up in each playthrough, and decide whether you prefer offensive or defensive tactics, brute strength, stealth, or magically flinging fire from a nearby lamp into your enemies' faces. Procedural generation gives you new heroes, new enemies, new story events, and new maps every time you play.
  
  A Custom Pantheon of Legends
  You’ll have the freedom to customize hero appearances, names, histories, and more. As time passes, heroes grow old and may retire, or else might fall in combat—and yes, some will survive all the way to the end. You can add your favorite heroes to a roster of legends and call on them again in later playthroughs. Build your own mythologies and share the awe-inspiring might of your heroes with others.

GameRevolution asks for more variety in action games and says the Dark Souls formula is overdone.

It’s not as if these games are all hitting it out of the park either. Recent release Code Vein saw praise from many reviewers (including our own) about how it strips the frustration out of the experience, but frustration is also noted as a definitive quality of the Souls-like game. Games should be accessible to all, but it seems like lowering the difficulty of purposefully difficult games is the backwards solution to the issue. If you want to make a game of this type for a wider audience, there are plenty of ways to do it and sanding off the edges this much shouldn’t be it. Just doing that and not much else is not how to push a genre forward and doesn’t allow for as much healthy variety that a genre needs to evolve. Genres and subgenres exist for a reason, and developers would do well to remember that rather than copying what’s already there. There’s probably room for a less difficult Souls game but it’s a bit creatively disappointing if that’s one of the few aspects it offers to the genre.
[...]

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A gameplay video for Kingdom Under Fire 2.

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Pre-Order here: http://kuf2.gameforge.com

Check out the new Gameplay Trailer #2 including epic fight scenes and lots of ingame footage. Publisher Gameforge is working with Korean developer Blueside to release Kingdom Under Fire 2 for the first time in North America and Europe this November on Windows PC! Kingdom Under Fire 2 combines the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) and real-time strategy (RTS) genres for a hybrid title unrivaled in its epic scale.

Stay tuned for the release on November 14th!

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GOG and Steam are tempting us with Halloween deals:

GOG.COM's Halloween Sale Scares Your Wallet with High Discounts

Horror, mystery, and action games on sale • DRM-free releases of Blair Witch, Layers of Fear 2, Call of Cthulhu, and more • 300+ deals up to -90%

OCTOBER 28, 2019 - This Halloween, GOG.COM invites you to visit the quiet town of Gogsville. A magical portal has appeared above it, sending down dozens of shape-shifting googs that spook children and play tricks on the adults. Their best ruse yet? Lowering the prices on DRM-free horror, mystery, and action games up to -90%! 

Start your visit to Gogsville by meeting the new residents. Take a hike in the woods with Blair Witch (-25%), face your worst nightmares with Layers of Fear 2 (-33%), uncover the ancient mysteries with Call of Cthulhu (-50%), beat the deadly outbreak with Daymare: 1998 (-20%), and experience some scares with DreadOut (-80%) and Visage (-20%).

Become the town's new supernatural detective and master your skills with game series like Sherlock Holmes (-80%), Tex Murphy (up to -80%), and the Broken Sword (up to -80%). Other mystery titles on sale include Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - 20th Anniversary Edition (-75%), The Last Express (-70%), Virginia (-90%), Blackwell Bundle (-70%), The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (-80%), and Thimbleweed Park (-50%).

Visit the infamous haunted house full of classic scares with the original Diablo + Hellfire (-15%), Sanitarium (-50%), Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice (-50%), Blood 2: The Blood Group (-75%), Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh (-35%), Gorky 17 (-60%), Clive Barker's Undying (-75%), The Suffering (-50%), F.E.A.R. Platinum (-75%), and many more.

Finally, treat yourself with all the recent releases you might want to catch up on, including the gruesome Blasphemous (-15%), Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (-10%), Blood: Fresh Supply (-33%), DARQ (-20%), Night Call (-10%), Pathologic 2 (-34%), and The 7th Guest: 25th Anniversary Edition (-25%). There are also bargains on some of the best selling titles like Vampyr (-60%), Grim Dawn (-70%), Hollow Knight (-50%), Unavowed (-30%), Apsulov: End of Gods (-20%), Remothered: Tormented Fathers (-60%), We Happy Few (-50%), and many more.

Enter the portal to Gogsville on GOG.COM and enjoy the spooky Halloween Sale deals until November 4th, 2 PM UTC.

For more information, please visit GOG.COM.

The Steam Halloween Sale is On Now!

What unearthly deals will you discover beneath the floating mansion? Find out during the Steam Halloween Sale, on now until November 1st at 10am Pacific.

Get discounts on horror and Halloween-themed games across the Steam catalog. The sale also features other great games that have special Halloween-themed updates or activities that are happening during the Halloween Sale!

The Sci-fi RPG Everreach: Project Eden, which brings you to a planet that is being prepared for colonization, is coming to Steam in December and has a new video.

Everreach: Project Eden is a fast-paced, story-driven action-RPG set on the visually stunning planet Eden. In Everreach, you play as Nora Harwood, a member of the Everreach Corporation's Security Division who is on a mission to clear the planet for colonization and investigate recent unusual happenings on the planet's surface.
 
Explore a vast alien world and descend into its depths to discover the ancient secrets of a long-forgotten civilization. Packed with engaging ground combat, high-speed vehicular warfare, and a compelling level and skill system, Everreach immerses you in its intriguing story and diversified gameplay.

Features of Everreach: Project Eden include:

• Over 80 upgrades available to let you customize your skills and gear
• Engage in fierce battles, deploy forcefields or use the environment against your foes
• Hop onto your hoverbike to engage in high-speed vehicular warfare
• Immerse yourself in eight hours of story — crafted by Michelle Clough, writer and former narrative QA for the Mass Effect trilogy
• Explore Eden's beautiful vistas designed by Mai-Anh Tran, a film artist who worked on movies such as Warcraft and Star Trek Beyond 

The Turn Based Lovers have collected turn based RPGs coming out in 2020:

Upcoming PC Turn Based Strategy RPG 2020 - Part 1

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Here is a list of some of the most interesting PC turn-based strategic tactical and/or RPG games coming out for 2020. Unfortunately, almost all titles still don't have a precise release date.

• Dark Envoy
• Empire of Sin
• Darkest Dungeon II
• Star Renegades
• Grand Guilds
• Phantom Brigade
• The Iron Oath
• Warborn
• Stoneshard
• Realms Beyond
• Wasteland 3
• Alder's Blood
• Vagrus: The Riven Realms
• Othercide
• Shore Unknown
• Stirring Abyss
• Terran Shield
• The Protagonist
• We are the Caretakers

Gematsu reports on the release dates for Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York.

Narrative adventure game Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York will launch for PC via Steam on December 4 and for Switch in Q1 2020, developer Draw Distance announced. The company also said it is currently in talks with World of Darkness property holder Paradox Interactive about PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.

[...]

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OnlySP reports on an update for Within the Cosmos that explains skills, perks, and RPG mechanics.

Developer debdev has announced multiple gameplay mechanic updates for its first-person sci-fi RPG, Within the Cosmos.

The announcement came via the game’s Steam page and focuses on the game’s RPG mechanics.

Players will have access to five attributes: Constitution, Agility, Intelligence, Perception, and Charm. Each of these five attributes will directly influence the player’s starting skills. “Putting points into Intelligence will increase what your Medical, Engineer, and Science skills will begin at,” debdev wrote.

[...]

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Broken Lines is an alternative history WW2 tactical strategy game due Q4 2019.

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The squad has crash-landed behind enemy lines, in the heart of Eastern Europe. With no officers, no leaders, and no intel, they must find an unbreakable resolve if they are to survive.
But with only their training and instincts to guide them, survival becomes a difficult goal. First of all, they need to learn to work together to have any hope of coping with the challenges ahead.
Each survivor has their own views on what to do, and their own principles on what is acceptable. Some want to investigate what caused their crash, others want to stay low and avoid detection by the enemy. There are even whispers of desertion.
It is your task to be the unseeing hand that will guide this ragtag group of soldiers through their struggles. Make your decisions wisely, for they will have real consequences on the fates of the survivors.

• Tactical RPG with diverse characters. Experience the story through the eyes of each soldier as they fight for survival in an alternative WW2 setting.
• Turn-based planning with simultaneous execution (WeGo turn-based gameplay)
• Authentic tactical choices: suppression, destructible cover, realistic ballistics, and camouflage are at your disposal.
• Rogue-like campaign structured with different narrative paths, resources, and permadeath.
• A challenge for even the most experienced gamer. A far-reaching moral system means that the soldiers may desert at any moment if you prove to be incompetent.
• An emotional story, tense atmosphere, and multiple endings based on the decisions that you make.

We are the Plague is a turn-based fantasy RPG due 2020 which has a demo available now.

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"I am the voice of the Plague, not your silly imagination. I am the only thing, that can save you from a long and painful process that inevitably leads to, let’s say, dead for good. Without any chance to come back."

THE PLAGUE SPREADS...

The Plague is generous and bountiful. It will give you tools, it will give you a weapon. You will be changed, transformed into something else. Just submit...

You have chosen to serve the Plague. Driven by hatred traverse the scorched and devastated lands in search of a revenge. Be the part of a legion, devouring cities and all living creatures, play against humanity to achieve your own goal.

Creatures you meet during your journey are a living proof of an inevitable change the Plague will bring upon the Earth. Crooked, in constant pain, blind followers. Your body and mind turn too. You are a part of a disease, your bones grow into a weapon, mysterious objects give you a strange power....

...And there's this voice in your head

JOIN THE PLAGUE

• Single player story mode
• Original, hand-drawn 2D graphics
• Tactical, turn-based fighting system
• RPG elements with character customization
• Dedicated, ambient soundtrack

Tenderfoot Tactics is an upcoming turn-based fantasy RPG due 2020.

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MODERN TACTICAL RPG, INSPIRED BY THE CLASSICS

A novel, deterministic combat system, with easy to grasp rules and astonishing depth. No random miss chances. No damage ranges.

Manipulate the elements to turn the battlefield to your advantage, but beware the consequences, as nature is complex and fickle. Open chasms, raise mountains, boil lakes, drain rivers. Start fires you later regret.

Unlock dozens of distinct evolutions: shamans, druids, warlocks, wights, lavamancers, bog witches, knights, and more.

VAST OPEN-WORLD EXPLORATION

Unearth ancient ruins, discover strange artefacts, and meet new friends, in a lush, painterly world. Add a weatherworker to your party to move faster at sea. Take to the skies as a bird to survey the landscape and plan the best route forward.

For a generation, the terrible Fog - one vast, voiceless, and cruel spirit - has been eating the once-thick forests of the mainland. Now, with nowhere left to call home, and granted magic by the friendly spirits of the archipelago, one small party of would-be adventurers sets out. Find a way to save the many goblin towns of the rocky coast, discover the truth of the Fog, and, if possible, put an end to it.

Some videos for Kingdom Under Fire 2 from Gematsu.

If you missed it, previous media introduced the Spellsword class.

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Publisher Gameforge and developer Blueside have released a new set of trailers for Kingdom Under Fire II introducing the Gunslinger, one of five character classes featured in the game.

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Thanks Farflame!

Gematsu reports that action RPG Unsouled has been announced for PC.

Publisher PQube and developer MeGusta Game have announced Unsouled, an atmospheric action RPG featuring stylized, fast-paced combat. It will launch for PC via Steam in spring 2020.

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Thanks Farflame!

RPG Division discusses which is better - Surge 2 or Code Vein.

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Surge 2 versus Code Vein. Which game is the better one? There is no simple answer here so I have tried to put all of my thoughts about these two games in this video to give you a proper answer.

Thanks Farflame!

RPS has made a list of the 50 best RPGs, in their opinion, that are still playable today.

Look! A ranking of the 50 best RPGs on PC. I know, you never asked for this, but here it is. It is 100 percent correct, we double-checked. The RPG is a broad and deep sea and fishing out the best games from its characterful waters is no easy task. But we are capable fishers on the good ship RPS, and know when to humanely throw back a tiddler or fight to heave up a monster. Enough of this salty metaphor. Here are the 50 best RPGs you can play on PC today.

Last time we did this we tried to cover the entire history of computer roleplaying games. A daunting task. This time we’ve given more space to games you can feasibly play today without howling in disgust at low resolutions. In short: we sent a bunch of older games floating away on a slab of ice. Sorry, dad. That’s not to say you won’t find classics. Some of these RPGs are still more than 20 years old.

As with all of our Best Of features, the scope of the genre is broad rather than narrow. For RPGs, character development is important, as is a world in which you can do more than simply kill. Inventory management is nice, as is a setting that establishes a solid sense of place in which to play the role you inhabit, whether that’s wanderer, bandit, farmer, or pyromancer.

There are notes below the write-up for each game, telling you where you can buy it (or download it for free in some cases), as well as links to other articles about each game, and where to look next if you’re hankering for something similar.

[...]

1. Dark Souls
2. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (new entry)
3. Baldur’s Gate 2
4. Mass Effect 2
5. Dragon Age: Origins
6. Deus Ex
7. The Witcher 3
8. Undertale (new entry)
9. System Shock 2
10. Planescape: Torment
11. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
12. Dark Souls 3 (new entry)
13. Divinity: Original Sin
14. Stardew Valley (new entry)
15. Dwarf Fortress
16. Nier: Automata (new entry)
17. Pillars of Eternity
18. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (new entry)
19. Vampire: Bloodlines
20. NEO Scavenger
21. Skyrim
22. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
23. Sunless Skies (new entry)
24. Fallout: New Vegas
25. Mount & Blade: Warband (new entry)
26. Legend of Grimrock II
27. Darkest Dungeon
28. Fallout
29. Ultima VII
30. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
31. Banner Saga
32. Anachranox
33. Shadowrun Dragonfall Director’s Cut
34. UnReal World
35. Din’s Curse
36. ADOM
37. Titan Quest
38. Neverwinter Nights 2
39. Brogue
40. King Of Dragon Pass (new entry)
41. Wasteland 2
42. Avernum: Escape From The Pit
43. Wizardry VIII
44. Kenshi (new entry)
45. Recettear: An Item’s Shop Tale
46. Torchlight 2
47. Diablo II
48. Risen
49. Monster Hunter World (new entry)
50. Hand of Fate
51. The game you love.

Fudj asks 'What Even Is An RPG Anymore?'

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What happened to the phrase "RPG"? When did we suddenly start attributing the phrase to what feels like 50% of modern games? What even is an RPG anymore? Should I let the robot in Fallout: New Vegas fist me? The answer to all these questions and more await you.
(I swear this video is not meant to be a Kingdom Hearts hit piece please don't hate me KH fans k thanks bye)

The Turn Based Lovers have interviewed the devs of the tactical game Alder's Blood:

10 Turns Inteview with Alder’s Blood Developers

Sympathy for the…evil

Few weeks ago I decided to take a walk on the grim land of Alder’s Blood.
Among werewolf, vampire and many others nice friends, the travel eventually was really fascinating and I resolved to have a chat with the demonic developers of the game, Shockwork Games, but not before taking a long rifle with me 😉

I don’t’ like to hunt animals, but I really like to hunt demons…

1st Turn) What can you tell us about the world of Alder’s Blood? What were your inspirations?

Hi! First of all thank you for the opportunity for this interview. Alder’s Blood was inspired by a lot of things. Mostly my and Alex’s (illustrator and concept artist on the project) love for dark, Victorian setting. There are not many games where you can play as a vampire/werewolf hunter, so we decided to create one.
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Ideas for a world like that were floating around for years before the development even started. Dualism was something I find very attractive and so I incorporated that into the game’s world building. We have this conflicts of extremes: nature, emotions, desires against civilization, reason and logic. 

[...]

PC Gamer reports on some gameplay video for Minecraft Dungeons which is an action RPG.

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Last year at Minecon Mojang announced an action-RPG spin-off called Minecraft Dungeons, a Diablo-like with voxels. This year's Minecon gave us a closer look at it, with just over four minutes of gameplay footage.

[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

TheGG reports that the AI driven RPG Wheel of Fate has funded on Kickstarter.

TORONTO, CANADA – September 17, 2019- UDX Interactive’s debut artificial intelligence RPG “Wheel of Fate” completed its Kickstarter goal of $25,000 CAD in less than 24 hours, the game studio announced today.

“We believe that because we introduced a gaming concept so unique and robust that our backers were fully on board with us from the start,” said Daniel Vivona, CEO and co-founder of UDX Interactive.

“With this funding, we intend to expand on what already exists and bring and endless amount of possibilities to Wheel of Fate. We won’t let our fans down.”

Wheel of Fate’s Kickstarter campaign will run until October 17, 2019 for additional funding, with the title slated to launch Early Access in Q1 2020.

A list of rewards for backers can be found on the page’s “Rewards” section, which range from a copy of the game at launch to merchandised products to a studio visit with the team.

Designed by Mass Effect 2 veteran Miles Holmes, experience the journey of a lone adventurer who reawakens the mythical Wheel of Fate in the world of Providence, which in turn, brings the army of Fateless back from with it.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

PC Gamer reports that The Executioner has been released.

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While billed as an RPG, it's very far from an action-oriented affair: it's more a game of  hopelessly complex moral decisions, sanity management and, of course, supplying "a dark economy" buoyed by the exchange of dead flesh. Feeling cheered? Well, it's up to the player to decide whether the character should become wholly desensitised to the misery he doles out, and there's a bigger story at hand, too.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Videogamer reports that some Elder Scrolls creators have founded the new studio OnceLost Games:

OnceLost Games is a new studio formed of The Elder Scrolls creators

Will announce its new project before the end of the year

A team of former The Elder Scrolls developers have come together to form a new studio called OnceLost Games, and it is working on its own open-world fantasy RPG title.

Focusing on a spiritual successor to Daggerfall, OnceLost Games’ ambition is ‘to meet the gap between the deep, complex design pillars of games from the 1990's, with the production values, improved controls and quality of life features in games today.’ Julian LeFay, considered to be the ‘Father of The Elder Scrolls’, is acting as the studio’s technical director, and stated in a Reddit AMA that he would be interested in creating a Daggerfall sequel of some sort.

‘It would have to be done in such a way that I wouldn't have business-related issues. Those are things that I've decided that I never want to deal with. With proper funding and someone trustworthy to manage the business side of things, it could definitely be a thing,’ he said. ‘I can't realistically see this coming to pass since it's not something I would initiate; it's not my thing. If someone could bring this about and then offered me an opportunity to join, that'd be a much more likely way that something along these lines could happen.’

[...]

Thanks Kordanor!

I am not a Monster: Complete Edition is a tactical turn-based strategy game available now on Steam and currently 60% off.

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First Contact single-player campaign

A thrilling sci-fi story.

The Albatross space liner is overrun by lizard-like aliens that can turn people into monsters like them. Find out how the monsters got on board as you battle the hostile creatures.

Features:

• Over 30 different missions
• 8 unique heroes
• Control multiple heroes at the same time
• Save passengers and discover the secret of the monsters' sudden appearance

Multiplayer mode

Monsters vs Heroes tactical turn-based battles with randomly-assigned roles.

Up to 6 players take part in a battle where each is randomly given the role of hero or monster (minimum two monsters per game).

If you are a hero

• Trust no one: analyze other players' actions and figure out who the monsters are.
• Save passengers and destroy the aliens.
• Combine various weapons to get unique abilities and turn the tide of the battle.
• If a monster infects you, you only have a couple of turns to heal. Otherwise, you'll become a monster too!

For monsters

• Disguise yourself to move around safely.
• Earn the trust of other players and avoid their suspicions.
• Infect passengers to be reborn in their bodies if they kill you.
• Infect your opponents to turn them into monsters.
• Use the aliens' psychic connection to see what other monsters see.

For everyone

• Play ranked seasons
• Unlock unique skins and sprays
• Complete tasks and get Creator's Balls: each Ball contains a random item - or even a game key!

Dying Light 2 has been previewed by Wccftech at Gamescom who called it the most exciting upcoming open world game.

...

At the end of the demo, we see the protagonist in a climactic battle against a Colonel. You’ve been informed he has access to water pumps required for the supply of all the people at your base, he informs you they do not have access to those pumps, and says you’ve been tricked. You can decide which way this plays out, but here the protagonist follows his original instructions, fights the Colonel and his goons, and activates water pumps. Excitingly, this drains the flooded city, uncovering much more land to explore, but isn’t the water pumps you were looking for, and who knows what monsters lurk below now that the water level has been lowered. Your decisions having such a dramatic change in the landscape of the open world is incredibly exciting, but time will tell if the options change the outcome much, or if draining the water was an inevitable step.

Right now, Dying Light 2 looks like one of the most exciting upcoming open-world games, full stop. It uses zombies in fun ways, has varied and dynamic combat options, and traversing the world looks exhilarating. The only question is whether or not the game is as open and dynamic as it seems from demo reels. We’ll find out when the full game launches early next year, but as of right now, you should be tentatively excited.

Thanks Farflame!

@PC Gamer David Gaider has set up a new studio in Australia called Summerfield Studios'. The studio will launch alongside a Kickstarter for an, as yet, unannounced new game.

The new studio will have its official launch at PAX Australia, alongside the launch of a Kickstarter to fund its first game. Details are pretty sparse on the ground at the moment, but Summerfall Studios' website promises "an illustrated character-driven adventure", before going on to say that "Summerfall Studios will crush your dreams and tear out your heart… in the very best way." Kotaku Australia broke the news, and you can stay in touch with future Summerfall news on the developer's Facebook page.

[...]

KnowTechie reports on Epic Tavern which they describe as a reverse RPG game. The game is currently available on Steam Early Access.

I found that I actually had surprising control over the characters that I ostensibly wasn’t in control of. The game sends you on a tutorial quest that is guaranteed to fail eventually, as it’s the story catalyst of why things in the world are as bad as they are when the game begins. You do control heroes in combat by telling them what kind of roll to make (e.x. Aggressive or Cautious, among several options).

From there it’s all about hedging probabilities. The best way that I can describe the level of control you have is one that goes well with the “sports management meets fantasy” pitch: You’re more of a coach on the sidelines making broad suggestions and less of a player making micro choices.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Some new info on gameplay, mechanics and story for interactive fiction RPG Vampire: The Masquerade -Coteries of New York.

Hello, everyone! How has summer been treating you so far?

Here at Draw Distance, we’re longingly staring at the blue skies outside our windows as we’re entering the final phases of development of Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York, our upcoming narrative-focused, fully licensed game set in the globally renowned universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.

As time passes, we unveil more and more information about Coteries of New York. In our last press release, published by many media outlets around the world, we shared tons of data regarding the gameplay, mechanics and story.

Here’s the tl;dr list of key information we shared about Coteries of New York:

• Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York presents the conflict between two vampiric factions: the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs in New York
• It's a unique, atmospheric, single-player narrative experience, set in the rich, fully-licensed, globally-recognized universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
• Coteries of New York present players with choices that matter, aiming to deliver a dark, atmospheric, and emotional narration mixed with morally challenging dilemmas, and many potential paths leading to the story’s finale.
• We plan to include significant branching and reactivity, so that the players feel their decisions influence the world around them and encourage multiple playthroughs for those invested in the world and story of Coteries of New York.
• You are a newly-fledged vampire in New York. You must learn what it means to be one of the Kindred in a huge, vibrant, contemporary metropolis.
• You will make choices for your character, including which storylines to pursue and how to approach the different situations presented. You will be presented with branching dialogue choices, memorable characters - all among iconic locales of New York City. You’ll be able to use Disciplines appropriate to your clan to charm, sneak, intimidate or kill, and your choices will determine your path.
• You’ll build your Coterie and learn your undead companions’ deepest secrets… or see them abandon you.
• Although you start off as part of the authoritarian vampire sect called the Camarilla, you soon learn that other factions exist - chief among them, the independent Anarchs. Your paths will inevitably cross theirs, but whether you choose to shun them, or try to learn more about what they represent, will be your decision.
• While the game is primarily text-driven and story oriented, several mechanics reflect the dark truths of being one of the Kindred.
• Hunger is used to indicate the constant need for blood that vampires must deal with nightly. Characters have the opportunity to hunt for blood during quests. Ignoring this need leads to warnings in the game’s fiction, and if disregarded for too long, to consequences that include succumbing to the Beast
• Humanity is a measure of how moral and rooted in humanistic principles the character is. This rating is used by the game to modify the results of choices in quests, offer additional story choices, or even lock certain choices out.
• Finally, the Masquerade rating tracks how well the character blends in with mortal society. Staying inconspicuous and hidden from prying eyes is even more important for vampires than ever, due to the existence of the so-called Second Inquisition, a clandestine hunt for vampires concealed within global government agencies. Secrecy and not flaunting your supernatural powers in the sight of mortals is of utmost importance.

That’s all the information we’ve prepared for today. In the upcoming updates we will unveil more about the characters, Clans, Disciplines and different types of quests!

Oh, and by the way, check out the game's main page on Steam - you'll find four brand new pre-alpha screenshots there!

We're hope you're pleased with the amount and weight of the information we provided. Stay tuned, as we're preparing to share our first gameplay trailer with you soon!

Thanks!
Best,
Jacek @ Draw Distance team

Twinfinite reports on Wheel of Fate which is described as being an "AI" RPG capable of thousands of story possibilities.

Developer UDX Interactive has today announced a new project called Wheel of Fate. The game’s genre is described as an artificial intelligence RPG, in which player decisions shape the world around them using unique technology.

“With Wheel of Fate, we took a massive leap that RPG’s never do and that’s to incorporate machine learning to continuously explore thousands of possibilities and create new story arcs,” says former Mass Effect 2 developer and Wheels of Fate designer Miles Holmes.

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

Some gameplay video of post apocalyptic RPG Chernobylite.

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Hey stalkers!

Thanks to the Kickstarter campaign supported by so many of you, we spent the last few months working very hard to bring you into the Heart of Darkness - The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The beginning of our game takes place there - this is where it all started, and this is where it all ends. Even if there's still a few months ahead to the release of Early Access version of the game on Steam, we wanted to share a small part of the experience with you. Leave us your comments and help us polish the game to become an ultimate Chernobyl experience for all of us.

And anyway, to visit Chernobyl without leaving your home, add Chernobylite to your wishlist on Steam and stay tuned for more news about autumn's release of our game.

Thanks Farflame!

A new gameplay video of RPG shooter Within the Cosmos.

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Available on Steam in September 2019

Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/61...

Within the Cosmos is a single-player first-person sci-fi RPG.

As you explore the Adallio System to try to find answers, your choices and actions will determine how the story unfolds.

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The year is 2278, and humanity is on the verge of extinction. Your mission is to preserve the human race, as they are fighting a war they will not win. You are one of 500 people who work for UESA (United Earth Space Agency). You were put in cryogenic sleep and sent to the planet 'Berith II'. A planet that is tucked away in the Adallio star system, hidden, and far from the war. However, once you arrive, you and your crew come under attack by an unknown enemy, and it is up to you to figure out who is behind the attack, and why.

Thanks Farflame!

Farflame spotted a dev diary for a Starflight remake:

Starflight: The Remaking of a Legend

Welcome to the IndieDB page for Marvin's 'Starflight: The Remaking of a Legend' project. This project is a fan remake of the original 1987 PC game loved by many back in the day. Marvin is a veteran professional software and game developer who has worked for multiple well known companies such as Bethesda Softworks and Rainbow Studios, on popular games such as 'Elder Scrolls Redguard' and 'Cars: The Video Game'. As a fun side project, Marvin has decided to use his years of experience to remake his favorite childhood game with modern graphics via Unity. This game is open-source and freely available on GitHub, should anyone wish to help. Playable builds are being released on the project website and occasionally here too.

Dev Diary 14 - Creating More Alien Comms (Part 1) in Starflight: The Remaking of a Legend

Time for another post! This time Marvin brings to life the Spemin and the Gazurtoid via their communications screens and dialogue in his Starflight: The Remaking of a Legend project. Next article will cover more strange encounters! :)

[...]

Ashes of Oahu is a post-apocalyptic shooter-RPG set in Hawaii and it has been reviewed by IndianNoob, who felt it was lackiong as it only scored a 5.5 out of 10.

Ashes of Oahu is a clear cut example of high ambition restricted by budget constraints and lack of manpower. Amidst the technical mess, there are moments of brilliance and pure fun but they are too far and few between. I genuinely hope that the developers keep updating the game like they have the past few weeks and may it end up closer to their original vision sooner than later. But for now, Ashes of Oahu is a hard pass.

The Guardian has an editorial on RPGs becoming too predictable and that a breath of fresh wind is needed.

But every now and again, a game comes along which shows that innovation can happen without putting people off and revives a genre in the process. The Ubisoft model was once to open-world games what the Fallout model is to first-person RPGs. The blueprint: climb towers to unlock new areas, sprinkle a map with icons representing mini goals to reach, make progress at your leisure. It underpinned Ubisoft’s Assassins Creed, Far Cry and Watch Dogs series, Warner Bros’ Batman and Middle Earth franchises, and many others.

Then came The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, in 2017. It’s got the towers, the open-world, and the plethora of smaller activities to distract you from the main noble quest. But it quietly revolutionised that stale old structure. Nothing in Breath of the Wild is gated. If you wanted (and you were extremely skilled) you could simply walk to the final boss and finish the game, though you would be far more likely to be lasered to death by guardian robots on the way up to the castle. The icon-filled map is almost entirely gone: only fast-travel points and the occasional quest-line show up. The rest is there for you to discover with your eyes and ears, rather than following objective markers like an orienteering enthusiast.

Thanks Eye

Remnant: From the Ashes released on Steam recently and is a souls-like co-op shooter RPG.

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ABOUT THIS GAME
Remnant: From the Ashes is a third-person survival action shooter set in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by monstrous creatures. As one of the last remnants of humanity, you’ll set out alone or alongside up to two other players to face down hordes of deadly enemies and epic bosses, and try to carve a foothold, rebuild, and then retake what was lost.

A REMNANT OF MANKIND The world has been thrown into chaos by an ancient evil from another dimension. Humanity is struggling to survive, but they possess the technology to open portals to other realms and alternate realities. They must travel through these portals to uncover the mystery of where the evil came from, scavenge resources to stay alive, and fight back to carve out a foothold for mankind to rebuild...

ENDLESS FANTASTIC REALMS AWAIT Explore dynamically-generated worlds that change each time you play through them, creating new maps, enemy encounters, quest opportunities, and in-world events. Each of the game’s four unique worlds is filled with monstrous denizens and environments that will provide fresh challenges with each playthrough. Adapt and explore… or die trying.

SCAVENGE. UPGRADE. SPECIALIZE. Overcome tough-as-nails enemies and epic bosses throughout hostile environments to earn experience, valuable loot and upgrade materials you can use to build a wicked arsenal of weapons, armor, and modifications to approach each encounter dozens of unique ways.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS. Invading other worlds to seek an end to the Root is dangerous and survival is far from guaranteed. Team up with up to two other players to increase your chances of survival. Teamwork is necessary to make it through the game’s toughest challenges… and unlock its greatest rewards.

We never did a book review before, but here is our first one. Corwin went through Bitmap Books' CRPG book and remembered a lot of things from the past and learned some things as well. It is not a very long review, but it describes very well why Corwin liked the book.

Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing and I've been around long enough for it to really take hold. I remember when there were only mainframes and punch cards; I remember seeing Pong when it first took the world by storm; I remember buying an Intellivision and playing two simplistic DnD games for hours; I remember being excited when I bought a Commodore 64 and played 'Bard's Tale', 'Phantasie', 'Might and Magic' and 'Ultima'. I remember buying my first IBM clone PC and being extremely annoyed when it wouldn't play the first PC game I'd ever bought 'Quest For Glory' because it needed a '286' to run. (Who reads the fine print on the back of a box?) I remember having to upgrade to a '386' a '486' and a Pentium (complete with assorted memory managers) just so I could play the latest game in the Ultima series. Ah, the joys of nostalgia.

PCGamesN found seven Fire Emblem PC alternatives:

Looking for a Fire Emblem PC game? Here are seven alternatives to try

All the squares you could hope for

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a unique union of Persona and grid-based warfare. It manages to make building an army fun as well as a megalomaniacal necessity. Unfortunately, the fantastical TRPG (that’s tactical role-playing game) series is exclusive to Nintendo platforms. Bummer. But don’t despair; there are a ton of similar games available right now on PC.

Indeed, from tiny mech battles to post-apocalyptic road trips, you might argue that there has never been a better time to dive into classic grid-based tactics games. They may not let you share tea with your students-turned-soldiers, but the format has been applied to a huge range of settings with a number of twists thrown in, offering more depth and diversity in turn-based combat than we’ve enough free time to enjoy.

[...]

• Into the Breach
• Valkyria Chronicles 4
• Overland (upcoming)
• Shadowrun: Hong Kong
• Wargroove
• Fae Tactics (upcoming)
• The Banner Saga

Monsters' Den Chronicles is a dungeon crawler from 2012 that is now available on Steam.

 

 

 

 

 

Originally released in 2012, the third entry in the classic Monsters' Den series has come to Steam- improved and remastered!

Monsters' Den Chronicles is a dungeon-crawling RPG with turn-based battles and an emphasis on advancing a persistent roster of heroes.

Form a party and undertake one of six different adventures. Procedurally generated dungeons mean that even the same scenario is different each time.

• Six different story scenarios
• Randomly generated dungeons add replayability
• Endless dungeon and wave survival modes
• Hundreds of loot items to find
• Unlock additional items by completing in-game achievements
• Includes the premium content from the original web game

The Last Spell is described as a turn-based tactical RPG with roguelite mechanics in which you lead a team of hardened heroes to defend the last bastion of humanity against hordes of monsters.

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What if Final Fantasy Tactics & Dynasty Warriors had an illegitimate daughter?

The Last Spell is a turn-based tactical RPG immersed in roguelite mechanics in which you lead a team of hardened heroes to defend the last bastion of humanity against hordes of monsters.

A Dark Fantasy Tactical RPG with Rogue lite elements

This is the end. War and a bunch of crazy mages provoked The Cataclysm. A mysterious mist filled with hellish monsters enveloped most of the world. They said that those who entered the mist were killed, driven mad, or even turned into monstrous abonimations themselves. Only a few Havens keep up the fight against the Hordes of bloodthirsty monsters that come out at night from this strange purple mist.

Days were quiet and peaceful: they could take time to organize themselves, heal their wounds and search the surroundings for anything useful. But the nights… The mist thickened and from their bowels unleashes hordes of mutated monsters, craving for blood and magic.

In this glorious mix of pixel art and dark fantasy setting, you lead a group of hardened warriors whose only purpose in life is to desperately defend the last of the mages while they try to cast The Last Spell, and banish all magic from this world. And maybe save us all. Maybe.

Features

Turn-Based Tactics:

• Manage your squad of hardened heroes
• Scarce resources: use Mana wisely to survive
• Class-less skill trees and bonus perks

Hordes of Evil:

• Tons of enemies to slay, burn, shock and slice!
• Dozens of enemy types with different behaviors
• Impressive skills to help you slaughter ’em all

Protect the City:

• Rebuild a safe Haven from the remains of civilization
• Build walls, traps and watchtowers
• Protect the circle of magic at all costs!

Roguelite Elements:

• You will fail… but everytime you do, you’ll grow stronger
• Procedurally generated Enemy waves, Maps, Characters and Weapons
• Nasty bosses

Yesterday, Bitmap books has made the CRPG book available. The book that would not have been if it wasn't for Filipepepe.

We're very proud to announce that The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games is now available to purchase. After a very successful pre-order period, we decided to reprint the Standard Edition to give more people the chance to own this amazing book.

Spread over more than 500 pages, The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games reviews over 400 seminal games from 1975 to 2015, covering the role-playing classics we all know and love such as Ultima, Wizardry, Fallout and Mass Effect – all brought to life with vibrant and engaging in-game images. Each entry also shares articles on the genre, mod suggestions and hints on how to run the games on modern hardware. The book is completely by written by fans, AAA developers, indies, journalists, modders and industry personalities such as Chris Avellone, Ian Frazier, Scorpia, Ferhegón, Richard Cobbett, Brian 'Psychochild' Green, Durante, George Weidman and Tim Cain, to name but a few.

We also have a small amount of the sought after Collector's Edition available. These are priced at £49.99, which includes the A4 Dungeon Map Pad, Postcard Pack, A2 Poster and Pencil. We also have a small amount of the Collector's Edition which don't include any goodies, which are priced at £39.99.

GameSavvy interviewed Stephen Rhodes who has worked on the Witcher 3 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey as a writer.

Tyler: You’re clearly passionate about games, so what came first? Was it that you wanted to be a writer and got into video games or was it that you wanted to get into video games and eventually became a writer?

Stephen: It’s definitely the second one. I went to university to study military history. I was really into history. I could tell very early on that it wasn’t really doing it for me and I just didn’t see a future career in it. So, I transferred courses internally because they had a good games course and I did a game design degree which covered a broad range of things including design, a bit of audio, programming, a bit of art and did a bit of narrative as well. I was always quite good at design and interested in the design and the mechanics of things because I like systems. But looking back, (narrative) resonated with me because when I did the narrative module I got like a 98% in it or something ridiculous. I loved doing it but I sort of put it aside afterwards and carried on pursuing other disciplines.

I got into the actual industry by doing QA and testing. There was a studio, Travelers Tales, the guys who do the Lego games, and they were quite close to where I went to university and a lot of the graduates ended up there. There were a few (graduates) in high positions at that point and they were always looking for students who were about to graduate. So, I went and did QA but they put up some internal positions in design roles not long after I started. I applied and got a design role where I did level design, camera stuff, working on cut scenes and working on missions so it was quite a broad job role but it was a great entry into the industry. Doing that I realized I had a passion for narrative and storytelling. It was always something that came very naturally to me. Growing up, me and my friends used to play DnD and other Roleplay Games like Star Wars, and Warhammer Fantasy. I was always liked to DM (Dungeon Master) as I was always coming up with the stories and campaigns and characters. It was always something I harbored a passion for so I kind of bridged the gap and after three years at Travellers Tales I realized that the Lego games weren’t satisfying my creative needs. So I applied to a couple of places and ended up getting a job at CD Projekt Red in Poland as a quest designer, which for me it was a great merge of my experience and also my passion for narrative.

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Thanks Farflame!

PC Gamer reports on the first trailer for Haven, which is an RPG about lovers on a lost planet.

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Earlier this year, Furi developer The Game Bakers announced Haven, an RPG about lovers on a lost planet. The description at the time was pretty vague: It's playable alone or in two-player coop, and "the only thing that matters is to stay together." Today the studio revealed a little more about what's coming, including the first-ever gameplay trailer and a rundown of basic gameplay.

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Thanks Farflame!

What do we do against the summer slump? We present you another top RPG list - this time henriquejr spotted one on PC Gamer:

The best RPGs on PC

The best RPGs on PC guarantee hundreds of hours of adventure in one of the PC's essential genres.

The best RPGs on PC can deliver hundreds of hours of adventure. Since tabletop RPGs first started getting the digital treatment, the genre has grown into an intimidating, massive beast. Many of the best RPGs you can play on PC are of the action variety, hailing from the explosive years of 3D RPGs like Oblivion. More recently, classic style RPGs  like Pillars of Eternity with closer ties to their tabletop roots have seen a resurgence in popularity. Our list of the best RPGs on PC have something to scratch your roleplay itch whether you prefer fast-paced swordplay or more methodical turn-based games.

The RPG genre is tough to boil down: by the most literal definition, every game is a role-playing game. This list represents our best definition of the canonical RPG—games that likely emphasize story; that let you inhabit a customizable character through skill points, inventory, and dialogue decisions; that include complex, controllable relationships with companions or non-playable characters. Drawing these kinds of lines helps us provide a better service to you, we hope—though we've made some exceptions where we think it's worth it.

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Some interviews for Dying Light 2 from Gamingbolt and AusGamers.

Or as I suggested to Jaskula “renaissance Mad Max?”.

“Yeah, yeah! Of course that was our goal,” he says almost jumping out of his seat at the phrasing. “Humanity lost it's war to the infected. So we knew that [the game-world] had to be multicultural; it's somewhere in Europe because we wanted it to be a mix of cities we know, and for us it was a perfect setting for the game with the architecture; the medieval buildings correspond [with] what we call ‘Modern Dark Ages’.”

The reason this is poignant, in mentioning multiculturalism with the idea of a ‘Modern Dark Ages’, is that one of the voices I heard in the demo was definitely Aussie (hence the Mad Max reference), but that all of this rolls into why, and how, The City has descended into an archaic level of society. Freedom means different things to different groups within Dying Light 2, and the ideology of positive ‘multiculturalism’ is flipped on its head. This is not a nice place to be, let alone live in, and we haven’t even gotten to the Infected who still populate its daytime interiors and nighttime streets. A Mardi Gras of dread, fear and vertical requirement, from a gameplay perspective.

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As Aiden’s parkouring from location to location, his clothes look fluid and well detailed. For some reason, Aiden has a very weird looking bracelet on. There’s no indication of what this means, but it looks very important.

I have a question related to the bracelets they wear —

TS: Yes. The bracelets are called biomarkers. This is something that was built 15 years before the events of the game by an organization called GRE. This basically shows you how close you’re getting to the point of no return. Because when you are infected, the infection accumulates in your body. When you cross a certain threshold then you basically turn into a zombie. So this tells you, “I’m really in bad shape. I really need to find some [drugs].” Most of this is important in terms of narrative, how people react to you. Because when you’re close to turning, they will react to you. That’s the rule of this world. That’s a safety measure for everyone in the city.

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Thanks Farflame!

OnlySP asked the developers of Within the Cosmos about gameplay, lore, and the future.

OnlySP: The game also has a stat system, which sounds a little like S.P.E.C.I.A.L. from Fallout. Is that an apt comparison? Will players be able to improve and modify those stats through gameplay and, if so, how?

Debois: Yeah, it's a similar idea to how S.P.E.C.I.A.L. works in Fallout or similar games. When the player starts the game, they will be given a fixed amount of points that they can assign to their attributes. So, if you decide to max out your Constitution and Agility, you'll have a character who's agile, sneaky, and strong, but that would come at the cost of not having much Intelligence, Charisma, or Perception. So, you're really gonna have to think about what attributes you favour, or you could put a roughly equal amount into all of them and have a character that can do a little bit of everything but not a master of everything. It's up to you. I feel like that system will really create the desire for players to have multiple playthroughs of the game, and still have each playthrough feel like a different experience.

As far as improving and modifying those stats... I'm still trying to get the balance right. There might be one or two instances where you can upgrade them, or get temporary boosts to them, but whether you can improve or modify them beyond that is still being determined.

OnlySP: While upgrading, will players be able to respec their character's abilities at all or are they locked into the upgrades they use?

Debois: No, they won't be able to respec. Once you select an upgrade/perk, that's what you're locked into.

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Thanks Farflame!

Action RPG Warlocks 2: God Slayers will release July 18th.

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Warlocks 2: God Slayers is a humorous action RPG game with online and local co-op.
Challenge the vile gods and dethrone them in this action-packed hack’n' slash experience with wizards and meteor showers.

God Slayers is a brand new story.
Take the role of one of the Warlocks and face the gods themselves, as slashing hordes of shadow monsters in the past have angered them, to say the least.
The Order of Warlocks has been called to challenge and dethrone arrogant gods from the thrones - make them pay for their betrayal.

Core features:

• Hilarious pixel art with hand-drawn animations.
• Dynamic hack 'n slash experience in solo, local and online co-op (up to 4 players).
• More than 40 types of challenging enemies that work together to take you down, using their unique skill sets.
• 5 different types of Warlocks to choose, each with their own abilities to unlock throughout the game.
• Special familiar slot for your character (with evolutions!).
• 8-10 hours of gameplay to complete the solo adventure with one Warlock.
• Giant, powerful bosses waiting to get slayed.
• Extensive maps with tons of randomly generated loot to be picked up.
• Colorful narration with plenty of jokes and humour.

A recent developer diary for Ashes of Oahu covers player choice and the branching story.

Developer Diary #6: Player Choice and the Branching Story

18 Jun @ 5:46am - Deny

In our previous developer blog, we covered the importance of outposts and touched on enemy A.I. You can catch up on that blog here. This week we are covering the depth of the branching narrative that you’ll uncover as you play though Ashes of Oahu and the impacts of your choices.

When Kai embarks upon his journey through Ashes of Oahu the factions exist in a loose tension with each other. They have motivations that place them in conflict, but they do not live in a state of all-out war. Depending on your choices, they can stay neutral towards each other, become allies, or devolve into open hostilities. This is done to increase player agency and show Kai’s influence on the world around him.

What Kai learns as he interacts with different characters will affect the story as well. What you learn throughout the game can become relevant in later conversations with other NPCs. If you have met one particular character and that meeting is connected to another person elsewhere in the world, you could find new branching dialogue available to you. You’ll also find that some NPCs will be willing to help you along your journey and venture out to support Kai’s efforts if you make the correct dialogue choices.

Ultimately the choices Kai makes and the way he aligns himself with the factions will impact who will help you defeat the Pua’a. Kai can turn missions down directly and risk gating any future rewards from that character, or he can choose to work with all the factions and try to bring them into harmony at the likely cost of never reaching the ultimate in skill rewards from any of the factions.

One early example of how Kai’s choices can have severe consequences is how he chooses to interact with a man named Tacitus. A first glance Tacitus appears to be a member of the Islanders that has been evicted from the Farm. He insists that he was helping the Farm fight off an invading band of Raiders, but the Farm didn’t like his tactics and asked him to go. He appears gravely injured and requests you seek aid on his behalf.

Once Kai arrives at the Farm, doubts are raised about Tacitus’ motivations. Apparently, the Raider invasions didn’t really start until he showed up. Needless to say, the Farm isn’t inclined to give you medical items to aid Tacitus. At this point, you can either steal the supplies and suffer reputational damage with the Islanders (if you get caught), or you can do a quest for the medical staff, and then they will reward you with the items you wanted.

If you choose to help Tacitus, he will reward you with grenades, promise you more in the future, but eventually betray you and attack alongside the Raiders at a later point in the game. If you choose to turn him down, he will become openly hostile towards you. You’ll learn early on that helping everyone you meet isn’t always in your own best interest, nor is everyone always going to tell you the truth, but it is your choice to make. However, regardless of the decision you arrive at, you are guaranteed to have some fun and exciting gameplay moments out of it.