Interview: How Arcadian Atlas Charts Its Own Course in the TRPG Renaissance
One Arcadian Atlas dev talks to Game Rant about the resurgence of tactical RPGs, inspiration from genre classics, and how the new TRPG stands out.
With recent releases like Diofield Chronicles and Persona 5 Tactica on the horizon, tactical RPGs are in the middle of a new golden era. One of the games making up this modern trend is the upcoming Arcadian Atlas from developer Twin Otter and publisher Serenity Forge.
Arcadian Atlas follows two lovers in an era of political intrigue, civil war, and powerful magical artifacts. The familiar notes from genre-defining games are where Twin Otter's owner, Taylor Bair, found the inspiration and grounding of this new game. Though, as he told Game Rant in an interview, Arcadian Atlas charts its own path. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: TRPGs are enjoying something of a renaissance lately. What do you think is driving that?
A: The resurgence often seems to correspond with age-those of us who grew up playing some of the classics of the genre like Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics are now adults, seeking out a creative way to express ourselves. So you see those influences start to seep in as those who were once players are now developers and have the chance to pay homage while crafting something new and adding their own special mark on a genre they fell in love with.
Q: What inspired Arcadian Atlas?
A: While the inspirations are too numerous to list here, much of them hearken back to the SNES and PS1 era when pixel art really came into its golden age, not just in the absolute sprawling beauty of still images and seamless tilemaps in games like Secret of Mana, but in animation work expressing itself so potently in Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. These worlds were limited by the hardware at the time, but those constraints gave birth to revolutionary techniques with light, movement, and character emotion. Our love for those characters inhabiting those worlds really drove our passion for Arcadian Atlas-and we think that comes through in the animation work, the gorgeously rendered battlefields, and the rich story.
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