The dungeon crawler Islands of the Caliph has been released:

Islands of the Caliph

Islands of the Caliph imagines an ancient, seafaring Middle Eastern empire, spanning several islands to which the player may venture and explore.

Set in a fictional Island civilization, Islands of the Caliph is a unique mash-up of the old school RPGs the developer played in the 1980s, and Middle Eastern folklore and religion.

Enemies
Numerous mythical and dangerous beasts lurk in waiting as you explore and discover new lands. From giant spiders and scorpions, to more supernatural beings like ghouls and jinn, Islands of the Caliph will introduce players to some of the creatures of folklore of Arab, Persian and African cultures among others.

Weapons
Weapons are an important tool you will need to overcome adversaries. Find new weapons while adventuring or buy them from a merchant. Each weapon has different stats, so paying careful attention will help you to equip the best items.

Mapping
As you explore, your map with be updated automatically. Use it to keep track of your location and to discover new routes of exploration. A small mini map appears in the corner of the screen while exploring, but you can open it to view the whole area when needed.

Treasure
Many hidden treasures are waiting to be discovered by a brave adventurer. Some chests have coins, while others may have items to take. You may also use treasure chests to store items you don't need, but are not quite ready to sell.

The player must explore this open world and discover the game's primary quest for themselves. The game seeks to capture some of the open-endedness of classic RPGs like Might & Magic, Ultima and Bards Tale, with some modern conveniences. The player will be offered quests by some of the game's NPCs. Some of these quests will be required to make progress in the game's main story, while others will be optional. It is up to the player to figure out which is which, though often it will be obvious in the context given. 

The retro roguelike Moonring has been released:

Moonring

A free game by the co-creator of the XBox's Fable series.

Five hundred years ago, the land of Caldera was plunged into endless darkness. Decades later, five moons rose in the sky, bringing light to the world and strange Gods with it. With them came the Dreams: calls to Devotion promising supernatural Gifts.

Thus, the new Calderan civilisation was born; a world of Devotion and Dreamers, Gods and Gifts, with a Dreamless Archon acting as the Gods' mortal representative. But Archons are not eternal, and a successor must be found.

You are Dreamless: free to choose your own destiny, to ask questions others dare not, or even become Archon yourself.

What will you do, Dreamless one?

Moonring is a retro-inspired open-world, turn-based, tile RPG in the style of the classic Ultima games, but created from the ground up with modern design sensibilities.

The world's geography is hand-designed, but the deadly dungeons beneath the surface reconfigure each time you leave... or die.

Travel, trade, sneak, fight and sail the world of Caldera. Speak with the townsfolk, learn Caldera's secrets, and challenge the Archon for his throne... or even overthrow the Gods themselves!

Features:
- Large, hand-designed open world
- An infinite supply of dungeons generated using your character name
- Over 100 varied enemy types, from fodder to bosses
- 35 unique Gifts from the Gods, their usage changing with the moon phases
- Sailing, ship-to-ship combat and boarding
- A Dungeon Synth OST with over 50 tracks, all made using retro Mod Trackers!
- A hidden magic system and many other mysteries

A note from the creator:

Hi folks. I've loved RPGs since the early 1980s, and grew up playing games like Lord British's 'Ultima' series and early Roguelikes. This is my love-letter to a style of gaming that has largely fallen out of fashion: with its vivid, bright sprites overlaid on stark black backgrounds, true open-world gameplay, and lack of handholding. The days I spent playing these games were spent in joyful exploration and discovery, venturing into the dark unknown, a co-author of the experience, filling in the gaps left by the primitive art with my imagination. For those of you who did the same, I hope Moonring recaptures some of the spirit of those days for you. For those who did not, I hope that the more modern conveniences you find in this game allow you to catch a glimpse of what we did 40 years ago.

My heartfelt thanks to all who spared even a moment to play this. Please be kind to my mistakes. I will fix them. :-)

- Dene

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Tiny Trinket Games revealed a track Beneath the Rock and Sand from the Zoria: Age of Shattering:

Take a step into the mysterious world of Zoria!

Commanders!

We're thrilled to announce that during our Wishlist Challenge, with your help, we surpassed over 3000 new Wishlists! As promised, we're revealing a never-before-heard track from the Zoria: Age of Shattering. 

[...]

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The Underrail Heavy Duty DLC for  will be released on November 1:

Underrail: Heavy Duty

This DLC adds three new weapon types - grenade launchers, machine guns and miniguns, as well as a special high-level side mission that will challenge even the most hardcore Underrail veterans.

Key features:

• Grenade launchers, a area of effect type weapon, added to Guns skill
• New high-level side mission where you'll fight against elite enemies
• New feats

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Gameshub reviewed the Wuxia RPG Wandering Sword:

Wandering Sword Review – A Chinese Epic That Rivals Blockbuster RPGs

Wandering Sword is an amazing martial arts epic, a beautifully woven tale full of fantastic characters and moreish combat.

Wandering Sword gave me that moment. The moment that hits you like a truck when you realise the true scope of what’s in front of you. The sunlight blaring in your eyes for the first time as you exit Vault 101 in Fallout 3; The arrival in Velen after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s opening hours. A chunk of the way into Wandering Sword, my mouse hit the side of the screen as I traversed the overworld, causing the map to start scrolling… and scrolling… and scrolling even more.

Dozens of locations across several regions – Tigeroar Mountain, Villain Valley, The Cave of Tribulations – begged to be explored. Incredible location names aside, my expectations for a 15-20 hour straightforward indie RPG with a novel battle system had already been somewhat shattered hours earlier – thanks to some brilliant narrative thrusts, but we’ll get to that – yet the scope of this world caught me completely off guard. Like a night sky filled with beautiful paper lanterns rising slowly towards the stars, I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

[...]

It does need to be said that Wandering Sword is a game developed with the Chinese language as a priority, which affects its writing in particular. Some of the translation to English seems very literal – what would traditionally be a herb is instead a “crude drug”, for example. At the very beginning this is a little jarring, but the further into the game I got, the more I came to appreciate this approach, one that feels similar to how RPGs like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy were originally presented to Western audiences. This is not a mis- or poor translation – this is a well-thought-out body of work that contributes a very distinct flavour of storytelling. 

Wandering Sword is otherwise, for the most part, very smooth sailing and relatively bug-free. Poor controller support was ultimately my biggest hangup – I played on PC with a mouse and keyboard for most of the game, with bouts on Steam Deck, but the developers at The Swordsman Studio have since been quick to resolve many of the issues I encountered.

In a time when absolutely massive blockbuster RPGs are sucking up all the oxygen in the room, Wandering Sword stands out as an amazing independent RPG that crushes every goal it sets out to achieve. Small issues aside, its easy to become besotted with its all-encompassing world; a huge recurring cast of fantastic characters blossom amongst a beautifully woven tale of loss, growth, strength, history and consequence. Wrap that up in moreish combat and wonderfully interlocking RPG systems, and it feels like a modern classic.

Score: 4/5

The sequel to Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children called Troubleshooter: Banished Children has been announced:

[Notice] Sharing future development plan

[...]

3. About the development of our sequel “Troubleshooter: Banished Children”

(1) . About the sequel itself…

The main character of our sequel Troubleshooter: Banished Children will be a different figure from Albus.

We’re thinking about focusing on the separated Spoonists from the story of Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children and the other Troubleshooters related to them while revealing new classes and enemies related to the new theme.

It’s possible that some of the characters from Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children can appear in Troubleshooter: Banished Children, but our sequel’s storyline will be a stand-alone in the Troubleshooter universe.
We know that some of our fans are expecting the next tales of Albus and his colleagues, and will be disappointed by this decision.

Nevertheless, we’re trying to take an adventure to present you with a more interesting experience. We believe that this adventure will bring more fun!

(2) About the development progress…

We are now working both on our DLC Crimson Crow and our sequel at the same time.

We are giving up on developing our sequel with the current game engine and trying a new one. Since we’re not familiar with it, we’re relying heavily on trial and error.

Troubleshooter: Banished Children will inherit and improve many features from Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children while greatly simplifying the features that were somewhat too complicated. From last year, we’re now building the base of our game features and contents with our new game engine.
It’s almost 50% percent done, and we’ll start developing the sequel when this task is 100% done.

We’re expecting that it’ll take a year or two before we present you with our sequel with early access.

During this period, our team will be tested with our power to sustain the development. It could be harsh and unforgiving but still, even this couldn’t happen without your love and support.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Henriquejr spotted the development update #10 for Shadow of the Road:

Let’s talk about the Initiative System…

We're bringing you a devlog straight from the heart of our game development process!

Samurai Warriors!

Recently, we treated you to an interview with our sound magician, and today we're bringing you a devlog straight from the heart of our game development process!

Have you ever heard of an initiative system? It's an incredibly vital component in many turn-based RPGs! And the situation is no different in Shadow of the Road, where it plays a fundamental role. In simple words - its primary task is to determine the order in which characters get to make their moves.

Let us share a bit of the history of how this system has evolved in our game…

In the past…

At first, we had a very “XCOM-like” approach where players could make moves with all characters in any order (and multiple times within their turn, using available action/movement points). In other words, the player would switch between characters, take actions, end their turn, and after that the game would switch to AI which would act similarly.

We showcased this combat system at PAX in 2020. And while it served its purpose, we felt that our game needed something more… Something deeper! We needed a system that would allow players to anticipate enemy moves, analyze situations, and have full influence on what is happening on the battlefield!

So now!

The current iteration of the system draws its inspiration from samurai battles, where it's crucial to observe everything and make decisions that significantly impact the course of the clash.

The core of this mechanic revolves around character initiative.

All characters participating in the battle are sorted based on their initiative values and the one with the highest value starts the whole action. Default initiative values are predefined, but can change as the game develops. Several factors influence the status, such as an initiative penalty for taking damage and side effects.

By introducing this system, we were able to incorporate more combat mechanics that enhance its depth.

The main innovation here is delayed attacks!

These attacks are more effective, but carry a risk of failure. A delayed attack is carried out as a new element on the timeline. So the character initiating it cannot move and automatically ends their turn. If they are attacked before executing the attack, it will be interrupted.

This system also operates in rounds, with each unit making one move per round.

Unfortunately…

Introduced changes also have some drawbacks that make this solution less than perfect. Notable issues include:

• Delaying attacks by a fixed value can lead to situations where nobody on the battlefield can counter or interrupt them. We attempted to solve this by delaying attacks based on factors like the number of characters, but this fix won’t be good enough.
• Time axis shifts are inconsistent. We couldn't find a solution that would allow us to predictably and fairly move a unit, for example, to the next round. A character that received a high amount of damage would end up at the end of the queue in a given round.
• The chance of having a negative initiative value. After receiving a sufficient amount of damage, a unit might have a negative initiative value, which isn't considered a valid value. While we could theoretically try to soften this effect by increasing base values, it wouldn't eliminate the entire problem.

But guess what…? These issues prompted us to work on another version of the system!

What the future holds…

Treat this like a small sneak peek, but…

In previous systems, the gameplay was divided into rounds in which action points and character movement reset at the beginning of each subsequent turn. The new system will have an additional dimension, and we will be abandoning the concept of rounds. However, we don't intend to reveal too much just yet, as there's more to come.

Rest assured, everything is continuously evolving!

Stay tuned!

To stay in the loop regarding our progress, come join our Discord community! And once again, thank you for being a part of this incredible journey!

Best regards
Another Angle Games

On December 2 King Arthur: Knight's Tale will get a new feature:

Rising Eclipse

New Feature: Rifts

Deep within Avalon
reside two factions of the Sídhe, the Seelie and Unseelie. Their courts walk very different pathways in the twilight realms, but they are all drawn to these strange new occurrences throughout Avalon - the rifts, introduced in King Arthur: Knight's Tale's upcoming season, Rising Eclipse.

So, what are they exactly?

Arcane researchers are puzzled by these curious tears in the fabric of reality. Otherwordly earthquakes signal the opening of rifts, and they are oozing dangerous, seemingly uncontrollable energies. However, it seems that the Sídhe know a bit more about them, a knowledge yet hidden from Camelot. They want to claim these fissures to themselves - it seems that whatever ancient energy leaks from the rifts, it can make the Sídhe even more powerful.

In the new season of King Arthur: Knight's Tale this feature serves as a new challenge for Camelot's knights to overcome.

Glowing magical rifts appear randomly on battlefields and grant huge boosts to all Sidhe units. These rifts function as barriers to the knights, they cannot step on the tiles where these magical fissures appear. However, Sídhe units are able to step inside the rifts, draining their energies and gaining buffs for themselves and allies within the mission. They can even chain together multiple enhancements by absorbing these powers.
This has grave consequences for battlefield tactics: now the player needs to take rifts into account when moving around. Are the rifts blocking your optimal path to the enemy? Is there a Sídhe unit close to one of these energy sources? Do you block their path or do you prepare for their increased HP and damage?
All Sídhe units will retain the acquired buffs until the end of the mission. But, if the enemy is defeated, all remaining rift energy can be interacted with and converted into a special resource that could empower player units in Camelot.
Rifts might occur outside of battles as well, but according to Camelot's wise arcanists, these are rare occurrences. However, they might provide interesting benefits.

The new season titled Rising Eclipse (together with Patch 2.0) will arrive on December 2, 2023 to the PC version of King Arthur: Knight's Tale. Previous season will be accessible from a menu. Also look forward to our announcements of the console versions and the next expansion.

See you soon!

Thanks Henriquejr!

Titan Roc explains why Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call is a single player game:

Why Single Player for Vahrin's Call?

Hey again everyone! Hope your week is going swimmingly~

"Is the game co-op?" and "Can you make the game co-op?" are two questions we've been asked countless times throughout the development cycle for Vahrin's Call.

For those of you who weren't sure, Vahrin's Call is solely a single player game.
There are no plans to introduce co-op/multiplayer, but we completely understand the want for it. So many games are much more fun when experienced with a friend or two, after all!

That being said, would it surprise you to know that we were originally developing the game to be co-op?

Many years ago when the game was still early in development and wasn't even named Vahrin's Call, we were designing it to be a 1-2 player experience. You could dive in as a lone mercenary or tag in a friend and explore the world together.

This was long long ago, back when we were still trying to figure out what we as a team could achieve with our first game.

So! Some of you might be wondering, "Why did you change the game to be single player only?"

As the scope for the Forsaken Realms universe devleoped over time, it became clear that making a high quality RPG of this scale that also delivers fun and engaging co-op gameplay, was not going to be possible. We would love nothing more than to implement co-op into the game, but unfortunately, that requires a ton of resources that we just don't have at our disposal right now.

Don't get me wrong, all of us on the team absolutely love co-op games, it's why Vahrin's Call was originally being designed as a co-op experience. However it's incredibly important, especially because we're such a tiny team, that we carefully assess each task and determine if we have the resources to execute them to the standard we've commited ourselves to working at.

Approaching game dev with this mindset is essential, lest we end up working on the game for the next decade...

With all that being said, our focus for Vahrin's Call is delivering a high quality, story rich, single-player experience, with the vision that future titles in the franchise will allow you to traverse the world with your friends.

Apologies to those of you who were hoping for co-op, but we promise we'll do our absolute best to include co-op in future titles if Vahrin's Call is successful.

As always, have a lovely rest of your week, stay safe and we'll be back again here next Friday!

Cheers all!

Thanks Henriquejr!

Alrik Fassbauer spotted the Honkai: Star Rail "Jolted Awake From a Winter Dream" special program:

Honkai: Star Rail Version 1.4 "Jolted Awake From a Winter Dream" Special Program

Mortismal shows some upcoming Indie RPGs:

Upcoming Indie RPGs You Might Have Missed

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:06 Misc/Honorable Mentions
02:10 Wandering Sword
04:00 Space Wreck
05:12 Endless Dungeon
06:42 Cyber Knights
07:57 Wizard With A Gun
08:59 Dark Envoy
09:57 Wrap Up

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Couchpotato spotted a new roadmap for Dying Light 2 on IGN:

Dying Light 2 Stay Human - Exclusive Roadmap Trailer

IGN checked out The Lamplighters League:

The Lamplighters League Review

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The DLC The Lord of Nothing will be released on November 21:

DLC Teaser Trailer The Lord of Nothing | Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

The Lord of Nothing is the fifth premium DLC for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, wrapping up the story of the second DLC, Through the Ashes. Explore new and unique locations, make new friends, and face a powerful demon lord in order to bring Sendri and Rekarth's story to its long-awaited finale. The outcome of your adventure — and for the characters, depends solely on you and your choices. After all, there are more than five unique endings in the DLC.

In The Lord of Nothing DLC you will have to survive frozen lands, uncover the secrets of a mysterious wizard's tower, help some Kellids in blooming caves, and even delve into the Shadow Plane! But you won't be alone: an angel of Sarenrae with a tragic past and a captivating new android companion will join you as you confront the evil flourishing in the remote corners of Golarion. And don’t think your commander is being left out — a new quest and dungeon will be available to complete in the fifth chapter of the base game.

Continue your journey with a character from Through the Ashes DLC or create a new one: 15 new archetypes, new spells and new feats await you. All of these will also be available in the main campaign when creating a new character or retraining one.

The Lord of Nothing DLC will be released on November 21! Wishlist the DLC to be the first to go on this new adventure. And if you have Season Pass 2, the DLC will automatically become available on release day.

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Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Lords of the Fallen at IGN:

Lords of the Fallen - Official Overview Trailer

The action RPG VED will be released in 2024:

Watch a Magical New Story Trailer!

Hello everyone!

A messenger bringing fantastic news has just arrived - you can finally take a sneak peek into the magical world and captivating story of VED! We have a brand new trailer for you to feast your eyes and ears on, in which you can learn more about the main protagonist, Cyrus, and his abilities, the two colliding worlds, magical and mundane, and both the friendly and hostile creatures that you can meet on your journey!

The adventure RPG The Invincible will be released on November 6:

The Invincible - Official Release Date Reveal Trailer

The dungeon crawler Ludus Mortis will be released into Early Access today:

Ludus Mortis

Story
Over the centuries the Roman Senate has become corrupt and has progressively lost power and influence, while the Emperor Diocletian and his army ruled unchallenged outside the eternal city.
Seeking to return to a dominant position, the members of the Roman Senate decide to use necromancy to increase their power, creating an army of undead and demons to fight against imperial soldiers.

By waging war on its own emperor, the Senate has caused a rift in the Roman population, that slowly began to live in fear.
Year after year, the armies of undead summoned by the Senate have taken over, imposing themselves on the senators and enslaving the Roman population.

In this climate of chaos, an ancient gladiatorial school continued to train soldiers for the games. But the purpose of these gladiators is now different: to rid the city of the undead and invaders...to allow Rome to return to its former glory.

Gameplay
Ludus Mortis is a Grid-Based First Person Dungeon Crawler inspired by classic cRPG from the 80s and 90s. It's a party-based RPG ("blobber") with turn-based combat.

KEY FEATURES

• Create your characters choosing from 14 classes
• Manage and develop you Ludus (Gladiator School) by improving facilities, acquiring gladiators, crafting new equipment.
• Explore dozens of catacombs and dungeons.
• Manage your party changing formation, equipment and skills: you can try different combination for every different dungeon.
• Turn-based combat: think carefully and use your Action Points wisely.

The action RPG Fate/Samurai Remnant has been released:

Fate/Samurai Remnant - Third Trailer

The Last Oricru got a major update and a price cut:

The Last Oricru - Final Cut

The Last Oricru - Final Cut is here, and it's loaded with improvements that reflect your invaluable feedback.

Dear players,

We're excited to share The Last Oricru - Final Cut, an update to the game that will transform your multiplayer experience, refine combat mechanics and introduce new features to enhance your journey through the mysterious world of Wardenia. The Last Oricru - Final Cut is here, and it's loaded with improvements that reflect your invaluable feedback. Let's delve into the details:

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Gematsu reports that the Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition for the PC will be released early 2024:

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition launches October 6 for PS5, in early 2024 for PC

Includes the base game and downloadable content "Burning Shores."

Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Guerrilla Games will release Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition for PlayStation 5 on October 6 worldwide for $59.99 USD / €69.99 / 7,980 yen, followed by PC via Steam and Epic Games Store in early 2024, the companies announced. The PC version is ported by Nixxes Software.

[...]

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A new demo has been released for the tactical RPG Capes on Steam:

Capes - Meet the Heroes Ep.1: The Ultimate Defender

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The Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty: Conqueror of Jiangdong DLC has been released:

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty - DLC 2 | Conqueror of Jiangdong Trailer

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Mortismal Gaming checked out the Phantom Liberty DLC:

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC Review

Wccftech chatted with Alexander Mishulin, Creative Director at Owlcat Games about Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader:

Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader Q&A – Owlcat on Addressing Beta Feedback, Improving Romances and Thanking Larian

It's been a great year for roleplaying game fans thanks to the release of several great games, chiefly the long-awaited cRPG Baldur's Gate 3 (now in pole position for Game of the Year awards after a near-flawless critical reception), and Owlcat Games made it even better when it announced that Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader would launch in early December on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.

Given that inXile and Obsidian have abandoned the cRPG genre, at least for the time being, their next projects focused on first-person action combat, Owlcat is definitely the most experienced studio after Larian. Their Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous games have been received very well on PC and consoles alike.

With Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader, the studio is set to deliver the first cRPG set in the grimdark universe created by Games Workshop. Ahead of the upcoming launch, I briefly chatted with Alexander Mishulin, Creative Director at Owlcat Games. Topics ranged from addressing the community's feedback obtained through beta tests, providing more varied romances, and thanking Larian for Baldur's Gate 3's role in expanding the cRPG genre.

Let's begin with the preparation phase before battles. Is it always available or only in certain situations?

It's mostly available. Only when you are stepping into an ambush will you be unable to take the preparation phase, and you will be forced to fight in the positions you were in. But there aren't many of these scenarios in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader, maybe one in ten or even one in twenty.

I have a question regarding the rule set. You've previously made the Pathfinder games and adapted that rule set. Now, you are adapting the Rogue Trader ruleset right for this game. Can you speak to the differences in adapting these two different rulesets from tabletop to the videogame format? Also, what kind of changes did you make for Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader?

Sure. It's actually the approach to the adaptation is different. With those two Pathfinder games, we were striving to be as close to the tabletop experience as we possibly could, while in Rogue Trader, we mostly took inspiration from tabletop rules.

The skills are kind of the same. Some abilities have similar names, but all the mechanics inside are our own, and one of the reasons for that is we have to have a very long progression for the characters. The Rogue Trader system is not very rich in terms of abilities, spells, and everything, so we had to add more elements to provide more builds for the characters and more synergies between different characters. So, the approach is different for these games.

[...]

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Gematsu reports that Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden has been delayed to February 13, 2024:

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden delayed to February 13, 2024

Postponed to release "during a less saturated period."

Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer DON’T NOD have delayed ghost-hunting action RPG Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden from its previously planned November 7, 2023 release date to February 13, 2024. It will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam.

“We have decided to postpone the release of this new franchise by three months, as the market is experiencing an intense release cycle for AAA titles on PC and consoles at the end of the year,” said Focus Entertainment managing director John Bert and DON’T NOD CEO Oskar Guilbert in a press release. “We are convinced that a commercial release of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden during a less saturated period will give it the attention it deserves.”

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a beta trailer for the 2D RPG ASTRA: Knights of Veda:

ASTRA: Knights of Veda - The First Global Beta Trailer

The Comeback Kids take a look at the current state of the Diablo franchise:

Gaming's Biggest Tragedy: The Rise And Fall Of Diablo 4

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Genshin Impact version 4.1 has been launched. You can explore a new part of Fontaine. One of the main charcters is  Neuvillette:

Character Demo - "Neuvillette: Font of All Waters"

Collected Miscellany - "Neuvillette: Precepts of the Ages"

PC Gamer thinks this has been the best summer for RPGs:

This has been the best summer for RPGs and I want to live in it forever

I'm going to hide from autumn by starting another playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3.

Like many of you, I suspect, each year sees me juggling more and more games in an effort to play all of the good stuff and avoid the dreaded FOMO, and when 2023 dawned I was well and truly in burnout mode. But it turns out that the solution to this was a summer fully immersed in some gargantuan RPGs, and I now find myself refreshed and once again excited about videogames. 

We've been inundated with RPGs of all shapes and sizes these last few months, but a quartet of heavy-hitters has dominated our hobby: Diablo 4, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Each of them long-awaited, from prestigious studios and part of a long legacy of mostly beloved games. The latest in the most popular ARPG series of all time, a sequel to a 20-year-old CRPG that we still talk about today, the first brand-new game from the master of sandbox RPGs since the Elder Scrolls began, and a second chance for a lavish but somewhat disappointing tabletop adaptation—big deals, the lot of them. 

Within these four games is something for nearly every RPG-lover, whether you like to simply smack monsters around with your mates or you want an epic yarn you'll be playing for months. I can't pretend I ended up loving them all, but there's no denying that each has proved to be an ambitious, mammoth undertaking that's kept their legions of fans exceedingly busy this summer, and that's something to celebrate.

Diablo kicked things off, with a basic loop that remains exceptionally compelling. Murdering hordes of monsters is still just good wholesome fun. The return to grisly, gothic horror was also much appreciated, as was a central villain who was more than just large and angry. I could have done with more distinct locations and more flexibility when it came to character builds—Path of Exile remains unrivalled in this regard—but what we got was still a polished, tight ARPG that I'm looking forward to watching develop, once Blizzard figures out how to make its seasonal structure more compelling. 

[...]

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AIAS interviewed Todd Howard about the development of Starfield:

Making Starfield with Bethesda's Todd Howard | The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast

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The turn-based tactics game Demeo Battles will be released on November 9:

Demeo Battles | Full Match Reveal Featuring Penny Arcade

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NIS America has announced a remaster for the strategy RPG The Legend of Legacy:

The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered - Announcement Trailer (Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, PC)

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Couchpotato spotted a developer stream for the remake Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord:

Developer Stream! Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (PC early access)

The DLC Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will be released tomorrow:

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Official Launch Trailer