NORSE: Oath of Blood – Demo Impressions

NORSE: Oath of Blood I have followed for a while, so this demo didn’t take me by surprise like Of Ash and Steel. However, the demo by itself is a surprise in how entertaining it felt, especially going by the atmosphere, writing, and the satisfying turn-based combat. A prerequisite is that you must like Vikings, as the setting is supposed to be as authentic as possible to them, according to the developers. No monsters, dragons, or zombies this time around, yet murderous slavers, and lunatic forest hermits can be unsettling enough!

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Of Ash and Steel – Demo Impressions

It’s rare, but sometimes it happens. That rare stumble upon a game that both has a fantastic demo, and a release date not set in the far future of 2035. Of Ash and Steel is this game, and after giving it three hours, I couldn’t help but give it two thumbs up! It’s an old-school RPG in the form of Risen—and trust me, I did the test. I swung my sword at the back of my host as thanks for nursing me back from death, and he promptly kicked my ass. But see, he didn’t kill me, he just knocked me out, called me something foul and took my bow as compensation. If that isn’t old-school “living-world” mechanics, I don’t know what is!

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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!

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The Swordhaven Kickstarter has launched!

The Kickstarter for the upcoming low-key Baldur’s Gate I-inspired RPG Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy has launched. I backed it for 15 euros, which grants me a digital key for the game when it comes out, but not much else. The Kickstarter is at this moment around 19% complete. To me it looks like they will make it, however, I’m not a Kickstarter expert. I sure as hell hope they do make it because I tested the demo that you can find on their Steam page, and it’s good. It’s very charming and plays superbly into the low-level adventure feel.

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Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy – New upcoming RPG!

Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy is a new upcoming RPG that takes heavy inspiration from the first (and best) Baldur’s Gate. It’s made by the developers AtomTeam, which in the past has created such titles as ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game and ATOM RPG: Trudograd. So, it’s not some random dudes trying to break in with the fancy idea of RPG throwback – it’s a genuine thing that gives me confidence that it will be a fine product. They recently released a gameplay trailer that you can watch below.

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