Nocked! True Tales of Robin Hood - Available on PC

Myrthos

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If you are in to text driven RPGs then Nocked! True Tales of Robin Hood might be your thing. It is available on Steam and itch.io. The creator of the game describes his motivations for creating this game as follows:

I'm a Sci-Fi/Fantasy author with some D&D design credits; Nocked! is my love-letter to text-heavy, story-driven RPGs -- from Baldur's Gate and Planescape to Shadowrun: Dragonfall and the Witcher series. I've wanted to create a video game for 26 years; this is that game. Everything I love about RPGs -- base building, romance, resource management, and real story consequence -- is here, bound in a text-based, multiple-choice interface.
And about the game itself:

The peasants of Nottingham bow under the weight of Prince John's taxes; nobles fall to the Sheriff's political machinations; deserters from the Crusades pillage the land; and fairies lure the unwary into the depths of mist-shrouded Sherwood Forest, never to be seen again.

Step into the chaos of a magical England at the end of the Third Crusade.

Maid Marian hides breathless amidst the brambles after the sack of her father's castle; Little John charges a bodyweight in gold to cross a lonely log; and Will Scarlet holds court in a brokedown tower surrounded by trees as tall as the sky, waiting for a king who will never come.

The time is ripe, a spark is lit - from the ashes of your home, from the shadow of anonymity, step into legend.

You are Robin Hood.

Nocked! is a lushly-illustrated, story-driven role-playing game. Define the deeds and identity of Robin Hood, outlaw of Sherwood Forest; recruit allies, forge alliances, find love; and chart a path between war, negotiation, and dangerous magics. Your choices are remembered and your actions shape the world, but you can't do it alone.

Story and strategy collide as your reputation spreads and Merry Men join your band: Build and expand a base in the hidden deeps, manage your earnings from raids on tax collectors, and prepare for the coming of the Sheriff of Nottingham. There is no sure and easy path to victory, no one decision that will save your resistance; will you fall beneath the Sheriff's boot heel, or will you build a movement to last the ages? The choice is yours.

Experience a lush and vibrant Sherwood Forest on desktop with art inspired by Lotte Reiniger - an early animator/director/artist - combined with traditional watercolor techniques; and original music drawn from medieval sources.

Features


  • Over 20 hours of gameplay incorporating more than a million words of text. No single playthrough is the same; this is interactive fiction on an epic scale!
  • Play as male or female Robin.
  • 9 romanceable characters, including both same and opposite-sex relationships.
  • 5 unique backstories that change the way the world responds to your actions.
  • 4 difficulty levels. Resource management can be an afterthought or a vital element in your decision-making.
  • 3 customizable bases, each with a unique look and play style. Build your base and see it reflected in the art and story.
  • 300+ pieces of hand-drawn art by Amanda Spaid.
  • Over an hour of medieval-inspired music by Ivan Oberholster; and featuring a new recording by Bellowhead frontman Jon Boden!
  • Dozens of different endings. See the culmination of your choices and their effect upon the world.
  • Play for minutes or hours at a time. A robust autosave keeps track of your progress.
  • Adjustable text size.
  • Built-in Twine and adapted for both desktop and mobile by Unmapped Path, specialists in narrative experiences, co-founded by Twine's creator, Chris Klimas.
  • Originally launched on iOS in 2017, Nocked! has been lovingly expanded and refined for PC and Mac, with overhauled mechanics and additional art, music, and text.
For more information you can check out the developers' site and watch the following video.



More information.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
11,223
Looks pretty good wishlisted. Only criticism I have without playing is talk of raiding tax-collectors. This is a twist I usually hear from americans, because it aligns with their political ideals better than the traditional robbing the rich and giving to the poor.
 
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
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908
Eh? I thought textbased games with nothing else (or just silhouettes like in this case) are a thing of the past with people remembering only how technology was "bad" looking back from year 2019.

In other words, IIRC @Ripper; already pointed at it, there are freebie or dirtcheap engines to make some visuals better than Gameboy and this up there is lower than Nintendo.

As I don't play games on Nokia3310 any more, I'm gonna skippit.
Good luck to the developer, but as the idea is not bad, someone please smack me when a modernized remake appears.

EDIT:
Originally launched on iOS in 2017
For god's sakes… What's the price on iPhone and Android I wonder. Definetly not 17€, am I correct?
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nocked/id1202075254?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
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LOL, I have no intention on paying full price! I like the idea, and it's the best Robin Hood adaptation for ages so I wishlisted so I can see when it goes on sale.
 
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
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908
Well, I don't mind people making text adventures if there's folks out there that want to play them. But a two year-old phone game released at four times the price for PC...
 
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