Couchpotato spotted some RPG news:

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 1/12/25

RPGamer: Round-Up: December 22 – January 12

Fextralife checked out upcoming RPGs:

Top 10 Upcoming Games of 2025 You Can't Ignore!

Timestamps
0:00 - Black Friday Steam Autumn Sale
0:27 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
1:22 - Elden Ring Nightreign
2:23 - Monster Hunter Wilds
3:42 - Avowed
4:48 - The First Berserker: Khazan
5:46 - Crimson Desert
6:53 - AI Limit
8:02 - Ghost of Yotei
9:09 - The Outer Worlds 2
10:08 - Doom: The Dark Ages
11:11 - Final Thoughts

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Mortismal Gaming checked out upcoming RPGs:

Upcoming CRPGs in 2025 & Beyond

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Paste thinks these are the most anticipated RPGs of 2025:

The Most Anticipated RPGs of 2025

There’s more to a good role-playing game than simply devouring time. That length is usually a by-product of the most fundamental aspect of a RPG: story. Because what fun is playing a role if the story isn’t worth it? That story doesn’t need to be some huge Homerian epic or hold the fate of the cosmos in the balance—even something as simple as raiding a dungeon for treasure can work—but it is expected at this point, decades after games like Ultima first brought the adventurous, story-telling world of tabletop RPGs to computers. Computer and videogame RPGs have greatly expanded on those earliest inspirations in the many years since, flowering into a ever-growing ecosystem of subgenres and settings, and becoming a vital, popular cornerstone of the entire medium. A promising crop of new RPGs awaits in 2025, some continuing ongoing series, others launching something new, and we’re excited to see what the year has in store. Here are Paste‘s most anticipated RPGs of 2025.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Avowed
Monster Hunter Wilds
Demonschool
Fable
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Suikoden I & II
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

[...]

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For PC Gamer these are the best upcoming RPGs of 2025:

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

12 more months of to-hit rolls.

In a post-Baldur's Gate 3 world, the RPG feels more ascendant than ever on PC. 2025 is shaping up to be an excellent example of that, with a whole raft of huge releases due this year for lovers of levelling and loot to get their teeth into.

It's not easy to keep them all straight—even as someone whose job it is to keep up with this stuff, I was surprised how many RPGs I found as I took a fresh look over the release schedules. But that's a solvable problem and solve it I have, with this list of the biggest and most exciting new games in the genre due in 2025.

Will all these games actually make it to a 2025 release date, without a cheeky delay? In the increasingly chaotic world of game development, the answer is a firm "probably not". But for the duration of this article, you can consider me an optimist who takes announced release windows at their word, regardless of how silly that may make me look by December.

Without any further caveats, let's proceed on our quest, and see what adventures await…

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Avowed
Monster Hunter Wilds
Demonschool
Menace
Borderlands 4
The Outer Worlds 2
Solasta 2
Fable
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
Elden Ring Nightreign
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Moonlighter 2

[...]

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Kiwi Talkz talked with game designer Will Shen:

Will Shen Interview (Designer On Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield)

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Eurogramer presents 9 exciting 2025 open-world games:

9 Exciting 2025 Open-World Games We Can't Wait to Play

00:00 - Intro
01:02 - Atomfall
02:20 - Ghost of Yotei
03:38 - Star Overdrive
04:31 - Light No Fire
05:30 - Mafia: The Old Country
06:51 - Fable
08:04 - GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto 6)
10:16 - Assassin’s Creed Shadows 
11:28 - Crimson Desert

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GamingBolt checked out the MMO PIONIR:

PIONER Is Looking Like An Excellent Mix of Fallout And Stalker You Always Wanted To Play

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Gamesindustry talked with Ken Levine about the future of storytelling invideo games:

The future of storytelling with Ken Levine

Acclaimed developer also discusses Judas, generative AI and why it "wasn't easy to step away from BioShock"

Ken Levine has spent much of his career trying to redefine video game narratives. Most famously with the iconic twists in his acclaimed BioShock series, and most recently with the ongoing development of Judas – the debut title from Ghost Story Games.

While some may argue that video games as a medium may be reaching their limit in terms of graphics and production quality, the potential for interactive storytelling remains largely untapped. Judas attempts to explore this by mixing up the story's events depending on the relationship players develop with key characters, but Levine is keen to emphasise this is just one possible future of narratives in video games.

We spoke with the renowned designer about the biggest challenges in telling stories that react to players, the balance between author vision and player agency, the potential for generative AI in storytelling, and more.

The interview below has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Video game storytelling has advanced so much in the last decade or so, but what would you say is the biggest challenge that remains?

It's very easy to show a player a story. The harder part is to get them to participate in it and react to how they participate.

It's very easy to show a player a story. The harder part is to get them to participate in it and react to how they participate.

I don't think there's one way to make games, but personally, as a narrative games maker, I've never been a big fan of cutscenes because they're not interactive. One of the reasons Judas is taking so long is trying to figure out how we get the game to be substantially more responsive to player decisions. That's a really hard problem, and that's why you don't see a ton of it [in games].

Our industry is over 50 years old and we still don't really know what it is, what games are. By the time movies were 50 years old, they were making Citizen Kane. It's changed somewhat [since then], styles have changed, but they had it pretty well figured out by the 1940s – we haven't.

Now I think that's a feature not a bug because I like being in a field where even at my age, I'm still like 'What is this thing? Let's try shit and see if it works.' That's incredibly exciting.

[...]

The Outerhaven listed some upcoming action RPGs:

Action RPGs to Look Forward to in 2025

As 2024 comes to a close, gamers worldwide are already anticipating the thrilling possibilities that 2025 holds. For those who seek challenge and love immersing themselves in rich, combat-driven worlds, the upcoming lineup of Action RPGs promises to be particularly exciting. These games, celebrated for delivering both exhilaration and frustration in equal measure, continue to push the boundaries of storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and sheer difficulty.

[...]

Path of Exile 2
Elden Ring Nightreign
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
No Rest For The Wicked
Avowed
The First Berserker: Khazan
Eternal Strands
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Monster Hunter Wilds
Dying Light: The Beast

[...]

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The Gamer's most anticipated RPGs of 2025:

TheGamer Staff's Most Anticipated RPGs Coming In 2025

RPGs are a staple video game genre. Whether they're high fantasy or modern, turn-based or action, there's an RPG for pretty much anyone. 2024 was stacked with great RPGs from start to finish, with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth dominating the start of the year, and Metaphor: ReFantazio and Dragon Age: Veilguard stealing the spotlight at the tail end. How will 2025 compare?

[...]

• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii
• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
• Avowed
• Pokemon Legends: Z-A
• Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
• Hexxen Hunters
• Fable

[...]

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PC Gamer thinks too many games are unfinished at release:

Too many games released busted, broken, and basically in early access this year - it's time for it to stop

The money-men are getting complacent in our incredibly online era.

It's the era of the comeback. No Man's Sky, Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 76, on and on the list goes: games that had god-awful launches but pulled it back from the brink over the course of patches and expansions. Games that started out as player-repelling PR disasters end up beloved golden boys. In some cases, the studios behind them end up with better reputations than they would have done if they'd just released a functional game at the beginning.

But I'm calling it. Enough. We're done. From now on, we're only releasing games that are actually complete. And by 'we,' I mean 'you,' the imaginary publisher reading this. The whole phenomenon has become alarmingly common, with games both big and small releasing preterm and having to be brought up to snuff long after we've already dropped $60 on them.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted a 2024 top-list on Personal Central:

Most Popular Games of 2024 for Japanese Developers, Including Atlus Producers

Weekly Famitsu issue 1880, released 26th December, 2024 includes the magazine’s annual feature on the most popular games played in 2024, as selected by 181 industry figures and celebrities.

Each person gives the top titles which they played this year, and an overall ranking of the top 20 titles is also compiled. This year, Atlus staff included are first production project manager Shinjiro Takada, Managing director and executive producer Naoto Hiraoka, and Persona series creative producer Kazuhisa Wada.

Of the Atlus titles released in 2024, Metaphor: ReFantazio ranked 3rd overall and Unicorn Overlord ranked 7th.

Top 20 Titles
Dragon Quest 3: HD 2D Remake
Astro Bot
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Black Myth: WuKong
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Unicorn Overlord
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Stellar Blade
Street Fighter 6
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Balatro
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island
Doraemon Dorayaki Shop Story
Silent Hill 2
Rise of the Ronin
Tekken 8
Zenless Zone Zero
No Case Should Remain Unsolved

[...]

Kiwi Talkz interviewed Nate Purkeypile:

#180 - Nate Purkeypile Interview (Artist On Skyrim, Fallout 3/4 & 76)

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These are Wccftech’s best RPGs of 2024:

Wccftech’s Best Roleplaying Games of 2024 – A Year for the History Books

Wccftech's Best Roleplaying Games of 2024
Roleplaying games are having a great year after year lately. 2023 was absolutely stellar, but 2024 is another year that will go into the genre's history books, not only because of the huge amount of RPGs released but for their quality as well. As such, this year, more than any other, it's really difficult to just pick five games over all the others, as the vast majority of roleplaying games released this year brought something interesting to the table, whether it was a new take on a classic formula, a faithfully remade classic or a new evolution of an established series.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (9.2)
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (10)
Dragon's Dogma 2 (8)
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (9)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (9)

[...]

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PC Gamer says buy a game if you want sequels citing Tim Cain.

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PCWorld thinks all RPGs should be moddable.

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GameSpot assembled a list of the best RPGs of 2024 from Metacritic:

The Best RPGs Of 2024 According To Metacritic

The best role-playing games are the ones that effortlessly transport you to faraway lands, and in 2024, there was no shortage of fantasy adventures in this genre. This is a category of video games that feature a lot of legacy titles and franchises, and 2024's best-reviewed RPGs pulled from several franchises like Dragon Age, Final Fantasy, and Trails.

In addition to those established heavyweights, we also got a new entry in the Like a Dragon series, Atlus releasing not one but three critically acclaimed games, and World of Warcraft kicking off a new golden age with its The War Within expansion. Thanks to our sister site Metacritic, we've rounded up the RPGs that received the highest Metascores in 2024 (as of December 5), and you can see them all for yourself in the list below.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Persona 3 Reload
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - Void Shadows
Unicorn Overlord
Arco
Dragon's Dogma 2
World of Warcraft: The War Within
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
Black Myth: Wukong
Inkbound
Cat Quest 3
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Last Epoch
Ys X: Nordics

[...]

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Ye Old Entertainment looks back at four RPGs of 2024:

2024 RPGs that did it for me

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GamingBolt thinks these are are the 15 best RPGs:

15 Greatest RPGs You Need To Play ATLEAST ONCE [2024 Edition]

When you think about some of the most challenging genres to develop for, role-playing games are probably near the top. A developer must deliver a compelling story set in a memorable world with extensive lore but also provide top-tier combat, dialogue systems, endearing characters, unique locations, skills, upgrades, and much more.
Of course, not every role-playing game is the same. Some may embrace a more open-world action RPG format and extensive production values for its cutscenes. Others may take a more old-school CRPG approach while offering a range of reactive choices and character customization. Then you have the titles which flip the script entirely and push the limits of role-playing while forgoing more traditional combat mechanics.
There are tons of great role-playing games as a result. Today, we picked out 15 of the very best of all time worth playing. Check them out below.

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PC Gamer reports that Raf Colantonio (Ex-Arkane, Weird West) is working on a first person sim.

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C4G listed his top 5 games of 2024:

TOP 5 INCREDIBLE Games I Played in 2024

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The Nerd Stash thinks these are the best games of 2024:

10 Best RPGs of 2024, Ranked For GOTY

Larger than life adventures

1. Metaphor: ReFantazio
2. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
3. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
4. Persona 3 Reload
5. Unicorn Overlord
6. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
7. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
8. Dragon Age: The Veilguard
9. Granblue Fantasy: Relink
10. Dragon’s Dogma 2

[...]

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C4G checked out a lot of lesser known RPGs:

I Played Over 45 Obscure RPGs and Action Adventures

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Robert Kurvitz talks about the importance of worldbuilding:

Importance of Worldbuilding | Robert Kurvitz | Game Camp France 2024

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Couchpotato spotted a new Dune Awakening trailer on PC Gamer:

Dune Awakening Trailer and Developer Message | PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2024

Ye Old Entertainment looks back at 2024:

2024 RPGs that didn't fo it for me

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Videogamer reports that Rod Fergusson thinks it is a good idea to call games like Diablo Diablo-likes.

C4G looks back at the Untold Legends franchise:

The RPG Franchise Sony Wants You to Forget

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Eurogamer discusses the urgency problem of RPGs:

The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?

It's about time.

Why is it that in a role-playing game where the stakes are usually 'the end of the world', the end of the world always has to wait for us to finish our sprawling to-do list first? There's no way you've never encountered this. I came across it most recently in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which, after a thrilling end to Act One, effectively turned to me, the player, and said, hey why don't you focus on some companion quests now instead, eh? The world was still ending, the danger hadn't diminished or passed in any way, it's just the game needed a pace change and for me to see some of the other cool stuff in it.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted some weekly RPG news:

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 11/24/24

RPGamer Round-Up: November 17 – November 24

Mortismal Gaming made a list of games that deserve a remaster or remake:

Five Games That Deserve A Remaster/Remake

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:57 Arcanum
03:45 Dragon Age Origins
04:58 Lionheart Legacy of the Crusader
06:56 Divine Divinity
09:13 Jade Empire
10:51 Wrap Up

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Daniel Albu interviewed Jane Jensen:

A Conversation with Jane Jensen (Gabriel Knight / Gray Matter / King's Quest VI / Police Quest 3)

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Ye Old Entertainment checked out five Card Battlers:

Five more card battler deckbuilders to add to the tier maker list. Some are your recommendations!

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Gematsu reports that the publisher Neowiz and the studio Zakazane work on Noir Western RPG.

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Mark Darrah asks...

Are Expansion Packs Back From the Dead in RPGs?

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Tonesville talks about Elder Scrolls-like games:

Scrolls-Likes: The Unexpected Rise of a New Genre of RPG

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NeverKnowsBest tells the story of the J-RPG subgenre:

The Entire History of Japanese RPGs

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Couchpotato spotted some new mods:

DSOGaming: Take a Look at Baldur’s Gate 3 in First-Person Mode

DSOGaming: Here are three more DLC-sized mods for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen

PC Gamer checked out generative AI:

Generative AI is dividing RPG fans: Can AI really play Dungeons & Dragons, and should it?

You taught an AI to play chess? Great. Now teach it to run a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition campaign in the Planescape setting using the 2024 rules.

In 2018, a group of grad students at Georgia Tech published a paper that noted games had often been "an important testbed for artificial intelligence" in the past. AIs have been beating us at chess, checkers, and Unreal Tournament for years, after all. Since that was the case, they argued, it makes sense for future testing of AI to focus on whether they could learn to play tabletop roleplaying games. Games like Dungeons & Dragons would serve as an effective measure of the progress of AI, "due to an infinite action space, multiple (collaborative) players and models of the world, and no explicit reward signal."

What they didn't predict was how controversial AI would become by the time that was possible—a topic we'll come back to later.

In 2019, OpenAI released GPT-2, a large language model trained on eight million web pages that could generate narrative responses to short prompts. Though it wasn't fully released until November, a partial version was available by February, and three months later had already been used to create the first version of AI Dungeon.

[...]

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Mark Darrah talks about the design of a ability system:

Let's Design An Ability System!

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Noisy Pixel reports that the president of developer Nihon Falcom, Toshihiro Kondo, is open to discussion a localization of Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga.

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Iron Pineapple played nine more Souls-Likes:

I played 9 MORE Souls-Like games you've never heard of (AGAIN)

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:31 Home Defender
6:35 Atlyss
27:42 Nine Sols
39:24 Enotria
1:02:53 Nightmare Kart
1:18:01 TimeLost
1:25:49 Slime Heroes
1:35:26 Gorble
1:39:19 Perennial Order

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A demo for the dungeon crawler Dual Eclipse is now available:

Dual Eclipse

Delve into mysterious dungeons and discover a way to restore order to the cosmos in this trick-taking dungeon crawler. Evade traps, discover secrets, and strategize with unique trick-taking combat. Change the tide of battle with powerful eclipse cards, upgrade your deck, and parry cards!

Learn more about storytelling in games:

Tips For Writing a Video Game Story That WORKS

(Where "works" means "makes more money.")

Bonus story tip: If your players travels with other characters, they can chat during the game stuff. It helps the player remember the story during all the stabbing.
"Every minute a player spends not interacting with your story dilutes the power of the story." - Vogel's Third Law of Video Game Storytelling

Suppose you want to write a single-player video game with a good story.

Assume you're writing a game to make money. There are lots of ways to skin that particular cat. You could make a freemium, open-ended app. A gacha game. Some competitive thing that people play for a thousand hours. You could have done that, but you, like a madman, decided to rock things old-school.

It's single-player, and you want the story to be good.

How Do You Tell When Your Game's Story Is "Good"?

When it makes your game earn more money.

Does the story so amuse people they tell their friends? Quote your funny lines at nerd parties? Meme your characters? Cosplay as your characters? Write fan-fiction about your game?

In other words: Is your story so good that people give you free advertising? (And word-of-mouth is the best advertising.)

Then it's good.

So how do you do that?

I can't say, obviously. That's where the art is. A million words have been written about storytelling. My #1 piece of advice is always: Be a genius.

However, I have been selling game stories for a long time, and I've observed that some things work better and some work worse. I've done things well and made some gruesome errors. I can offer some opinions and observations, if you want people to care about the words.

(By the way, our Kickstarter for our next story-heavy RPG, Avernum 4: Greed and Glory, is almost done and has done great. Take a look!)

[...]

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A demo for their action RPG Tyrant’s Realm is now available:

Tyrant's Realm Prelude - Gameplay Trailer

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The Tactical RPG Odyssey looks back at Tactics Ogre:

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis - Retrospective

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Morstimal Gaming presents some highlights of Steam's Turn Based RPG Fest:

Steam's Turn Based RPG Fest Highlights

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:01 WH40k Rogue Trader/Pathfinder: WotR
02:15 Octopath Traveller 2
02:42 Xcom 1/2
02:55 For The King 2
03:28 Midnight Suns
04:02 Triangle Strategy
04:26 Eiyuden Chronicle
04:52 Tactics Ogre
05:25 Colony Ship/Age of Decadence
06:17 Ruined King
06:46 Circus Electrique
07:25 Wrap Up

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Jeff Vogel explains why storytelling in video games isn't easy:

Why Video Games Are Tough For Storytelling

A good story can help your game make money, but the medium will fight you every step of the way.

Writing a video game with a good story is easy! Just have it be 20 hours of reading! Done and dusted!
"Players will forgive your game for having a story as long as you allow them to ignore it." - Vogel's 2nd Law of Video Game Storytelling

I recently wrote a blog post about writing good, clear stories that progress logically and make sense. It was based on a short, really good video by the guys who made South Park (and a bunch of other stuff).

The basic idea is this: When your story moves to another scene, the scenes should be collected by "Therefore" or "But then". They should never be connected with "And then."

As in, each scene should be the result of what came before. Someone does something to achieve a purpose. Someone else does something to react to that. And so on. This creates a logical story that moves at a good tempo towards a conclusion.

But I'm a video game guy. (Kickstarter for our next game running now!) What does all this mean for me?

It turns out the things that make a video game feel like a video game make storytelling very hard.

Storytelling In A Video Game Is A Strange Thing

I will go to my grave saying that, if you want to create a game that gets a following and makes money, good writing is the most cost-effective way to help. Good words and good settings are cheap to make, and they can massively increase the popularity of a product.

[...]

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Fextralife presents some upcoming action RPGs:

Top 10 ARPG 2025: The Best Upcoming Action RPG Games to play on PC and Consoles (Not Android)

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RPG Site shared a list of all PC related streams of the Tokyo Game Show 2024:

Tokyo Game Show 2024 - List of expected RPG-related streams

It's almost that time of the year again. Tokyo Game Show 2024 will be held in the following week on September 26-29. The event will mostly take place physically at Makuhari Messe, and our correspondent James Galizio will be there in person to get first-hand impressions of demos for upcoming RPGs.

Bandai Namco - Tales of Graces f Remastered
Ubisoft - Assassin's Creed Shadows
Microsoft - Xbox Games Showcase
Level-5 - Fantasy Life i and Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
Capcom - Monster Hunter Wilds
Aniplex - The Hundred Line
Sega & Atlus - Metaphor: ReFantazio
Koei Tecmo - Fairy Tail 2 and Atelier Yumia
Square Enix
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Nihon Falcom - The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted a gameplay showcase for the free-to-play RPG Ballad of Antara:

Ballad of Antara - Gameplay Showcase

In a distant land, a mist-like phenomenon devastates the common world with unknown malice. Begin a perilous journey, seek towering, divine creatures, retrieve those twisted and lost ""essences"" of the land.

• Become Emissaries, powerful entities that wield the force of fundamental essences. Experience unique classes, gameplay capabilities, and enticing, mysterious stories.
• Explore the Para, the otherworldly dimension where danger lurks at every corner. Seek the truth inside, and recover the essences of the world.
• Explore handcrafted gameplay space with intricate, exploration oriented level design.

Ye Old Entertainment ranks card battlers:

Ranking deck builder card battler video games that I've played recently with Tier maker

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Jeff Vogel explains how to write a good story for a game:

How To Write a Good Story That Doesn't Give Me Headaches

Logic, clarity, and making sense are missing more often than they should be.

The 1995 south park short was the first viral video I ever say, back when videos took hours to download and were the size of postage stamps. Kids, ask your parents to explain what a ‘postage stamp’ was.
(I freely admit that I do most of my writing online to get attention for our games in an immensely overcrowded industry. So let me briefly mention that we have announced the Kickstarter for our next indie RPG, Avernum 4: Greed and Glory. Follow the link and press the button to be reminded when it starts in a week. Thanks!)

"When someone says a video game has a good story, they mean it has a story."

- Vogel's 1st Law of Video Game Storytelling

There is a video I like to amplify whenever I see it. It's storytelling advice from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, makers of South Park, The Book of Mormon, and other stuff.

[...]

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The creator of Daggerfall Unity works on a new project:

About Project Arroa: Revenwood

Introduction

Hello! My name is Gavin Clayton, aka Interkarma. I’m an IT guy turned independent game developer, best known as the creator and lead developer behind Daggerfall Unity. I have a lifetime goal of building my own games, and once Daggerfall Unity was fully realised, I started working fulltime on my first original project.

This post is intended to share a little about me and my inspirations, and to roughly map out the game I’m working on so you can decide if it’s something you’re interested in following. I hope you’ll walk alongside me for a while and help explore where this road leads.

Background

“Project Arroa: Revenwood is the first video game adaptation of a fantasy campaign setting I created for friends and continued to expand throughout my life.”

In the 1990s, I ran a custom AD&D 2E campaign setting for friends set on a continent called Arroa. In our world-spanning adventures, we explored themes of cataclysm, the rise and fall of civilisations, and a failed magical dynasty. As a 2E setting, it contained all the high fantasy trappings of humans, elves, and dwarves, rolled up in a melange of my own ideas and inspirations from ancient history. The central mystery of this world was the impenetrable and perpetual divine storm of the Sandwolf, found deep in the Arroan Desert. Rumoured to safeguard immense power, nations of both the living and dead vied to reveal its secrets.

Over the following years, the world of Arroa continued living in my imagination. It became the setting of short stories where I explored vignettes of a larger work. It was a land I could visit in my mind’s eye anytime I needed an escape in darker moments. The characters and events which occupied this world grew in my imagination and never lost their sense of wonder to me.

Now, with a decade of experience building complex gameplay systems and successfully completing a massive game project, I have set out to explore my world first-hand as I adapt it into video game format. I plan to rebuild these places and adventures to the best of my ability and revisit them with fresh eyes. I also want to experience my world once again through the eyes of others, just as it was in the beginning.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted RPGamer's weekly round-up.

Gematsu reports that Hideaki Itsuno (Dragon's Dogma series,...) leaves Capcom after 30 years.

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Andrew Greenberg, the co-creator of Wizardry, has passed away.

Exputer thinks the open-world genre could have more quality content:

The Open-World Genre In Gaming Has A Quantity Over Quality Problem

With recent releases, the issue seems to be more in the spotlight.

Story Highlights:

• Open-world games have long dwindled in quality and depth, with repetitive patterns prevailing instead.
• Save for a few exceptions, many open-world games feel like a copy-paste of certain elements.
• Titles of this genre need to focus more on quality over quantity for the best possible results. 

The open-world or free-roam genre in gaming has long been populated through the arrivals of absolute goliaths, such as the GTA franchise, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Minecraft, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and many more. However, this hasn’t always led to deep-dyed titles with a vested interest in detailed world design that does not feel shallow on the inside. 

As it would seemingly be, the industry has tried to mimic the greatness of certain open-world games that made it to the top. As a result, we’ve now arrived at a point where the genre, as we know it, is convoluted with an array of titles that don’t quite cut it.

From uninspired releases to games that simply turn out bland, developers need to focus carefully on what makes the likes of Elden Ring and Red Dead Redemption 2 great. 

[...]

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RPGamer thinks about challenges in RPGs:

Do RPGs Need to Up the Ante on Challenges?

Ah, the platinum trophy. The top-tier accolade of gaming achievements, usually requiring the dedicated player to sink hundreds of hours into completing multiple playthroughs, adopting various styles and strategies to meet the challenges set out by the developers. But are the challenges fulfilling enough to warrant pursuing the top prize?

It is common knowledge that adding this shiny trophy to a player’s collection takes a lot of (metaphorical) blood, sweat, and tears. A game such as Red Dead Redemption 2 can take around 250 hours to max out to completion, but the rarest trophy players can snag has been called out as one of the most tedious achievements to complete. Gold Rush is a silver trophy achievement that requires the player to earn a gold medal for 70 game story missions, but if the objectives fail or the character dies, the mission must be restarted from scratch. So, while this achievement is time-consuming and, at points, rage-inducing, does it truly fulfill the player’s need for a challenge that immerses them further into the narrative, or is Rockstar making difficult challenges for difficulty’s sake?

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted RPGamer's weekly round-up.

Couchpotato spotted some gameplay of Dune: Awakening:

Dune: Awakening Gameplay Overview Showcase | gamescom 2024

Couchpotato spotted a lot of Gamescom 2024 trailers:

Gamescom 2024 RPG Trailers

Gamescom 2024 Non-RPG Trailers

Exputer thinks that the oversaturation of the Soulslike sub-genre is a real problem:

Am I The Only One Who Thinks There Are Too Many Soulslikes Coming Out These Days?

The oversaturation of this genre is a real problem.

Story Highlights

• FromSoftware’s iconic Souls series has exploded in popularity, becoming a symbol of difficulty.
• However, attempts to create Soulslikes have become a little too frequent and oversaturated now.
• Instead of turning every game into a Soulslike, there are plenty of other versatile options out there.

What is the most difficult game you’ve ever played? If I had posed this question around 3 decades ago, I’m sure I would’ve gotten some mentions of stuff like Lion King, Contra, Ghosts n’ Goblins, the original Battletoads, etc. However, asking this question today, it’s almost a universal fact that Dark Souls or its siblings would be on the list. FromSoftware’s masterful creation would be so game-changing, no one ever anticipated.

Giving a new meaning to the word “difficulty,” it has become the beacon of challenging games. Countless attempts to replicate this magic of creating a strange relish in death and the thrill of a hardcore battle have been made. Some succeed, some do not, but the genre has indeed exploded beyond belief. And thus I pose the question. Isn’t it about time to try something else?

[...]

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Limit Break Network interviewed Feargus Urquhart:

“We were a crappy developer”: Obsidian's Feargus Urquhart on state of gaming | Hit The Limit Break

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Couchpotato spotted a new Josh Sawyer Q&A:

Q&A #2

Here's the link to the first one.

Weekly RPG News:

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 8/11/24

RPGamer: Round-Up: August 4 – August 11

RPGSite: Tetracast 359: Min-Max Your Bust Size

TBL: RPG New Releases And Announcements Of The Week – 11 August 2024

PC Gamer reports that the next game of the Dishonored co-creator Raphael Colantonio will be a immersive sim.

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Mark Darrah talks about character creation:

The Power of Choice: Blank Slate or Predefined Character?

Chapters:
0:00 Tabula Rasa or Predefined
0:25 Tabula Rasa
2:36 Minimal Definition (BG3 and Skyrim)
4:29 Origins and Backgrounds (DAO)
5:28 Old School D&D
7:21 Archetypes (Mass Effect)
8:26 Defined Character (DA2 and Witcher)
9:35 Fully Defined and Static (Uncharted)
10:43 I am ME (Tetris)
13:10 Who  am I? (StarCraft)
15:17 It's 2 Dimensional
18:06 The Best One!
21:35 AI?

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Couchpotato spotted RPGamer's weekly round-up.

C4G looks back at Piranha Bytes:

The Rise and Fall of Piranha Bytes | The Developer of Gothic, Risen & Elex RPGs

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RPFan talks about RPGs that haven't reached Europe yet:

The Classic RPGs that Skipped Europe

I got my first console back in the late nineties when I was around twelve — a PS1. In the preceding months, I spent hours thumbing through gaming magazines and getting excited about specifically playing Final Fantasy VIII (which was due out soon) and Final Fantasy VII (which I’d bought a magazine walkthrough for even though I didn’t yet own the game). When the PlayStation was finally in my hands, those were the first two games I played, along with a couple of platformers which I quickly realised were too frustrating and absolutely not for me. Final Fantasy, RPGs, and especially turn-based battle systems absolutely were, though. Those two games were my gateway into the genre, and I made it my mission (or main story quest, as it were) to play as many RPGs as I could get my hands on. Little did I know, this would lead me to a bunch of really fantastic games and also some significant disappointment. 

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted RPGamer's weekly round-up.

Interesting article on Techcrunch about a startup that is specifically making AI for NPCs in video games:

Artificial Agency raises $16M to use AI to make NPCs feel more realistic in video games

A group of former Google DeepMind researchers has created an AI behavior engine that aims to transform traditional video games into a more dynamic experience by improving how non-playable characters (NPCs) behave and interact with gamers.

There’s no shortage of companies using AI to generate NPCs that feel more realistic, but Canada-based Artificial Agency, fresh out of stealth with $16 million in funding, is betting its behavior engine will help it stand out from the pack.

Traditionally, NPCs are guided by decision trees and pre-written scripts, which often limit the number of outcomes a player can experience. For example, most NPCs in games respond to player behavior with a few repetitive dialogues, which can often feel unrealistic and boring.

Artificial Agency’s behavior engine throws this framework out the window, turning the game developer into more of a stage manager. The engine requires developers to give each NPC a set of motivations, rules and goals to live by, which then dictates how the NPC will respond to the player. The technology can plug into existing video games or serve as the basis for completely new ones.

The startup, based out of Edmonton, Alberta, is entering an increasingly crowded space. Competitors include Inworld, which also offers AI-generated behaviors for NPCs, as well as Nvidia, which has been working on AI-powered NPCs for some time now.

Artificial Agency, for its part, believes that integrating AI-generated NPCs into a video game’s design is the way forward.

“The conversations we often have with these studios are not about if, it’s about when,” co-founder and CEO Brian Tanner told TechCrunch. “This sort of dynamic interaction and dynamic response that our system allows is going to be table stakes in the games industry just a few years from now.”

[...]

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C4G continues his journey through obscure/lesser known games:

TOP 10 Obscure RPGs and Action Adventures that you Missed

0:00 Hello there my RPG lovers :)
0:05 Intro
1:03 10. Hard to be a God
6:00 9. Legend: Hand of God
13:47 8. Blades of Time
17:40 7. Depths of Peril
27:10 6. Nox
30:21 5. Seven
36:18 4. Knight's Contract
43:05 3. Shadows: Awakening
51:46 2. Sword Coast Legends
57:46 1. Blade of Darkness

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Couchpotato spotted two weeklies:

Turn Based Lovers: EVERYTHING TURN-BASED: WEEKLY RPG NEWS AND RELEASES 13 JULY 2024

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 7/14/24

IGN gives an overview of the Kingom Hearts series:

Kingdom Hearts - Official 'What Order Should You Play Kingdom Hearts' Overview Trailer

C4G asks the question...

Are aRPGs Evolving Backwards?

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RPGamer presents the new releases:

New Release Round-Up (July 4, 2024)

Welcome to RPGamer’s new release round-up. In this column we look to provide our readers with details on all of the RPGs released over the last two weeks. Please note we do not currently include Early Access releases where the game is still in development.

[...]

• Ash of Gods: Redemption
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Fate Seeker II
• Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
• The First Descendant
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak
• Zenless Zone Zero

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Here's an opinion piece about open-world games from Rock Paper Shotgun:

How the checklist conquered the open world, from Morrowind to Skyrim

The first in a new interview series about a sprawling, exhausting genre

There's no genre like the open world for inducing choice paralysis, so it's fitting that I've been agonising over how to begin this irregular article series on open world games for months. I have a lot of material, oodles of interviews with developers of all shapes and sizes - big shops like Remedy and CD Projekt, smaller studios like Ace Team and Awaceb, all holding forth on such topics as whether Elden Ring or Zelda did bandit camps better, and how you make a forest feel endless. There is so much you could talk about, so many trails heading off in all directions, but perhaps it's best to begin with the more personal and superficial question that inspired this investigation: how did the open world game get so boring?

I used to love open worlds for, in a nutshell, being virtual environments vast enough to get thoroughly lost in with no guarantee of what I'd find. They were enveloping mysteries, tantalising horizons. Nowadays, however, I regard open worlds as chores, because they are designed so insistently, even desperately, around recurring activities and rewards. Wherever I go, I always feel like I'm walking on the spot. The open world's promise of scale has become its greatest disadvantage, inasmuch as that scale is now justified and structured by a surfeit of smaller, looping acts of content extraction, typically joined at the hip to live service fixtures, which create a momentum for exploration that used to be supplied by curiosity, and which conspire to drain the landscape of grandeur. Open worlds have never been larger in terms of acreage, but they do not spend your time well.

[...]

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C4G checked out every Game of Thrones RPG & RTS:

I Played Every Game of Thrones RPG & RTS so You Don't Have To

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IGN talks with Ubisoft about Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows:

Assassin’s Creed Shadows & Star Wars Outlaws: Ubisoft On Upcoming Open World Games | gamescom latam

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Mark Darrah asks the question...

Why Do AAA Games Take So Long?

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A16Z GAMES interviewed Allen Adham, the co-founder of Blizzard:

The Secret Behind Blizzard's Success | Allen Adham, Co-Founder of Blizzard

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Wccftech thinks that we'll get a lot of good RPGs in the future:

RPG Fans Are Eating Well for Several Years to Come

2023 was a memorable year for fans of RPG titles, and the foreseeable future looks brighter than ever after the recent Summer Game Fest event. The biggest contribution comes arguably from Xbox Game Studios, thanks to Microsoft's investments in some of the most successful RPG studios and franchises. But there's a lot more coming to market - let's take a look at the next couple of years, beginning with the latter half of 2024.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree 
Flintlock: Siege of Dawn
Black Myth: Wukong
Visions of Mana
Enotria: The Last Song
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Avowed
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Kingdom Come Deliverance II
Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines II
New Arc Line
Gothic Remake
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy
The Witcher (Remake)
The Witcher 4
Bethesda's Elder Scrolls VI
Fallout 5
Exodus
Outward 2
The Wayward Realms

[...]

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C4G checked out all Harry Potter games:

So I Played ALL Harry Potter RPGs and Action Adventures!

0:00 Hello there my RPG lovers :)
0:05 Intro
0:56 Sponsored Segment: Boot.dev
2:28 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
7:19 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
12:19 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2003)
17:11 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
21:17 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
26:13 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
31:24 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
35:27 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
39:24 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
42:13 Hogwarts Legacy
48:54 Outro

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Ye Old Entertainment checked out Hard West 2, Zoria, Across the Obelisk, Gone Rogue and Journey to the West:

What I've been playing: Hard West 2, Zoria, Across the Obelisk, Gone Rogue and Journey to the West

00:56 - Zoria Age of Shattering
12:16 - Hard West II
19:25 - Gone Rogue
24:57 - Divinity Chronicles: Journey to the West
29:03 - Across the Obelisk

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Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero will get a Steam release in 2025:

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero – Announcement Trailer

Set sail to save the day with Marona and her Phantom friends in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, coming to Nintendo Switch in 2025!
Each stage of this colorful RPG adventure offers a gridless tactical turn-based challenge. Utilize the "Confine" system to recruit Phantoms, binding them to objects on the map for unique advantages. Unleash potent attacks with "Confine," merging Phantoms with cannons and other Gadgets. When all else fails, execute Marona's special "Confriend" ability for show-stopping abilities that will turn the tide of battle! 

MrMattyPlays interviewed Todd Howard:

Matty Interviews Todd Howard: Future Of Fallout, Starfield Year 2, Elder Scrolls VI Info, & MORE!

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The action RPG series Kindom Hearts is now avaiable on Steam:

Kingdom Hearts

• KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX-
• KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue on Steam
• KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind (DLC)

Mortismal Gaming presents some games of the current Steam Next Fest:

Steam Next Fest Highlights - June

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:05 Flintlock: Siege of Dawn
02:08 Enotria
03:12 Once Human
04:23 Kill Knight
05:20 Kriegsfront Tactics
06:06 Beyond These Stars
07:09 Mirthwood
08:10 Wrap Up

Couchpotato spotted a bunch of game trailers at the Xbox Games Showcase 2024:

• Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn | Release Date Announcement Trailer
• Fable
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Reveal Trailer
• State of Decay 3
• Avowed Story Trailer
• WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers Announcement Trailer
• The Elder Scrolls Online - You Belong Here
• Assassin's Creed Shadows: First Look Gameplay Trailer
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl — The Time of Opportunities Trailer

Couchpotato spotted weekly RPG news from:

TBL: EVERYTHING TURN-BASED – WEEKLY RPG NEWS AND RELEASES 2 JUNE 2024

RPGamer Round-Up: May 26 – June 2

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 6/2/24

Couchpotato spotted weekly RPG news from:

RPGamer: Round-Up May 19 – May 26

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 5/26/24

TBL: EVERYTHING TURN-BASED – WEEKLY RPG NEWS AND RELEASES – 26 MAY 2024

C4G presents some more obscure RPGs:

The Most Obscure RPG Franchise You've Never Played

0:00 Hello there my RPG lovers :)
0:05 Cinemax Games studio
1:12 Necromania: Trap of Darkness
5:08 Daemonica
10:08 Inquisitor
15:24 Numen: Contest of Heroes
21:19 The Keep
24:05 Outro

The action RPG series Kindom Hearts is coming to Steam on June 13:

Kingdom Hearts

• KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX-
• KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue on Steam (steampowered.com)
• KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind (DLC)

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MinnMax interviewed Jake Solomon:

Why XCOM's Creative Director Jake Solomon Left Firaxis

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C4G looks back at RPGs of 2006 to 2009:

Why 2006 - 2009 RPGs Just Hit Different!

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Couchpotato spotted an excerpt of the book Ultima and Worldbuilding in the Computer Role-Playing Game on Gamedeveloper.

Couchpotato spotted an announcement for a strategy RPG on Gamesradar:

Helldivers 2 veterans are making a Fire Emblem-style strategy RPG complete with "horny" romance thanks to Baldur's Gate 3 and Hades 2

A group of Helldivers 2 veterans has spun off into another company to make a "narrative heavy" strategy RPG like Fire Emblem, complete with romance because one developer wants "the game to be horny."

Talking to Inverse, former Helldivers 2 lead writer Russ Nickel talks about the inspirations that informed his approach to the popular co-op shooter, D&D, and more. As the interview comes to a close, the chat shifts to what's next for the former Arrowhead Game Studios staffer.

"We just decided to spin off into our own company and we're making a tactics strategy RPG like Fire Emblem," Nickel says. "But it's very narrative-heavy, so Fire Emblem if it were published by Annapurna. So a deeply indie, emotionally poignant tactics game, that's also of course very funny with character-based comedy."

Nickel goes on to say that the idea is that the medium reflects the narrative and vice versa. While Helldivers 2 does "a really good job of that," the team is considering what that looks like for a tactical RPG. 

[...]

Gamesindustry report that Pentiment and We Are OFK won the Peabody Awards.

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Games Industry talked with Borislav Slavov and Gustavo Santaolalla about the golden age of music in games:

From The Last of Us to Baldur's Gate 3: The success of the Game Music Festival

We talk to Borislav Slavov and Gustavo Santaolalla about the new golden age of games music

Two years ago, the Game Music Festival was held at London's Royal Festival Hall for the very first time, after five editions in its Polish homeland.

At the time, we noted how the venue, which can seat 2,700 people, was well attended, but not full. But the audience gave the two scores performed (Cuphead and both Ori titles) a very warm reception, and the event was undoubtedly a great success.

The Game Music Festival returned to London last Saturday, welcoming Larian's composer and music director Borislav Slavov for a concert presenting Baldur's Gate 3's music, and Oscar-winning Gustavo Santaolalla to perform The Last of Us' score. Both concerts featured the Philharmonia Orchestra and, in the case of BG3's performance, the Hertfordshire Chorus.

And the atmosphere was beyond anything we've previously witnessed at a games concert.

Santaolalla, one of the most revered film composers and musicians out there, was given a standing ovation before even playing a single note. His performance, changing instrument with almost every track alongside soloist and long-time collaborator Juan Luqui, explored every emotion, from tear-jerking instrumental pieces straight from TLOU's score, to electric songs from his repertoire extending that universe (if you've never listened to Ando Rodando, this is your sign to do so).

Later in the day, the Baldur's Gate 3 concert was filled to the brim, with the game's cast in the audience alongside many cosplayers, enjoying performances from solo soprani Ilona Ivanova and Mariya Anastasova on some of the game's iconic tracks, and the energy rising exponentially until a terrific finale that saw actor Andrew Wincott join Slavov on stage for a surprise performance of Raphael's Final Act.

[...]

Slavov says video games music has reached a "very special" stage that he calls a "romantic period," with the music crossing boundaries beyond its core community.

"The moment where video game music crosses the border between the industry and media, and goes into everyday people's lives... This is very, very special and makes me incredibly grateful, and lucky to be able to witness [it], and to be part of [it]."

He adds: "And this is the proof and strongest indication that video game music is a thing in its own right. It's one thing to be part of the medium, as good as it is, but it's a completely different story when one day you realise that this particular element from the video game development is crossing the boundaries and becoming part of the people's everyday lives."

[...]

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Learn more about Lawrence Schick on Eurogamer:

From creating D&D to making Baldur's Gate 3: meet the man who coined the term XP

"We were inventing a whole art form at the time."

A photograph of a white man with a pointed, Van Dyke white beard, and long white hair neatly swept back over his head, holding a magnifying glass up to some ancient document or other in the background.

"Role-playing games are only 50 years old. We're still inventing them every day. That's what's really exciting about it. We haven't found the boundaries of it yet, if there are any. We're still pushing out. That's what keeps me doing this stuff, years after most of my peers have retired or passed on."

Do you believe in fate, that there's an invisible force steering us through our lives and that we end up in certain places for certain reasons? Perhaps after hearing Lawrence Schick's story, you will.

It's not a name I expect you'll recognise, but you'll know some of the things he's responsible for. Take the term XP, for example. It's ubiquitous in gaming and possibly beyond it, and Lawrence Schick created it. It's primarily the reason I set out to track him down, to hear how that came to be, because it fascinates me to think of a gaming landscape where there's no established term for experience points, and possibly no such thing as experience points at all. I find it really hard to even conceive of that, given where we are now.

But it's not all I learn from Lawrence Schick when I do track him down. I discover a passion within him that has helped shape role-playing games in the past, and a passion that continues to shape role-playing games into the future.

[...]

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C4G checked out some forgotten RPGs:

I Played 5 Obscure and Forgotten RPGs & Action Adventures (again)

0:00 Hello there my RPG lovers :)
0:05 Intro
0:42 Korgan
6:47 Daemonica
11:45 Anima: Gate of Memories
19:58 Dungeons of Sundaria
27:36 Ultra Age
35:49 Outro

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Zloth spotted a roundtable discussion talking about the state of RPGs on PC Gamer:

2024 RPG roundtable: Baldur's Gate 3, Avowed, Cyberpunk, In Stars and Time, Elder Scrolls designers

PC Gamer's RPG roundtable returns with a powerful panel of RPG experts to talk lovable and hateable companions, romance (and thirst), how you make a great intro to a massive game, and much more. Joining our panel this year:

• Swen Vincke, founder and director at Larian (Baldur's Gate 3)
• Carrie Patel, game director and senior narrative designer at Obsidian (Avowed)
• Sarah Gruemmer, acting lead quest designer at CD Projekt Red (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
• Adrienne Bazir, founder and sole developer at insertdisc5 (In Stars and Time)
• Ted Peterson, co-founder Once Lost Games and former writer and designer at Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls 1-4)

Our developers each talk about their current or recent games, as well as other RPGs that have inspired them, from Nier to Disco Elysium.

Henriquejr spotted an article about XCOM-likes on Tom's Gaming Blog:

2024, the year of X-com-likes

The X-com genre hasn’t exactly been dead, so I can’t say 2024 is the year it will make a glorious comeback, but hot damn, there sure are a lot of games coming out in the genre making it somewhat of an event. For X-com aficionados the world over it’s going to be a very busy year with a lot of turn-based tactical combat and the building of bases. Now, I can’t say for certain that all these titles will come out this year, but the prognoses are looking good for many of the games. I will list the games under three categories. Games that are set for a 2024 release (according to Steam), games with a more unclear release, and then games that are out already. Here we go!

Xenonauts 2
Zodiac Legion
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint
Project Haven
King Arthur: Legion IX
Crown Wars: The Black Prince
Menace
Every Day We Fight
Mars Tactics
Interregnum: False Prophet
Urban Strife
Archrebel Tactics
Twilight Wars
Classified: France ’44

[...]

GamingBolt made a list of elements they don't like in RPGs:

16 Things We CAN'T STAND IN RPGs

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ENFANT TERRIBLE made a list of upcoming RPGs:

TOP 30 MOST INSANE RPG Single Player Games coming out in 2024 and 2025

• 00:00 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (CryEngine) - 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 02:16 Astropulse: Reincarnation (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 06:50 No Rest for the Wicked (Unity) - April 18, 2024 Early Access - PC
• 08:26 King Arthur: Legion IX (Propietary Engine) - May 9, 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 09:46 Crimson Desert (BlackSpace Engine) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 12:24 Exodus (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 14:31 Dragonkin: The Banished (Propietary Engine) - 2025 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 15:44 Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (Propietary Engine) - June 21, 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 18:25 Enotria: The Last Song (Unreal Engine 5) - August 21, 2024 - PC and PS5
• 20:46 AI Limit (Unreal Engine 5) - 2024 - PC and PS5
• 23:01 Stygian: Outer Gods (Unreal Engine 5) - 2025 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 24:04 Last Sentinel (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC
• 25:48 Titan Quest 2 (Unreal Engine 5) - 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 28:21 Lost Soul Aside (Unreal Engine 4) - 2024 - PC and PS5
• 29:57 New Mass Effect (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 30:23 Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn (Unreal Engine 5) - Summer 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 31:33 GreedFall 2 (Propietary Engine) - Summer 2024 Early Access - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 33:08 Gothic Remake (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 35:16 Flint: Treasure of Oblivion (Unreal Engine 5) - 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 36:25 Hades 2 (Unity) - 2024 Early Access - PC
• 38:34 Where Winds Meet (Propietary Engine) - Late 2024 - PC
• 44:15 Avowed (Unreal Engine 5) - 2024 - PC and Xbox
• 46:19 Black Myth: Wukong (Unreal Engine 5) - August 20, 2024 - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 48:16 Witches of the New World (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 49:37 Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (Frostbite Engine) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 52:08 The First Berserker: Khazan (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5
• 53:55 Eldrimar (Unreal Engine 5) - 2024 - No release date - PC
• 55:12 Earthlock 2 (Unreal Engine 5) - No release date - PC, Xbox and PS5

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Insider-Gaming collected some info about the next Assassin's Creed game ('Hexe' German = 'Witch'):

EXCLUSIVE – EARLY DETAILS ON ASSASSIN’S CREED HEXE

Details on Assassin’s Creed Hexe are few and far between. Officially, the series’ Vice President and Executive Producer, Marc-Alexis Cote, alluded that the game will be different from past entries and developed by Ubisoft Montreal. From the game’s official tease, we know that it will lean heavily into witchcraft, with the game rumored to be set in Central Europe during the 16th-century Holy Roman Empire (via Bloomberg).

Insider Gaming understands that the game is still in a relatively early stage of development and is expected to be released in 2026 on the Infinity platform. Hexe is understood to be a more linear experience compared to its predecessors with some elements of open-world exploration, somewhat akin to some of the earlier Assassin’s Creed games. As already reported by Insider Gaming, Hexe is poised to have a single female protagonist, currently named Elsa, who has some supernatural abilities.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted a trailer for Astropulse: Reincarnation:

Astropulse: Reincarnation Official Reveal Cinematic Trailer | Extended Version

Joel RPG recommends some turn-best games:

Top 15 Best NEW Turn Based Strategy-Tactics-RPG Games That You Should Try | 2024 Edition

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
01:53 #15. No Plan B (PC)
02:30 #14. Slice & Dice (PC, Android)
03:07 #13. Solium Infernum (PC)
03:42 #12. Dominions 6 - Rise of the Pantokrator (PC)
04:19 #11. LONESTAR (PC)
04:53 #10. Headquarters: World War II (PC)
05:26 #9. Tendryll (PC)
06:00 #8. Dark Deity 2 (PC)
06:40 #7. ARC SEED (PC)
07:15 #6. Guild Saga: Vanished Worlds (PC)
07:52 #5. Sandwalkers (PC)
08:26 #4. Demonschool (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch)
09:03 #3. MENACE (PC)
09:40 #2. ZEPHON (PC)
10:16 #1. Spear Song (PC)

Thanks Couchpotato!

TheGamer is pondering about side-quests in current RPGs:

I’m Having Trouble Caring About The Main Quest In RPGs

Side quests are stealing the spotlight in all of the big RPGs of this generation.

I think we can all agree there is a lot to do in modern roleplaying games. In some games, like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth or Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, there are a massive amount of minigames. True, you will need to play a few minigames to get through the main storyline, but you don’t need to master them to finish the plot.

Other games like Baldur’s Gate 3 (and, for that matter, those games I already named) have an endless series of optional side stories that take hours to complete. Some, like Tears of the Kingdom, just make it fun to screw around for hours. But all of it is making it hard for me to care about the main quest in RPGs.

I’m not saying I don’t like the storylines themselves. Each of the games I’ve mentioned have incredible, fulfilling stories that take dozens of hours to complete. These are stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you go, “Wait, was that JK Simmons?”. They’re all intricately planned, beautifully written, and - in the case of Baldur’s Gate 3 - do in fact feature JK Simmons. I’m being genuine when I say that I deeply enjoyed the main quests of these roleplaying games - when I got around to it.

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Thanks Couchpotato!

Gamesradar interviewed the dev team of Honkai Impact 3rd:

What's next for Honkai Impact 3rd, the Genshin Impact dev's original hit RPG: Girl friends, aerial combat, and a "point of entry for newcomers" after 7 years of lore

Interview | Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2 is a comprehensive update for a surprisingly old game

As one of the older gacha games out there, Honkai Impact 3rd can be intimidating. It feels like I was seeing inescapable YouTube ads for this action RPG's launch just yesterday, but the original hit for Genshin Impact developer Hoyoverse is now somehow approaching eight years old. But it also feels a bit like a new game nowadays thanks to its recent Part 2 update, which delivered extensive combat and systemic changes and, most importantly, started a whole story chapter featuring fresh protagonists.

The enormous cast and frankly terrifyingly deep lore of Parts 1 and 1.5 haven't been forgotten, but new leading ladies Senadina, Helia, and Coralie take center stage in a bespoke new space-faring storyline currently orbiting Mars. Part 2 has been billed as an approachable jumping-on point for a game that was getting to be a bit long in the tooth, so as someone who's enjoyed Hoyoverse's more recent games but always skipped Honkai Impact 3rd, I was cautiously optimistic. I was also curious to chat with the devs about what's next for the game, how it got here, its penchant for stories about gals quite simply being good pals, and how it's co-existing with the many other Hoyo games that didn't exist when it launched, especially the loosely paralleled Honkai Star Rail.

GamesRadar+: I've come to think of Part 2 as a soft reboot for Honkai Impact 3rd. Is that accurate in your eyes?

Honkai Impact 3rd development team: This is an update to the existing one, with comprehensive optimization on story lines, combat system, UI design, etc.

I know Honkai Impact 3rd by reputation, and a lot of the praise I hear is related to the previous main character, Kiana. How long have you been planning to move onto an all-new cast with Part 2, and what pushed you to leave Kiana behind?

We always try to provide something new, something exciting, and something [imaginative]. We have been dedicated to creating new content and experiences for both new and avid gamers of Honkai Impact 3rd while inheriting the core spirit of the Honkai franchise. 

[...]