Warhounds – An Oddity [Trailer]

Give a girl a sniper rifle, and she will give you a dead merc

Watched a trailer for an upcoming tactical turn-based game called Warhounds, and it was a strange experience, because I could swear I have played this before. And well, I have, as Warhounds seems to be a Western release of the game SPARTA 2035, which I liked when testing out the demo. For some reason, though, the Steam page for the game now shows an error message.

The Russians on Steam don’t seem too happy about this, as they think SPARTA 2035 has been abandon in favor of Warhounds. But according to one of the developers, there is no reason for them to worry, who also says:

[Google Translate] “Greetings! Warhounds is based on the game Sparta 2035. Sparta is a game for the local CIS market, available only in Russian. Warhounds is a global game with redesigned characters, a multitude of new features, updated balance, full English voiceover, and a number of significant plot changes.”

That explains the issue, but is this where we are now, two separate games, depending on market/culture, or is it just a re-release—who knows? I don’t see why SPARTA 2035 couldn’t be released as it was. Anyhow, trailer after the jump!

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Streets of Fortuna [Trailer]

Now, Streets of Fortuna is an interesting one. It’s a sandbox RPG set in ancient times that is heavily based on systems (and the interaction of them) much like Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress—to simulate life in a city. The main difference here, though, is that you play as a single character instead of a whole colony. A fascinating spin is that the madman Tarn who created Dwarf Fortress has an advisory role on the system design, which tells me a lot about the project.

This game could turn out to be a complete dud, but from the information provided in the trailer and their Steam page, it looks to hold promise for something unique. However, my main issue is this: it needs to be difficult, much like real life, to actually feel rewarding. It would suck if you could become rich fast by stealing things for example, if it doesn’t come with heavy repercussions. But that’s for the future to tell. Make sure to request access to the playtest on Steam if you are curious. Trailer and dev comment after the jump!

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Knights of the Chalice – Fireball, My Only Friend [Field Report]

Welcome to this report on Knights of the Chalice. This is not a true review, since I’m far from the ending, as the game seemingly looks to be huge, with plenty of monsters and evildoers needing vanquishing. Treat this more as an ongoing field report in appreciation of what this title offers. The way I’m playing it, it fits better as an audiobook companion (don’t judge me!) than a full RPG experience that requires your complete attention—even if it does need it for success in the hairiest situations.

You see, this is a Dungeons and Dragons fighting simulator where the story only serves to take you from one challenging battle to the next. Knowledge of the DnD 3.5 ruleset is mandatory, or the orcs will make sheesh kebab out of your heroic group of adventurers before you even have time to unsheathe your sword.

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Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy – Side-quests or Die! [Review]

Prepare your sword, and not the one in the pants!

Welcome to AtomTeam’s third RPG: Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy. If you have played any of their former projects, like ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game, or ATOM RPG Trudograd, you know what to expect here. It’s essentially the same type of roleplaying experience—created in the same engine, following the established structure, and gameplay mechanics they created. However, this time they are ditching the radiated wasteland for a lush low-fantasy medieval world, where the sword rules instead of the rifle.

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Iron Tower’s future plans [Part III]

Iron Tower is back with another post with information about their latest RPG project. You can read it here on Steam. While development is still up in the air, thanks to the financial difficulties after releasing Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game—things are looking better. The chance of seeing the game actually being made has gone up from 50/50 to 70/30 in their favor. This is good, of course, but it’s not without issues, with the biggest being from a question made by user Frenzin on RPG Codex regarding animations:

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