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Couldn't find the time to watch the Community Streams or prefer reading instead? We got you covered!
Hello there people!
New year is right around the corner, bringing us ever closer to the release of Solasta II! We hope you had a fantastic year - and if not, don't worry - may you be blessed with better rolls in 2025. Cover yourself well and head into the next year with gusto and courage!
[...]
Community Streams #01 & #02 Recap
As not everyone can tune into the Community Streams (or want to, some people prefer reading and that's all good) and since you were many to ask for a recap, we're closing the year by answering your wishes! We know this won't prevent people from coming to ask "2024 or 2014 ruleset?" for the eighteenth time in an hour in Twitch chat, but hopefully we can cut it down to a single digit number. Here are some of the most asked questions.
Remember, Solasta II is still very much under development, meaning anything we're saying here may be subject to change in the future, just as our wording implies.
Question: Is Solasta II still grid-based?
Yes, Solasta II is still grid-based during combat. This question was asked because some sharp-eyed viewer noticed one character ending their turn with 2 feet of movement in the trailer (instead of 5' or 0'). This difference is due to how pathfinding works in Unreal Engine 5 - characters no longer have to go through the center of each tile they're moving through (which made their movement look a little robotic in Solasta I), instead taking the shortest path to their destination.
This means in the current implementation, you will often end with less than 5' of movement after moving, as you still need to end your movement on a tile of the grid. You will also still be able to see which tiles are valid before moving just like in our previous game.
A new dev log for Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch:
Captain's Log #2: Helmets On, Helmets Off
Hi Tacticians,
Happy New Year! I'm back for log #2!
In Lost Eidolons, we worked hard to ensure the playable characters' faces are very visible during battles and even in close-up combat scenes. But then some players asked, "Isn't it strange for characters not to be wearing helmets during battle?" And I learned that many players prefer characters wearing helmets for realism.
So, as we started working on Lost Eidolons: Veil of the Witch, I made a firm decision to include the helmet option this time. And now, in the character information window, you'll find a Helmet ON/OFF option in the upper-left corner of the character illustration.
When this option is enabled, you can see the 3D character wearing a helmet or hood during battles and event maps!
In the next game, we'd love to create a foundation where players can edit helmets and appearances directly or indirectly. Stay tuned!
RPGFan reviewedBreath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated:
Review: Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated
2024 has been my year of playing remakes, remasters, and re-releases of games I never played or never finished for various reasons. The latest entry on that list is Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated, ShadowLayer Games' full remake of Zeboyd Games' indie darling that I never played the first time around. This brief yet fulfilling game is precisely what I needed to get a necessary RPG fix during recent weeks when life gave me little time to sit down and play games.
Breath of Death VII takes place in a distant, post-apocalyptic fantasy version of our world, akin to that in the Shannara book series. After a weapon of mass destruction completely decimates the world and wipes out humanity, undead beings like vampires, zombies, and ghosts eventually rise up and create new civilizations. These undead live in peace and harmony for generations until evil rears its ugly head. At this point, players meet Dem, a skeleton knight who acts as a silent protagonist.
[...]
Arguably, the most amazing upgrade in Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated is the all-new soundtrack by Hyperduck Soundworks. I'm a fan of Hyperduck Soundworks (as evidenced by my review of Dust: An Elysian Tail's soundtrack) and they deliver the goods yet again. I watched some videos of the original Breath of Death VII, and though its chiptune music was solid, it pales compared to their characteristically epic-sounding compositions here. That being said, an option to play the game with the original music would be worthwhile.
Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated is a delightful remake of a good game. The original Breath of Death VII is a favorite among indie game fans for a reason, and this version is even better. With lovely graphics, solid gameplay, fantastic music, amusing writing, a manageable length to fit into any busy schedule, and a satisfying RPG experience for half the price of a movie ticket, Breath of Death VII: The Beginning: Reanimated is worth your time.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II - Pre-order now and claim the bonus quest!
Glory favours the prepared.
Pre-order now and claim The Lion's Crest bonus quest, available Day 1.
Adventure waits for no one.
The time has come for you to take the first step in continuing your journey through the heart of Bohemia. We are thrilled to announce that pre-orders for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II are now open!
By the grace of God, the story of our hero, Henry, continues, so sharpen your swords, don your armor, and prepare to once again walk the storied lands of Bohemia in an epic tale of honor, betrayal, and vengeance.
Secure your place among the first to experience this epic saga by pre-ordering today! As a token of our gratitude for your unwavering loyalty and valor, those who pre-order will receive an exclusive questline that delves deeper into the mysteries of the kingdom. Complete this perilous journey, and you shall be rewarded with a set of legendary armor and a weapon of great renown, forged to aid Henry in his most challenging battles yet.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II arrives 4 February 2025 on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
MMORPG interviewed Creative Director Chris Perkins about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen:
Interview: Talking Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's Early Access Launch With Creative Director Chris Perkins
Earlier this month, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen launched into Early Access. The release is momentous: having been in development for ten years with a few restarts and tragedies along the way, Pantheon finally launching in some way is a good thing, regardless of your views on early access.
Yet, the road doesn't end here. Pantheon is still very much in active development, with more work to be done before they can call the MMO ready for its 1.0 full release. With classes yet to be added, zones, and crucially important gameplay systems still to come, Pantheon feels like it's just getting started.
From the jump, Pantheon hearkens back to the classic era of MMORPGs, something our reviewer thinks Visionary Realms has really nailed in how Rise of the Fallen plays even in this early stage. Speaking with MMORPG.com after the first weekend of Early Access, creative director Chris "Joppa" Perkins tells us that the team is actually trying to do more than just feel like classic EverQuest, rather they are trying to thread the needle between EverQuest and vanilla World of Warcraft, as if there was a third game in the mix back in the day.
"I think we are on track to really nailing what we're trying to nail," Perkins explained when asked about the style of MMO Pantheon is trying to achieve. He continued, "And to the casual observer, that might sound like a clone or direct throwback to EverQuest pacing and mechanics and things like that. But the reality is, we're actually trying to walk this line inbetween these two major categories, which would be classic EverQuest, which I would define as the original trilogy, and classic World of Warcraft as it launched initially, or very similar to the current Classic experience.
As we enter 2025, we come to another year set to be further stacked with magnificent RPG releases. With so many titles on the horizon it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees, so we at RPGamer have come together to help highlight some of our most anticipated titles for the year (and likely for some time beyond). Our volunteers were invited to select some of the games they are most looking forward to and tell us why, and you can read up on all of our choices below.
We hope you enjoy reading about our most anticipated games. This list certainly isn't an exhaustive one and there will be great titles we've missed so please also let us know what games you are looking forward to in the coming year!
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land
Avowed
Borderlands 4
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Commandos: Origins
Demonschool
Dragon Quest I-II HD-2D Remake
Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate
Dream Channel Zero
Elden Ring: Nightreign
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
Hades II
Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Lunar Remastered Collection
Lurks Within Walls
Monster Hunter Wilds
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster
Stray Children
The Time I Have Left
Usual June
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Gamesindustry talked with Ken Levine about the future of storytelling in video games:
The future of storytelling with Ken Levine
Acclaimed developer also discusses Judas, generative AI and why it "wasn't easy to step away from BioShock"
Ken Levine has spent much of his career trying to redefine video game narratives. Most famously with the iconic twists in his acclaimed BioShock series, and most recently with the ongoing development of Judas - the debut title from Ghost Story Games.
While some may argue that video games as a medium may be reaching their limit in terms of graphics and production quality, the potential for interactive storytelling remains largely untapped. Judas attempts to explore this by mixing up the story's events depending on the relationship players develop with key characters, but Levine is keen to emphasise this is just one possible future of narratives in video games.
We spoke with the renowned designer about the biggest challenges in telling stories that react to players, the balance between author vision and player agency, the potential for generative AI in storytelling, and more.
The interview below has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Video game storytelling has advanced so much in the last decade or so, but what would you say is the biggest challenge that remains?
It's very easy to show a player a story. The harder part is to get them to participate in it and react to how they participate.
It's very easy to show a player a story. The harder part is to get them to participate in it and react to how they participate.
I don't think there's one way to make games, but personally, as a narrative games maker, I've never been a big fan of cutscenes because they're not interactive. One of the reasons Judas is taking so long is trying to figure out how we get the game to be substantially more responsive to player decisions. That's a really hard problem, and that's why you don't see a ton of it [in games].
Our industry is over 50 years old and we still don't really know what it is, what games are. By the time movies were 50 years old, they were making Citizen Kane. It's changed somewhat [since then], styles have changed, but they had it pretty well figured out by the 1940s - we haven't.
Now I think that's a feature not a bug because I like being in a field where even at my age, I'm still like 'What is this thing? Let's try shit and see if it works.' That's incredibly exciting.
A meticulously crafted LGBTQ+ fantasy RPG for the modern age, where every moment matters and teamwork takes center stage.
Story The Dawn's Circle is an fantasy RPG epic inspired by Final Fantasy X, Mana Khemia: alchemists of Al-Revis,and Pyre.
The Dawn's Circle has intense strategic combat, impactful crafting and progression systems, and an in-depth character-driven narrative.
The story is set in a fractured world divided between gods and their cloisters, where a fledgling god must find her place amidst the world's deeply entrenched traditions. The search for belonging will take her and her newfound friends all across the land, all the while uncovering the truth about a bloody war, and an ancient secret that could tear the world apart at its seams.
Every step of the journey is told with bold and expressive artwork as you explore a meticulously crafted world full of colorful characters and intriguing secrets.The Dawn's Circle is a rich and multifaceted story about belonging, responsibility, intimacy, and dehumanization. It doesn't shy away from confronting the darker aspects of its world, but we don't believe levity, fun, and joy should be sacrificed to do so.
Even in a broken world, there is still beauty. No matter how long the night, the dawn still arrives...
Gameplay
Alongside the narrative, we wanted the player to experience a unique gameplay package that was a personal love letter to our favorite aspects of the genre, and with more than a few extra twists to keep things fresh.
Combat The Dawn's Circle strives to fully realize the tactical potential of a turn-based combat engine by including a wealth of innovative mechanics such as a dynamic, reactive timeline-based turn order, sculpted area-of-effect attacks, and even abilities which can reposition enemies. We set out to make sure every party member has a defined and valuable role to play in combat. To this end, each of their toolkits are filled with unique gimmicks and specialized skills, designed to synergize with each other in a wide variety of ways. This depth adds whole new layers of planning, teamwork, and creativity to the classic formulas of turn-based combat.
We also sought to do away with some of the most common pain points which have plagued the genre since its inception. No more mashing the "Attack" command through pitifully weak random encounters, hoarding dozens of items that you'll never use or equipping new gear only to get a new one with 0.5% greener numbers in the next room.
Our focus with combat was to create something truly unique, as such, it will be covered more in-depth in its own section further down.
Community | First update of Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era!
2024 was an awesome year for the HoMM community and us - we've unveiled Olden Era at Gamescom, got to know all of you brilliant people, and showed you so many amazing reveals like Necropolis and Dungeon factions, including the latest music one - with Paul Romero, Cris Velasco, and Heroes Orchestra!
We at Unfrozen have the vision and team to do the heavy lifting, but it's your feedback that shapes and polishes Olden Era's journey to Early Access.
We wanted to wrap up this year with the first Community Feedback Update video. Let's see how we've applied your thoughts and comments alongside a few extra goodies you haven't had a chance to take a good look at before! We're planning to have more of such videos in 2025
We can't wait for the release day in Q2 2025 to arrive and we hope you'll continue this journey alongside us!
It's the end of the year and time for our monthly Xenonauts 2 development update. A fairly quick one this time, though, as I'm currently on holiday!
Milestone 5 Release:
The biggest news this month is that we released the initial Milestone 5 prototype on the Experimental branch on the 13th December. Although we did a lot of internal testing prior to releasing the prototype, it still ended up being very unstable (probably because we were still adding new features right up until release).
As the studio closed for Christmas on the 20th Dec, we then worked long hours to try and get the prototype into a more stable state before the holidays. After five hotfixes (including a festive Christmas Eve update) we managed to deal with most of the critical issues, leaving the prototype in much better shape. However, we're already aware of a number of bugs that we need to look at in January.
We'll also be adding a lot more content to Milestone 5 next month - as mentioned in previous updates, the initial prototype contains quite a lot of placeholder assets that we need to finish or replace before Milestone 5 is released on the standard branches.
Thanks once again to everyone who has taken the time to report bugs or give us feedback. If anyone wants to offer further thoughts, please do!
UFO Delegation:
One change in Milestone 5 proved controversial, which was the "UFO Delegation" feature. Basically, this is triggered after completing two Crash Sites of a particular UFO type, and it gives you a permanent monthly funding increase - but also imposes an Operations Point cost if you complete further Crash Site missions of that particular UFO type (there is a lore justification for this, but for the sake of brevity I won't explain it here).
We introduced this change because the player shoots down a lot of UFOs during the course of the game, and unfortunately there's two opposing (but equally valid) playstyles regarding the Crash Sites produced. The first group of players will happily fight every single tactical mission that spawns on the Geoscape, which can easily be 30+ Crash Sites over the course of a single campaign. The second group of players is happy to fight one or two Crash Sites of a particular UFO type to see the new content and unlock the associated research, but find it repetitive to do more than that.
It's extremely difficult to balance the game to account for both these playstyles, as it either ends up too easy for the people who like to complete every Crash Site (as they have way too much money / resources) or too tedious and grindy for the people who prefer to complete only one or two per UFO (as they're forced to complete every crash site to avoid money / resource shortages).
The delegation system was our attempt to support both sides by reducing the potential rewards for fighting lots of identical Crash Sites - players can still do it if they choose, but they gain less of an advantage than they did previously.
We've already listened to community feedback on this point (the Operations Point cost was previously a Panic penalty) and we'll continue to do so. Much like we added options for people who wanted to disable turn timers on tactical missions, if necessary we're prepared to add an optional "extended" mode that fully removes delegation and is balanced around the player completing every Crash Site.
However, this won't be possible until the game balance for the "normal" campaign is locked for final release in Milestone 6, as keeping an additional game mode updated while balance is still in flux would take up lots of development time.
So if you see people getting upset about this topic, please point them at this post. I think most people will find the new system an improvement overall, but we'll continue to support those who would prefer to play without it.
Conclusion:
That's everything from me. The first of us will be back at work on Thursday and we'll be back to full strength on Monday 6th, so expect the patches and updates for Milestone 5 to resume next week.
I'd like to close by thanking everyone for your support during 2024 - this game genuinely wouldn't be possible without our community. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy New Year!
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Tim shows some photos from the Fallout development:![[IMG]](https://sorcerers.net/community/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Frpgwatch.com%2FImages%2FLogos%2Fgame-626.gif&hash=48157fc5c05b404b40958f813b46851a)
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A development update for Xenonauts 2:
