Atomic Heart which was initially announced for this autumn has been postponed to Feb 21, 2023:

Atomic Heart releases on February 21, 2023, and opens its pre-orders with a BANG!

We're absolutely THRILLED to announce the release date of Atomic Heart, set in the mad utopia of an alternate post-WWII world. And we made a frenetic release date reveal trailer, just for you.

Take part in 💥explosive💥 encounters in a mad and sublime utopian world
Enter a world of wonders and perfection in which humans and their AI creations live in harmony… or so it seems. Set the record straight on this deceitful utopia, exploring a twisted sci-fi world, blasting rogue robots, giant machines and even mutants. Adapt your fighting style to each opponent, use your environment and upgrade your equipment to have the upper hand in a visceral, spectacular and unforgiving combat experience. If you want to uncover the truth, you'll have to pay in blood.

Pre-orders are now OPEN!!
You can already pre-order the game with exclusive weapon skins granted to those who do in the form of the Labour & Science Weapon Skin Pack. Three editions are available for pre-orders: the Standard Edition, consisting of the base game; the Gold Edition, that includes the Atomic Pass in addition to the game; and the Premium Edition, including the Gold Edition content, an exclusive digital artbook and extra cosmetics. The Atomic Pass takes the Atomic Heart experience further with four DLCs, opening up access to new areas and labs as well as new weapons, new enemies, bosses and more!

Thanks Redglyph!

Digimancy Entertainment have posted an interview with renowned game writer Adam Heine.

One of your first game credits is as a scripter for Planescape: Torment. What was it like working on this classic computer role-playing game?

That project was a dream. None of us knew at the time, of course, that it would become a classic (and it didn't sell terribly well upon release either—its "classic" status came much later). We only knew that we loved what we were making. I read every design doc I could find on the company server. I couldn't get enough of this strange, compelling world and the mystery of who the Nameless One really was.

It was also my first project, which made it even more of a dream—a culmination of a dream, really. My job was mostly taking designers' outlines for different areas and implementing them in the game—cutscenes, boss battles, cranium rats, immortal tomb puzzles, brothel NPC pathing and barks... all of it. It sounds like it might not be very creative, but I loved it.

And it was creative. I frequently discovered that what the designers wanted to do wasn't supported by the engine, and I had to figure out clever workarounds or alternatives all the time. I gained a reputation as a kind of troubleshooter, but really, I was just trying to make the game as good as I could make it.

Much as I loved the team and the project, I left the game industry shortly after Torment's release to focus on my personal life. But the connections I made on that project were strong enough (apparently) to pull me back in several years later for Torment's spiritual successor and several gigs after that.

 

You worked as the Design Lead for Torment: Tides of Numenera later in your career. How did this opportunity come about for you and what was it like stepping into a Design Lead role for this production?

This project was a Godsend for me. My wife and I live in Thailand, and our primary work is taking in children with nowhere to go. But by 2011, our expenses had slowly outstripped our income. It was at exactly that time that Colin McComb, whom I'd worked with on Planescape: Torment, asked me if I wanted to work on a spiritual successor to that game. I probably would've done it for free, but I needed a paying job—or at least a chance at one.

Before and during the Kickstarter campaign, all my work was on-spec. The idea was that if the Kickstarter met its goal of $900,000, I would have a job for a few months as a writer. But the campaign turned into a record-breaking success raising over $4 million, and I was made a full designer for the length of the project. A few months later, Kevin Saunders promoted me to Design Lead (partially because that's kinda what I was already doing?).

[...]

The latest Kickstarter update for Code of the Savage shows the current intro for the game.

Greetings Backers!

Intro sequence

The intro sequence has now been added to the game showing how the player ends up on Daneth under tragic circumstances. It is very much open to suggestion and definitively subject to change.

I'm very interested in getting your feedback - positive or negative. 

Other stuff

• Added intro scene
• Added weapon swing animation for NPCs
• Added temporary dialog dummy object for cutscenes
• Sound falloff script now checks camera position, not player
• Fixed NPC corpse alignment on death
• Added instant camera move and fade in to cutscenes
• Blood screen now follows camera, not player
• Fixed player gaining XP when an NPC kills an NPC
• Copses now fall in the opposite direction of the attacker instead of randomly
• Zone checking now more efficient
• Added offset option for display text
• Added screen center helper object
• Added cell doors
• Fixed NPCs disabling during cutscenes

~Geoff

SplatterCatGaming shares his first impressions of Space Mercenary RPG Stellar Wanderer.

Stellar Wanderer gameplay with Splat! Let's Play Stellar Wanderer and check out a game where you'll roam the stars blasting everybody that gets in your way and occasionally delivering a package.

Version 3.2 of Genshin Impact is now available:

Collected Miscellany - "Nahida: Unraveling Wonders of the Universe"

The RPG/School Sim Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 will be released early 2023:

Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2

Valthiria’s mightiest heroes are not born of destiny or prophecy. They were enrolled, trained and taught in special academies. Hero School Story 2 places you in charge of a hero academy to create the next generation of heroes who will save Valthiria from the dark forces that threaten it. Take command of the faculty, nurture a unique and ever-changing roster of students, forge alliances with the kingdoms who vie for influence and earn your place among the most prestigious Hero Schools in Valthiria.

Game Features

Combining the RPG and Simulation genres, in Hero School Story 2 you will manage your students by determining their learning schedules and courses, building their stats and skills to shape them into the heroes you desire. These stats are key when sending your students to fulfill quests from people all over Valthiria, defeating various enemies in strategic turn-based combat and adding to your academy’s renown. Yet there’s no time to rest on laurels – every school year the seniors will graduate and freshmen will enroll, so managing your academy to fit the dynamic roster of students is crucial.

Create Your Own Hero Academy
As Principal of the academy, your task is to allocate your students what classes and courses to learn, shaping them into the heroes you want them to become. Will you focus on magical courses and become a school of great wizards, one for mighty warriors, or perhaps a bit of everything? Your management style will determine the kind of quests you can take – as enemies are locks to students’ keys, fulfilling harder quests will require build specific rosters to solve these challenges.

Plan, Forecast, Execute, Repeat
Foresight and strategic turn-by-turn decisions are critical to succeed in our unique turn-based combat system. Built around class-based proficiencies and breaking enemy weaknesses, players are rewarded both for bringing an optimal team composition and taking calculated risks in combat. Whether playing it safe or taking the gung-ho way, it’s up to you how to solve the challenges presented.

Manage a Dynamic Student Roster
Despite the lure to focus on caring and honing just the best students, as a Principal it is your duty to ensure that every children taken under the wings of your academy thrive. Students will stay for only three years before they must graduate, and every one of them will affect your academy’s reputation (which will deter gifted students to enroll next year!). So manage your whole student roster well, as focusing on just a select few individuals may gimp you when they inevitably leave the school grounds, as you will be left with those less cared for.

The tactical RPG Lost Eidolons got a new patch:

Lost Eidolons Patch Notes (10/31/2022, Completed) + Additional Hotfix

Tacticians,

[Update] Additional small hotfix will be also released to fix one of the issues we encountered right after the update: if you play optional battle with turn limits off and if you play more than turn 16, you might not be able to end the game.

[...]

Please note that if you are playing at this time, your game will not be interrupted. You will be prompted to download the patch the next time you open Lost Eidolons.

Now, here's a word about this patch from Jin Sang Kim, our Creative Director of Lost Eidolons.

Hey guys,

It's been a really wild, eye-opening couple of weeks since the game launched on October 12th. After a short celebration, we scrambled to gather all the feedback and suggestions that poured in from various channels.

As you may know, the set turn limit was the hottest topic after launch, which I had not anticipated at all. After a brief moment of shock, my team and I got to work. We spent hours discussing how to deliver the best experience for all our players including those who liked or did not mind the turn limit. As this touched upon the core mechanic of the game, there were a lot of technical hurdles to overcome to remove the limit completely. Our initial conversations prioritized the speed at which we can address the issue, as we really wanted to tell the disappointed players as quickly as possible that we remedied their problem. And had we kept speed as the top priority, we would have been able to turn off the limit last week but at a cost--you wouldn't have been able to save the game after certain turns. After more discussions, we decided that it was much more important to address the issue at its core and that delivering quality is a higher priority than speed.

So a big thank-you to those who waited patiently for us to address the turn limit issue. You can now choose to turn off the limit when you start a new game. For those who do not mind, you can keep it on as the default setting.

Another thing that took me by surprise (maybe not everyone on the team) was the issue of long cutscenes, especially when you first start the game. As a story-driven game, I had placed a lot of importance on delivering the story and the context via cutscenes and dialogs. But I've learned that it was perhaps a bit too much in the beginning and that you prefer to quickly get to the heart of the game--the gameplay-- and unravel the story as you go. Therefore we've removed the first three cutscenes in order to get you to the first episode battle more quickly.

We continuously look at what you tell us, so please make suggestions or vote for others' suggestions you agree with on our Lost Eidolons Feature Upvote board! If you look at the board, you will see that we are already working on our next set of QoL changes like manual dialog advancement in cutscenes.

-Jin Sang

Patch Notes
 
Optional Turn Limit 

Option to choose turn limit on/off has been added. When starting a new game, you can turn off the turn limit or keep it on as you select the game mode and difficulty.

FPS Unlocked

Option to choose between frame rate of 30/60/Unlimited has been added.

Shorter Path to EP01 

The three cutscenes preceding the start of Episode 1 battle have been removed. You now start with the tutorial and intro video and move right into Episode 1 battle.

EP01 Battle Balance 

Episode 1 battle has been rebalanced to adjust damage taken by the allies.

Battle/Camp Map Brightness

Improved the lighting of the nighttime battlefield and camp to make them a little brighter

Improved Game Stability

Fixed an issue that could cause an exception to destabilize the build when the battle AI is running.

No Sound Mode was made to address the issue where some PCs’ sound settings prevented you from entering the game. This should fix the "infinite loading screen" issue for many players.

DOF filter applied to the background of dialogue cutscenes has been removed to improve game performance.

Various Bug Fixes

The Assassin class bug that allowed primary weapons to be equipped as both primary and secondary weapons was fixed. 

The skill bug that revived all the spent skills after swapping out equipped Unique primary to secondary weapons was fixed.

The bug that caused the equipped magic to look abnormal upon opening the grimoire from the Inventory was fixed. You can check the grimoire in the Equipment or Grimoire menu.

The bug that sometimes caused the selected aide to change when they were turned on/off in the battle’s Formation menu was fixed.

The bug where you couldn’t change the formation after clicking on the battlefield tile with the Formation window open was fixed.

The very small Chinese font in the battlefield’s terrain guide window, the camp, and the codex were fixed. (We will continue to improve the font sizes.)

The Episode 27 progression blocker bug where the game UI disappeared if you press ESC when the enemy moves as a group was fixed.

Fixed the gamepad vibration not working.

Fixed the error where the battle camera was incorrectly applied when using the "Quick Attack" skill with a bow equipped.

The bug that prevented hotkeying from Options > Controls menu was fixed.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to fix issues and provide more improvements per your suggestions.

Dr. Incompetent looks back at Underrail:

Underrail | A Review in 2022 and Should You Play It?

Game Sinners checked out Star Ocean: The Divine Force:

Star Ocean: The Divine Force Review

Forty-five hours, a few laughs, and a few frowns later, we shrugged off Star Ocean: The Divine Force. It’s a middle-tier Japanese RPG that never threatens to rise to the top or fall so far that it’s crammed between Hyperdimension Neptunia and Unlimited Saga. Failure to even crack the top half. The most opulent building in the JRPG genre.

Considering the series’ troubled past, The Divine Force’s middling quality is likely an improvement. Some of the changes and systems implemented here make it possible that the next Star Ocean game may be genuinely good, even if this game wouldn’t make our best of 2022 list unless we’re doing 100 games each this year. It’s possible it’ll turn out to be really good.

[...]

Conclusion

Like a cozy pair of JRPG slippers, Star Ocean: The Divine Force is easy to sink into. In case you’re craving a Japanese RPG but have already exhausted the good options, this one should satisfy your cravings. That’s fine. It’s the kind of food that makes you feel better. You know how it is to be watching Criminal Minds when you really want to be watching Mindhunter and you can only watch one episode because Netflix hasn’t renewed Mindhunter yet? That. It’s a cosmic first.

Pro:

• Combat is fun, fast, and flexible
• Some banging music
• Ticks all of the traditional JRPG boxes

Cons:

• Rough animations
• Occasional slowdown in parts
• Story takes ages to get going
• Look at Raymond’s hair
• LOOK AT IT

The Brizz Loves RPGs reviewed the retro RPG Rise of the Third Power:

Rise of the Third Power review

Arekkz Gaming checked out the upcoming Life Sim / RPG Harvestella:

Harvestella - New Final Fantasy RPG Life Simulator Like Animal Crossing & Rune Factory?

PC Mag has reviewed the J-RPG Persona 5 Royal:

Persona 5 Royal (for PC)

Ascending to RPG royalty

Persona 5 was a role-playing game masterpiece from Atlus, a video game studio known for high-quality RPGs. It received a substantial upgrade, Persona 5 Royal, that smoothed the original game’s rough edges, and bulked up the 80-hour package with new characters, story elements, and music. With Persona 5 Royal's PC debut, Atlus combines all that with even more goodies, including a new challenge mode and additional personas. In short, the $59.99 Persona 5 Royal is a near-perfect PC game that suffers only from an occasionally perplexing English translation and a few skeezy scenes.

Bottom Line
Persona 5 Royal makes the jump to PC, and delivers the same thrilling gameplay and touching moments as its original release, but now with a new mode, fresh characters, additional music, and all previous DLC.

Pros

• Exciting, turn-based combat
• Cool social bonding elements
• An endearing cast
• Phenomenal soundtrack
• Excellent visual style
• Steam Deck compatible

Cons

• A few questionable character moments

Score: 4.5/5 Excellent

 

The Turn Based Lovers tell us more about their favourite topic:

Top Turn-Based RPG News and Releases of the Week - October 30th 2022

0:00 Intro
0:10 Marvel's Midnight Suns System Requirements and Season Pass
0:52 Troubleshooter New DLC
1:22 Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Season Pass 2
1:52 One Piece Odyssey new trailer and info
2:28 Eiyuden Chronicles Main Story Fully voiced
2:57 It Returned to the Desert Announcement
3:39 R-Type Tactics 1-2 Cosmos Announcement
4:05 Free game to keep on Epic
4:35 Myth Of Mist
4:59 Fhtagn Simulator
5:27 Clash II
5:55 Live by the Sword: Tactics
6:25 Sandwalkers: The 14th Caravan
6:52 CESSPOOL
7:11 Outro

Watcher Kordanor reviewed the Strategy RPGs Mutant Meltdown and Z Dawn:

Mutant Meltdown & Z Dawn - Review (with Guidance) [EN] by Kordanor

Conclusion:

It will take maybe 1 to 2 hours until you found your way into the game and it's mechanics, which is also thanks to the lackluster communication of the game with the player, which in my opinion is the biggest weakness of Mutant Meltdown.
...
But once you are past that, then all the little, but important decisions you will have to make result in some quite compelling gameplay, which will take about 5 to 10 hours for one successful playthrough – The perfect length for a game with permadeath in my opinion.
A couple of roguelite elements which change the starting situation would have been nice though and they would have given additional attempts a different spin.
On my wishlist would also have been some more integration of story.
...
It's interesting though that it's predecessor Z-Dawn is doing some of these things better than Mutant Meltdown.
...
And you can certainly argue that the missing radiation but also missing item decay make the game easier to start with.

I will give Mutant Meltdown, and accordingly also Z-Dawn a Rating of 3/4 Thumbs up. If after this review you think that the games sound interesting, then you will not be disappointed. But if you expect much more in terms of tactical depth or in terms of storytelling, well, then these games is not for you. They put their focus on a few basic mechanics which work quite well in my opinion, at least in games of this scope. And the price is accordingly cheap. With just 10 Euros for the game without a sale, you can't really do anything wrong if you think the game could be interesting for you.
And if you like Mutant Meltdown and would love to do another round with a slightly different setup and different quests, then you can as well check out Z-Dawn, especially if it's in a sale. Or the other way around. They are really that similar. 

HQ Gaming News compiled a list of interesting RPGs which will be released in 2023 or later:

10 MOST ANTICIPATED upcoming SINGLE PLAYER RPG games of 2023 and beyond

• Forspoken
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Warhammer 40.000: Rogue Trader
• Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
• Diablo IV
• One Piece Odyssey
• Baldur's Gate 3
• Mass Effect
• Starfield
• Final Fantasy XVI

The Action RPG Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty will be released on March 3, 2023:

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - Official Gameplay Trailer

The DLC Roots of Evil for the Action RPG Yaga is now availble for consoles, too:

Yaga - Roots of Evil

Oakvale - a village under siege by corrupted beasts. The fleeing refugees suspect Leshy, the forest spirit, and wish to have him destroyed. The Woodsman thinks otherwise and comes to our hero, pleading for a more peaceful way.

Will Ivan bow to the anger of the people, listen to the Woodsman's plea or decide Leshy's fate all on his own?

Find out if he's strong enough to defeat the festering corruption, while also crossing paths with vibrant characters such as the fabled Kuma Lisa, the Trinket Kid and Gigi the Loan Shark inside sidequests of their own.

• See the Woodsman near the village gates!
• The Loan Shark needs some help, if you're up to a gruesome task.
• A smart young boy wants to help. Will you help him help you?
• New Tool, New Magic, New Ore, New Enhancements, New Items

Like every week the RPG Crawler sums up the computer and tabletop RPG news:

RPG News Roundup (10-29-2022)

GamingBolt reviewed Star Ocean: The Divine Force:

Star Ocean: The Divine Force Review - The Final Verdict

BestNerdLife checked out Live by the Sword: Tactics:

Live By The Sword Tactics Preview Review | BestNerdLife

Mortismal Gaming takes a deep dive into the Infinity Engine:

The History And Legacy Of The Infinity Engine

Tactical Adventures posted Dev Update #32 about the monk class for Solasta:

Dev Update #32 - Monks: If you got a butt I'll kick it!

Hey there folks!

We're back with more information about the upcoming Inner Strength DLC (which releases November 14th), this time featuring the Monk! The perfect opportunity to make references to dumb (but fun) kung fu movies. But before that, here are some of our new hires!

I know Kung Fu

If I ask you which class runs around half-naked on the battlefield while smashing enemies left and right, you say... Barbarian, okay I guess that's correct too. But hear this - you want to go even faster? Punch people in the face and kick them in the nuts instead of relying on a big chunk of metal to swing around? Well look no further than Monks. These expert martial artists are simply the fastest among all existing classes, and although they are less durable than most other front liners their speed allows them to quickly get in and out of combat. 
Each of their strike may not deal large amounts of damage, but they can be empowered with Ki to add debilitating effects, such as the infamous Stunning Strike (which makes many DMs weep for their boss monsters). 

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Maverick Games posted an update about Stellar Tactics:

Engine update, radar mini-map, career bonuses and starting ship selections

Engine update, radar mini-map, tutorials, more choices when creating a new character, and ship class bonuses.
Lots of changes today and a few bug fixes. Meanwhile, I am working on the Chapter 2 content which should be released late December or January. Notes below.

GAME ENGINE UPDATED:

Much smoother gameplay even with saves that have hundreds of hours played. In general, the updated core engine will provide better visual fidelity and smoother camera movement

Camera smoothing updated.

The game engine now requests the highest power GPU for laptops and systems that have both Intel and NVidia/ATI GPU's. In the past, this was a problem. In many cases the default settings on Laptops were trying to render the game on the Intel GPU which was much slower and in some cases did not fully support the shaders required to render game effects, causing crashes on these systems. The work around was to manually force high power rendering through the control panels.
NOTE: The new engine only supports 64bit OS. For 32bit OS, the game will fall back to the older renderer/engine.

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Warlockracy looks back at Jagged Alliance 2:

Jagged Alliance 2 (one of my all time favs)

IGN checked out the J-RPG Star Ocean: The Divine Force:

Star Ocean: The Divine Force Review

Here's the story trailer for the upcoming Tactics Ogre: Reborn:

Tactics Ogre: Reborn | Story Trailer

Live by the Sword: Tactics has left Early Access:

Time to save the Kingdom

The day is finally here, after 15 months of Early Access we are fully releasing

Hello everyone,

The day has finally arrived it is launch day and with it the excitement of getting the game out to you all. So many of you all have contributed to the game in one way or another through the use of the in-game feedback system, this would not have been possible without you so please pat yourselves on the back because you are also part of this game.

Seriously, I can't get over how amazing a lot of you all have been. If you can, please leave a steam review, they are so important to the health of a game.

What started as just a board game a few years ago has transitioned into a game that has taken some risks with bucking trends and trying to do something new in the genre. While it may be tough to see at first we promise that if you stick with the game we have so much more to offer and provide. All of us here at Labrador Studios are committed to the development of new content and making the experience even better over time.

Over the next few days as you play please send in your feedback, let us know what you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see more of. This is your game as much as it is ours, let us know your thoughts, we can better serve you all with more information. Use the in game feedback system or post on the forums or even shoot us a message in Discord. Any way works for us.

To show our dedication we have created a content road map with the first update coming this winter in December.

TLDR:

• I love you all
• Leave a steam review please
• New content on the way
• Voice your opinion to us
• Please like and share this update

GOG is giving away action RPG Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition for the next 65 hours at time of posting.

In a near future ravaged by wars, corrupt regimes and devastating pollution, influential corporations have created the Genesis program in a last-ditch attempt to save humanity.

As the Captain of a Genesis starship, you journey into uncharted space on the ultimate mission. Build and manage a space vessel, farm resources, deal with terrifying alien infestations, clone creatures and explore a vast, randomly generated universe. 

Go Rogue

Huge, randomised galaxies ensure every run in Genesis Alpha One is unique. Choose one of three difficulties or tailor the game to your playstyle with the Custom Game Mode. Discover new planets, circumvent asteroid fields and survive encounters with the Mechanics and Framen, space pirates who will board your ship to destroy your ship and all its inhabitants. Death is the end and once all your clones are dead, the mission is over. However, you will carry through artefacts unearthed into your next playthrough as well as unlock new corporations, making you more powerful with each attempt.

Build, Upgrade, Explore

Starting with a small vessel, you’ll have to build and maintain an intergalactic ark by combining dozens of upgradable spaceship modules including crew quarters, workshops, hangars, clone labs and greenhouses.
Using an intuitive building menu, easily snap together the pieces of your ship to tailor it to your playstyle. Develop your vessel and then explore your creation in first person. 

Battle Alien Infestations

Alien infestations can spread quickly, contaminating the ship and crew. It’s imperative to wipe them out before you become overwhelmed and your ship is destroyed. An arsenal of weapons and defences can be researched to help you fight the alien threat. Unleash an array of powerful weaponry, research alien diseases to heal your crew, equip new abilities and deploy warbots to devastate the alien hordes.

Clone and Create New Lifeforms

As your ship grows, so must your crew. Using ground-breaking cloning technology, your crew will expand to meet the needs of the ship. Loot DNA samples from the aliens you encounter across the galaxy and splice them with members of your crew to give humanity a chance to prosper with abilities far beyond what was previously imagined. 

Delve Deep Into Vastness of Space For Valuable Resources

In order to expand your ship and sustain your crew, you must explore planets fraught with danger. Gather elements such as Copper and Uranium and harvest plants to sustain life aboard your vessel. You may also find alien artefacts and intel from those explorers that have gone before, and not lived to tell the tale. 

Here's the official story trailer for the action RPG Stray Blade:

Stray Blade - Official Story Trailer

Stray Blade is an action RPG where you play a rogue adventurer exploring the ancient Valley of Acrea with your companion, the Xhinnon wolf Boji. Unveil the history of the forgotten valley and master the powers of the three Acrean Metals to restore balance to this war-torn land. In this story trailer, learn more about Stray Blade's story and the world and how it integrates into the immersive action-adventure gameplay.

RPG Site checked out the Action RPG Asterigos: Curse of the Stars:

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars Review

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, going into Asterigos: Curse of the Stars. It is, after all, the debut title from Taiwanese developer Acme Gamestudio, so there's practically no pedigree to speak of.

However, even with all the other big RPGs from big brands releasing around the clock, sometimes it's nice to experience something new & unknown, something a bit more focused and smaller-scope, and something not tied to any existing brand or property.

And honestly, I enjoyed Asterigos much more than I expected to.

The playable character of Asterigos (that's pronounced AST-terr-reh-gohs) is a young woman named Hilda, a warrior of the Northwind Legion who travels to the cursed city of Aphes to find her missing father & tribemates. Aphes has been stuck in time for centuries, due to the titular Curse of the Stars. As Hilda seeks out her brethren, the history of Aphes & its curse slowly comes to the forefront, and Hilda's actions will unavoidably shape its fate.

[...]

Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is a better experience than I expected it to be. Despite its shortcomings, such as excessive dialogue, translation oddities, quest issues, and some awkward area design, for those looking for a comfortable action RPG with a satisfying story & competent combat, Asterigos deserves a chance.

Score: 7/10

Dualshockers has reviewed Mount & Blade II:

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Review

An improvement on Warband in every possible way.

Early on in my Bannerlord career, I was captured by bandits (embarrassing, I know). They killed the half-dozen or so starry-eyed young men I had recruited from a nearby village, stole all my money, and even once I had escaped their clutches, I was left utterly helpless. A humbling experience to be sure, the memory of which brought a wry smile to my lips as I sat atop my throne, lord of all that I surveyed, 20 or so hours later.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is the latest open-world strategy RPG by TaleWorlds Entertainment. Previous games in the series, Warband in particular, are rightly regarded as classics, and so Bannerlord has big shoes to fill. I've been playing since the early access release, and have seen Bannerlord evolve into a truly special game in that time.

[...]

Grind and jank aside, there is nothing else like a Mount and Blade game, and Bannerlord is undisputably the best one yet. Its uniqueness alone makes it worth playing. To talk about it that way is to do it a disservice though; the true marvel of Bannerlord is that it actually delivers on what is an astonishingly ambitious concept. The two halves of the game complement each other perfectly. It may be on a slow boil, but once it gets up a head of steam, you won't be able to put it down.

Score: 8.5/10

The J-RPG Star Ocean: The Divine Force has been released today:

Star Ocean: The Divine Force 

STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE features an original story with two individual narratives and many playable characters, a unique combat system, and the freedom to soar in the skies and explore planets.

Featuring a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, this fresh Action RPG has challenging yet thrilling battle experiences, with high-speed movement in 360-degree!

Meet Raymond as he crashes onto an unfamiliar planet from his spaceship and is immediately attacked by some unfriendly local wildlife. Coming to his rescue is Laeticia, the crown princess of the Kingdom of Aucerius.

Together, those two protagonists will challenge the fate of the Kingdom and their choices will have repercussions all over the galaxies...

A game update from EA announces that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is now in Alpha.

Hello,

In my last blog, back in February, I talked about the next Dragon Age™ game entering the production phase. Well, we’ve come a very long way since then, and the team is incredibly happy to announce a huge step forward in the development of the game you now know as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf™: We have just completed our Alpha milestone!

Up to this point, we’ve been working hard on the various parts of the game, but it’s not until the Alpha milestone that a game all comes together. Now, for the first time, we can experience the entire game, from the opening scenes of the first mission to the very end. We can see, hear, feel, and play everything as a cohesive experience.

NOW WHAT?

Of course, the game is not finished by any means, but Alpha is one of the most important game development milestones for a number of reasons. First and foremost, we can now turn our sights toward bringing the visual fidelity to its final form and iterating on gameplay features. The big question now is, “Where do we focus our efforts?” To answer that, we solicit feedback from a number of sources, including our Community Council members who each have unique perspectives and experiences, our quality verification team, and extensive internal playtesting. Gathering feedback from multiple sources gives us the greatest insight on where we need to spend more time improving the experience.

Additionally, we can now evaluate the game's pacing, how relationships evolve over time, and the player’s progression, as well as narrative cohesion—essentially how the story comes together. We can take the story we’ve written and see if we’re expressing it well through the characters, dialogue, cinematics, and ultimately, the player’s journey. Now that we have the ability to do a complete playthrough, we can iterate and polish on the things that matter most to our fans.

Hitting Alpha was the culmination of so much effort from the entire team and we used this milestone as an opportunity to come together and celebrate. We held a hybrid-style event with people onsite while others joined remotely and the team showcased their work to everyone at BioWare. We even took some time to do something fun and non-work related—a virtual escape room where we had to work together to help someone on camera find their way out. It was a really great time, and no matter where our devs are, it's important to share these types of moments together.

START TO FINISH

Now that we’re finally able to experience the entire game, for me, my favorite part is the characters. Whether followers, allies, or villains, they’re woven into the game in ways that take a concept that’s always been a part of the Dragon Age DNA—stories about people—and push it further than ever before. The characters help contextualize the world and the stakes, and I can’t wait until we’re able to start really discussing them in depth.

It’s also exciting to finally be able to bring our fans to parts of the world that we’ve previously hinted at, but never been able to fully explore—like the city of Minrathous, the capital of the Tevinter Empire. We’ve talked about Minrathous in previous games, and now you’ll finally be able to visit! It’s a city built on and fuelled by magic, and the ways in which that has come through in its visual identity, and what that looks like in comparison to previous cities we’ve visited in Dragon Age, are pretty spectacular.

As I mentioned earlier, the Alpha milestone is an extremely important one for us, but there’s more work to be done. We also want to continue being transparent with you, our community, and keep you up to date on what we’re crafting. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying our development updates on Dreadwolf this year as we’ll be looking to share more in the future.

IN CLOSING

Of course, Dreadwolf isn’t the only thing happening here at BioWare™! We have a team hard at work envisioning what the future holds for a new single-player Mass Effect™ game. And we look forward to celebrating our community on N7 Day next month. The SWTOR team also continues to work on their next update, so keep an eye on SWTOR.com and their social media accounts for any and all details on the coming game update.

It’s an incredible time at BioWare! We have so many cool things to show you in the future. Until then, thanks for being part of our community. We couldn’t do this without you.

Stay well,

Gary McKay

General Manager