TheSixthAxis reports on a new RPG in development called Haven that focuses on love. Screenshots at the link.

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Sure, this couple have escaped to another planet, but it’s about staying together as they rebel against the rules and ponder how many breakfasts you can have in a day. There’s some interesting design apparent in the bundle of screenshots, from the gorgeous open world and JRPG-style conversations to the twin character controls in combat. You’ll be able to play it solo or in co-op with, you know, someone special.

Thanks Farflame!

TurnBasedLovers provide an overview of what turn-based RPG Tactics V: Obsidian Brigade is all about. The game is due Q3 2019 on PC and Consoles.

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Background story

The land of Auria is a fantasy kingdom, where the lesser houses commonly rage war among themselves, but there’s a unifying threat.

You move the Obsidian Brigade about a world map, encountering story through battle.

Key features:

• Robust combat system (with many mechanics: facing, targeting styles, actions, delayed actions, reactions)
• World map navigation.
• >50 hand crafted levels
• >80 scripted scenes/battles
• ~12-18 hours of story
• ~3 hours of optional story
• 3 ½ tiers of gear/weaponry
• 13 unique unlockable classes
• >50 skills (proficiencies, abilities, power casting unlockable)
• >140 powers (Elemental magic, close range, Archery, Imbue poisons, etc.)
• Optional cooperative main-game via assigning troops to another controller during deployment.
• Training option allowing a non-fatal combat to be controlled by player(s) or AI to gain XP and Skill points
• Optional Alternate top-down perspective available
• New game plus

[...]

Bluesnews reports that Vambrace: Cold Soul has been announced. The game is described as a Roguelike fantasy/adventure and is due April 25th.

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Vambrace: Cold Soul is a roguelike fantasy-adventure set amidst a frozen landscape. Plan your expeditions underground, then journey to the cursed city surface with your team of heroes. Wield unique powers, avoid dangerous traps, brave strange encounters, and survive deadly combat!

Hazardous Space is a Roguelike 2D turn-based action game with RPG elements and has recently reached version 1.0.

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A dangerous survival adventure in space station labirynths. Turn-based combat, character progression, the atmosphere of impending threat. Collect and modify weapons, stock up on ammunition and first-aid kits, use your brain and think two steps ahead. Between you and the exit from the station - a horde of enemies who know nothing about fear or mercy.

Features

Unravel Mystery of the Wanderer Station

The "Wanderer" station is full of secrets for you to uncover. Perhaps, that's how we will find out what happened there and how the arrival of Max is connected with that. Or maybe not only that. The main thing to survive!

Whole Station of Labyrinths and Traps

If you think that the layout of the premises in the future will cease to be the fruit of the maniacal misanthrope's sick mind - you are deeply mistaken. Max will have to wade through the mazes, crowded with traps, enemies and other surprises. A simple straight path is for wimps!

Craft System and Resource Management

From rusty knuckles to super-mega-blaster - feel like a master gunsmith! And do not forget about your battlesuit: it makes you strong, dexterous, skillful - demanding energy instead. Lots of energy. Tons of energy!

Wide Selection of Weapons

If the enemy is unresting - provide him with the eternal rest! For this, there's a whole arsenal of various weapons at the "Wanderer" station. Grenades, machine guns, brass knuckles, pistols... Not enough? Each weapon can have an elemental damage module!

Hordes of Diverse Enemies

Zombies, mutants, mutant zombies, monsters from laboratories, zombie monsters from laboratories ... Max and you are not going to get bored!

High Replayability

Have you explored the station, remembered the compartments' layout, taken notes of the traps and stashes? Here's a new walkthrough for you! Each new attempt feels like the first time, cause the levels are generated procedurally.

Story:

It's 2115. Something terrible has happened on board the research space station Wanderer, and the former space marine Max Carnage becomes an unwilling participant in these events. To survive, he will need to remember his military past.

Thanks Farflame!

TheGG reports that Mad Princess: The Great Gladiators is now available on DLSite. The game is described as a gladiator role-playing game.

January 11th, 2019, Tokyo – The English translated version of independent developer Atorasoft’s gladiator role-playing game “Mad Princess: The Great Gladiators” is now available for sale on DLsite and is planned to be released on Steam.

Developer Comment:
“YOU, the player, will not be restricted by a single story. In this RPG you can enjoy a ‘free-scenario’ where you are at liberty to adventure and play as you please.

The battle and exploration controls are straightforward, allowing the player to enjoy the content many times in a smooth and hassle-free manner.
We sincerely hope you enjoy our game!”

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Wccftech reports on a beta giveaway for Conqueror's Blade.

Conqueror’s Blade is starting its first fully featured Closed Beta test today. There were others some time ago, as you might recall, but none featured the game’s distinctive open world elements that are going to be available in this test.

Grab one of the five hundred beta codes we got from My.com to join the frantic battles between Warlords. They’ll be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more on this free-to-play MMO medieval warfare game, check our previous hands-on preview and our interview with Xi Wang, CEO of the Chinese studio Booming Games.

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

The action game God Eater 3 has been released:

GOD EATER 3 - Launch Trailer

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IGN checked out the upcoming shooter Far Cry New Dawn:

Far Cry New Dawn: What's Happened Since Far Cry 5?

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Some reviews for Genesis Alpha One which are decidedly mixed.

PCInvasion 4/5

Genesis Alpha One bears the distinction of being part fps, part ship-builder, part management sim, and part roguelite. If that seems like an awful lot of different things to juggle, well, it is. But the game pulls it off extremely well. It’s fairly complicated and doesn’t like to hold your hand, but it lets you take it at your own pace. There’s a brief tutorial at the beginning that teaches you the basics of shipbuilding, but you’ll mostly have to learn by doing. Moving around the galaxy is also fairly simple, as you initially just hop from square to square with hyperdrive via the bridge.

GameWatcher 6/10

The truth is, Genesis Alpha One feels like an Early Access game, far from the polished status one would expect from a full release – even an indie one. While the concept is intriguing and very promising, the lack of immersion and design decisions make everything exhausting. If you’re interested in a roguelike sci-fi game, you could give Genesis a shot, but don’t expect much from what is clearly an unfinished title.

Way Too Many Games 6.5/10

The visual and sound designs are also mixed bags. Gun models in particular don’t look very good and the overall interface can be really untidy to dig around. Alien creatures look laughably bad and there is a distinct lack of variety among human character models, with your crew members looking almost identical to each other. I do like some of the game’s design choices, though: the monitors and UI are clearly inspired by the original Alien franchise, which all look great. The sound design can be best described as just being there, not really adding anything to the experience or taking anything away from it either.

Genesis Alpha One is a collection of really good ideas, but its execution ended up being very messy. I really hope the developers don’t abandon this game as it is, as there is some serious untapped potential to be a great game in here as long as they fix its many issues.

AusGamers 8.5/10

Like all great sci-fi there are surprises around every corner in Genesis Alpha One. From that first time you delve into the ventilation system of your ship to discover a truly horrific alien infestation, to landing on a strange planet only to find some strange DNA that will let you splice alien abilities into your crew’s genetic make-up - leading to humans that can visibly sense hidden threats. Then there’s running into a nasty group of space pirates that proceed to warp in and around your ship, decimating your facilities and crew. Each voyage presents a new galaxy to explore, new planets, new challenges, with the ability to carry over select bonuses and technology; with total play time varying from short and sweet if you’re unable to overcome a nasty infestation to somewhere in the ten-hour range.

GamingLyf 2.5/5

Genesis Alpha One still offers alot to like. There’s glimpses of something surprisingly unique and genuinely interesting under the weak combat and often repetitive gameplay loop. The game is priced cheaper than most, and many folks won’t struggle to get their money’s worth. As a base it feels like a title that could evolve into something great given enough time and resources with future updates. As it stands though it’s hard to recommend the game wholeheartedly right now.

Thanks Farflame!

Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times is available now on Steam with a 10% launch discount.

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In Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times, you will lead your warriors across a war torn land and into dungeons for wealth and glory! Swing swords, fire arrows and cast spells as you fight through the denizens of Chaos that threaten the Warhammer world. Success in battle is rewarded with new weapons, armours, skills and treasure.

Explore a war-torn fantasy world!
Be on your guard as you travel through a world in turmoil. The road holds danger for the heedless traveller, but rich rewards for the wary hero.

• Explore three regions, each with their own enemy sets, objectives and multi-part campaign quests.
• Visit towns to barter in markets, discover new quests, and level up your warriors to gain new skills and gameplay possibilities.
• Paths between dungeons are littered with events and opportunities to improve your chance of victory in the next turn based battle!

Battle through deadly dungeons!
Experience all the peril and danger of the Warhammer world as you battle your enemies through Chaos ridden dungeons.

• Encounters come to life as your warriors enter the fray with a vast array of weapons and skills.
• Hold your enemies back with fire, use ice to freeze them to the spot, or poison them with lethal toxins.
• Attack with magic staffs, explosive pistols and flaming hammers. If all else fails use legendary armour or mystical robes to deflect attacks.

Heroes and Enemies!
A variety of different heroes and enemies bring huge tactical variety to the dungeons. From Sorceresses and Mages, to Witch Hunters and Knights. Find which characters best suit your playstyle.

• Choose from 12 different Hero classes. All with unique weapons, armours, skills and items!
• Battle over 40 types of enemies, ranging from simple minded Beastmen to devious Skaven Seers and monstrous Trolls!
• Collect and equip over 200 different weapons, items and armours. Figure out which combination is most effective for bashing the enemy!

Easy to learn, hard to master. Engage in deep tactical gameplay as you encounter new enemies with new devious abilities that will test your strategic ability to its limits.

Can you defeat the Chaos invasion? Only the mightiest will survive in Warhammer Quest 2: The End Times!

@DSOGaming DRAGON BALL GAME – PROJECT Z is an action RPG coming 2019.

This action RPG is called DRAGON BALL GAME – PROJECT Z and will allow players to assume the role of Goku (also known as Kakarot). What’s also really interesting here is that this new DBZ game is currently scheduled for a 2019 release.

[...]

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Culture of Gaming looks deeper at the art of video game swordplay and how games have gone about it through different eras.

Flipping the Perspective

Outside of combat itself, perspective can be a key component to how you strategize your attack plan. Even something as seemingly simple as camera placement can greatly influence your perspective of any sword fight. Many Souls-likes and Zeldas have adopted Ocarina of Time’s lock-on-camera, but some do it differently than others. Dark Souls’ camera stays at a nice, comfy distance from the player, while Wind Waker zooms in nice and close. Then there’s For Honor, where the camera stays on roughly the same altitude as the player’s head.

Lock-on camera isn’t essential for a great fighting system, however. Chivalry Medieval Warfare is played entirely from a first-person perspective, using position-based commands instead of various kinds of attacks. Then there’s the Soulcalibur series, which is a beautiful blend of fighting game combat and swordplay, all viewed from a semi-2D perspective. Of course, if 3D isn’t your thing, there are plenty of 2D sword simulators that are just as mechanically deep. Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and Symphony of The Night are all gorgeous examples of 2D combat done right.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The latest update for Code of the Savage announces an Alpha Demo Version.

Alpha Demo version 0.296

There isn't a lot visually to show, as most of the work I've been doing has been under the hood. I was struggling with some niggling issues in the magic system for a while, which was driving me insane... That's all fixed now, though.

I have added classes to the magic window. The classes can be selected via the 3 new buttons at the top of the window. Not all spells have been added to the game yet. (that is low on my priority list at the moment). I plan on adding a 4th class that deals in curses and pestilence. 

The stats window has been updated to include elemental resistances, and the hunger system is more or less in place. (currently the hunger drains much faster than it will in the final game, due to testing purposes). I've placed food on the ground in the starting position. When the hunger meter goes passed the halfway mark, the players stats will begin to progressively lower. There is no health loss or death caused by hunger, only temporary stat loss.

Hovering over elements in the stats window will show a hover over window explaining what that element does.

World building - I have written scripts that automate how walls and fences are placed. Previously it was quite tedious to place a building or fence, as I needed to manually place the upper and lower portion of the wall, add two different types of directional blockers, add boundaries to prevent picking up items through walls, add the correct top wall edge, and then hope that I didn't make any mistakes...Now all I need to do, is place the top part of the wall, and the code does the rest automatically. This will make world building MUCH easier in future.

• added classes to the magic system
• fixed magic window scrolling
• new fire sprite and animation
• torches can now be toggled on or off
• hunger system in place
• fixed issue with tree top shadows
• hover over for stat page elements
• spell classes added
• effect icons in stat window now working
• added target-self for spells
• wall/fence placement automation
• fixed magic window scrolling

Alpha version 0.296 has now been moved to the Dropbox folder for eligible backers. As usual, let me know via PM if you need the link again.

Just a couple of things to note: 

• I would like to get your specific thoughts about the grid based movement. Does it feel natural to you? Would you prefer to see free movement similar to Ultima 7? Currently it is modeled more on Ultima 6.
• I have been getting the odd generic crash when I exit the game. Please let me know if you also experience this.

I hope everyone is having a good start to the year! I will be away for 2 weeks starting Feb 6th, so the next update may be delayed a bit.

~Geoff

PCInvasion reports on Generation Zero, which is a robo-survival RPG due to release in March.

Swedish Robo-Survival RPG Generation Zero Coming In March

Have you ever wanted to roam the countryside of say, I don’t know, 1980s Sweden? Perhaps in an alternate timeline where said country was rampant with giant construction themed murder-bots, which you would have to fight?

Well, if you are someone who wanted that, first of all, wow, what a specific thing to desire. Secondly, you’re in luck! The company behind both Mad Max and Just Cause, Avalanche Studios, is working on a game just like that. What’s more, it’s set to release in a few months.

[...]

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Yakuza Kiwami will be released 19th February.

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"Kiwami" means extreme.

1995, Kamurocho... Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, takes the fall for the murder of a crime boss to protect his sworn brother, Akira Nishikiyama, and his childhood friend, Yumi.

2005... Akira Nishikiyama has become a changed man. Yumi is nowhere to be found. Ten billion yen has gone missing from the Tojo Clan's coffers, putting the organization on the brink of civil war. And Kazuma Kiryu is released from prison to a world he no longer recognizes.

With enhanced gameplay, an expanded cinematic story, the return of the battle styles from Yakuza 0, more nightlife spots, and re-recorded audio by the series cast, Yakuza Kiwami is the ultimate and most "extreme" version of the original vision of the series, now optimised for PC with 4K resolutions, uncapped framerates, customisable controls and ultra-widescreen support.

OnlySP writes about Soulsbourne, which was a buzzword, and now is becoming a Subgenre.

For Soulsborne to be classified as a subgenre, it must maintain specific qualities that are found within its shared titles. While many characteristics can be used to describe a Soulsborne game, three stand out as primary factors: higher than average difficulty, severe death penalties, and, most importantly, stamina-based combat.

Stamina-based combat remains an important aspect of a Soulsborne title because, without it, the game loses its soul. In the absence of stamina-based combat, boss fights become less frightening at first glance, and enemy encounters lose all of the tension that is built up from the outnumbering of the player. A Soulsborne game should strive for greatness within this factor, as it is the defining feature that sets it apart from other genres.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The Turnbasedlovers made a list of upcoming turn-based RPGs :

Top upcoming tactical turn-based RPGs of 2019

2019 will be a year full of interesting turn-based games, both indie and not so I prepared a list with some of the games I’m following. In this list, you will find the most promising (for me) turn-based strategy / tactical / RPGs with a release date scheduled for 2019. As in my other lists, I will try to keep them updated adding new games that I will discover and that will be suggested by the community. In the list, you will find strategic games, tactical games, and classic RPGs as long as they have turn-based mechanics. For each game, there will be a video, links to their official website, steam page, my overviews, and their release date. Regarding the release date, it may vary over the course of time, so sometimes it may not coincide. Let’s start with my list of the top upcoming tactical turn-based strategy RPGs of 2019.

[...]

Meeple Station is a RPG simulation game set on a space station and currently in Early Access.

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Have you ever wanted to build your own space station? Trade goods and care for the inhabitants? Explore distant galaxies and take on daring missions while trying to keep your meeple alive! Meeple station is an open-ended space station simulator in the vein of Rimworld that succeeds in doing just that. Live a never ending adventure whilst trying to make the best of your ramshackle station.

Build a Space Station

Want to build a sprawling, multi levelled station that caters to your Meeple's needs? Focus on trade, mining and research whilst keeping your hapless Meeple alive by generating power, life support wiring your station up. Set up a botany department in the basement, only to have a fuel line cut and set fire to it. Fix leaks caused by your fuel line not being maintained, or bits of your station lacking oxygen due to an open airlock. SCIENCE!

Survive pirates and meteors

Remember kids, failure is fun. When something goes wrong, it goes REALLY wrong in Meeple Station. Your officer could decide that the airlock isn't necessary and deconstruct it, wiping out half your station, only for a stray meteor to hit your solar array, powering down your life support while everyone is snoring away in bed. Trade any of the myriad of goods you scrounge up. Become a mining station, strip mine entire quadrants and sell the runoff to a trading faction nearby but be wary of pirates and face eating space-squids.

Explore the galaxy and research new tech

Explore the galaxy in search of new resources to sell and people to meet. Go anywhere you please so long as you have enough fuel and an engine! Do you want to focus on engineering? Defence and security? Refining? Set up a research lab and hope for the best! Officers can unlock new tech, but they can be a difficult (cantankerous) bunch to appease, and if you let them, they can and will run your station into the ground! Good luck captain.

Gamers Decide has published their list of eleven RPGs to look forward to for 2019-2020.

11 Awesome Upcoming RPGs We Can't Wait To Play

RPG games are more immersive and varied than ever before. Gamers can now choose to explore and live out radical science fiction and fantasy worlds of all types, and in some cases, explore with friends online. These twelve upcoming games promise to be on the cutting edge of RPG gaming, and are sure to delivers hours of mind-blowing game-play.

11. VALHALL

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VALHALL Gameplay

The Nordic apocalypse is here. Can you stop Ragnarok? In Valhall, players battle with fifty others online to emerge as the worthy successor to Odin’s Sword.

As one of the only medieval Battle Royale games, Valhall promises to deliver the thrill of battle royale games like Fortnite and PUBG, only in a dream-world rooted deep in Norse mythology. Butcher your enemies with sword and axe, or outwit them with parkour and the stealthy deadliness of a bow and arrow.

Already available in Early Access, the full game is expected to be released by the end of 2019.

9. Rustler

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Ever wonder what a medieval Grand Theft Auto game might be like? That’s Rustler. A self-described “Parody of RPG clichés”, Rustler lets players go wild in a medieval kingdom.

Take quests, work with factions, or just wreak havoc on the populace with all sorts of medieval weaponry. Let the arrows fly and the horses charge! Players can even team up online to destroy a kingdom-or each other.

Rustler is currently in Pre-Alpha, with a release date planned for sometime in the near future.

[...]

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

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

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

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

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

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The Digital Antiquarian looks back at dungeon crawlers with real-time grid-based movement:

Life on the Grid The Digital Antiquarian

[...]

But it’s another, almost equally interesting example of this process that’s the real subject of our interest today: the case of the real-time grid-based dungeon crawler. After the release of Sir-Tech’s turn-based dungeon crawl Wizardry in 1981, it wasn’t hard to imagine what the ideal next step would be: a smooth-scrolling first-person 3D environment running in real time. Yet that was a tall order indeed for the hardware of the time — even for the next generation of 16-bit hardware that began to arrive in the mid-1980s, as exemplified by the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga. So, when a tiny developer known as FTL decided the time had come to advance the state of the art over Wizardry, they compromised by going to real time but holding onto a discrete grid of locations inside the dungeon of Dungeon Master.

[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

Between the Stars is a space action/RPG/roguelike management game thats been previewed by TheGG.

Verdict: 4/5
“Between The Stars” is with no doubt a game project to follow at least, and for a demo it’s shows that there is something substantial to be had.

The fact that it’s not free-roaming may deter people, as may the speed of everything.  However, if the project is successfully funded (which it was), then there is no reason these things can’t be fixed, especially  as there seems to be the basis of a strong story.

Thanks Farflame!

Henriquejr spotted this list of 2019 games on PC Gamer (I have listed RPGs only):

The PC games of 2019

Our guide to the best games of 2019.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Anthem
Biomutant
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Blue Omen Operation
Code Vein
Cyberpunk 2077
Disco Elysium
Greedfall
Minecraft: Dungeons
Morning Star
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Phoenix Point
Praey for the Gods
Shenmue 3
Starfield
Stoneshard
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
The Forgotten City
The Outer Worlds
The Surge 2
Wasteland 3
Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Witchbrook

[...]

Trespasser spotted a PC top 10 list on TechQuila:

10 Best PC Games of 2018 That You Need to Play

Unlike the PS4, the PC platform doesn’t get all those big budget exclusives, but that doesn’t mean there’s a dearth of gems on the oldest gaming platform. In fact, Steam has thousands of exclusive indie titles that are made with a lot of love and attention to detail by talented developers all over the world. Since these indies form the backbone of the PC gaming industry, we’ll mainly focus on them with a few notable AAA games throw into the mix as well:

[...]

10 Best PC Games of 2018

• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
• Hitman 2
• Yakuza 0
• Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
• Banner Saga III
• The Council
• Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker
• Kingdom Come Deliverance
• Atom RPG

Other Notable PC Games of 2018

• We Happy Few
• Assassins’ Creed: Odyssey
• Life is Strange 2
• Insomnia: The Ark
• Ni no Kuni II
• Legrand Legacy

For Venturebeat the best RPGs for 2018 are:

The D20 Beat: 2018’s RPGs — my critical hits and made saving throws

When I think about 2018’s role-playing games, I don’t see lots of bombast and flash. Blockbuster studios often stayed away. Square Enix’s main offerings this year weren’t triple-A releases. You didn’t see anything from BioWare, and Bethesda’s Fallout 76 sure doesn’t feel like an RPG to me.

[...]

The critical hits

These are my favorite RPGs of 2018. They tell fantastic stories, pose interesting combat situations, and have engaging character development (either through story or through stats).

• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
• The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep
• Book of Demons
• Battletech
• Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu

Making their saves

These are solid RPGs, but they don’t qualify as critical hits. They are worthy of playing.

• Octopath Traveler
  
• Tower of Time
• Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition (Switch)
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker
• Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Wccftech’s best roleplaying games of 2018 are:

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Octopath Traveler
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Honorable Mentions
The Banner Saga 3
Moonlighter
Vampyr
The Bard’s Tale IV
CrossCode

The players mod of the year has been announced at Moddb with Fallout New California taking top honours.

Mod of the Year Top 10

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9TH PLACE

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly

For: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Anomaly is a standalone S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mod powered by an x64 version of Open X-Ray. Built upon Last Day, the mod continues its way on expanding and adding new features while maintaining a high level of quality and replay value.

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5TH PLACE

Prophesy of Pendor

For: Mount & Blade: Warband

From the Founding of Pendor - the year is 354 A King has not ruled the shattered land of Pendor for many generations. What was once a proud accomplishment of man now is steeped in the myths of folklore and told as children’s bedtime stories. Yet, the legends live on of a prophesy of hope. A tale of a champion who comes from a distant shore and unites the lords of Pendor under a single Ruler and brings peace and prosperity once again to this ravaged war-torn land. All is not as it seems as there are many powers who have their own ends in mind and an epic struggle is about to unfold. Strap on your sword, and buckle your imagination. Prepare to enter the world of Pendor and accept the challenge of the Prophesy - if you dare.

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2ND PLACE

Warsword Conquest

For: Mount & Blade: Warband

Warsword Conquest is a total conversion of warbands mount and blade 1.153 based on the Warhammer Fantasy world by Games workshop and is single player only at moment.

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1ST PLACE

Fallout: New California

For: Fallout: New Vegas

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Fallout: New California adds an all new story around a new player character, an adopted resident of Vault 18, embarking on a journey through the wastelands of the New California Republic's Cajon Pass. An unofficial prequel to New Vegas, FPB adds hours of new gameplay and a fully voiced stand alone campaign.

You will face the New California Republic under president Wendell Peterson, the New Reno Mob's Bishop Family, the remnant Shi Clans, The Enclave Leonidas Squadron, the Super Mutant Army, and the bloodthirsty Raider Alliance that have banded together in the remote Athens-Tec Uranium Mine off the Long I-15.

Through them all you'll choose your path from SPECIAL dialog options, acquired PERKs, and travel with 8 possible companions depending on your choices. You'll enjoy two new radio stations with unique music, hours of voice acting, and professional grade presentation.

There is always another path to take in New California. But War? War never changes.

Thanks rjshae!

TechRaptor interviewed Erich Schaefer about Starblo; which is a science fiction action RPG that was never released.

As Mr. Schaefer continued to describe the game, I told him that hearing about this title was painful to say the least. The prospects of what would have gotten were simply tantalizing. Erich, too, seemed saddened and disappointed about it never having seen the light of day. “I think what it did have at the very end there – it was kind of a bummer that it died – was it had fun gameplay,” he began. “It was very ‘Diablo II-ish in space’, a little bit crazier and more science fiction. But it was crisp. It had movement and [fun skills] and good pacing. I think we were really getting that feeling down when it all crashed down for me.”

One of the points he highlighted was the notion of perhaps making the game one day. He told me that he occasionally talks with his ex-Blizzard colleague David Brevik (who we interviewed last month) about somehow getting Starblo put together. I assured Erich Schaefer that such a title would probably do quite well, especially if it were put together with the same practiced hands that had graced us with Diablo II.

[...]

Strategy Tactical game Wargroove has a new trailer and is due to release Q1 2019.

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Take to the battlefield with Wargroove, a strategy game for up to 4 players! Choose your Commander and wage turn-based war on battling factions. Design and share maps, cut-scenes and campaigns with easy-to-use editors and in-depth customization tools!

Glorious Companions is an upcoming turn based tactical RPG set for release Q1 2019 and currently in Early Access on Steam.

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Glorious Companions is a turn based tactical RPG set in an original dark fantasy world of Navaroth where you craft your own journey as a leader of a mercenary company. Aspire to become a powerful lord, solve the mystery of the Ancient Guardians or just ride around the continent building your fortune on trade.

The world of Navaroth has been carefully built and maintained by us throughout the years. The whole premise began as a pen-and-paper RPG system. Even the game itself had many different forms throughout the years. In 2009 it was a small mini-game with 2D cards representing the characters. However, it has turned into so much more.

• Custom and gritty combat system: no one is invincible as a single well-aimed strike can take out a careless warrior.
• No battle is truly over until it's over: eliminate the enemy captain to win the battle, but be careful as it works the other way around too!
• Tried and proven formula: the world of Navaroth has its roots in an original pen-and-paper RPG system featuring a science based magic system.
• Pick your side: become an ally to the vengeful Scarres or join the ranks of the wise Valrenay militia. More factions will be revealed during the development.
• Take care of your men: keep their morale high by serving them luxury food and alcohols, train them at special facilities when they gather enough experience and crucially - don't let them bleed out after a tough battle.
• No two soldiers are ever the same: play to your units natural predispositions, train and equip them to your liking.
• New world on each playthrough: the continent and its political climate are procedurally generated at the beginning of every journey.
• Start small and expand: focus first on making a name for yourself as a lord by winning small skirmishes, or lay the foundations of a thriving merchant guild.
• More power means more responsibility: a wise leader is not merely an army commander; attend to a variety of political and economic issues as your empire grows.
• Danger from afar: try not to get too complacent, as the Ancient Guardians eventually wake up and threaten the known world.

[...]

GameRant reports that Halo Infinite could feature RPG mechanics.

As per the job posting, 343 is hiring a Senior Systems Designer to work on Halo Infinite. The bulk of the listing is what one might expect, indicating that the ideal candidate will have experience with high-level design on AAA games and a specific understanding of the inner-workings of shooter titles. However, one requirement stands out among the rest, as the post emphasizes that applicants should be familiar with RPG mechanics.

[...]

@TheGG Neverinth is a hack and slash action RPG coming to Steam 2019.

Play up to 5 different Valkyries, each with a unique set of abilities and history based on real historical figures.
Gain the power of the fallen Gods unlocking their mythical weapons and skills.
Unlock new content including levels, new characters, monsters, and abilities.
Collect and wield a wide range of incredible weapons.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

LostHero is a third person action RPG which has entered Early Access.

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Lost Hero is a hardcore dark fantasy action RPG with a sci-fi twist. As an outcast hero, a mercenary of a secret order, you will be fighting against the dark forces of chaos and destruction in the world struggled by ethernal war between the races. Only you can decide which side will get the power. Play alone or in 2 - 4 player coop. Travel the dark world, destroy your enemies in a skill-based action combat and collect resources to craft and improve your arsenal. Level up your hero to withstand the toughest boss fights.

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The first video preview of our new third person action RPG for PC called LOSTHERO. Player deside to leave his weathered town and find own self in darkness of unknown. Create your own hero, discover a new world, collect resources,learn new skills, prepare your defense towers, and fight! LOSTHERO game it's debut of indie studio GOLDKNIGHTS from Czech Republic.

Thanks Farflame!

Gamespot's best RPGs of 2018 are:

The Best RPGs Of 2018 By Review Score

Role-playing games have long since entered the mainstream and the influence of their popularity on other genres is undeniable. The most borrowed facet of the RPG experience is the idea of long-term character growth and customization, a concept now commonly found in fighting games, shooters, and sports sims. It's a universally useful way to remain engaged with a game over time and uncover depth as your skills improve.

[...]

PC Games:
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes Of An Elusive Age - 9/10
Kingdom Come: Deliverance - 8/10
Monster Hunter World - 8/10
Ni No Kuni II: The Revenant Kingdom - 8/10
Pillars Of Eternity II: Deadfire - 8/10
The Banner Saga 3 - 8/10

New Editions:
Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition - 10/10
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut - 8/10

Ports:
Diablo III: Eternal Collection (Switch Port) - 9/10
Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Switch Port) - 8/10
Child Of Light (Switch Port) - 8/10
Dark Souls Remastered (Switch Port) - 8/10
West Of Loathing (Switch Port) - 8/10
Transistor (Switch Port) - 8/10

Console only:
Octopath Traveler - 8/10
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu & Evee - 8/10
Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology - 8/10
The Alliance Alive - 8/10

Yserbius 2 appears to be in development although it is unclear how far along things are.

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I wanted to list some of the features being rolled into and out with the eventual release of Yserbius 2. Some will say its to many features. I say that some will not roll out immediately but are currently in the engine awaiting implementation.

[...]

Quests:

Our quest system will be more in depth that anything Yserbius related before. We will be able to create different types of Quests or chain of quests that can guide your players through your storyline. We will be asking our members and players to help us develop quest chains.

​Dialogues:

We will create different dialogues for your NPC's. As well you can also use this system to allow multiple outcomes in the storyline depending on what a player chooses while speaking to an NPC.

​Items:

This is my favorite part and how we will be bringing all the items from the original game into the new game environment. We create all the items for the game with this module, add different stats to items and functionality. We will be able to attach over 30 different effects to the item which can be a different category of weapons, armors, consumables, materials, ammo and more.

​Socketing:

Taking lessons from larger mmo's we will be incorporating Socketing System allows you define types and amounts of sockets per type basis like runes, gems, etc.

​Enchanting:

Another item from a big box MMO will be the Enchanting System to let you level up your players items by defining profiles and levels of enchanting.

​Item Sets:

A favorite of mine. Sets of the items define the set and its bonuses, and when you will equip them, bonuses will be added to your character.

Auction House:

Huge module that will take some work buts its in the bag! Auction House, one of the biggest feature of this release, which allows you to find items by using search, filter by grade, class, race, and level, to finally purchase it from the auction.

​Skills:

We are torn between a UO Style Use based Skill system (sandbox) or a level based. The original Yserbius wasnt like this, so its really what players are going to want. we may implement both systems and see which players prefer. .A skill system which allows you to open up skills when players level up with XP or level up their skill by using it like another older game.

​Abilities:

Create different abilities for players that can get when they have a certain skill. They can use these abilities in a wide range of ways from combat to crafting to professions. Abilities define target type like single player or area, dead or alive, range requirements, etc.

​Effects:

Build your own effects for your game to make it unique like a melee-strike effect that deals physical damage or a magic effect that heals your player. We will have more than 20 effect types are possible to name a few: damage, restore, revive, stat change, stun, sleep, immune, dispel, teleport, mount, build an object, teach ability, skill and more.

​Coord Effects:

We can setup different animations, particles and more to run on events such as play an attack animation and a particle when you use a striking ability.

​Stats System:

We will be able to cesign any type of stat you want for your game with this module.

​Player Character Setup:

This will allow us the ability to create the diverse players like the original YS. albeit the graphics will be a little better. Here we setup what races, stats, and classes you want your players to start with as well as where you want them to spawn and how you want starter characters to look like.

​Crafting System:

We will be designing crafting recipes up to 16 ingredients, set crafting skill required for specific recipe along with crafting station. Define different chance for a different result like 100% chances for a common sword, 50% chances for a magic sword, etc. Our system supports grid based crafting and crafting book with experience based option.

​Arena System:

Rather than open PVP we will be setting up dedicated PvP instances for solo or groups.

​[...]

Gamasutra looks at State of Decay 2, Star Citizen, and Battletech and how they design characters as UI.

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The mech model: Battletech

The model damage in Battletech is actually a holdover from its genesis as a tabletop game. A wireframe of each mech was displayed on a record sheet with a certain number of empty circles allocated to each section (its center torso, for instance, or each leg). A dice roll indicated which area was hit and every time the mech took damage, players would fill in circles in that area, until all the circles were full and the entire piece was destroyed.

“Being able to dynamically reflect that visually in gameplay is an advantage we have in a video game over the tabletop game,” says Steve Rynders, Battletech’s principal character pipeline artist at developer Harebrained Schemes. “Fortunately, Piranha Games shared their Mechwarrior Online assets with us and the models were already built in a way that supported damaging and destroying geometry. Aside from it being awesome to see an arm blown off and its pieces rain down on the terrain along with the sparks and explosion, it helps to reinforce and communicate to the player that there has been a state change.”

To show off meaningful systems or parts damage, Rynders and the team dynamically toggle between different assets.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The best RPGs of 2018 for Gamerant are:

• Ashen
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
• Kingdom Come Deliverance
• Monster Hunter World
• Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
• Octopath Traveler
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
• Pokemon Let’s Go

Its time for the top 100 mods of 2018 at moddb.

Back for a 17th time, welcome to the 2018 Mod of the Year Awards. You will find no loot boxes, microtransactions, unlockables or DLC here - just amazing free mods made by dedicated creators for your enjoyment. For the next 4 weeks it is up to you to vote for your favorite mods so that they may make the top 100 which will be announced on the 11th of December.

There was plenty of blood & gore to go around last year, with the fan favourite Brutal Doom claiming top spot on the podium. Coming in second was the galactic spectacle Starwars II: Thrawn's Revenge II: Ascendancy followed by an alternative C&C timeline in the Twisted Insurrection modification. If you need a refresh of how last year's awards went down head on over to the top 10 countdown's for both players and editors to see who stood out among the pack.

Show your support and start smashing those vote buttons for your favorite mods (and if your favorite mod isn't listed encourage the team to add it). Developers need to feel the overwhelming power and groundswell of support for mods, which drive so much creativity and goodwill in games of all shapes and sizes. There's been some huge releases this year, make your vote count and we look forward to seeing who will climb to the top, and be crowned the 2018 Mod of the Year.

Thanks rjshae!

ATLAS is a high seas open world pirate survival MMO that is set to launch on Steam December 20th.

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From the creators of ARK: Survival Evolved comes ATLAS - a massively multiplayer first-and-third-person fantasy pirate adventure. ATLAS will host up to 40,000 players exploring the same Globe simultaneously, with an unprecedented scale of cooperation and conflict! Stake your claim in this endless open world as you conquer territory, construct ships, search for buried treasure, assemble forts, plunder settlements and hire crew to join your powerful growing armada. Start small then expand your spheres of influence from a small island, up to an unstoppable pirate empire that spans across the oceans. Wage battle against enemy fleets as you singlehandedly command large ships of war using the captaining system (or divide up to the responsibilities among your trusted lieutenants), or take control of any weapon directly with your own character. Dive deep into the briny water to explore permanent sunken wrecks and recover salvage, unearth the loot from procedurally-generated Treasure Maps and challenge zones, or complete challenging main questlines. Team up with other aspiring adventurers and sail into the vast ocean to discover new lands rich with region-specific elements, tame exotic natural and mythical creatures, raid forgotten tombs, confront powerful ancient gods and even build and administer your own colonies, cities, and civilizations to dominate the ATLAS in this ultimate quest for fortune and glory!

MMO On the Grandest Scale

Physically sail in real-time across the vast oceans with the proprietary server network technology. Explorers will voyage to over 700 unique landmasses across 45,000 square kilometers, with thousands of Discovery Zones, and ten distinct world regions each having their own unique resources, creatures, secrets, and environment hazards! There is a separate PvE ATLAS for players who don't wish to play any PVP.

Construct the Ship of Your Dreams, Plank by Plank!

Build drydocks and start with a dinghy rowboat, basic raft, tiny sloop or nimble schooner, moving on up to your own versatile brigantine or titanic galleon capable of transporting hundreds of crew and extensive cargo. Name your ship in big bold letters, paint and copy your own pirate flag and custom-place all the pieces of your ship -- which sails and where, planks and gunports, every single structure piece has a physical Weight and Material -- to function exactly how you want.

Captain your Crew!

Recruit real players and AI crew from freeports or rescue seasoned crew from destroyed “Army of the Damned” shipwrecks to man distinct stations on your boat! Set sail and explore the ATLAS with them to gain experience and level up their stats or gear, as well as levelling your Ship. Your crew are versatile! Whether on land, or ship, or even riding behind your animal companions on emplacements, they can man weapons of all kinds-- cannons, swivel guns, siege engines, turrets, and even gigantic mortars, many with dynamically swappable ammo types including grapeshot, chainshot, spikeshot, liquid fire, and more! Instruct them to board enemy ships and help you conquer the seas! Keep their stomachs full and their pockets full of gold lest you want a mutiny in your hands! Take on the Captain’s Wheel or divide up the command responsibilities via Lieutenant Podiums to direct the Ship’s assignable weapon systems, sails, and stations, including standing-orders or manual grouped fire. Or, walk up to any station and take control of it yourself!

Pirate PVP to the Limit

Everything is up for grabs including player’s ships, their crew, their pets, their forts, their land, and their booty. If you can get your hands on it, you can take it. A ship’s permanent logbook tells the tale of their legendary travel, exploits and ownership.

Be the Hero or Villain you were meant to be

MMO-scale character progression systems include, at launch, over 15 Disciplines with over 300 Skills, in a vast unlockable tree. New "Feat" system allows for active and passive bindable character abilities, while new stat-buff system allows innumerable abstract statistics to be modified by Skills, Items, and Armor. And now, everything has scalable stats, including structures, and can be progressively Upgraded!

This is Who You Are

Extensive character visual customization enables an endless range of realistic (and not-so-realistic) characters, with a vast array of sliders, morphs, muscle tones, and tweakable values. You can even per-pixel design your own permanent tattoos (and then draw warpaint on top of that too!). If someone exists in the real world, they should be creatable in ATLAS! Best-in-class dynamic hair growth and real-time aging systems allow you to get old and... pass on your legacy? (Or find a fountain of youth!).

Endless Adventure

Full Quest and Waypoint systems, with sub-quests and rewards, for major goals -- while procedural treasure maps and challenge zones also ensure there's always something new to find out over the horizon.

Intense Action

Tactical melee combat systems with blocks, parries, dodges, character motion, optional shields, stunning and strength-varying strikes, directional attacks, and more for use in either first or third person perspectives. Fists, swords, maces, blackjacks, daggers, and much more give you tremendous options to pick the right weapon for the job. Meanwhile, period-appropriate-weaponry with skill-based active reload systems include flintlock pistols, muskets, blunderbuss, and more -- just be sure to keep your powder dry!

Claim What's Yours

Form a company, claim territory and apply taxation and behavior rules to that which you own: be a benevolent governor, a feudal lord, or a ruthless dictator. Territory ownership is visualized on your dynamic zoomable World Map, with Fog of War obscuring uncharted regions and Shroud of War hiding enemy territories out of sight range. Contest other government's ownership of land, structures, or ships to expand your empire! The top large-scale Spheres of Influence on the Official ATLAS' are visualized in real-time on the PlayATLAS homepage. Design your own custom flag per-pixel to apply to your claims, to be famous (or infamous)!

[...]

@Gematsu Developer Endlessfluff Games has announced Fae Tactics for Steam early 2019.

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In Fae Tactics, follow a young magic user named Peony on her journey across a vibrant world full of mystery and danger. Summon allies, cast spells, and befriend a motley crew of characters as you dive into the growing conflicts between man and magical beings known as fae.

Story
Long ago the world of magic was separated from the natural world by Elemental Gates. One day the seal on the gates was broken, flooding the natural world with magical fae creatures once thought to be myths. The worlds merging was imperfect and much of the land was torn apart. The devastation claimed the lives of most of the population of natural and fae creatures alike. Those that survived have forged new lives in the ruins of the old worlds, but growing tension between man and fae threaten to finish what began with the opening of the gates.

Features

• Unique menuless turn based tactical gameplay.
• Manage the magical elements of your party to counter the enemies elements.
• Befriend a colorful cast of allies! Level Up and customize their abilities.
• Battle all kinds of Fae creatures and collect them into your team.
• Find powerful and unique Spells to help tip the scales in your favor.
• Traverse a variety of colorfully detailed environments in this isometric wonderland.
• Unravel secrets as you explore the various conflicts in the world in any order you want!

@TheGG Stoneshard is a turn-based roguelike RPG by Ink Stains Games.

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“And why is that”? So you might wonder. The answer is very simple. It’s because “Stoneshard: Prologue” is more or less a mix of old-school “Diablo“, “The Binding of Isaac“, “Dink Smallwood”, “ADOM“, “Nethack” and “Ancient Evil”. In other words, “Stoneshard” is a mix of a lot of nice things (the old and the new). Furthermore, the game is very easy to learn, but hard to master (you will die a lot) .

Yes, that’s right. “Stoneshard: Prologue” is the kind of game that is very unforgiving (think “Dark Souls” meets “Diablo Median XL” and “Ancient Evil”). So that means that the game will punish you instantly if you mess up, and most of the time, that results in an instant death on the spot (watch out for traps!).

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Hack n' slash game Darksiders 3 has been released on Steam to a mixed reception.

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Return to an apocalyptic Earth in Darksiders III, a hack-n-slash Action Adventure where players assume the role of FURY in her quest to hunt down and dispose of the Seven Deadly Sins. The most unpredictable and enigmatic of the Four Horsemen, FURY must succeed where many have failed - to bring balance to the forces that now ravage Earth. Darksiders III is the long-anticipated, third chapter in the critically-acclaimed Darksiders franchise.

• Play as FURY - a mage who must rely on her whip and magic to restore the balance between good and evil on Earth!
• Harness FURY's magic to unleash her various forms - each granting her access to new weapons, moves and traversal abilities.
• Explore an open-ended, living, free-form game world in which FURY moves back and forth between environments to uncover secrets while advancing the story.
• Defeat the Seven Deadly Sins and their servants who range from mystical creatures to degenerated beings.
• Sit in awe of Darksiders signature art style - expansive post-apocalyptic environments that take the player from the heights of heaven to the depths of hell, dilapidated by war and decay and overrun by nature.

DSOGaming reports that action RPG Atomic Heart has a new trailer.

Atomic Heart is an adventure first-person shooter, events of which unfolds in an alternate universe during the high noon of the Soviet Union. In this game, players assume the role of special agent P-3, who after an unsuccessful landing on enterprise “3826” is trying to figure out what went wrong and to clear up a factory from went mad robots.

[...]

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Thanks Farflame!

VentureBeat interviewed Mathieu Girard, formerly of Amplitude Studios, who has started a new RPG company called Tactical Adventures, and asked him about his open game license Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition RPG.

Girard left Amplitude in January, and now, he’s ready to talk about his next adventure … a tactical one. Today, he’s announcing his new company, Tactical Adventures. It’s a studio in Paris that wants to make PC role-playing games that blend the rich stories of classics like Baldur’s Gate with the tactical choices you make in games like XCOM. It’s working on a yet-to-be announced game, one that will use the Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Open Game License (OGL). This means that it’ll use the base rules, but it won’t feature any of the worlds (such as the Forgotten Realms) that belong to Wizards of the Coast.

[...]

GamesBeat: Why is now the time to start making your passion project?

Girard: Because I’ve learned a lot. I’ve made lots of different games. I’ve made strategy games and even Formula One racing games. I’ve made shooter games, management games, 4X games. Lots of stuff. I guess what I was missing was an RPG. But it can be a bit scary to make an RPG. It seems very complex. You have to build lots of environments and monsters and a huge scenario. But it’s not that complex once you have experience. I want to have a more systemic approach to an RPG rather than a purely narrative approach. The idea is to bring something new to the game mechanics of an RPG on a computer.

Worshippers is a RPG/Strategy game that was released early this year on Steam.

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Background

Old gods have forsaken us, but there is still hope. Mysterious sage is wandering from village to village, bringing stories about new powerful idols. Ten nights, ten stories to be told. Would it be enough to convert locals to the way of new gods? Time will tell.Sit around a fire and listen to stories about gods and theirs worshippers.

Description

Worshippers is a fast-paced strategy combined with collectible card game. Take control over small tribe and help them survive in the hostile land. With every scenario unlock new cards, that can be used in developing your own unique strategies!

Features:

• Fast-paced, easy to learn (but no so easy to master) strategy game!

• Single scenario could be finished in half a hour!

• Combination of turn-based strategy and collectible card game.

• Low fantasy world based on slavic mythology.

• Explore and conquer randomly generated maps!

• Engaging, tactical combat system!

• Over 150 different cards!

• 4 different gods to choose!

• Create your own decks and strategies!

RetrospectiveGaming shared his opinion about appreciating older CRPGs and the CRPG revival.

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Old is gold but new stuff can be good too ..whether its a game from 1992 or 2012 .. give it a chance and form your own opinions

OnlySP interviewed the developers of Eastshade, which is an open world exploration game with some RPG systems.

So what exactly is Eastshade? We’ve seen a lot of absolutely gorgeous screenshots from the game by this point, but I’m not exactly sure what you do in the game yet! I know it’s an open world exploration game with RPG elements, can you elaborate on that?

WEINBAUM: Well, its an open-world adventure game where you play as a traveling artist. You can paint pictures at any time, which operate much like a photograph or screenshot. Many of the quest objectives manifest in painting commissions which require a certain object you must find, a sight you need to notice, sometimes at certain times. So it’s not meant to be a painting program, but rather an open world to explore.

There is an inventory with some light crafting mechanics, many NPCs with quests and micro-stories, and a very clear sense of progression throughout the game. The world has impasses that the player needs to surmount in a sort of adventure game style, where you’re doing different kinds of quests (sometimes painting, sometimes object collection, and sometimes a riddle or puzzle that needs solving, often using knowledge obtained from somewhere else in the world) for folks and they reward you with items or knowledge to keep exploring new areas.

The environments are varied, as are the little stories you encounter as you talk to more people.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

A new update for Code of The Savage announces Alpha demo version 0.276.

Alpha demo version 0.276

Hello everyone!

I am going to do an update roughly once per month (more or less).

This update is all about the sidebar. I have now added sidebar tabs! You now see equipment, stats, skills/spells, and a journal log tab. (the skills tab is still under construction).

The log tab will update automatically when new information is given to the player. When a journal entry is completed, it will turn green. You will also see a filter button that will switch between displaying completed, incomplete or both. Give it a try! speaking to some NPCs or triggering specific events will add a new journal entry.

The stats tab is just an area that will display more detailed stats such as hunger level and current effects the player is under (poisoned, cursed, bleeding, blessed, etc etc...) The effect icons are just placeholdersand are non-functional at the moment.

Some other changes/fixes:

• Arrows now splash if fired into the water
• Fixed an issue with the step sound
• A map and sextant have been placed at the start position. Move them to your inventory and then press M to bring up the map. This will show your location on the world map to give to an idea of the scale.
• The annoying wolf has been removed...
• Fixed issue with a crash on player death
• Many other smaller bug fixes...

Going forward, I will be uploading the new Alpha Demos to the same Dropbox folder each time a new version is available. The link to this folder will be emailed to eligible backers. Please read the README.TXT included in the zip file :)

Thanks again for everyone's support!

The Forgotten City mod is a re-imagining of the mod of the same name, which means that the setting is now a Roman one. The author of the mod has explained why he is making the change at Moddb.

As many of you know, The Forgotten City is a re-imagining of my mod of the same name. While the mod was pretty cool (it now has over 1.8 million downloads, and won a national Writers’ Guild award), I’m determined to make everything about the stand-alone game better. To that end, one of the most radical changes I’ve made was to switch from a fantasy setting to an ancient Roman setting, complete with authentic art, architecture, and costumes, which you can glimpse in the E3 reveal trailer:

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Why? I’m glad you asked!

Personally, I think the experience of discovering and exploring a mysterious ancient Roman city, isolated and forgotten by the world, would be one of the most mind-blowing experiences I can imagine. But there’s more to it than that.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

VG24/7 talked to Warren Spector who shares his thoughts on the modern Deus Ex and the almost appoved Command & Conquer RPG.

At one point, Deus Ex creator Warren Spector was going to make an RPG set in the Command and Conquer universe.

The game, which was cancelled by EA, would share the DNA of Spector’s other games.

“It was going to look a lot like Deus Ex,” Spector tells me. “I knew what kind of game I wanted to make. I had a lot of the gameplay and the vision was there. It was going to be set in a very different world.

[...]

Some of you may be more familiar with the modern Deus Ex series – Human Revolution and Mankind Divided – which had nothing to do with Spector, however. I recently got a chance to talk to the legendary game designer and asked him how he feels about the direction the series took in his absence.

“If you ask my wife, she’d tell you that I screamed in frustration throughout much of Human Revolution,” Spector says. “There were three or four things that I would have done differently and those three or four things kind of bug me.”

So, what are those things?

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Dark Harvest is a hack 'n slash action RPG which has recently been updated to version 0.1.2.

Today a major update went live with the first boss of the game and a lot of bugfixes and updates to the quality of life.

This update brings more life to the Great Forest with added grass and flowers to give the overall world a more stunning view.

Rampage

Rampage is the first Minion of Sevarog you will encounter, but he wont be easy he hits very hard so you will need to dodge his attacks and kill him before he becomes enraged, he will be a challenge!

Foliage

The game now has foliage which is an enormous update to the graphics, the game looks better then ever before.

The foliage changes the overall feeling of the game as "just an other single developer asset flip" to a true game, the Paragon assets now come even more alive then ever before.

 

We went from this:

 

To this:

Gameplay video and New music

This update brings new music from Taylor Brook to the game which better suits the game.

A new gameplay video has been released with all the updates visible including the new music.

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To the Grand Temple

Now the first part of the game is done, with the next update you will be on your way to the Grand Temple, you can see parts of it in the game already if you look closely but I wont show you much yet, you will need to discover that for yourself.

You can start your journey today by registering your account on www.darkharvestgame.com/register/ and download the game, so you can explore this new update.

A look at some pre-alpha gameplay for Warhammer: Chaosbane - Captain Of The Empire.

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Become a Captain of the Empire, protect your allies, serve on the front line and #UnleashYourFury against the forces of Chaos. Step into the Old World, crusade across the Fantasy Battles universe with up to four friends in local and online co-op. Warhammer: Chaosbane is coming to PlayStation 4 in 2019.

Gamespew writes that Cthulhu is no longer delivering the scares.

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Whatever the reason for Cthulhu’s massive popularity, it’s time for creators to look elsewhere for their nightmarish entities, preferably crafting their own otherworldly threat. Through repetition, the character has been robbed all mystique and menace. I suspect its appearance in the real world would be greeted with cries of “Yay! Cthulhu”, followed by a horde of people rushing over to hug it. Because when can you can wander into Hot Topic and purchase a cuddly plush of a cosmic horror, maybe it’s not so scary any more.

Thanks Farflame!

The reveal trailer for action RPG Arani.

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Join Araní, the bravest warrior from the Sun Tribe, in her journey of self-discovery and fighting mastery to save her people from an ancient mythological power.

http://aranigame.com

http://dioramadigital.com

Thanks Farflame!

Chris Avellone was interviewed by PCGamesN about Baldur's Gate 3, Fallout: Van Buren and Pillars of Eternity.

Is there something special about Baldur’s Gate that its spiritual successors haven’t captured yet?

The charm of the companions, for starters. One challenge I came back to after Pillars of Eternity (and I admit, I wrote two companions) is that a lot of the companions had lost a sense of charm that the original Baldur’s Gate cast had. It hit me when I got involved with the Enhanced Editions, because they reminded me of the companion design of the original game and made me realise that following a formula had taken Obsidian largely off the beaten path. I say Pillars 1, as I didn’t play Pillars 2, but the Pillars 1 companions with the possible exception of Eder just didn’t carry the same punch as the Baldur’s Gate crew. The Baldur’s Gate crew felt like your friends, rivals, and even your conscience at times, but none of the Pillars companions had that charm about them. Again, I felt partly to blame for that.

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GameCrate went hands-on with Deltarune which is reportedly a sequel to Undertale and released on Halloween.

Or at least, that’s what we all thought. Despite Toby Fox saying he was moving on to some new project, a new Undertale game entitled Deltarune was surprisingly released on Halloween. I hesitate to call it a sequel, or prequel, or spin-off, because quite frankly it’s not clear. What is clear is that the two games are connected, involving familiar characters, locales, and plot elements.

I’m going to do my best to not spoil things here, but I’m not even sure I can. You see, Deltarune isn’t a full game. It’s merely a chapter of what appears to be a bigger project. It lasts just as long as Undertale and has just as many secrets,

In Deltarune you take control of a new human (maybe?) and traverse a new world, a world of darkness, in an attempt to get back to the world of light. However, this time you aren’t alone. You have a party of friends and other characters with you, and this is where the game gets interesting.

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PCGamesN interviewed Colin McComb and talked about the differences between tabletop and CRPGs.

“You enter a 10×10 room. There’s an orc here. It’s guarding a pie.” This scenario is how Colin McComb begins his answer to how writing for PC games differs from writing for tabletop. McComb is best known for his work on the Planescape setting for Dungeons & Dragons, which led to his position as creative lead on a number of critically acclaimed CRPGs, like Torment: Tides of Numenera – a science fantasy RPG set on Earth around a billion years into the future.

He continues. “What material is the room made of? What does the orc look like? What’s its armour set? What about its weapons? How does it react in these specific situations? What about the pie: what colour is it, how big, what flavour, is it hot or cold? What kind of furniture is in the room? What other exits? This isn’t even an exhaustive list of questions.”

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Thanks Farflame!

The retro RPG Minima is available for free here:

Minima

The Land of Miskatonia needs a hero to save it from the evil Faxon and its minions. Can you be that hero? Explore Miskatonia and its settlements, talk to its residents, build up your skills, and finally challenge Faxon in its secret lair.

Minima is an adventure RPG in the style of the older Ultima games (Ultima I, Ultima II, Ultima III, Ultima IV, & Ultima V) as played on the Commodore 64 and 128 computers. Just like the original Ultima games, it includes a world view, enterable towns, and 3D dungeon displays. It also features graphics, sound effects, and music that should help one recollect those classics. More importantly, it is a fully playable (and winnable) game with its own backstory, plot, setting, and characters. It was written for PICO-8 and can be run on Linux, Mac, and MS-Windows. It can also be played through the Web here.

The developers of the in-development dungeon crawler Gloomhaven are producing a video series that covers the games development. If you would rather read all about it head here.

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Discover the Universe behind the upcoming digital adaptation of Gloomhaven, as the developers walk you through this unique world; learn all about this unforgettable board game adaptation! In Gloomhaven, you play as a team of mercenaries on their own personal quests to go conquer a world of gloomy and wicked decadence. Choose your group members wisely, because in the turmoil of battle you can only rely on your wits, skills and spells to fight your way through the putrid dungeons and forgotten ruins. In this rogue-like dungeon-crawling adaptation of the famous board game, you will journey through terrifying randomly generated dungeons, fight against increasingly horrific and powerful foes…or die trying. Add to your Steam Wishlist now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/78...

@WorthPlaying This dev diary for Dark Devotion explores the universe, art and scenario behind the game.

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Dark Devotion is an ethereal action-RPG hybrid, an epic tale of religious devotion and redemption at all costs.

Thanks Farflame!

Gematsu reports that The Witch's House MV will be released October 31st on Steam.

Japanese horror RPG The Witch’s House MV launches October 31

The Witch’s House MV, an RPG Maker MV remake of the 2012-released RPG Maker VX Japanese horror RPG The Witch’s House, will launch for PC via Steam on October 31, publisher Dangen Entertainment and developer Fummy announced.

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DSOGaming reports that JRPG Resonance of Fate will get a 4K HD Pack on PC

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Resonance of Fate 4K/HD Edition will release on October 18th and will be a futuristic JRPG. The game uses the “tri-Attack Battle system”, which involves a mixture of real-time and turn-based controls. During each character’s turn, the player can move around and perform actions, limited by the number of action points and the turn ends when the player attacks or all action points are exhausted.

GameWatcher wrote about everything they want to see from XCOM 3.

XCOM 3 - New Enemy Types

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This should be a given, frankly - but we're not just referring to more enemy types, which XCOM 2 gladly provided. We mean a complete overhaul of enemies, as the old set are getting rather predictable now. Basing XCOM 3 around Terror From The Deep would help a lot with this. We want to be surprised by opponents again, and give the design team a challenge - the soldiers in XCOM 2 were just boring, and the roided-up Sectoids were no fun anymore. Completely new enemies please!

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Spacebourne is an open space exploration game with RPG elements which has been launched onto Steam Early Access.

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SpaceBourne is a Space Simulation / Arcade / Open World / RPG game.

SpaceBourne's universe has over 100 Solar Systems, over 400 planets and 37 landable Space Stations.

SpaceBourne is designed so the player can have total freedom. In SpaceBourne the player can mine astroids, salvage wrecks, bounty hunt, discover black holes, come accross space anomalies, become a pirate, discover uncharted systems. While following the main storyline, the player can trade, accept side missions, help the races at war with each other and form up a force of his own. In all of these activities the player gets to make choices, he can choose to trade slaves, of start a war against them and end slavery.

In order to accomplish all of this, one needs a good ship. Player character progresses through leveling, acquire new ships, modify the ships, create new and different weapons. ( As of Beta Ver. 5.0, the game has 144 different weapons and the number keeps going up with each update.)

Player Character has active and passive traits. Passive traits ( such as Piloting, Trade, Charisma etc. ) gets better or not according to the playstyle. Active traits on the other hand is left to the player to choose and pick up as the character levels up.

Except the main storyline SpaceBourne's content is randomly generated. Every System is randomly generated at game initialization. This allows for the player to come across different events in every new map. This design choice was made in order to bring replayability to the game and allow the player to encounter different events on same maps.

SpaceBourne includes 4 distinct races with different ships, and different specialties. There are more than 3.000 entities for you to interact.

You can play SpaceBourne with Keyboard & Mouse, Gamepad or Joystick, the game supports Force Feedback.

The Story:

Everything starts on a regular day of July 2029 with the appearance of an Unidentified Flying Objects. That day is the first day of earth's residents meeting their new guests. These guests just wait motionless for a long while... their purpose unclear. In order to be ready for the worst scenerio a committee is assembled by the world's nations, Wolrd Air Defence Platform. One man is chosen to lead this new organisation, a man everyone calls "The Commander".

By February 2030 people start getting sick. This new disease with no cure starts to kill people in a year after its infection. What doctors call HX4, the people call "guest influenza".

At the year 2032 while the world is struggling with the disease, WADP plans an attack against the aliens who are believed to be behind the disease. But they attack first.
While at first heavy casualties are taken, later on under the leadership of the "Commander" great victories start to come. More than 20 enemy ships are destroeyed in the next 3 years.

By 2035, three quartes of the world's population is gone and almost half of the enemy ships are cleared from the skies. While the people await news of a total victory, something shifts the balance... The Commander gets sick.

An emergency meeting is held. The doctors increases all research efforts to no avail. Any passing day bring the inevitable closer for the Commander.
12th of December 2037 it is decided that the Commander is to be frozen until a cure is found. The next day Commander closes his eyes in a sleeping chamber.
When he opens his eyes again, he is in an abandoned space station in Earth's orbit. The end had come for Earth, and he is still sick. He has tons of questions in his head, but no one around to answer.

All he has is a deserted space station with a ship at the hangar, and an infinite universe.

You can watch the introductory video of the newspapers from this link:

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David Craddock, who is the Long Reads Editor at Shacknews is working on a book on the making of the Pillars of Eternity franchise and Infinity Engine RPGs. The book will be available for free today at Shacknews.

"Beneath a Starless Sky," is a book on the making of the Pillars of Eternity franchise and Infinity Engine RPGs. I've written the book based on over 40 hours of interviews with developers from Black Isle, BioWare, and Obsidian Entertainment, with Obsidian's full support.

"Beneath a Starless Sky" will be published FOR FREE on Shacknews this Friday, October 5, at 5pm Eastern / 2pm Pacific. It will be accompanied by a 75-minute panel video featuring discussion of RPG design and history, and a 35-minute documentary on the making and launch of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire this May.

@gamingcypher Eden Falling, from Razor Edge Games, is described as a perma-death RPG. The latest demonstration of this game shows off character creation.

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Character Creation Features

• Character Presets – Choose from a variety of unique pre created characters options
• In depth and easy to use mouse click and pull customization of facial and body features
• Color Blend Sub Shade System – Used to create the exact eye shade, hair color, and skin tone of your character
• Voice Customization – Create a personalized voice for your character through a variety of voice and tone options
• Choose from an assortment of unique hairstyles
• From gas masks to dresses choose from a large range of equipment
• Stat System – Customize a mixture of stats that will influence your abilities and appearance
• Aging System – Characters will show signs of visible aging as you explore Eden Falling
• Perma-Death – The wrong decisions will lead to a permanent death for that character
• Legacy System – Upon Perma-Death pass on abilities learned to a companion and continue the journey

RastaPasta reveals that a Harry Potter RPG is in development.

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Set in the 19th Century (1800's) Wizarding World, this 3rd person open-world action RPG game centers around your character with unique abilities who has eared a late acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are a newly arrived 5th year student to Hogwarts that demonstrates a latent gift for magic with a unique ability to track and identify remnants of a pottant ancient power.

Upon arrival, strange events begin to materialize In the Forbidden Forrest and trouble begins o brew within the castle walls. Together with Professor Elezar Fig, you embark on a journey through both familiar and never before seen locations to bring to light the truth behind these mysterious occurrences.

On your quest you will craft potions, master new spells, and discover fantastical beasts. You will battle Dark Wizards, Goblins, and other supernatural enemies and uncover the truth about your destiny - the Fate of the Wizarding World lies in your hands.

FEATURES - Journey to Hogwarts to become one of 8 different Wizard types -Experience Hogwarts, make new friends, uncover new secrets, and change the fate of the Wizarding world. -Experience a new magic system that creates countless possibilities to master magic. -Freely explore the Wizarding World for the first time., Choose your house and friends at Hogwarts, and decide to pursue a path of good or evil. -Create your own witch or wizard, and experience a all new story separate from the books or films

The GG reported on RPG/Adventure The Ballad Singer which is coming to Steam Early Access.

This will allow you to experience up to 1,700 stories and 40 different endings. Every single development and subplot in your story are completely narrated and illustrated, even the smallest ones. The Ballad Singer is set in the world of Hesperia: a fantastic yet realistic universe, where the laws of science merge with those of magic. Hesperia is a cruel world, merciless on unprepared adventurers. Don’t trust anyone, use your instinct and your knowledge – as this is the only way to survive and to continue your quest.

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Thanks Farflame!

Arcane Legacy is described as a turn-based fantasy tactical game set in Lodmor. Archmages battle against each other to win access to secret spells.

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Arcane Legacy: Fantasy Turn-Based Tactical Game

STORY:

This is Lodmor, the land of the Fathers, the Empire's Core.

The thousand years' war is now a distant memory and few remember the brutality that ravaged the lands before the Advent of the emperor.

To help maintaining the peace, the emperor has established the Judgement of the arcanium, where Champions selected by the Great Houses – the Archmages – battle against each other with powerful enchantment and invocations.

To the victorious House the emperor will grant a request, and the mightiest of the Archmages will have the chance to enter the Wanderer’s Tower, cornucopia of magical knowledge, overflowing with artifacts and ancient relics.

The champions are eager to fight, hoping the arcanium to be in their favour.

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PLANNED GAMEPLAY FEATURES (below list can be expanded in the future) :

- Fight in different environments: every house of the Realm has its own Arena and master its particular School of Magic.
- Select your favourite house from the Realm, select its archmage and build a powerful combat spellbook choosing from more than 50 different powerful spells, servants, potions and scrolls.
- Have fun with many special effects that can potentially change the game: be careful to kill servants that can trigger "Shout of Despair", maximize the use of the "Summoncry", use servants with "Charge" when the opponent is in trouble, let your strong servants take tamage to unlock their "Rage" abilities and much more.
- Combat in an immersive 1vs1 match and select Unranked mode if you just want to have fun, Ranked if you want to climb the leaderboard.
- Earn lots of chivalry titles that will be displayed in game to make your opponent afraid of you!
- Make your strategy during the match: be early aggressive or control the board to unleash powerful magic finishers against the weakened opponent.

PC Gamer reports that Mojang have announced Minecraft: Dungeons; which is a multiplayer dungeon-crawler.

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It's called Minecraft: Dungeons and it'll be out in 2019. Not much more than that has been revealed, but here's the official site.

@PCGamesN An interview with lead designer Tymon Smektala about Dying Light 2 and wildcard factions.

We spoke to Dying Light 2 lead designer Tymon Smektała about the part wildcard factions will play in the game, the challenge of managing the gangs’ complex web of agendas, and how much space we’re going to have to hoon about in vehicles.

Can you tell us a little more about the Untainted?

Tymon Smektała, lead designer: So how it works is that in the world of Dying Light 2 you have few main factions. The Peacekeepers, the Scavengers, and a few more we’re not ready to discuss yet. But there are also smaller groups like the Untainted that can have an impact on the flow of the story to some extent – they’re like wildcards in the story, something unexpected.

So, for example, the Peacekeepers and the Scavengers are fighting for an abandoned swimming pool because it’s a great place for an outpost. The Peacekeepers want to create a training ground there because it’s easy to mop the blood from tiles, while the Scavengers want to start growing plants that they can use to produce fuel – they have this craftsman who understands that there are special types of plants you can use to create biofuel that powers vehicles. The Untainted believe that the way to salvation, the way to solve the problems of the world, is to grow plants that can be used to create drugs.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Guards of the Gate is a turn-based RPG that recently went to Steam Early Access.

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Overview
Guards of the Gate is a roguelike RPG game with turn based battles on hexagonal fields. You control a team of heroes aka Guards of the Gate, who are trying to save the world from the evil Dragon Lord.

Choose your heroes
Select 3 heroes and start the adventure. Fight with several enemies, avoid traps on different places while your heroes are leveling up, learn new skills and get equipment. There are 4 chapters with several dungeons which ends with boss fight.
Improve your tactics
Choose talents and skills, and proper items for hero's build. Every hero has unique talents and skills, furthermore some items can affect power of the heroes. Select wisely! Heroes' skills can supplement and strengthen each other.
Be a strategist!
Hexagonal battlefield and unique characters make able to save the worst situation with the right choices, or lose with a bad decision from a winning position.

Cog Connected previewed a new action adventure RPG called Fimbul.

Fimbul Preview

Norse mythology is always a great subject to base a video game around – we all can name at least one game that uses this background as a great point to build a world off of – but indie developer Zaxis went one step further in the creation of their upcoming title Fimbul, crafting a unique blend of history and mythos in a third person action RPG akin to the Dungeon Siege or Baldurs Gate series.

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Thanks Farflame!

A new trailer for Warhammer: Chaosbane called 'Rise of Chaos'.

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Rally under the banner of Magnus the Pious, as you and your friends, become the bane of Chaos. Battle across the Old World in the first Hack N' Slash set in the Fantasy Battles universe, Warhammer: Chaosbane.

Thanks Farflame!

Starflight 3 has entered its final week of crowdfunding. The latest update shares an interview with Chris Taylor about Starflight.

Final Week!

Posted: 09/22/2018

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The Home Stretch!

This is it, folks! We’re six days out and we have a long way to go to reach our goal. It’s not looking good for our friends at Interstel but crazier things than an 11th hour funding win have happened! We’re doing our best to get the word out and we really appreciate the support, help and love you’ve shown for one of our favorite games of all time!

Chris Taylor Talks Starflight

For a little inspiration we got to catch up with Chris Taylor. Chris is an industry legend having designed some of great games including Dungeon Siege and Total Annihilation. Chris took some time to talk about what Starflight gave to him early on in his gaming journey!

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Thanks so much for your support! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@Starflightgame)!

Sincerely,

The Starflight 3 Team

@Wccftech Some new video for Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition which showcases Patty.

New gameplay footage is now available for Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition, the upcoming remaster of one of the best entries in Bandai Namco’s JRPG series.

The new footage, which can be checked out below, showcases a mix of old and new content. The new footage is also the first time we are able to listen to Patty’s English voice, which is quite faithful to the Japanese one.

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A book about the story of Ultima, Origin and Garriott, named Through the Moongate, is currently on Kickstarter for the final steps of its release.

If you have played a computer role-playing game (CRPG), chances are Ultima played a part in its inspiration. Created by visionary Richard Garriott, and produced by his company Origin Systems, Inc., Ultima is one of the most important and influential CRPG series in the world. Through the Moongate illuminates the path of the Ultima games' history and the creative people behind this landmark series. It also covers some of Origin's other games, especially Wing Commander, and touches on several contemporary titles. Many of these tales have never before been told.

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As I traced the paths of the Ultima games and those who worked for Origin Systems, I began to realize the multitude of games that would not be possible without the influence of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems, and Ultima series upon the industry. To ensure their place in history, I've included special coverage of the Wing Commander and Ultima Underworld series, plus significant CRPGs of the era such as Star Trek (PDP), Empire and other PLATO games, Escape! and RobotWar by Silas Warner, Temple of Apshai, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds, Escape from Mt. Drash, Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony, Autoduel, Ogre, 2400 A.D., Questron, Tales of the Unknown: Volume I, Wizadore, Dungeon Master, Times of Lore, The Black Onyx, Dragon Quest, and Xanadu.

Twinfinite lists 7 RPGs with old-school combat.

Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius

In truth there are quite a few Final Fantasy mobile games that have achieved huge success; Mobius Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia, and most of all, Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius.

As of April 2018, Brave Exvius has hit 30 million downloads, no small feat for any mobile game, and it continues to enjoy an active user base. Brave Exvius sports an original story and turn-based combat that has you collecting characters from across the Final Fantasy universe. There have been collaborations with other Square Enix games like Just Cause, Deus Ex, and Valkyrie Profile and even a few collaboration out of left field like Ariana Grande. The bite-sized gameplay of Brave Exvius works perfectly for quick turn-based battles. Combat is a little simplified from what a normal RPG would have, but the hardboiled nostalgia of Brave Exvius works well alongside a combat system designed to be quick.

Thanks Farflame!

A gameplay video for Torchlight Frontiers from PAX West.

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Join Tyler (Echtra's Product Lead) and Jared (Perfect World's Community Manager) as they feature the Gamescom / PAX West demo of Torchlight Frontiers!

Thanks Farflame!

A new update for Starflight 3 announces an interview that was conducted on Reddit and another update announces addons.

You Spoke and We Listened!

We’ve been keeping an eye in the comments section, reading every tweet and basically scouring the internet for what folks are saying. And we think you could use some options! So, today we posted 3 new add-ons for people who want to add some of the sweet backer-exclusive items to their pledge. Check em out!

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Greg’s Doing a Reddit AMA This Thursday! Limited Run Fulfilling Box Copies!

Posted: 09/11/2018

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Join our AMA This Thursday!

This Thursday, September 13th at 11AM Pacific, Greg will be doing an AMA on Reddit! Got some burning Starflight questions that have haunted you since childhood? Want some sort of hint to Starflight 3’s story? Curious about whatever happened to the Red Herring? This Thursday is your time!

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Liberty Prime is a hack and slash RPG releasing onto Steam Early Access September 21st.

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Liberty Prime is a beautifully rendered ARPG thanks to the Unreal Engine technology. Join this dynamic hack’n’slash and its fast-paced combat based on elemental powers. There are no limits to character build, you can choose your path as you level-up and play your character the way you want. Dodge, dash, hack, slash, and unleash fury on your foes!

The environment will react to your actions and the elemental based spells you might use to vanquish your enemies. Soon, co-op will be added, and players will be able to combine spells to create chain reactions, in order to overcome greater challenges.

You’re a former captain of mercenary band forced to liberate 13 nations of the Drotus Empire in order to regain the lost "Glory". Your path will lead you on an epic and unexpected adventure with your companion, as you wander in this shattered world. Join the dark journey and experience overwhelming enemy encounters, diabolical hazards, and the unrelenting challenges.

Key Features

• Explore the Apocalyptic Fantasy World – Take a hero's journey through deserted Medieval World settings crafted in stunning, realistic, 3D detail
• Action-Packed Battles – Players will switch between elemental powers in battle against hordes of enemies and challenging bosses across a variety of open field maps. The tight controls and incredibly fluid combat are simple to learn for newcomers while offering plenty of depth for more experienced action gamers. Players can perform high-speed battle actions combining light and heavy attacks while evading enemies with speed and style.
• A labyrinth of monsters & bosses – Immerse yourself into mind-bending environments filled with new twisted monsters and deadly bosses over more than 100
• Elements of an RPG – Players will obtain a variety of items and runes over 200, manage inventory, level up in battle and customize a loadout and status that caters to their playstyle.
• Procedurally Generated Enemies – Larger amounts of content, and randomness for less predictable gameplay. If the enemy is too hard for your current build? Come back to challenge the different enemies.
• Replay Value – The game's not over until you say it is. You can replay the level you have already cleared to build your even character further without consistently encountering the same enemies.
• Complex AI – All the enemies have various skills and patterns. Defeating a Boss is a real phased challenge you will only defeat with strategy.
• Free character development – No character build limitation. You can develop any elemental powers that suits your playstyle and ability to switch between them.

TechQuila reports that Tales of Verperia: Definitive Edition launches January 2019.

Bandai Namco announced that Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition will launch for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch on the 11th of January, 2019 in the Americas and Europe.

Below is a teaser image of the special edition that will be available at launch:

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Thanks trespasser!

@Rock Paper Shotgun Abandon Ship has received a hefty patch which introduces sea forts, shady outposts and 'wanted' levels.

FTL-but-pirates roguelike Abandon Ship just sailed over the edge of its own world. A big update has added sea forts and floating outposts to the game of high seas and low life, along with a bunch of other stuff. There are new weapons, a bigger crew size, trade routes to raid, and the added danger of being marked as “wanted”, leading to bounty hunters being dispatched to chase you down. In other words, you’re going to be looking at the world as a chance for loot. Developers Fireblade Software are calling it the “Perilous Bounty” update, instead of the “Pirate’s Eye Patch”. The fools.

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Thanks Farflame!

rjshae noticed that Xoreos has received an update. Xoreos is an open-source reimplementation of the BioWare Aurora Engine which includes games like Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age and Knights of the Old Republic.

xoreos 0.0.5 “Dawn Star” Released

Fashionably (?) late, but still finally there, a new release of xoreos arrives! xoreos 0.0.5, nicknamed “Dawn Star”, coming with xoreos, xoreos-tools and for the first time, Phaethon, an in-progress graphical resource explorer.

A lot has happened in the last two years. A busy real life unfortunately made me miss the yearly “Not-Thanksgiving” progress report last year…so this here will be a kind of combination release post and progress report. Buckle up, this will be a long one. If you’re only interested in the short release notes, move on to the GitHub release pages linked above and again at the bottom of the post. Cool? Cool.

So, continuing from the last progress report in 2016, what exactly has happened?

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Phantom Brigade has a new teaser trailer.

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Phantom Brigade is a cinematic turn-based mech tactics game, with innovative combat.

Wishlist now on Steam!: https://store.steampowered.com/app/553540/Phantom_Brigade/

Lucah: Born of a Dream was released recently on Steam and Itch.io. IndieGames reported on it positively, liking its vivid art.

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Lucah's inner demons have this nasty tendency to be real, physical things that can hurt the young boy, and his only means of getting rid of them is by journeying into his dreams and lifting the curse himself. These beasts aren't exactly inclined to let this happen, so you'll need to equip several attacks, creating your own array of combos to use on these dangerous visions. You can further customize yourself by making friends with familiars you meet throughout the game to borrow their magic, as well as tack on some special movement styles like slow-mo dodges, allowing you to create a unique battle style.

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Niche Gamer shared their opinion on why games are not art and had a bit to say about RPGs as example.

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To put it bluntly without all the hyperbole and analogies, the “new gaming media” now had absolute power to influence the hobby in a way that would have made Jack Thompson cackle with delight.

They were the sole influencers now, setting up vast, interconnected “Web 2.0” communities that steered discussions in ways they wanted that only benefited them and their interests.

They could destroy a developer, attempt to squash a game’s success, and dig up dirt on anyone who went against their interests, and nobody had any kind of power or oversight to keep them in check. Well, that is, until GamerGate happened and became that oversight. They didn’t like that.

Getting back on track though, the “games are art” idea had another even worse effect on the industry, and that was the dumbing down of the hobby – most noticeably in the RPG genre.

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Age of Gladiators II: Rome released recently on Steam.

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Age of Gladiators II: Rome is a single-player strategy game set in the twilight of the ancient Roman Republic; a violent and unpredictable time when gladiatorial games were nearing the height of their popularity.

Hire scouts to scour the continent for potential prospects – once you have recruited your gladiators, you will need to manage their morale and personality while equipping them for battle. Recruit support staff, upgrade your gladiator school, collect bounties, research technologies, partake in side missions, and manage the wealth and reputation of your ludus as it grows each day.

As your fighters win battles and increase in level, it will be up to you to decide how to focus their abilities by spending attribute, weapons, and expertise points. Compete, trade, and interact with other in-game owners as you advance through various cities of the empire before achieving enough fame to compete in the grand coliseum of Rome herself.

Build your story. Build your empire.

Features:

• Control your gladiators with the new 3D isometric turn-based combat system, where fights can have hundreds of different outcomes. Utilize different combat styles and abilities – employ unique ethnic abilities, salves that increase physical stats, and special equipment such as bandages, stim salts, and more.
• Construct a ludus to your exact specifications in order to maximize the efficiency of your operation. Hospitals, sparring mats, barracks, armories, workshops, and more.
• Gladiators are born with their own dynamically generated physical attributes, classes, and personalities. It is up to you to shape your gladiator into the most proficient killing machine possible.
• As your gladiators level up, they gain points to spend on their attributes, weapons training, and expertise. Expertise allows you to build and customize your fighter according to their appropriate strengths. Weapons training allows you to specialize your gladiator with a specific weapon. The physicality of your gladiators will increase or decrease with age, depending on if they are in their prime or declining.
• Hire trainers to help your gladiators level faster, doctors to keep them healthy, scouts to find new fighters, and blacksmiths to improve weapons and armor.
• Manage your gladiators carefully – their morale, greed, injuries, fatigue, weapons training, and more must be taken into account before sending them to battle.
• As your gladiators gain glory from battle, they will become more widely recognized and adored by the crowds. Win enough battles and they may even get voted into the pantheon of heroes after they retire (or die).
• Become a mogul outside of the arena. Purchase property for fame or businesses through which to further increase your fame across the empire.
• Rob caravans, guard wealthy land owners, assassinate your debt holders and more with the proactive mission system. Increase the odds of success by sending reliable gladiators on the mission as well. Lawfully aligned gladiators will only partake lawful missions, while criminally-inclined gladiators will assist in unlawful activities.
• Engage in five different branches of research: combat, medical, weapons, armor, and scouting.
• Search for deals on weapons, armor, special equipment, and loans on the marketplace.
• Strive to become the wealthiest individual in the Roman empire. There are quick and underhanded ways to make money, but your reputation and fighter’s morale may suffer as a result.
• Receive taunting messages from opposing bosses as well as various other messages from your fighters, staff members, and different characters as you progress through the game.
• Rename your gladiators in order to increase your attachment toward them.
• Bet for or against your gladiator based on the odds generated by bookmakers in-game.
• Fight purses and betting is based on the hype associated with each match. The greater the hype, the more lucrative the fight purse and betting market will be.
• Each game is dynamically generated and different each time.

@PC Gamer The crowd-funding campaign for Starflight 3 has started today on Fig with a goal of 800K.

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Vaughn said he's been poking at Johnson to return to the series for years now—Starflight 2 is his "number-one game of all time"—but it's only now that their workloads have allowed them to get together on it. And while these old-time game resurrections are sometimes hamstrung by hassles over rights and ownership, getting the green light for Starflight 3 was no problem at all: Rod McConnell, another designer and programmer on the original Starflight, owns the property and was happy to see the project go ahead. 

"I called him up and said, 'Hey, we want to do this, would that be cool?' And he just laughed and said, 'Haha, you are Starflight, of course, do whatever you want—it's yours'," Johnson said. McConnell still owns the Starflight property, but getting the Starflight 3 ducks in a row was "super, super-easy."

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@OnlySP The Alpha for Last Epoch is now available.

Developed by Dallas-based Eleventh Hour Games, Last Epoch’s Alpha build is now available for Elder tier and higher Kickstarter backers. Several more supporter tiers are available to get either a preorder of the full game, Alpha access, and cosmetic upgrades including Primordial Turtle pets and the Ancient Portal skin.

Last Epoch tasks players with an open-ended quest through time to prevent their world of Eterra from being swallowed by The Void. As the Traveler, players must hop-scotch across the history of Eterra all while learning the origins of, and how to prevent the havoc already wrought by, The Void.

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Thanks Farflame!

The Last Remnant will become unavailable on Steam as it is being delisted. You have until September 4th to purchase if you are from NA or EU.

Important announcement regarding The Last Remnant

25 AUGUST - SUNILG
Hi everyone,

We will soon be discontinuing digital and physical sales of The Last Remnant on PC.

Sales will cease at the times below:-

Japan region: Wednesday 5th September, approximately 2:00 (JST)
NA region: Tuesday 4th September, approximately 10:00(PDT)
EU region: Tuesday 4th September, approximately 17:00(GMT)

Anyone already owning the game will still be able to play as per usual.

Thanks to everyone who's adventured with the Mitras, Yamas, Qsitis and Sovanis!

Thanks Couchpotato!

@PCGamesN Desperados 3 has been announced by Mimimi.

Characters old and new

The Desperados games stood apart from the Commandos series by putting its characters in the limelight – while Commandos had a varied cast of heroes, you never learned much about who they were. Desperados, on the other hand, told the story of gunslinger Cooper, and the likes of explosives expert Sam Williams, safecracker physician Doc McCoy, and gambler Kate O’Hara.

Desperados 3 won’t bring them all back, but Cooper will, at least, be on your team once again. He returns with his six shooter, silent throwing knives, and the classic coin flip – a tool to lure guards away from their post.

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Thanks porcozaur!

@DSOGaming Bloody Spell is an action RPG which will release for PC in 2019.

Chinese studio Yi Long Games is currently working on a new action RPG, called Bloody Spell, and released a new gameplay teaser trailer for it. While we don’t have enough information about this game, we do know that it will be released initially on the PC and that the team targets a 2019 release date.

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Games Industry talked to Techland's Adrian Ciszewski regarding Dying Light 2 and detailed how the upcoming 'narrative sandbox' enables players to manipulate a zombie-filled city.

"You can learn more by exploring the world, talking with people, reading stuff - there are a lot of different options when it comes to learning those systems."

Learning to manipulate Dying Light 2's various factions and gameplay systems also opens up new possibilities for players to tackle situations in different ways. Ciszewski describes a castle filled with hardened foes, very difficult for a starting player to contend with. But learn their motives and trigger a particular conflict on the other side of the city and they will redeploy their troops, lowering the security at the castle and making it possible to sneak in quietly.

"That's the shortcut you made, because you understand the rules of the world," says Ciszewski. "Otherwise you need to level up your character, do certain side quests, learn new skills and eventually kill all the guys in the castle. But that's up to you."

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Cyberpunk adventure game State of Mind has been released recently.

Comicbook: 4/5

But I will tell you why it’s so excellent. For starters, the writing is simply of considerable quality, which isn’t very surprising when you consider Martin Gantefohr is the pen behind it. Many adventure games are riddled with filler and congested with forgettable and inconsequential conversations. But I never felt this was an issue in State of Mind. Almost everything I read or listen to felt like it served another narrative facet: whether world-building, character development, or enriching the story. And it's all helped along with excellent pacing, and a story that takes its time to unveil itself, but also is mindful of your time.