Couchpotato's Random RPG News

[Carnifex]

Yeah, some of the decisions with Weird West may only turn out to make it entirely too weird for me. We shall see.

 

[Couchpotato]

Diablo 2 Median XL V2.0 Releases August 27th

The team behind the best mod for classic Diablo 2, Diablo 2: Median XL, has announced that a new version will come out on August 27th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team has also released a new trailer that you can find below.

InXile Is Working On A New Steampunk RPG

InXile's has a long history with the RPG genre, so it's unsurprising that the latest reports have it down for working on yet another new series. Best known for Wasteland 2 and its sequel, many in the company had their start at Interplay, working on RPGs for several years now.

Now, according to Windows Central's Jez Corden, the team is gearing up for another new project. Speaking on his podcast, The Xbox Two, Corden confirmed that inXile's rumoured new game is in development, and it will be an RPG with a steampunk setting.

"Well, I don't want to spoil too much about it. We'll say it's called "Project Colbolt". It is supposedly a steampunk RPG", revealed Corden. When asked by the co-host about the rumours that it will be a first-person shooter, Corden responds saying: "I don't know for sure about that. I suspect it probably is first person."

The Wayward Realms is 'Several More Years' Away - PCGamer

On Twitter, OnceLost Games has been busy replying to questions from curious fans, and one of those questions was about when the new RPG might see the light of day. The developers aren't even ready to pin down a year.

"Still too early to tell, sorry," reads the response from the studio. "It will probably be several more years."

"We are not in a hurry, which is very painful for some folks, we know," reads another response, "but we do want to deliver on our ambitions."

In another tweet, the studio says "We are not in full production yet, but we have been working on implementing systems and building assets." The teaser trailer, which shows a very large and heavily armored Ork riding a horse through a dark wood before coming upon a vista showing multiple moons over the horizon, is pre-rendered and doesn't show any gameplay.

The Outer Worlds Sold over 4 Million - FutureGame

The Outer Worlds, the action RPG released in 2019, has reached a new milestone. In a recent earnings call, aside from GTA 5 and RDR 2, Take-Two Interactive has shown some numbers from other publishers, such as Private Division, the publisher behind Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds. Apparently, Outer Worlds has sold over 4 million units worldwide in its lifetime.

I Can't Finish RPGs - The Gamer

There’s an inherent dissonance to player agency in most RPGs - do you tackle the super serious main quest or go off and hunt for collectibles and help old ladies cross the street? More RPGs should learn from Deus Ex and know when to give you a kick up the backside. I like having choice, but sometimes I’m like a deer caught in the headlights. Just stick some blinders on me and railroad me through a few time sensitive missions every now and again to keep me on track.

 

[Couchpotato]

Weird West Developer Livestream

Watch our first Weird West Developer Stream with host Lucy James, Creative Director Raf Colantonio, Lead Systems Designer Gael Giraudeau @GaGzZzYT and live music from Weird Wolves & Wolfeye's Sound Designer Matt Piersall.

The Iron Oath Update #60 - Kickstarter

Hey everybody, we hope you're all having a wonderful summer! We've been working a lot on our finalized UI for a variety of things recently and we wanted to share some of that progress with you this month, starting with the main menu. In the below video you'll see the save/load menu as well as the flow for creating a new campaign.

Expeditions: Rome Developer Diary - Legion Battles

Ave! Welcome to DevDiary #5, where we take our first detailed look at some of the metagame features of Expeditions: Rome! In our previous DevDiary, we made a brief expedition into the world of art direction to show you how we’ve approached the challenges of bringing the ancient world of Rome to life in a way that feels authentic, yet vibrant and exciting. Today we’ll return to the world of gameplay and system design as we delve into the meta systems of Expeditions: Rome and explore how we’re selling the fantasy of being a Roman legatus on a campaign of war. This time we’re dealing with some systems that are still very much under development, so buckle up for some serious inside baseball.

 

[Kordanor]

It's Queens Wish 2 as he tweeted that he was going to launch a kickstarter campaign for that game in summer. That was announced back in April though he's late.

Also he just put up some kind of preview and notification page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spiderwebsoftware/queens-wish-2-the-tormentor

on facebook he wrote

We have created a preview page for the Kickstarter for our next game! We're making the next chapter in our innovative, unique fantasy trilogy, and we'd like your help. If you want to be notified when our begging REALLY starts, you can sign up here ...

 

[Carnifex]

Nice! I appreciate any and all Queen's Wish two updates. . The first game was quite solid.

 

[Couchpotato]

Wasteland 3 Concept Arts (Desert Ranger Costumes & Masks)

Some practices shown in my videos can be dangerous and are shown for entertainment purposes only. If you emulate any of those practices or follow any of my advice you are doing so entirely at your own risk.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem - July 2021 Development Update

We released Wolcen: Arise on July 26th and wanted to use July's Monthly Development Update to give you more details on what we have planned.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Sold Well above Expectations - RPGSite

There is enduring power to the franchisees and IP that we are building. The launch of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the remaster of the first 3 Mass Effect games, reignited the passion of fans around the world, driving sales performance well above our expectations.

Phil Spencer Confirms Elder Scrolls 6 Won't Release Until after Fable - Gamerant

Fans have been waiting a long time for The Elder Scrolls 6 to finally grace their PCs and consoles. Bethesda officially announced the next installment of its acclaimed action RPG franchise during E3 2018. However, there has been little information released since.

Recently though, fans gained insight into when the Elder Scrolls 6 might finally make its debut. During an appearance on IGN's Unlocked podcast, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed fans wouldn' be seeing a new Elder Scrolls until sometime after Playground Game's releases the next Fable.

 

[Couchpotato]

Stop Complaining About Mass Effect: Andromeda - Wired

I'm not saying people need to shut up and like what they get �especially when that thing is genuinely crap (I do not blame people for being upset about Cyberpunk 2077, as long as their complaints weren't delivered in the form of harassment, abuse, or death threats aimed at the studio or its employees). But sometimes it's important to step back and evaluate whether something just isn't for you, �in which case, take a deep breath and let go of your preconceptions and try again. (Or move on! No one is forcing you to play or care about this game! Literally, no one! You can play something you like instead!).

Gamedec - July 2021 Update

July, ah sweet July. Some of us took some time off with our families to unload the steam before the release. Others worked hard to make sure everything's in place.

Outer Worlds 2 & Unreal Engine 5 - COG

The Outer Worlds 2 still has a long way to go before it will be ready for an official launch. Its predecessor, The Outer Worlds, may have gotten a lot of positive feedback, but its gameplay was negatively critiqued. It all came down to the game's mechanics and combat gameplay, which The Outer Worlds 2 is expected to improve, via Unreal Engine 5.

Knights of the Old Republic Remake: Is It Actually Happening? - Gamerant

This spring it was revealed by industry insider Jason Schreier that a Knights of the Old Republic remake was apparently in development, outside of its original publisher EA. Hype for the project skyrocketed immediately after this, and steadily carried on for some time. Now that some time has passed, however, news on the project has been increasingly quiet, with no official word from anyone that may be a part of development. The silence around the KOTOR remake is starting to become concerning to some fans, so it's worth taking a look at whether or not it's actually happening.

 

[Redglyph]

KotOR remake:

One of the most surprising bits of information from Schreier's KOTOR remake claim was that neither EA nor BioWare would be involved in the project. Instead of the team responsible for the original game's success, Schreier said developer Aspyr would helm the KOTOR remake.

That made me laugh, if a bit sadly. There's nobody from the original team at Bioware (and who cares about EA?), they may even be working for Aspyr now. And they have worked on KotOR DLCs, though it's not entirely relevant.

As for this

This spring it was revealed by industry insider Jason Schreier that a Knights of the Old Republic remake was apparently in development

and later in the article this becomes an "announcement", as if it were granted. Why would I get all excited because of someone throwing a rumour?

 

[Couchpotato]

Matt Chat 472: Drakensang

Here we go with Drakensang, a 2009 game based on The Dark Eye RPG system from Germany. It's awesome, but sadly never got the attention it deserved outside of its native land. Time to rectify that! This is an amazing game that's well worth your time and money whether you played it back in the day or not--at least in this man's opinion. Hey, in addition to great audiovisuals and interesting RPG mechanics, it's got Wolf Rats--need I say more?

The Ascent - Launch Stats

Curve achieved its largest ever opening weekend sales revenue this weekend, generating more than $5million and securing the Number 1 slot in the Steam Global Charts for Neon Giant's The Ascent, firmly positioning the Indie title as a AAA competitor.

Over 1700 YouTube and Twitch channels have streamed gameplay with over 10m generated views, and 90% of global Tier One publications have covered the cyberpunk themed action roleplaying game which is the first title from Swedish Indie Neon Giant. This has put The Ascent in the Top 10 for PR coverage received on a single day in 2021, on par with and above AAA titles.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Update #95 -The Release is Near

Less than 4 weeks are left until we release Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. We can't wait for you to start downloading and playing it. However, we noticed that some of our backers haven't finished the transfer of their pledges from Kickstarter to our backer's portal. So we would like to remind you to check that everything is correct with your order there!

Elden Ring - Steam Page Live

THE NEW FANTASY ACTION RPG. Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between.

Master of Magic Remake - August 2021 Developer Diary

The map of Master of Magic is filled with various locations that can be explored by the player. These include things like fallen temples, ruins or mysterious caves where both treasure and challenge may await. There are also three power nodes, Sorcery, Nature and Chaos, and the magic towers that serve as portals between Arcanus and Myrror. All of those locations have an event attached to them, so that the appropriate path will trigger combat if there are defenders, or loot if it is abandoned. Those events are fairly straight forward and apart from some extra fluff here or there, they will remain unchanged.

Diablo II Resurrected Beta Date Revealed? - Reddit

A post on Reddit by crimson4649 claims Microsoft was briefly showing an August 17th start date for Diablo II Resurrected beta testing for preorder customers.

 

[Carnifex]

Drakensang, such an excellent game, and yet another I really need to replay at some point.

 

[Redglyph]

System Shock 2 review, which begins with good tips about community patches to get a better experience on today's systems.

Some spoilers but with warnings, so they can be avoided.

System Shock 2 Review​

The System Shock 2 review checks out the sequel to the first SHODAN adventure built many years later between two studios and a brand new engine. The studio has passed, but the flame was kept alive by the community. Brace for bees and psychic monkeys.

00:00 - Intro
01:35 - Issues & Fixes
04:23 - Game Premise
06:02 - Character Creation & Difficulty
10:54 - Visuals
12:38 - Music & Sound Design
18:19 - Gameplay Mechanics
25:15 - Story
27:20 - Story (SPOILERS)
36:22 - Conclusions
37:03 - Credits
38:07 - Monkey Trouble

System Shock 2 for 2 bucks - https://gog.la/XerxesTime
The Easy Mod Guide - https://pastebin.com/KGCFmy0M
Dakota Lee for more cool art - https://twitter.com/tat2kid714

 

[Couchpotato]

Diablo II: Resurrected Open Beta Incoming - Blizzard

Lost Eidolons - August 12th Dev Update Livestream

July development update preview with ODS Creative Director of Lost Eidolons, Jin Sang. This month features new improvements following last month's playable demo feedback!

Dust to the End - Finally a Complete Game

The full release of Dust to the End is finally here! As we shared with you all in our previous announcement, this new patch is bringing a lot of changes that will affect the gaming experience in a very positive way. We can't wait to see what kind of businesses you will make in this arid land, and the consequences they will have for its dwellers.

We said this at least a couple of times, but it never hurts to remind you that our work doesn't end here. Both HaoJoy and 2PGames will keep working on this project to make the best post-apocalyptic management game out of it. We're currently working on vehicle modification and new plots, so stay tuned to learn more in the following months!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl - Koch Media Publishing

Theale, UK, Wednesday, August 11th, 2021 – Today, Koch Media, a leading global publishing partner, and GSC Game World, a Ukrainian video game developer, announced their physical publishing partnership for the upcoming release of the open-world first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl. The long awaited sequel to the popular S.T.A.L.K.E.R.- franchise will be available for Xbox Series X/S and PC on April 28th, 2022.

 

[Couchpotato]

Realms Deep 2021 Vault: The "Art Journey" of Death Trash

Death Trash features a post-apocalyptic world where cosmic horrors long for humanity but meet punks with shotguns. It combines old-school role-playing, modern action gameplay and player freedom. Create your own character and explore a handcrafted world.

Realms Deep 2021 Vault: Music of Call of Saregnar

The village of Avanmoor sleeps uneasily as people start disappearing and their lord is mysteriously murdered in his chambers at night. An unlikely party - a dutiful knight, an auspicious student of magic and his roguish friend - couldn't possibly imagine that a quest to find the baron's assassin would lead them in the middle of a battle between gods.

Skullstone Grid-based Dungeon Crawler Later this Year - Steam

Skullstone is a dark dungeon crawler game inspired by such classic titles as Dungeon Master and Stonekeep. Lead your four-character party through unexplored underground dungeon full of monsters and mysterious corridors. Solve numerous puzzles, find artifacts and powerful weapons.

Peripeteia Launched on Kickstarter

Peripeteia. Not merely a game, but a place. Immerse yourself in the newest Immersive Sim to be developed in the style of the classics. Harkening back to Ion Storm and Looking Glass, as we offer you the chance to help be a part of; (and fund!) a dreamlike world in a future the past forgot. You are Marie, a cybernetic agent born of the fallen old orders, turned mercenary for hire. Become one with the ruins of a great and foreboding closed city. Inspired by the open level design, urban exploration and freedom of past Eastern European RPGs; yet blended with the complexity of System Shock 1 and 2. You will explore, experiment, and execute your way through challenging and complex missions; requiring the use of your wits, skill and diplomacy to survive. Welcome to Peripeteia.

Disciples: Liberation Preview Roundup

1. Entertainment Focus
2. GameSpew
3. GameSpot
4. IGN
5. Niche Gamer
6. RPGamer

 

[Couchpotato]

CD Projekt - What's new in Night City? [Patch 1.3 development insight]

Welcome to another special report by N54 News, bringing the latest from Night City to every Night Citizen stranded away from home! Our on-the-ground reporters have the inside scoop on some of the changes happening in Night City. Though they're not the biggest ones and there'll be more to come (as soon as more documents get declassified), we're excited to give you a sneak peek at what's coming.

Dragon Age Interview with Mark Darrah - TheGamer

Dragon Age: Inquisition felt like a shake up, to say the least. While Dragon Age 2 centered around just one city, Inquisition tasked us with setting up an army that spans two countries.

The most popular perception in the fanbase is that this was an attempt to modernize the Dragon Age series - to bring it more in line with other contemporary fantasy behemoths, moving on from BioWare's classic RPG roots. However, according to BioWare veteran Mark Darrah, that wasn't the case at all - on the contrary, Inquisition was all about recapturing the feel of older games.

Weird West Interview - WCCFTech

Weird West does have a fundamental difference compared to those games: it's played in isometric view. This was obviously a conscious choice made by WolfEye (an independent studio comprised of about twenty developers) to keep a manageable budget. Other than that, however, it's looking every bit as enticing as you'd expect given the pedigree of WolfEye, not to mention even more open ended than any Arkane game to date.

We recently had the chance to speak to Raphael Colantonio and Julien Brody during a group interview. As a reminder, Weird West is targeting a Fall launch on PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

King Arthur: Knight's Tale - Summer Patch Preview

Knights, the time for the next gameplay update is almost here, and this time around we're bringing along a new class, difficulty options, controller support and more. While the dev team is working hard on the remaining story Acts for the final release, the summer patch is right around the corner. As soon as we have an exact date, we'll of course share it with you all.

 

[Couchpotato]

GRAVEN Early Access Update 2

Action, mystery, and a chance for redemption await you in the gritty action first person puzzler GRAVEN. Explore a dark fantasy world as a wrongly convicted man of faith. Battle the horrors of humanity, the wilds, and beyond using the environment, magic, and armaments.

Lost Eidolons - Closed Beta Recruitment

We're looking for passionate strategy gamers interested in testing the next playable build of Lost Eidolons! This program, called the Benerio Grand Company, will have a direct hand in shaping the future of the game by providing direct feedback to our development team.

Phantom Brigade - Early Access Update 9: License to Kill

Jump right back into the action with Phantom Brigade's newest update, License to Kill! With a new workshop, overworld details, and narrative events, you can ensure you'll Die Another Day.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord - Future Plans

With the recent release of e1.6.0 and well over a hundred game updates under our belt since the start of early access, we figured it's about time that we discussed some of the progress made since our previous blog post back in April before turning our attention to some of the future plans for the game. Oh, and fair warning, this is a bit of a big one so you might want to grab yourself a drink and make yourself comfortable before reading on!

Sovereign Syndicate - Monthly Development Update

A month ago we went public with Sovereign Syndicate after more than a year of work. We announced the game and launched our Steam page, website, and social media profiles. The response has been overwhelming and it's both exciting and humbling that we've started to build such a passionate and engaged community around the game in such a short period of time.

 

[Couchpotato]

Diablo II: Resurrected - Crafting the Controller Experience

After more than two decades, the legacy of the Dark Wanderer and the demonic burden he bears is making a resurgence in the realms of humanity. Blizzard Entertainment's resurrection of the acclaimed action role-playing game that defined a genre is nearly here! For the first time, console players who pre-order Diablo II: Resurrected will be able to experience first-hand the remastered epic of Diablo II with Early Access to the Open Beta, now live on PS5 and PS4.

Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness - Grab A Demo Key With Intel

While we put the finishing touches to our Early Access build, we're proud to announce that we've partnered with Intel to give players the opportunity to grab a demo build of Black Geyser. With the clock ticking and the event opening in a few hours, you'll be able to get a key and play through the opening sections of the game: we wanted to give you all a heads-up.

Lost Eidolons - Kickstarter Fulfillment Surveys

Back in May, we had a resounding success as the Lost Eidolons Kickstarter smashed through its $45,000 goal and funded a glorious $51,989, an amount which also fulfilled its stretch goal for an enhanced difficulty "Hell" mode. It's been about two months since then, and we're just about ready to send out surveys to start handling fulfillment of everyone's pledges who backed our project.

Legends of Ellaria - Roadmap and Plans

First of all, we want to thank every one of you for your support over the years, and for your endless feedbacks and playtests, your forum and discord votes, chats, and suggestions.

We released Legends of Ellaria several months ago and received different varieties of feedback. We figured that some people might not connect with the way we designed and balanced the multi-genre gameplay style, but we received more feedback about that than expected.

Medieval_Dynasty - Q&A Video: Collecting Questions!

Medieval Dynasty 1.0 Full Release is getting closer. Last week we gave you a sneak peek on the new content that's coming. Soon we will reveal even more info on the new additions. Meanwhile, we want to ask if you have any questions about Medieval Dynasty. Is there something that you would like to know? If you do, ask us in the comment section below. We will pick some questions and answer them in our next Q&A with devs Video.

Archmage Rises - Becoming a Studio

This week I share how we are transitioning from a random group of indie contractors into a concrete studio capable of finishing Archmage and making multiple titles. I also show some of the recent vfx and map work.

 

[Redglyph]

Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness - Grab A Demo Key With Intel

Strange way to give a demo.
I was a bit wary because of the strange URL, and I made sure to give the email address I use for spammy things, just in case. Worked though, thanks!

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

If you want to see something REALLY weird, then look at this : https://www.gog.com/game/inkulinati
I don't even understand whether it is an RPG …

 

[henriquejr]

If you want to see something REALLY weird, then look at this : https://www.gog.com/game/inkulinati
I don't even understand whether it is an RPG …

Well, the game description says "Inkulinati is an ink-based strategy game (...)" so I don't think iit is an RPG.

 

[Redglyph]

Dragon Age Interview with Mark Darrah - TheGamer

Can't quite get to that link, but this one seems fine and I think it's the one you meant
https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-mark-darrah-interview/

Well spotted, thanks!