The Soulkeeper - An Episodic Open World RPG

The Soulkeeper has been in development for some time, but managed to escape our attention (for as far I can see). The game is an open world action RPG that will be delivered in episodes. What this means is explained in more detail in this interview at OnlySP.

“The main difference between us and other open-world RPGs is that The SoulKeeper is an episodic title. I know that whenever someone in the industry hears the term episodic, they get a bit nervous, thinking, ‘here we go, another cash-grabbing machine’, but that’s not what we mean. We have a model in mind that, I think, will change the way people view episodic content.

“Since it’s such a huge world,” he adds. “I think it’s fair to the players to break it down into smaller pieces. Look at it like a trilogy of movies or a TV series, like The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. A TV series gives creators a lot more time to work-in details around the world and share them with the audience. The same model can be applied to games.”

The idea of a connected series of episodes is woven into every aspect of The SoulKeeper, which HELM say will feature multiple playable characters in a multi-facetted story.

“We have multiple playable characters and each character has their own playable story that’s separate from the others, but at some points they do intertwine,” says Mortakis.

“They also have their own gameplay mechanics. For example, one character could use melee as their primary weapon, whereas another could use stealth or magic. Since we put as much emphasis on story as graphics and gameplay, we felt that the best way to communicate all these experiences to the player was through an episodic format, otherwise I feel like they’d be overwhelmed and overburdened.”

On their facebook page you can find some screenshots. There is a website as well, but that looks remarkably empty. And there is also this pre-alpha trailer:

Thanks Eye.