The Turn Based Lovers present some free turn-based games of Itch.io:

BEST FREE TURN-BASED GAMES ON ITCH.IO – DECEMBER 2023

Despite Steam being a more popular platform choice for video games, Itch is a brilliant way to find and support lesser-known indie games. Thanks to the abundance of game jams hosted on the website, along with how easy Itch makes it to upload games, developers are releasing fresh new turn-based games all year round.

Better yet, at the time of writing, each game on this list can be played for free. However, some of these games are still in the form of jam entries, demos, and alpha builds.

METAL MODE
SLIPWAYS CLASSIC
FOLDER DUNGEON
TITAN TACTICS
UNDERGRAVE
PAPER SOLDIERS
POLYBOT-7
PORKLIKE
GEOPOLITICS
TANKS OF FREEDOM
SOLUS SECTOR: TACTICS
BUMPERS AND BROADSWORDS: TOURNAMENT

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Thanks Couchpotato!

Those Who Came, an adventure co-op non-combat RPG, is announced at Gamescom.

Spain, Barcelona –August 24, 2021– Independent development studios Rolldbox games will be presenting their adventurous non-combat-based RPG, "Those Who Came" at Gamescom.

"Those Who Came" is an immersive experience that will put your skills to the test and awaken your lateral thinking, where cooperation and teamwork are keys to evolving throughout the game. Violence won't make you win, your abilities will, that's why lateral thinking is a must.

"Those Who Came" is the first launch by ROLLDBOX GAMES, which brings us a fascinating story to play in a cooperative environment, giving you an enriching experience and learning from the power of the team. But above all, you will get a boost of positive energy that will leave you wanting more.

Gamescom is one of the most important conventions in the video game industry. A 100% virtual meeting that will bring together players from all over the world to celebrate the new titles and discover the latest market launches.

Features

• Choose your suits, mods

• Player versus Environment

• Play as a team

• Non-combat-based RPG

For this year's Gamescom Event, "Those Who Came" is assigned to Floor 5 - RPG - booth 18 at the Indie Arena Booth-Arcade Village.

A new turn-based tactical RPG has been announced, which is named Reverie Knights Tactics.

1C Entertainment announces brand-new turn based tactical RPG Reverie Knights Tactics

 Prague, Czech Republic – May 26, 2021 – 1C Entertainment is excited to announce the brand-new tactical RPG, Reverie Knights Tactics that is planned to launch this fall on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch. Developed by indie studio 40 Giants Entertainment, Reverie Knights Tactics is a story-driven RPG, featuring turn-based battles in a 2D isometric grid and decisions that alter the story and the way characters will develop during the game.

Embark on an expedition to find Lennorien, the long-lost elven city to save the ones you lost, while fighting the goblin menace that spread terror across the continent! Lead your party of heroes, each one with distinct, special abilities and skills, allowing you to use multiple battle strategies to defeat your enemies. Discover a fantasy world featuring deep map and scenario exploration in an epic adventure, visual novel style! Craft new items and accessories from the treasures you collect and use them as tactical advantage every time you configure your characters.
 
Key Features:

• Beautiful Hand Drawn Art: Meticulous multilayer artwork from pencil sketch to full detail color
• Decision-driven Storyline: Make several decisions through your quests, affecting the story and other characters` reactions
• Character Customization: Customize character`s performance attributes, skills, and accessories for heightened abilities!
• Item Crafting: Collect powerful items as you explore the world and discover combinations to create new items
• Exploration: Travel your way through an expansive map, unlocking secret quests, solving puzzles, and exploring scenarios and evil dungeons!
• Up to Four Hero Characters: Control 4 different heroes, each one with distinct, special abilities and skills, allowing multiple battle strategies
• Battle Phases: React to your opponent's strategy and come up with the perfect tactic every turn, challenging you to think ahead
• Interactive Battle Scenarios: Manipulate parts of the battle environments, and use scenario effects to your advantage!
• Multiple Battle Grids: Each battle contains a different isometric grid, making every battle a unique experience

Reverie Knights Tactics will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch in 2021. For more information, make sure to check out the game on Steam.

Some 20 years after it's original release, the revamped version of Siege of Avalon is now available on Steam and GOG.

Siege of Avalon: Anthology Launches Today on Steam & GOG!

Defend the Citadel in this enhanced version of a 20 year old classic.

April 8th, 2021 - SNEG is happy to announce that Siege of Avalon: Anthology is now available on Steam & GOG; experience Digital Tome's RPG classic enhanced for the modern day. Originally episodic, this release collects all six episodes together so players can get fully immersed in the world of Avalon.

A dedicated community of coders has been carrying the torch and attempting to improve & maintain the original game for years, since the moment Digital Tome released the source code back in 2003. To thank community for their efforts, SNEG will be making the code for their updated version with all the new features they've added open source so people can continue to build off it.

Rebuilt from the original Delphi code, this new release of Siege of Avalon: Anthology features:

• Support for resolutions up to 720p/1080p
• Widescreen, multi-monitor support, & windowed mode
• An updated UI sized for 16:9 monitors
• The ability to play as a female character
• Achievements and cloud saves
• QOL changes such as fast travel and an increased party size
• Bug fixes and improved stability

 

About Siege of Avalon: Anthology

BUILD YOUR OWN CHARACTER

Play as a fighter, scout, or mage, and choose from hundreds of pieces of weaponry and armor to customize your character's appearance and abilities. Learn different skills and spells to try various play styles. Add members to your Party or drop them as you advance through the game.

PLAYED ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

Dive into the story of deception, treachery, and heroism through rich dialogues and in-game tomes. The game was designed with the idea of being a new type of book that gives a feeling of full immersion into its fantasy world.

FULL ANTHOLOGY

Get immediate access to the full game. Chapters one, two, and six lead you through the main story, while third, fourth and fifth chapters present the expansions that allow you to delve even further into the lore and adventures.

IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS. WILL IT RUN?

We are happy to bring back to life the "Siege of Avalon: Anthology". The game received its portion of technical care and now runs on modern operating systems without any extra shenanigans. The story, visuals, and gameplay are untouched - with all its charm and flaws. Enjoy playing the game on Windows 7 or later, improved stability and widescreen support.

A dungeon crawler named The Slormancer, is now available in early access on Steam.

Lots of words are coming to you on Steam in the form of the narative RPG Cyberpunkdreams.

Forget your empathy. Survive our future. Jack into cyberpunkdreams, a text-based RPG deep dive into Ohio's dystopian future

Live, survive and uncover a conspiracy in 2090s Cincinnati

Cambridge, UK - January 7, 2021 - Independent studio Late Night Games is proud to announce that their free-to-play narrative RPG cyberpunkdreams is coming to Steam this summer, with support for Windows, Mac & Linux. Set in a chaotic and dehumanizing alternate future, the game puts players on a deadly quest to the darkest corners of corporate-run Cincinnati - from the bleak wastelands surrounding the city, through the rain-slick squalor of its hazy neon streets, up to the glistening chrome spires at the city's opulent heart.

A continually expanding text-based RPG, cyberpunkdreams asks players to carve out their own identity in this dystopian cityscape. Through quests, stats, equipment choices and more, players can define their character as a smooth-talking socialite, a hawk-eyed purveyor of secrets, a cybernetically augmented street tough, a master hacker or anything in-between. Player choices are important, with real, lasting impact. On these mean streets, who you know and who you can tap for favors is almost as important as who you are.

cyberpunkdreams boasts over 1.6 million words of interactive prose, delivered through thousands of interlinked story vignettes filled with meaningful decisions and stylish illustrations. A single small choice in one scene can snowball into an unexpected sequence of consequences, making cyberpunkdreams' bleak vision of the future feel all the more alive and unpredictable as it continually expands.

In development since 2013, Late Night Games plan to support the game through regular free content updates, adding new areas to explore, new story arcs to discover and more characters to befriend, deceive or destroy, along with new opportunities to develop the skills necessary to tackle bigger, more dangerous jobs. Life in 2090s Cincinnati moves fast, and doesn't stop until you're bagged and tagged.

Designed to be accessible to interactive fiction newcomers, yet deep enough for veterans, cyberpunkdreams takes an organic (and sometimes cybernetic) approach to character development. Every challenge, win or lose, defines your skills and teaches potentially painful lessons. Every change in outfit changes how the world perceives you, and very little about your character is permanently set in stone - not even your gender. cyberpunkdreams takes a flexible approach to sexuality and identity, as you'd expect from the 2090s.

More details are available on www.cyberpunkdreams.com. The full game will be free-to-play on Steam, supported by optional microtransactions.

The action RPG, Sands of Aura, is available now as free demo until the 8th of February.

Sands of Aura – the highly-anticipated action RPG about a dark fantasy world covered in sand – is now available for a limited time as a free demo as part of the Steam Game Festival.

Sands of Aura delivers the brutal difficulty of Souls-like games – along with rewarding dungeon crawling, endlessly addictive loot progression, and Unreal 4-powered real-time combat.

Set in the world of Talamhel, the game is filled with a morbid roster of the depraved: The fervent Ferrum, wielding their curved blades with deadly elegance; the hive-minded Hashara, overpowering their enemies in great, hive-sized numbers; and the multitudes of corrupt wildlife, grotesquely reborn by the corruption.

Brave the sea of shifting sands to reach new islands. Explore the ruins of great empires and discover the entrenched monstrosities that lay within ...

Features

• Sail the sands in search of adventure and glory.
• Dive head first into battle – or don't! The choice is yours.
• Engage in real-time combat not for the faint of heart.
• Face ever more horrifying monsters ready to strike at a moment's notice.
• Enjoy an incredible music score by Eduardo Lopez. 
• Choose from hundreds of unique weapon combinations to cleave, maul or spear your way to victory. 
• Customize your weapons to gain an advantage in every skirmish.
• Vanquish the corrupted races of Talamhel whenever they stand in your way!

Sands of Aura is expected to hit Steam Early Access in 2021.

An old school RPG adventure, named Dark Dragonkin is coming to Steam in the second quarter of this year.

Walterboro, SC –February 3, 2021– Independent game development studio Twintertainment will release Dark Dragonkin on Steam in Q2 2021.

Dark Dragonkin is an old-school RPG adventure in which the player alternates control a party of characters with unique abilities, guiding each of them one at a time to exit the level.

“I want to capture the spirit of classic adventures”, says Wade Adams, solo dev at Twintertainment. “Dark Dragonkin is a top-down puzzle role playing game which gameplay will remind you of The Lost Vikings”.

A free playable demo of Dark Dragonkin will be available for the Steam Spring Festival held on February 3. A live stream event will be taking place on February 7.

Features

• You control each character separately.
• Each character has their own unique skills to get past obstacles.
• Every Level is like an old school RPG puzzle.
• Even the enemies are puzzles of how to avoid or destroy them.
• You must figure out how to gather the party at the exit portal to advance.
• Powerful bosses that are a challenging puzzle to defeat to gain passage through their realm.

Turnbased Lovers have some first impressions on the turn-based strategy RPG Shores Unknown.

In regard to the combat phase I would make a preliminary remark: even if the game is tagged as “turn-based”, in “Shores Unknown” the fights are different from any other game I’ve ever played.

First thing first, the fights are divided into two distinct phases: during the first one, you can give to your mercenaries your orders like attack, defend, use a skill and so on; instead, during the second phase, you can watch the results of your choices, like in an action movie.

But that’s not all. As you may have noticed, from my description, during the combat, among your available actions, there isn’t the possibility to move your characters. The game, indeed, manage to automatically move your units. This feature has a dual purpose: on one hand, it tries to make the fights more easy and fast to manage; on the other hand, there is the evident intention of the developer to give a more spectacular cut to the combat phase.
This is an interesting and – somehow – brave design choice, but, at the moment, there is a downside: the line of movement of your men is not always very clear. The result is that sometimes is not so simple to achieve a side or a rear attack.

Thanks Andrea.

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If you love Role Playing Games (RPGs), watch this more some upcoming entires for 2020 & beyond in the indie game space!

[...]

Shadowy Contracts, a stealth RPG by solo developer Mark Nasr, is set to arrive on Steam Early Access on Thursday the 3rd of October.

Set in a large open world inspired by the Dark Ages and sword-and-sorcery movies, the game has a straightforward premise: Take on contracts and eliminate targets for gold ... or die trying!

In keeping with RPG standards, gold can be used to purchase weapons, armor, and effects/enchants. At the start of Early Access, 52 weapons, 38 armor sets, and 21 weapon effects/enchants will be available – with more to come in the near future. Successful assassins can also use their revenue streams to hire and lead mercenaries into battle – raising the stakes in a big way.

Kill List: The Story So Far

In Shadowy Contracts, King Arthur ascends the throne in a world hurting from violence, poverty, and hardship. Not willing to sit and wait while things get better, our protagonist joins an assassin organization – coming to grips with an unexpected magical heritage in the process ...

Key Features

• Enjoy more than 7 contracts and 4 battle levels – with more coming soon!
• Loot and buy more than 52 different weapons, 38 armor sets, and 21 weapon effects/enchants.
• Progress by not only looting weapons, but also learning abilities and spells using the talent tree.
• Play your way with levels and enemies that scale with you.
• Customize your character freely with an extensive character creation system.

Shadowy Contracts will be available on Steam (Windows only) Thursday, October 3 for $9.74 – at a 25% discount. On October 10, the game will return to its original retail price of $12.99.

Egres is a multiplayer souls-like PvP arena that takes place in a universe based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. On the 10th of October the game will be releaed on Steam.

The key features of the game are:

• An alternative universe where neon, Lovecraftian horrors, post-apocalypse and Victorian era are harmoniously combined.
• A detailed nightly multi-level city with many streets, houses and sewer tunnels, where deadly danger can find citizens everywhere.
• 13 characters with unique abilities, weapons and fighting styles with their own goals in this city.
• Many different artifacts and consumable items that significantly change the gameplay.
• Hardcore combat system based on the abilities of heroes, dodges, melee attacks and collected equipment.
• The opportunity to play both alone and together with other players and chose both a global faction and a local group.
• Dynamically changing game difficulty, supplemented by waves of madness and floods rolling over the city.

We have 5 keys to give away. If you want to have a key, add a comment to this news posting. You are eligible to win a key when you have added a comment stating that you want one, were registered before today and have a minimum of 7 (approved) posts.

If you are in to text driven RPGs then Nocked! True Tales of Robin Hood might be your thing. It is available on Steam and itch.io. The creator of the game describes his motivations for creating this game as follows:

I’m a Sci-Fi/Fantasy author with some D&D design credits; Nocked! is my love-letter to text-heavy, story-driven RPGs — from Baldur's Gate and Planescape to Shadowrun: Dragonfall and the Witcher series. I've wanted to create a video game for 26 years; this is that game. Everything I love about RPGs — base building, romance, resource management, and real story consequence — is here, bound in a text-based, multiple-choice interface.

And about the game itself:

The peasants of Nottingham bow under the weight of Prince John’s taxes; nobles fall to the Sheriff’s political machinations; deserters from the Crusades pillage the land; and fairies lure the unwary into the depths of mist-shrouded Sherwood Forest, never to be seen again. 

Step into the chaos of a magical England at the end of the Third Crusade.

Maid Marian hides breathless amidst the brambles after the sack of her father’s castle; Little John charges a bodyweight in gold to cross a lonely log; and Will Scarlet holds court in a brokedown tower surrounded by trees as tall as the sky, waiting for a king who will never come. 

The time is ripe, a spark is lit – from the ashes of your home, from the shadow of anonymity, step into legend. 

You are Robin Hood.

Nocked! is a lushly-illustrated, story-driven role-playing game. Define the deeds and identity of Robin Hood, outlaw of Sherwood Forest; recruit allies, forge alliances, find love; and chart a path between war, negotiation, and dangerous magics. Your choices are remembered and your actions shape the world, but you can’t do it alone.

Story and strategy collide as your reputation spreads and Merry Men join your band: Build and expand a base in the hidden deeps, manage your earnings from raids on tax collectors, and prepare for the coming of the Sheriff of Nottingham. There is no sure and easy path to victory, no one decision that will save your resistance; will you fall beneath the Sheriff’s boot heel, or will you build a movement to last the ages? The choice is yours.

Experience a lush and vibrant Sherwood Forest on desktop with art inspired by Lotte Reiniger - an early animator/director/artist - combined with traditional watercolor techniques; and original music drawn from medieval sources.

Features

• Over 20 hours of gameplay incorporating more than a million words of text. No single playthrough is the same; this is interactive fiction on an epic scale!
• Play as male or female Robin.
• 9 romanceable characters, including both same and opposite-sex relationships.
• 5 unique backstories that change the way the world responds to your actions.
• 4 difficulty levels. Resource management can be an afterthought or a vital element in your decision-making.
• 3 customizable bases, each with a unique look and play style. Build your base and see it reflected in the art and story.
• 300+ pieces of hand-drawn art by Amanda Spaid.
• Over an hour of medieval-inspired music by Ivan Oberholster; and featuring a new recording by Bellowhead frontman Jon Boden!
• Dozens of different endings. See the culmination of your choices and their effect upon the world.
• Play for minutes or hours at a time. A robust autosave keeps track of your progress.
• Adjustable text size.
• Built-in Twine and adapted for both desktop and mobile by Unmapped Path, specialists in narrative experiences, co-founded by Twine’s creator, Chris Klimas.
• Originally launched on iOS in 2017, Nocked! has been lovingly expanded and refined for PC and Mac, with overhauled mechanics and additional art, music, and text.

For more information you can check out the developers' site and watch the following video.

The turn-base tactical roguelike game Dead hand has been released on Steam today.

Dead Hand, the tactical roguelike, is out now on Steam

Valladolid, Spain, July 26, 2019. Dead Hand, the tactical roguelike from One Man Army Games is finally available for sale on Steam. Want to enjoy some old school gameplay combined with modern tech?, then grab it while it's hot to take advantage of the 15% Off launch discount. Make sure to watch the Steam launch trailer below to find out what modular vehicle combat in a fully destructible cave is all about!.

About Dead Hand:

Dead Hand is a turn based tactical roguelike game set in a fully destructible procedural environment. Guide your Autonomous Weapons Platform in a fatalistic trek through a multiple level underground cave complex in order to fulfill your directives. Along the way you'll explore abandoned caverns now populated by rogue robotic combat vehicles, scavenge parts to improve your weapons platform, engage in fearsome boss battles, and die multiple times in the process.

Features:

• Tense and engaging tactical combat and exploration.
• Modular combat vehicles, scavenge parts from neutralized enemies and upgrade your weapons platform.
• Gear based progression. No XP and no levels, your weapons platform is literally the sum of its parts.
• Old school turn based Action Points management.
• Freeform movement, no hexagonal or square tiles.
• Fully destructible cavernous environment, dig foxholes to protect yourself from enemy fire or punch through your foes' cover with explosives!
• Procedural level generation for maximum replayability.
• And of course, permadeath.

We received word that an indie post-apocalyptic RPG, named Percy's Last Stand will become available on the 25th of July on Steam.

Central Louisiana, the year 2089... the brief peace after World War III ends with the collapse of global computer networks through an unknown virus. With technology halted, people split into different tribes: mutants, cannibals and gangs roam the world while what's left of the army attempts to keep some type of order.

Outpost 72 stands as the lone army base guarding Vernon Lake, a small water source used by the remaining human population of the Louisiana Territory. The outpost sees little activity, except for the occasional mutant attack. Two unimpressive soldiers, among the small percentage of the population born with psionic powers, spend their days guarding the outpost and avoiding responsibility.

Their boredom comes to a sudden halt with the arrival of an alien species that that seeks to research what is happening on Earth, and maybe do something more...

These two soldiers will find themselves at the forefront of a battle for humanity... a hero and his cocker spaniel side kick. He would embark on a grand adventure to discover the mysteries of the universe and humanity. Or maybe the cocker spaniel was the hero and the man was just the side kick. Maybe the cocker spaniel was the salvation of humanity and the man was just tagging along...

-------------------------------------------------

The game was created entirely by one person without any Kickstarter or outside funding and uses a game enginewritten from scratch using Java. It features:

- Over 40 hours of game play that spans across the Solar System.
- Over 150 enemies with unique abilities.
- Develop your characters with different guns, cyber enhancements and psionic magic.
- Play as Percy, the mighty cocker spaniel.
- Explore a large open world - travel to the Moon, Mars, alien spaceships, caves, cities and all sorts of places throughout Central Louisiana.
- Controller support (XBox, Logitech and other standard USB gamepads) and 1600 x 900 resolution.

We have been informed by its developer that Minima, a retro adventure RPG inspired by the old-school Ultima series as played on the Commodore 64/128 back in the '80s, has been updated. The update fixes all known bugs and also makes it available on a Raspberry Pi.

You can find and download the game on Itch.io. You can also find the link there to play the game online. Or you can download the source code at Github.

We have been informed that the indie RPG Tale of Enki:Pilgrimage has just been released on Steam.

Tale of Enki: Pilgrimage is a story-driven RPG that tells the tale of a young Ogre, Gargan, who's kicked out of his house by his father for being a layabout. Gargan is determined to prove to his father that he's a true Ogre and sets off on a journey across the country to retrieve a relic from an ancient Ogre hero. Utilising my unique Stamina-system for battle, you can line-up multiple attacks per turn before executing to allow for deeper strategy.

Caverns of Xaskazien 2 is an interesting free roguelike available on itch.io.

In conjunction with its predecessor, Caverns of Xaskazien II has been in development since 1995.  It is a completely playable game, but will continue to receive free updates for the foreseeable future.

Game Features:
- A rich, graphical game, with loads of animation and dynamic, coloured per pixel lighting.
- An exclusive orchestral soundtrack created for the game by professional film scorer, Dave Coleman.
- A full sound environment with close to 1000 unique sound effects, volume keyed to the source’s distance from your character.
- An intuitive keyboard and mouse interface.
- An easy to understand UI that ensures all information any player could want on any topic is only a mouse hover away.
- 300 visually distinct monsters, each with a dozen+ variants (including named boss types), and robust AI that differs by monster intelligence level.  Summoning and Charm methods allow you to raise your own monstrous army to fight for you, too.
- Merchants and NPCs to deal with, as well, each of which can run afoul of the monsters, just like you.
- More than a hundred unique booby traps for the unwary, most of which may be set by players to ensnare monsters, too.
- 125 base weapons and 75 base armour pieces, each with thousands of possible enchantment combinations and legendary variants.
- Hundreds of unique magic items, mundane items, potions, scrolls, staves, wands, rods, food items, etc.
- More than 200 unique spells.
- Play as either sex in any combination of 38 Classes and 13 Races, and customize your character as you see fit through the upgrading of both Attributes and Skills.
- A new Religion system in which you vie for the affections of dozens of gods and goddesses, and where you can devote yourself exclusively to one of 13 different religions.
- Procedurally generated dungeons utilizing multiple methods of generation to create caves, structured areas, labyrinths and even forests, supplemented by occasional pre-generated dungeons called Legendary Lands.
- Hundreds of unique environmental features to interact with and use to your tactical advantage (or detriment).
- Both random and scheduled special Events to mix up gameplay.
- A comprehensive user's manual in the docs folder.
- All for the low, low price of free

Thanks Jaguar!

An update for Dark Harvest has been released, bringing the version to 0.1.3. According to the site, this update adds over 45 minutes of gameplay to the game with two new main quests and three new side quests adding the total gameplay to over two hours.

You will start your journey to the Grand Temple and find out what Sevarog his minions are doing to the Great Forest.

You will find a new quest giver names Gideon, he will help you reach the Grand Temple.

All heroes now have a special ability, to make the gameplay more engaging.

Try the lightning strike Kwang creates or sparrow's rain of arrows today by downloading or updating the game

On Renderosity Magazine news is presented about an upcoming Kickstarter campaign for a retro RPG, named Imperium Omni.

An emerging game studio, Storytellers Entertainment, is hoping to spark a new generation of fantasy based retro gaming with the development of “Imperium Omni,” a four-part serialized solo-RPG set in the vast fictional world of Aeris Pri. The game is to be released on PC with future expansion to Xbox and PS4 console platforms.

The company, established by fantasy fiction writer and veteran game designer, Matthew Thomas and award-winning Hollywood SFX expert Bill Munns, will cater to fans of retro-styled, fantasy based, solo-RPGs following a surge in interest in retro gaming in recent years. 

Storytellers Entertainment’s first planned release, Imperium Omni, a four-part solo-RPG is based on a full-length fantasy novel written by Mr. Thomas. The game and novel start with Shadow, a half-Elf from the Kingdom of Sashire graduating from The Explorer’s Academy who sets out on a series of military campaigns rising through the ranks until at last challenging Empress Illissa, the powerful protagonist in the series.

Monster Sanctuary is a metroidvania monster taming RPG being made by one person. It is currently on Kickstarter and already funded.

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Monster Sanctuary is a monster-taming RPG with party-based combat and metroidvania-like exploration. New monsters provide additional strategic options in combat and allow you to overcome obstacles to explore new areas and find hidden treasures. The turn-based combat focuses on team synergy and combos, distinguishing Monster Sanctuary from other popular monster collecting games.

DEMO

Want to try the game now? There is a demo available! Earlier this year, We published the first demo. We were happy to see that it gained a lot of popularity, generating many Let’s Plays and even some fan art! From this first demo release, We gathered feedback, improved on it and added some new features. As a special release for the Kickstarter campaign, you may now play the second demo version of Monster Sanctuary! It contains 2+ hours of story content, 15+ monsters and the Infinity Arena challenge mode.

Steam

Gamejolt

Great Hero's Beard has released on Steam to a 40% off discount and is described as follows: Start your journey as a simple weakling and watch as you grow a big-ass warlord's beard, slay a bunch of demigods & rescue princesses who will show their gratitude. Never stop looting.

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About This Game

Great Hero's Beard has a very satisfying progression system. Almost everything you do in game makes your character-Turgut evolve & progress further in the world.

Features

• Very fast and fun automated combat where everything depends on your items, stats and skill chances!
• Build your character with stat points, randomized items & through the skill tree choices.
• After you're done with the junk items send them to the fusion system, which in return will spit out items, stat points & skill points to further help you in your journey.
• And don't let your eyes off the main goal- to rescue all kidnapped princesses from each of the world & bring them back to you camp.
• When you finally feel like you're burned out, you can go ahead and retire. This will reset you back to level1 but in return give you permanent XP boost, stat & skill points.

Kordanor pointed us to the announcement of the old-skool RPG Legends of Amberland.

The game is a classic western RPG inspired by the games from the 90s. Basically, it’s the kind of game I personally find missing nowadays. Light, fairy tale, epic, heroic and slightly humorous. One that does not take tons of hours to complete or require endless grind to progress. Something that caters to players like me who don’t have 40 hours to beat one game but still like to play and have a sort of nostalgia for the way games were made in the old days.

It was inspired by Dungeon Master, Eye of The Beholder 2, Might & Magic 3-5, Crystals of Arborea (a not so well known prequel to Ishar series), GoldBox series (Champions of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, etc).

Core design choices:
1) Classic, 90 degree rotation, FPP, turn-based, tile movement RPG.
2) Party-based (7 party members assembled upon start).
3) Open world with a big overworld to explore.
4) Fast paced combat. Quick travel. Easy inventory management. No grind.
5) Light, fairy tale like fantasy, epic story about heroes on a noble quest.

Mechanics:
Mechanically it’s 100% turn based (so you can go and make tea in the middle of a fight) with grid movement and 90 degree rotation. All this very fast paced, both combat and travel is really fast. The goal was to cut down the boring parts and flesh out the fun parts. Also, there is no loading screen when changing locations or other slowdowns.
Overall, the mechanics are pretty traditional and straightforward with modern additions like equipment encumbrance system.

...

@IndieRetroNews Hyakki Castle is an Edo Period dungeon crawler RPG.

HYAKKI CASTLE - A dungeon crawler set in the 18th century!

If you're bored of dungeon crawlers then look away now, if however you want to play a dungeon crawler that is set in the 18th century, during the Edo period of Japan, then we have found just the game for you! This is HYAKKI CASTLE developed by Asakusa Studios, a real time RPG crawler in which you as 4 secret agents must investigate a mysterious castle and assassinate the prodigy sorcerer known as Doman Kigata. Beware though this will be a tough task as a slew of creepy monsters and traps, such as the "Yokai" of ancient Japanese literature, have been brought back to life!

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[...]

@RockPaperShotgun Shortest Trip to Earth is on IndieGoGo at the moment seeking $35,000 and is described as an FTL like game.

FTL-y Shortest Trip to Earth blasts crowdfunding demo

One of the developers behind the rock solid top-down shooter Teleglitch: Die More Edition is working on an FTL-inspired spaceship roguelike that, judging by the bits of the demo I've played, looks promising. Shortest Trip to Earth [official site] has just hit Indiegogo, looking for $35,000 (£27k), and the demo contains a tutorial and two sectors of space to blast through.

You deck out a ship with different modules, move your crew about to man different sections, explore far-flung planets and battle alien craft in real-time. The aim is to get to Earth by surviving 10 space sectors, refuelling and collecting valuable resources as you go. It doesn't have the same polish as FTL (not yet, anyway), but watching your crew scamper between their stations is satisfying. What impressed me the most was the writing and the number of individual stories it throws up as you explore.

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@IndieRetroNews Project Daedalus is a horror themed dungeon crawler and has a new gameplay trailer.

From the same team who brought you Mazes of Karradash, 68k Studios have recently released an updated gameplay trailer for their in development horror dungeon crawler of ' Project Daedalus '. Classed as a creepy crawler with digital artwork by Gaetano Carlucci. This game will be inspired by classic dungeon crawler RPGs from the 90s such as Eye of the Beholder and Dungeon Master, albeit much more menacing living in a nightmare with environments becoming darker and more disturbing.

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At Fig, you can now pledge for The Good Life, a game that is labeled as a debt repaying life simulation RPG. They are asking for 1.5 Million dollars and are at 11% at the moment.

Play as Naomi, a photographer from New York. After a scandal left her in debt, she took on a job that sent her to 'the happiest town in the world,' a rural English town out in the middle of nowhere.

Photographing evidence of the town's many secrets and sending them back to her client daily will earn her some very nice rewards...

But most of Naomi's comments start with the words "I hate," and she can't stop complaining... Will this city slicker be able to survive out in the British backwoods?

Journey to Rainy Woods... a small town in Northern England surrounded by forests. Nestled in abundant nature, stone houses built in the Middle Ages still stand beside one another. The townspeople look out for each other, love their families, work hard, and enjoy nightly drinks at the local pubs.

All townspeople operate on a 24 hour schedule. Everyone lives a different life.

Each character has a unique personality and lives out a unique life. Even though they live in a game world, they worry, suffer, have fun, love, and hate as much as any real person.

Rainy Woods has a big secret... At night, all the villagers turn into cats.

Villagers aren't the only ones who get to turn into cats. Naomi also gets to turn into a cat at night, of course!

Champions of Odin, a first person action RPG, will be making its way to Steam Early Access by August 25th. The scheduled release date for the game is early 2018 on Steam, Xbox One and the new Xbox X.

Champions of Odin is a first-person, action role-playing game that combines the fast pace and intensity of a first-person shooter with RPG elements. The story and theme of the game draw from Norse Mythology. You play as a magical frost giant named Gymir, who makes a deal with Odin, the god of all gods! Odin promises to revive the fallen Freya, the love of Gymir's life, if he will return important favors for each of Odin's godly champions. During this trying wartime of Ragnarok, the Champions of Odin need your help!

You can find some screenshots at the developers' site.

@IndieRetroNews Noita is a magical action rogue-lite where every pixel is simulated.

Welcome to ' Noita ' by NollaGames,  a rather special game created by the same team behind Crayon Physics Deluxe, The Swapper and Environmental Station Alpha. This magical action rogue-lite, set in a world where every pixel is physically simulated using the developers in house Falling Everything Engine.Will put you in control of a powerful character that can explore and fight through a procedurally generated world using spells you've created which can melt, burn, freeze and even evaporate the pixelated landscape around you.

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The Open World RPG Exzore: The Rising has provided a new trailer today.

Exzore: The Rising - New Trailer!
Uxbridge, England and Hyderablad, India - June 30, 2017 - Tiny Shark Interactive has launched a new trailer for its upcoming 2018 open world RPG, Exzore: The Rising.

About Exzore: The Rising

Exzore: The Rising, is coming for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018. Set in the medieval world of Eogaan, the game follows Damien Clive, former commander of the Exzore army unit, as he is emerges from the ashes of his betrayal to seek retribution and regain his honor. Exzore: The Rising features the use of "mechanical gadgets" which give special abilities to the hero and can be used in combat and exploration. The game also features a unique Affinity system, which affects the player's experience and how the story unfolds as the character interacts with the game world and the various factions, as well as an extensive combat system that allows players to mix and match Exzore abilities in a wide variety of combos. More information about Exzore: The Rising can be found at Exzore :The Rising Website.

We received news about a new strategy RPG in the making, named Z-Alert and they are planning to go to Kickstarter in the last quarter of this year.

It will be amazing Strategy RPG with awesome features! If you like X-COM: UFO Defence and Fallout Shelter – you will like Z-Alert.

And from the features page on their website:

FULLY customizable - Never seen before customization of difficulty, UI, RPG mechanic, gameplay options

MMO or Single play RPG - Build your shelter online or play solo offline. PvE included in both variants.

Fight your own way - From quick auto-combat to interactive 2D battle or even classical isometric turn-based combat

Play your RPG - You choose how deep are your characters! From one skill to maximum. From Health only to almost alive dwellers!

Arcade or Reality - Control your squads any seconds or just send them to mission and hope they will manage it - because you don't have a walkie-talkie to give them...

Follow your destiny - Motivating storyline based on never forgettable virtues

Replayability - Random world, sudden encounters, misteries garantee new experience with your every attempt

Unity 3D Engine - Modern game engine will shine for you

Languages - The game will be released on English, German, French and Russian

This is about all the information there is. Adding more information on their website and having it spell-checked for better English might improve promotion of their game before the Kickstarter starts.

The Six Dragons is an open world RPG that has been in production awhile. On their website the latest update points to some good progress and an upcoming demo.

So, the past 2 months were very productive! Here is a list of what happened:

Social Updates:

1. Website redesigned and made simpler and cleaner!
2. Facebook Page redesigned, content added, and people showed a lot of interest!
3. Twitter Page Activated, content is added!

Game Updates:

1. Main Story is almost finished! A lot of depth and twists have been added!
2. Main theme music track composed, and is EPIC!
3. First Video trailer with gameplay is underway, and you will get to listen to the music track also!
4. New Level Design Created by Sykoo (Well know level designer, check him out on youtube!)
5. New skills added, also brand new animations are being created!
6. Enemy balancing for Damage/Defences/Loot Tables, a mathematical scheme is created to keep the fights always challenging and rewarding.

So what is going to happen from now on?

After the Big hustle of creating the Social Media pages and getting the project team on track it's time to show off the Game! We are creating a game demo right now so we can have good gameplay footage and update you with as much visual content as possible.

For starters there will be a video trailer featuring gameplay so you can see some mechanics that are already implemented. Here is a list of what will be in this gameplay video:

1. Harvesting and Crafting - Full coverage of Harvesting materials and Craft System.
2. Ability Tree / AP Acquirement - Ability system and Ability Points acquirement and how they're spent on abilities.
3. Weapons/Armors - We will start showing some Weapons and Armors that can be looted or crafted!
4. Fighting - We will have some Fighting footage, with skills, damage, defense!
5. The World! - You will get to see some footage of the huge and beautiful world of The Six Dragons!
6. Music - You take a taste of the Epic Music The Six Dragons will have!

Stay tuned and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more Updates!

Basilisk Games, maker of the Eschalon games, has hinted at their next title called Zodiac and the Marauders of Sol. There is just a teaser page and a facebook page for now with an official announcement to be made early 2017.

"Zodiac and the Marauders of Sol" is the name of our next game- a sci-fi shooter/adventure hybrid with RPG elements. The teaser page is live, as well as the Facebook page (we'd love it if you liked and shared it!)

The official announcement with gameplay video/screenshots/game information will be released in early 2017.

Eurogamer reports on Farabel, a turn based tactics game, and likes its unique premise of each victory leaving you weaker.

Experience is a one-way street in most games. Victory always leaves you stronger. This explains why Farabel, a new turn-based tactics game I've been messing about with on PC, stings so acutely when my first success in battle lead me to a Level Down! screen, where I was encouraged to choose an attribute to decrease.

Wait. What?

This is Farabel's gimmick, it transpires, and it's actually kind of brilliant. The story begins at the end, and each subsequent battle leads you back through the narrative, from the victorious conclusion towards the mysterious first act. And what better way to convey this reversing of time than to see your powers weaken as you go?

It turns out that it makes for some tricky decisions. These attributes I have to choose between: strength, vitality, counter attacks etc etc? If I was choosing which one to increase, I wouldn't really be that bothered. They all sound fine, and they all sound, in fact, like things I've picked between in a million other games. But when you're choosing which one to nerf, it turns out that the choosing suddenly takes a little longer. Do I want to have less health, or do I want to be more feeble in fights? Do I want to recover more slowly than I do now, or do I want slightly less effective protection from incoming blows?

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RockPaperShotgun had a look at Golden Krone Hotel. This turn based roguelike has an interesting premise of hunting a master vampire and some unique mechanics. The game is arriving on Steam early access October 26th.

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If I fancy a session of old-fashioned honest-to-goodness roguelikin', I usually turn to one of the pillars of the genre, games that have been around forever and a day. I'm talking Ancient Domains of Mystery, Nethack, Dungeon Crawl, Angband. I'm always looking for something fresh to add to the circulation though and Golden Krone Hotel [official site] is a definite contender.

You're working your way through the wings and floors of a hotel, seeking a master vampire. Along the way you fight all manner of undead creatures and other creeps, and can even turn into a vampire or werewolf yourself. There are potions to identify, equipment upgrades to collect and spells to learn, but perhaps the most notable feature is the modelling of lightbeams shining through windows and a day/night cycle. Vampires burn in the sun, you see.

The game is coming to Early Access on October 26th but I've already had a quick play and like it very much indeed. Calculating the movement of beams of light as you move around - it's all turn-based - is neat, and the more conventional roguelike bits and pieces are all solid as well. The one major simplification is in equipment management - you have a revolver, armour, a melee weapon and a shield. When you find new versions, you'll keep them and upgrade if they're better than what you already have, and otherwise you'll convert them to cash, so there's no actual inventory to deal with.

@DSOgaming they announce that Super Dungeon Bros' is entering beta 14th October with open beta scheduled for the weekend of October 21st. Super Dungeon Bros is a single player and a multiplayer game best described as a dungeon brawler. The premise is that a band of heavy metal heroes are embarking on a quest from the Gods of Rock.

Wired Productions today announced the rock-themed, co-op dungeon brawler Super Dungeon Bros will support an extended Closed Beta starting on October 14th and Open Beta for the weekend of October 21st on Steam.

Gamers with access to a Steam account are encouraged to sign up for the Closed Beta, which begins on October 14th at 4.00PM BST and runs through October 20th. During this period, fans will have a chance to try out the game's single-player and local multiplayer modes with four players.

Here is a press release about the indie game Inifinite Desolation, a top-down Sci-Fi Survival RPG.

San Francisco, CA, October 5^th 2016: Infinite Desolation by indie game developer Far-Flung Games offers a unique fusion of high intensity top-down action and deep Sci-fi survival RPG, set on a harsh planet that will test your grit. Your escape pod has crash-landed on a desolate planet and your objective is to survive at any cost, using your strength, agility, cunning and endurance to beat the odds, along with an impressive arsenal of weapons and powerful abilities. Danger lurks everywhere. There are many ways to stay alive, but more ways to die…

Infinite Desolation is not the average run-of-the-mill action game. Recently Greenlit via STEAM™, the game features deep character progression, exploration and looting, crafting, day-night cycles, environmental hazards, classic survival mechanics and world-jumping portals. You can choose to play as a Grunt, Psion, Scout, Engineer or Marine. Each playable option is customizable using the S.P.A.C.E attribute system: Strength, Psi, Agility, Cunning and Endurance. Scavenge for oxygen, water, health packs, ammo and crafting materials to ensure your survival. A wealth of weapons is available, from the basic M7 Plasma Rifle to the devastating R-G Launcher, a combined rocket/grenade launcher. To complement your weapons, you can unlock and upgrade powerful psionic abilities, including Speed, Blink, Repulse and Heal. Craft new items to aid in your survival, including a combat drone to fight by your side. Interact with the environment: trigger defence turrets, deploy bridges, activate bases and portals, or rest in shelters to recover. The world is packed with areas to explore, loot to uncover and enemies to kill.

Infinite Desolation includes a Story Mode, which is an engaging single-player campaign in the form of an action survival RPG. Doomed Mode is a battle for the top of the online leader board where you fight an unrelenting horde with all powers and weapons unlocked. In Co-Op Mode, you can fight alongside a friend in a variation of the Doomed Mode.

Infinite Desolation offers a great gameplay experience to fans of action-packed titles looking for the ultimate thrill of a fun game getting better by the day as Far-Flung Games continues to add new content and additional features prior to its official release.

The pre-alpha demo for the tactical turnbased RPG Bevontule has been made available on IndieDB.

Our new pre-alpha build is finally here! We have toiled hard to bring you this massive new demo, the third of its kind, and by far the largest, most complete and most challenging Bevontule experience yet!

-3 unique playable characters with 15 different skills, all available from the start!
-17 enemies with over 30 skills, each with their own tactics, strengths and weaknesses.
-50+ items, ranging from consumables, collectibles, armor, weapons and accessories. Lots of hidden items and chests!
-3 large locations to explore, each with random enemy spawns and several mini-bosses.
-A village containing several shops and a variety of chests and NPCs to interact with.
-Supports XBOX360 controllers and mouse/keyboard input.
-3-5 hours of RPG goodness!

If you are a fan of RPGs, particularly tactical turn-based ones, you shouldn't miss it!

DISCLAIMER: As a demo, nothing is final and there might be a bug or two. Let us know if you find any and feel free to share any and all feedback!

Thanks daveyd!

@GamePressure Indie developers Game Bakers will release Furi soon. The game is described as a hack n'slash game. The announced date is July 5th.

Indie developer The Game Bakers announced that their upcoming all-boss combat-action game Furi is coming out on July 5, 2016. The title is going to be available on PlayStation 4 and PC (Steam) for $24.99. Furi is an action-packed, fast-paced game featuring a host of bosses to beat, requiring great timing and reflexes as well as working out the best strategy for particular opponent. Watch the gameplay videos below, to get the gist:

Probably the first thing that strikes you in Furi are the vivid stylistics. The game's artwork is based on bright neon colors and it features character design by Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki. Soundtrack features music by famous electro bands, such as Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn, Scattle, Waveshaper, and Kn1ght. Both gameplay and audiovisuals create a neat mixture for fans of dynamic action.

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The devs of Bevontule are preparing to release a second demo:

Bevontule is an upcoming tactical turn-based RPG that layers innovative mechanics atop classic role-playing elements, while presenting a compelling, deep and mature storyline spanning thousands of years. The idea of Bevontule has existed in a very basic, conceptual form for roughly 15 years, and draws inspiration from other role-playing games such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Secret of Mana, Earthbound and Shadow Hearts, among many others.

Pros:
+ Relatively simple 3D graphics guarantuees high FPS on laptops and older PCs
+ Amazing GUI!
+ Excellent Art Direction and world graphics!
+ nice NPC faces and
+ skilfully built monsters
+ THERE IS A DEMO

-> link to April demo

@RetroRemakes Skullstone, a Legend of Grimrock like game in development at the moment has made some progress with more to come soon.

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Longer gameplay - no cuts!
This is a VERY early version so there is a lot of things that need to be done. Mobs are unbalanced - it means that they may be too weak or their skills aren't strong enough. Some icons are just a placeholders.

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Now we are working on second style for dungeons, which would be different than Grimrock. Soon we will show it.

The game is written in Java, we use JMonkeyEngine. For textures - I don't know exactly, GIMP and Substance Painter for sure, maybe something else. Models are made in Blender.

Dungeon Rushers, which is labelled as a Heroic-Parody Tactical RPG is coming to Early Access on May 11th.

Dungeon Rushers, the first game by Goblinz Studio, will hit Steam Early Access on May 11th!

Dungeon Rushers is a 2D tactical RPG available for PC, Mac and Linux, combining aspects of the classic dungeon crawler and turn-based combat.

Story 
Elian, a toilet cleaner by profession, aspired to a better life and decided to join the (almost) noble community of dungeon looters. Travel by his sides through dusty crypts, not really abandoned mines, a wild jungle, a deserted… desert and even a Richelin-starred tavern. Do your best with the strange characters you will come across during your journey to stop the dealings of a dark enterprise trying to monopolize the dungeon market.

Gameplay 
Experience a single player campaign full of humor and surprises, with over 20 hours of gameplay! Explore more than 70 dungeons infested with monsters guarding piles of plunder in 4 different environments (crypt, mountain, jungle and desert)! Recruit 9 adventurers with unique skillsets to expand your team. Choose the best combination to overcome the traps and monsters lurking in the darkness! Improve your heroes’ skills to make them even more powerful! Place them strategically on the battlefield to win turn-based battles worthy of any classic RPG! Craft over one hundred different pieces of equipment using plunder collected from your dungeon explorations! Complete the bonus challenges to unlock the Heroic difficulty mode, where only the greatest survivors will discover the epic treasures!

Create and share your dungeons! 
Extend even more the Dungeon Rushers experience by making your own dungeons and challenging your friends to escape unharmed. Watch their progress and don’t hesitate to mock your friends! Using the simple, intuitive tools, select your dungeon theme, then make your choice among thirty different monsters and a hundred traps that can be placed in your dungeon to stop any adventurers laying hands on your treasure!

Features 

• Humorous campaign with varied soundtrack and graphic environments
• Interactive exploration system * Classical turn-based combat for a hint of nostalgia
• Advanced team management (equipment, skill upgrades, combat positions…)
• Large selection of skills to choose from (scouting, healing, dodging, trap deactivation, monster tracking)
• Crafting system with a wide range of recipes to unlock
• Game mode with randomly generated dungeons
• High replayability with a Heroic difficulty mode available for each dungeon
• Online arena system with matchmaking and rankings
• Battle against your friends
• Unique epic soundtrack

Technical Info Summary 
Dungeon Rushers will be released on May 11th, 2016 on Steam Early Access for 14,99$ and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux.

The Sci-fi strategy game Halycon 6: Starbase Commander with JRPG style combat will come to Steam Early Acces on the 21st of April and they are also at PAX East.

Get Ready To Conquer The Galaxy In KickStarter Darling 'Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander' Coming Soon To PC & Mac
Exploration, Base Building & Deep Tactical JRPG Style Combat!

Toronto, Canada, April 18^th 2016: Only one year after their highly successful KickStarter^TM campaign raised CAD $187,706 for their ambitious retro-styled sci-fi game, Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander^TM, Toronto based Massive Damage is set to launch their game on STEAM^TM Early Access for PC and Mac.

Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander^TM is a strategy RPG with a unique blend of base building, exploration and deep tactical JRPG style combat system with capital starships and their idiosyncratic officers, all captured in stunningly beautiful modernized pixel graphics. In Halcyon 6, an unknown alien force is carving a path of destruction towards Earth and you, as the Commander of an immensely powerful, newly discovered derelict starbase left behind by a precursor alien race, are the best chance for the New Terran Federation to stop the impending invasion.

"As kids, we all grew up playing these amazing 90s space role-playing and adventure games and we really wanted to bring that sense of mystery, humor, and nostalgia in the way we designed the Halcyon 6 universe, alien cultures and player characters' interactions." said Ken Seto, CEO of Massive Damage.

Launching on April 21^st via STEAM^TM Early Access with Act 1 of 3, Massive Damage will be issuing frequent updates with bug fixes, balancing tweaks and free additional content in the weeks and months ahead.

If you like to play as an animal, you might want to look to this side-scrolling adventure RPG, Creepy Castle, where you play as a moth.

Nicalis to Publish Sidescrolling RPG Adventure Creepy Castle, Crawling onto Windows, OSX and Linux this Summer
Bugs, Battles and Bravery Await in this One of a Kind RPG Adventure

Santa Ana, Calif.-April 13, 2016- Nicalis Inc., a publisher known for its work on critically-acclaimed titles such as The Binding of Isaac, 1001 Spikes and Cave Story, today revealed that it will publish the sidescrolling RPG adventure Creepy Castle for Windows, OSX and Linux this summer.

Featuring a vibrant retro art style, Creepy Castle follows the journey of a plucky adventurer, Moth (who, yes, happens to be a moth), as he investigates a conspiracy welling deep within the stone walls of an ancient castle.

Broken into multi-hour scenarios, each will take players on an entirely unique adventure with its own characters, story and gameplay that piece together the mysteries of Creepy Castle. Explore the castle's countless floors and corridors to uncover the secret conspiracy being hidden within Creepy Castle and help Moth on his adventure to save the world!

Features of Creepy Castle
·         Follow not just one, but many stories, with each scenario featuring its own characters, plot and gameplay that piece together the mysteries of the creepy castle's multi-hour adventures. What lies in store is a secret too vast to be contained!
·         Duel it out with a multitude of denizens and bosses via a unique turn-based combat system and utilize the element of skill to overcome each foe! But be careful, as each enemy has its own type of Duel and special twists that they bring to battle.
·         Collect and inspect various dusty tomes containing words of wisdom, scribbled musings of madmen and dog-eared correspondences which help form a comprehensive collection of lore that gives insight into the dopterra universe!
·         Players can customize the game interface to their liking! Choose from various window skins, character glow filters and even health bars and hearts for both the player and enemies.

Developed by dopterra and published by Nicalis, Creepy Castle is currently in development for Windows, OSX and Linux and is slated for release this summer.

Just spotted on Twitter news about Starsector, a space faring RPG of Combat, Fleet Management and Trade, which is summarized by PopCults.

Starsector is a game of space combat, fleet management, trade, and role-playing. Pilot a ship and command a fleet through intense tactical combat while exploring, trading, battling, and leveling-up in an open-ended sandbox campaign set in a lost sector of the galaxy.

Explore distant star systems. Trade goods and loyalty among competing factions. Beware of ruthless pirates while evading tariff patrols. Assemble your fleet for trade or battle while upgrading and modify your starships, then fight your enemies!

Forge your destiny and steer the fate of the human race 6000 light-years from Old Earth.

Current Features

• Pilot your ship in top-down 2d combat
• Command your fleet in tactical battles
• Gain experience to level up your skills
• Detailed combat mechanics
• Customize your ship’s loadout before battle
• Hire officers to give skill bonuses, pilot auxiliary ships, and oversee your operations
• Explore war-torn star systems
• Exploit events to trade goods for profit
• Win the favor or scorn of powerful factions
• Mod support for user-made factions, missions, ships, and weapons

The game is still in an alpha stage and there is a trailer from last year (linked in the article), but also a Let's Play.

Rock Paper Shotgun explores a total conversion for the original X-COM called X-Piratez.

Based on OpenXcom Extended, a long-running open source clone of UFO, it takes the story and gameplay structure of the original, and a huge stock of resourcefulness, and turns them into something that's simultaneously very similar and completely new. The result is a dangerously addictive compound of comfortable old UFO with constant surprise, discovery, and content.

The imaginative premise brings together influences from all the X-COM games, as well as smaller touches from spiritual successors like the UFO Aftermath/Afterglow/Aftereight/etc series (principally in its ‘after the end' setting and colourful story, the strongest draw of that interesting but flawed trilogy). If anything it fits better than the original story, as a small-time group of ambitious bandits should scrabble for resources a lot more than the combined military elite of the entire planet, something that players of Aftermath or XCOM 2 have likely already observed.

What's that about bandits? Oh yes. Let's talk about the premise.

X-COM failed. The aliens conquered Earth, had their gross tentacly way with it for centuries, and then, at some point, buggered off. Earth is now a forgotten backwater of some stellar empire, awash with mutants, human collaborators, and abandoned underlings of the terrifying, but absentee Star Gods. Your band of all-female mutant pirates has stumbled across an ancient military research base. From here, you decide to make a living cowing the world with acts of theft and violence against the filthy human agents of the Star Gods, extorting protection money from petty local governments and seizing goods, weapons, and captives to ransom from everyone else.

Today Chronos, the adventure RPG made for the Oculus Rift, has been released.

Gunfire Games Brings An Awe-Inspiring Adventure RPG Experience To VR

AUSTIN, TX, March 28, 2016 – Gunfire Games, a leading independent developer of video games, announced today that Chronos, the premium VR adventure RPG title, has launched exclusively on Oculus.  The new game is priced at $49.99, rated comfortable and is available in the Oculus store.

The atmospheric RPG that chronicles a hero's lifelong quest to save their homeland from a great evil combines unique adventure game elements with RPG mechanics all in an unparalleled level of immersion, scale and detail!   A variety of weapons, abilities and powers help players in their quest all while exploring a vast fantasy world in full Virtual Reality.

"One of the cool things about VR is that you're just in this world, enjoying it, looking around and doing stuff, and with Chronos we want to encourage people to stop, look around, think and enjoy themselves," said David Adams, President of Gunfire Games.  "There are so many inspirations for Chronos, but overall the experience is a mixture of puzzles, a great RPG, and a great adventure with exploration and combat," Adams continued. "Style-wise we wanted to really capture the feel of a fairytale while still being anchored in the real world, because things are more fantastical when they are in relation to things that are normal."

Your character will grow wiser, stronger and more powerful as they explore the depths of the mysterious labyrinth.  But with the unique aging mechanic, every time the character dies they age one year.  Players must adapt to their character's advancing age as they progress through the game.  Start young and nimble, end wise and more attuned to magic.

The official trailer for the Chronos, the RPG that is launched only for Oculus, has been released.

Gunfire Games Releases The Official Trailer For Chronos

Third-Person RPG Rift Launch Title Will Be Available March 28

AUSTIN, TX, March 23, 2016 – Gunfire Games, a leading independent developer of video games, today released the official trailer for Chronos, their Virtual reality role-playing game available only on Oculus. The hardware and the game both launch on March 28.

 Chronos is an atmospheric RPG that chronicles a hero's lifelong quest to save their homeland from a great evil.  Grow wiser, stronger and more powerful as you explore the depths of the mysterious labyrinth. But beware, the labyrinth takes a heavy toll – each time your hero dies, they lose a year of their life! 

Adventure RPG - Refreshing combination of Adventure Game elements and RPG mechanics. 

VR - Explore an atmospheric fantasy world in full Virtual Reality.  An unparalleled level of immersion, scale and detail! 

Deep Combat – A variety of weapons, abilities and powers are available to the player in the pursuit of their quest.   

Unique Aging Mechanic – Every time the player dies they age one year.  Player's must adapt to their advancing age as they progress their character; starting the game young, nimble and quick, and ending wise and more attuned to magic.

Three years after the release of Sword of the Stars: The Pit, the sixth and final DLC for the game has been released: Healer.

In Healer, you will brave the perils of the Pit as Astryd Jemison - the 12^th player character in the series - a SolForce Medic racing against time to save the people of Arbuda IV from a raging epidemic. Trained as both a medical doctor and an armed combatant, she has come to the Feldspar Mountains looking for the source of the deadly Xombie Plague.

Sword of the Stars: The Pit is a fun, fast, light-hearted action RPG, made in the tradition of Rogue and other old school dungeon-diving games. Set in the popular Sword of the Stars universe, it delivers a rich backdrop and modern gameplay.

“We are humbled and continually amazed by the fans of the series.” Martin Cirulis, Kerberos CEO and designer of The Pit. “As ever, we are happy to show that The Pit always has new challenges to offer players.”

“As our first Indie title, we are quite proud of The Pit and the place its earned in the Roguelike genre. We could not have done it without our fans and everyone that supported the game.” Said Kerberos COO Christopher Stewart. “The release of the Healer DLC on The Pit’s 3^rd anniversary is the perfect place to wrap things up for this incarnation of the game and start looking to the future of the series.”

The Pit: Healer will be available on Steam the week of March 21st and DRM-free on GOG the week following.

If farming, exploration and building are your thing than Stardew Valley might be something for you.

Developer Concernedape has released their country-life RPG, Stardew Valley.

The game is now available on PC, for $14.99. In Stardew Valley, you inherit your grandfather’s old plot of farmland in the region of the same name, Stardew Valley.

You’ll be tasked with starting your new life with nothing but hand-me-down tools, a bit of money, and your own personal aspirations. You’ll have lots of options to pursue: a thriving farm, a marriage, and of course – restoring Stardew Valley back to its former glory, in spite of the Joja Corporation’s slow erosion of the community.

Here are the game’s key features:

• Turn your overgrown field into a lively farm! Raise animals, grow crops, start an orchard, craft useful machines, and more! You’ll have plenty of space to create the farm of your dreams.
• Improve your skills over time. As you make your way from a struggling greenhorn to a master farmer, you’ll level up in 5 different areas: farming, mining, combat, fishing, and foraging. As you progress, you’ll learn new cooking and crafting recipes, unlock new areas to explore, and customize your skills by choosing from a variety of professions.
• Become part of the local community. With over 30 unique characters living in Stardew Valley, you won’t have a problem finding new friends! Each person has their own daily schedule, birthday, unique mini-cutscenes, and new things to say throughout the week and year. As you make friends with them, they will open up to you, ask you for help with their personal troubles, or tell you their secrets! Take part in seasonal festivals such as the luau, haunted maze, and feast of the winter star.
• Explore a vast, mysterious cave. As you travel deeper underground, you’ll encounter new and dangerous monsters, powerful weapons, new environments, valuable gemstones, raw materials for crafting and upgrading tools, and mysteries to be uncovered.
• Breathe new life into the valley. Since JojaMart opened, the old way of life in Stardew Valley has changed. Much of the town’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair. Help restore Stardew Valley to it’s former glory by repairing the old community center, or take the alternate route and join forces with Joja Corporation.
• Court and marry a partner to share your life on the farm with. There are 10 available bachelors and bachelorettes to woo, each with unique character progression cutscenes. Once married, your partner will live on the farm with you. Who knows, maybe you’ll have kids and start a family?
• Spend a relaxing afternoon at one of the local fishing spots. The waters are teeming with seasonal varieties of delicious fish. Craft bait, bobbers, and crab pots to help you in your journey toward catching every fish and becoming a local legend!
• Donate artifacts and minerals to the local museum.
• Cook delicious meals and craft useful items to help you out. With over 100 cooking and crafting recipes, you’ll have a wide variety of items to create. Some dishes you cook will even give you temporary boosts to skills, running speed, or combat prowess. Craft useful objects like scarecrows, oil makers, furnaces, or even the rare and expensive crystalarium.
• Customize the appearance of your character and house. With hundreds of decorative items to choose from, you’ll have no trouble creating the home of your dreams!
• Xbox controller support (with rumble)! (Keyboard still required for text input)
• Over two hours of original music.

Thanks Eye.

This found a way into our mailbox:

Hoard The Spoils: a new role-playing game with a scintillating plot

This RPG gives more creative control to the players, removing the need for complex playing guides.

Perseverance Ink Entertainment has come up with a new type of open D6 role-playing game which rewards it's players' good fortune with more moves per round called a Wild Combo! Fighting game enthusiasts know what this means for them in combat and it should speed it up as well!

It's called Hoard The Spoils and the storyline is set in a mythical world where the local governments have been living off free labor and exorbitant taxes from the residents, who have been brainwashed to forget their individual rights.

The people finally realize their terrible plight and are rebelling. They are protesting at town halls and threatening to withhold their taxes.

The citizens and politicians now clash at every turn so Hoard The Spoils becomes a test of skills and combat maneuvers.  

It's simply a case of walking your own path and doing what is right for yourself. When you are perceived as the villain, however, simply by wanting to keep what you earned, well a villain you will be.

Of course, the true villains of the story are those using you as a scapegoat in order to gain control over the populace.  So grab a shovel to hide your coins, weapons, and all that you have earned. Stay out of sight or in the very dungeons you risked your life in so you can protect what belongs to you from those masquerading as knights in shining armor!

This world needs a new kind of hero. It could be you. Although the citizens don't know it yet, they need individuals like you.

Start off as an Apprentice rolling 3 dice and work your way up to Master with 6 dice!

Visit the Perseverance Ink website, www.perseveranceink.com; or the Perseverance Ink Facebook page, www.facebook.com/perseveranceink. For more information about the game

Eye spotted an action-RPG Indiegame for PC with Roguelike Elements, set in a medieval Space-Folktale, named Fabular.

Once upon a spacetime there was a kingdom, ruled by an honest King in peace for a long long time. One day the three daughters of the Wicked Witch — leaving their hiding place, the Black Void behind — came along and stole the Constellations, the Moon and the Sun. And so the World was shrouded in darkness.

The King sent his army, his most loyal men and his two older sons after the Wicked Sisters, but after being swallowed by the dark emptiness of the Void, none of them returned. It is now down to the King's youngest son to transcend through the increasingly abstract universe of the Void and restore equilibrium to the Kingdom.

Will the Youngest Prince (You) prevail?

They also have a Tumblr page on which a developer blog is maintained.

Eye spotted on The Next Web, an article about a game named To Ash, where your hero does not grwo stronger, but weaker. This, to teach people about the acceptance of mortality.

Kyle Ballentine is a behavioral therapist from California who’s just made a role-playing game for Windows and Mac called ‘To Ash.’

Traditionally, the protagonists in games gain strength and power as you progress. ‘To Ash’ is a little different though; the main character starts out strong and loses his power and agility as time passes.

Why? Because Ballentine wanted to create a game with a very specific purpose – to teach people about the acceptance of mortality.

The article is based on this Polygon article.

You can vote now for your favourite indie game of 2015 at IndieDB.

Welcome to the 6th Annual Indie of the Year Awards, a celebration of the years finest indie games chosen by you and us. For the next 4 weeks it is up to you to vote for your favorite indie games so that they may make the top 100 which will be announced on the 11th of December.

Last year we saw the popular free-to-win MMO Robocraft take out first place, followed with the tactical shooter Insurgency providing a noble runner up and Five Night's at Freddy's 1 & 2 finishing third on the podium. Remember every year on top of the players choice which ultimately decides our top 10 we also run an editor's choice where the folks at IndieDB choose our ten standout projects from across the board.

It's been a fantastic year for indie games and we look forward to counting your votes!

Thanks Eye.

Another RPG in development that was spotted by Eye is Coffee Pot Terrarium. A tactical tiurn-based RPG using tiles.

Brothers Flint, a studio comprising two brothers, has revealed its upcoming tactical RPG Coffee Pot Terrarium. It’s coming to Windows, Mac, Linux, as well as iOS and Android, and possibly consoles.

It’s a turn-based game that takes place on a tile-based world in which you play a marooned cosmic explorer fighting their way towards the secrets of an unknown celestial body.

“Manipulate monoliths to create new pathways or remove rows of tiles, eliminating your enemies in a game that’s part tactical RPG, part puzzle game, with a result that is uniquely its own,” reads the description.

Coffee Pot Terrarium will have over 25 levels across seven different environments and will feature controller support. You can vote for it on Steam Greenlight and find out more about it on its website.

Eye spotted on RPS that the action-roguelike-RPG Orange Moon has a demo that you can download and try out. The paid version of the game is the same as the demo, with the difference that this version will be updated over time.

Orange Moon [official site] is a 2D platformer that’s part action, part RPG, and part roguelikelike. As an inquisitive astronaut-cum-explorer, you set out for the titular Orange Moon in search of new life and natural resources. As these things tend to go, you’re met with a far harsher environment than first expected (seriously, does any planning go into these expeditions?) with threatening native life, perilous terrain, and shit-loads of traps and contraptions to overcome. Take a look for yourself below:

Crescent Moon Games announced in a tweet that next year a 3D space action RPG, named Stellar Wanderer, will be available. There is little to no other information available, besides that you are controlling a ship in this game.

Thanks Eye.

Kordanor wrote in to let us know that Crafty Studios, the Developers of Blade of Destiny HD, are now officially developing the second part of the trilogy Startrail. They worked on it before but apparently couldn't continue due to the legal conflicts they faced earlier.
Startrail development is based on Version 1.36 of Blade of Destiny. They are also adding some improvements like new models and combat areas for combat. They already have a development blog (German Only) and this time around they will also have an Early Access phase.

Writing these lines has been an urge I had to resist for quite some time now, but today it is finally possible: Crafty Studios have found an agreement with UIG for the development of Realms of Arkania Startrail HD, official work on it has already been restartet. We will use the current Version 1.36 of Blade of Destiny as the Base for Development. There is also a new website at http://www.sternenschweif.com along with a development blog, currently in german only. We are looking forward to our journey into the Svellt Valley, even more since we can take you all along on the ride!

The website is in German only at the moment.

3rd Strike has taken a look at Super Dungeon Run and liked what they saw.

All in all Super Dungeon Run is a well-polished indie title with a very long eventual play time. As more and more factors get added during development this length should increase even farther, making it a must have for any completionist. Environments are pretty, and provide a solid basis for the game’s fast pace. Sadly it suffers from redundancy, as music loops, and floors keep reappearing. This title is perfect for anyone looking to pick up a game which can be played in short sessions, offers lots of content, and is incredibly fulfilling to blast through.

Thanks Eye.

There aren't that many reviews for Super Dungeon Run, but Eye spotted a French review for the game, of which this is the Google translation.

Handling is fun, especially when your company reaches a good twenty people, but I confess that it also work well (and maybe even better) on tablet. The format also lend it very well because if the game is fun, I suggest you play it in small sessions of 1 / 2h or 1h for not getting bored, which is ideal for transport !

In the end I enjoyed playing Super Dungeon Run. The graphic style is very cute and it's really fun to try to swerve his troop to mid traps trying to lose a minimum. The side "plenty to unlock" is really addictive and encourages us again and again to revive the famous last game.

Indie Retro News reports on The Quest getting a visual overhaul courtesy of RedShift Games.

Through last month I've been keeping an eye on Redshift Games Facebook page about the latest developments for their hi-res overhaul of the original dungeon crawling classic ' The Quest '. Well today we've been informed by our good friend Dan that this side stepping RPG, which is coming to the PC and iPAD looks even more impressive with the latest screenshots released by Redshift Games; makers of The Legacy, The Quest, Hero of Lukomorye, Mithril Horde, Escape from Asteroids and many others!

Caution is advised

A wizardly wizard

The Kickstarter campaign for Home Free, the RPG with dogs has been funded. In the meantime there are also two updates for the campaign. The first update features the dog princess and the second brings us the news that a new stretch goal is available at $55K.

Wow, that was fast! I'm humbled, grateful, inspired, and tired but strangely energized. Home Free hit 100% in five days! The response to this project has been overwhelming. It's been extremely rewarding to see so many of you instantly understand what I'm trying to do with this project, and to want to join it with me.

And now it's really going to happen! Thanks to you, I get to spend the next year bringing to life my dream for the game I've always wanted to play. I get to spend my days doing the thing I love (making games) while looking at pictures of dogs, thinking about dogs, and making pretend dogs do pretend dog things on my computer screen. I hope I don't get tired of it.

But we're not done yet! I still have a bunch of ideas for ways to make this game deeper, more interesting, and more complete. To celebrate hitting our goal, I just added a new stretch goal at $55,000: NEW TRICKS! This is an idea for a mechanic I've had for a while, and I think we can get it done. If we hit this goal, Home Free will feature gameplay about that strange ritual dogs and humans have performed for millennia: humans hold up a piece of food, dogs stare in confusion and move their bodies around in strange ways until they get that food. Congratulations, dog, you just learned a new trick!

We have plenty of other fun stretch goals after that one, too! So please keep sharing the project with your friends and helping to spread the word.

What should you expect over the next 25 days? I have a bunch of behind-the-scenes updates planned. I have some cool and exciting announcements to make. And I think I have a fun way to start answering one of the most frequently asked questions I've been hearing: what new dogs are going to be in the game? Stay tuned for all that and more.

Eye spotted two new adventure RPGs on Steam that are in early development. The first is VentureTopia, which is labeled as a GTA style open world adventure RPG.

VentureTopia is a original Indie Open World RPG game with non-linear gameplay, the game itself is completely made from suggestions from the community, and it will be the first indie game with suggestions as the main source for the development, that way we can create a game where everyone feels engaged with the developement by the game.

STORY
The story is about a little boy called Hero, he is turning 18 and finally can live his own life, to celebrate this he is holding a big party for all the residents of his hometown Venturos, the party is going well but once Hero blow out the candles, a strange dark force interrupts the party, tearing everything apart and split the world of VentureTopia in various dimensions, Hero is thrown in the sewers by the dark force and must get out and gather all the power gems to save VentureTopia or he just destroys everything even more, its your venture.

GAMEPLAY
We are creating the first ever Open World RPG game with gameplay mechanics used in games like GTA, Skyrim, Animal Crossing and lots more! there will be over 100+ Side Missions, 100+ Quests to complete, Collectables to collect, a beautiful storyline with emotional cutscenes and more, and ofcourse 100% freedom!

There is also an article about the game at TGG.

The second adventure RPG is Alexiur.

Allexiur, a colony city on the moon, is a bustling sci-fi city with a distinct 1950s aesthetic.
When citizens start dissapearing, Loretta Weeks. a small-time P.I. working for a big firm, is called in to uncover the mystery, hoping to prove herself she steps forward into Allexiur, but will she just be another name on the list?

Allexiur will be a 3D/2D isometric hybrid, with fully 3D environments populated with 2D sprites.
The story of the game is broken is to 5 chapters where you play as 5 different characters entwined in the same mystery.

A public prototype can be downloaded from their Facebook page.

Bare knuckle dev interviews Steven Jevtic about his game Sunken.

Has Sunken been inspired by any particular game and what inspires you as indie developers?

Diablo 1 and 2. Planescape: Torment and Baldur’s Gate, and our D&D campaign “I am the greatest wizard alive!” says Vladislav. And of course lots and lots of books.

How is Sunken going to have ‘hardcore’ gameplay and why have you chosen to do it this way?

We don’t really like ‘would-be-hard’ games that are not ‘actually’ hard. When we say “hardcore”, we mean that it will be challenging. Even though it might not always be the case, at some point it will get hard again. We like games that are difficult in a sense that your skill massively affects the outcome of combat or any gameplay for that matter. We like there to be an element luck; random loot and monster packs for example. In “Sunken”, there is no classic targeting of one mob. Your basic attack is somewhat of a cleave, so it depends how you position your character and how well do you kite the mobs around for the best possible efficiency. Of course, you can dodge ranged attacks or even counter them if you are insanely fast. Being a game with a Permadeath feature, you have to be careful constantly and on the edge – which should flow well with the general atmosphere.

Thanks Eye.

A JRPG, with a title that is longer than we currently support in our news editor, named A Credible Tale of Yokai, Robots, and the Lunar Tourist, is now trying to get funded on Kickstarter.

STORY/GAMEPLAY
Inspired by Japanese folklore, A Credible Tale features accurate depictions of yōkai -- supernatural beings that appear throughout Japanese mythology. Every yōkai in A Credible Tale has its own unique A.I., which matches Japanese tradition. To stop the yōkai, the player will take control of Hiro and his companions (Kaguya and P.O.P.S.) -- who discover the Moon Princess in the woods and suddenly find themselves responsible for the safety of the village.

A Credible Tale’s combat takes inspiration from popular action RPGs with an Eastern bent. Every battle is fought in in real time using a combination of the team’s abilities and your town’s defenses: Go in with fists ablaze using powerful charge attacks -- or arm yourself to the teeth with weapons and armor. The choice is yours. For added fun, knock enemies around and see what chaos you can create in the enemy ranks :)

Aside from putting the spotlight on Japanese folklore, the team at Overclocked Games is also taking their love of Japanese culture one step further. A Credible Tale incorporates the basics for teaching elementary Japanese within the game so that players can learn the Japanese language while battling yōkai.

DEVELOPER QUOTE:
Jared Palmer, lead developer at Overclocked Games:

“We love Japan and everything it has to offer. Japan is and always has been fertile ground for wild, inventive folklore. The diverse range of yōkai available is great for combat and gameplay -- and it really showcases Japan’s unique culture.”

KEY FEATURES
-- Explore a hand-drawn 3D world set in classic Japan
-- Build creative traps to defend your own customized village from yōkai invaders in battles that require careful planning and perfect execution
-- Defeat hordes of yōkai in real-time combat (inspired by Secret of Mana and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)
-- Experiment with endless synergistic possibilities by customizing the skills and weapons for more than three distinct player characters
-- Immerse yourself in Japanese folklore, and learn a bit of Japanese along the way!

AVAILABILITY
A Credible Tale will be available for PC and Mac when it launches in Q4 of 2016.

Word has reached us that Super Dungeon Run, labeled as a massively single player action-RPG, has found its way to Steam.

DUNDEE UK, August 31, 2015 – Proper Games Ltd has released its next game, “Super Dungeon Run”, onto Steam Early Access!

Super Dungeon Run is a fast paced action RPG in which you guide a party of hapless heroes on a quest for loot in the depths of a dark and dangerous dungeon. Using a single mouse button, you’ll deftly manoeuvre an entire party of heroes as they bash and crash their way through perilous, trap filled levels. Accessible and addictive, the game is part Diablo and part Pikmin!
 
Complete quests for the villagers, or see how far down into the depths you make it with endless mode. The deeper you go, the greater the rewards! No two floors are the same thanks to the dungeon generation system. And when a premature, usually messy, death occurs, it’s simply another opportunity to progress! Level up your party and unlock new outfits, potions, quests and more!

What secrets and struggles will you uncover? It’s time for your Super Dungeon Run!
 
Download the game from the Steam store here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/382480

"...very dangerous for my productivity levels. It's just so fun!” – Aavak, YouTuber

“...there is a base level of satisfaction in watching your peasants flood over enemies, cudgels flailing” – Marsh Davies, Rock Paper Shotgun

Kordanor found a video that shows some gameplay footage of the upcoming Dungeon Crawler Forgotten Forces:

This is an early preview of Forgotten Forces, a gridbased dungeoncrawler with 3D pixelart, a magic crafting system, focus on battles, character progression and story, including NPC interaction. The game is being developed for PC, Mac, Linux and Mobiles.
To find out more about Forgotten Forces and stay updated, give us a like on Facebook on http://facebook.com/forgottenforces

Kordanor found a new Dungeon Master look alike in the making: Forgotten Forces

In Forgotten Forces, you'll be able to collect magical gems, providing specific powers: Gems of fire, air, stone and the likes. Plugging these into weapons with gem-sockets, you can enhance their powers.
Adding a gem of fire will make your sword go whoosh! Stronger swords come with additional sockets, enhancing your options.

Find out more at the Forgotten Forces Facebook page.

We have been informed that the action RPG Secrets of Andrea is now available on Steam in Early Access.

Secrets of Grindea is an old-school Action RPG with co-op support for up to 4 players. It is a tribute to and sometimes a parody of the old SNES games so many of us grew up with and loved! Journey through fantastical lands and battle tons of different enemies and bosses in your quest for truth, friendship and, above all, finding the world's rarest treasures!

Key Features

• Character customization. There are no class restrictions, which gives you precise control over how your character develops! A flaming ice mage smashing faces with axes? Sure thing! On top of this, there’s a wide variety of haircuts, hats and head gears that will make your character look unique as well.
• Co-op support for up to four players! Bring your friends on the adventure by inviting them directly via Steam!
• A story filled with mystery, laughs and suspense will take you through dungeons and fields of all shapes in the rich and varied world of Grindea. A ton of side quests and hidden content will keep you busy for hours after finishing the game!
• Arcade Mode features a unique experience of procedurally generated Action RPG madness, truly putting your skills to the test. Help build the town of Arcadia by rising to the challenge of this extremely tough and replayable mode!
• A pet system that makes sure you never have to be alone, even when playing by yourself. Catch any of the cute tameable animals and have them accompany you on your adventures while also boosting your skills!

There is also a demo available.

Quest Heroes ist a tactical dungeon crawler with a board game flavor. The devs released a video that shows the current development state of the game:

● A rule set totally compatible with real life board-gaming. We will release a free print-and-play version at a later stage of the development process.

● A not-so-serious medieval fantasy world in which, for instance, the mayors are exploiting zombies to clean out their sewers and sending adventurers to teach them a lesson when they go on strike (even the dead feel entitled to at least one day off per week).

● You manage a pool of heroes: before each quest, you select the members of the party.

● Ultimate party-building freedom. If you'd rather have an adventuring party made up of three wizards and a thief instead of the traditional warrior-archer-dwarf-wizard combo, then go for it! It's totally up to you.

● No frustrating class-based gear limitations. Characters can equip and use any weapon or equipment as soon as they have the required stats, regardless of their class.

● Permadeath. However, there are resurrection scrolls (extremely rare, and usable only right after the death) and you can pick up a dead character's gear, so nothing is ever completely lost.

● Heaps of magic, monsters, missions, skills and items... indeed.

● Randomly generated quests.

● Multiplatform: Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS.

Join the devs on Twitter to show your interest in the game and help them to find a publisher.

Gameinformer created a list of four indie games from E3 they feel are worth watching. On the list are games like Banner Saga 2, Bedlam and Moon Hunters.

Originally launched as a Kickstarter, Moon Hunters is a 1-to-4-player, mythology-building action RPG with roguelike elements. Set in the fantastical version of ancient Mesopotamia, the world is thrown into chaos when the moon suddenly goes missing. In true roguelike fashion, the game only takes a few hours to play through, but will be different every time you start it up. However, your actions leave tiny impacts on the world, so you might encounter people who recall your old hero or whisper legends of your heroism. People will remember if you terrorized them just for fun or if you were noble and helped save them from monsters. At the end of your journey, your hero becomes a constellation in the sky, forever marking your progress in the world. Fortunately, every time you jump back into the game you unlock new character classes, tribes, and environments. Combat plays out in real-time and each hero has their own upgrade tree. An up close fighter class called the Spellblade has a shockwave ability that knocks enemies back. However, his vacuum blade upgrade makes it so he actually draws enemies towards him before stunning them for a few seconds. The Ritualist is a long ranger fighter who shoot energy bullets at foes, and one of her upgrade makes her projectiles pass through multiple foes, so you can line up enemies and whittle down their health in one shot. The game encourages players to work together and coordinate their attacks. This is an intriguing little indie game with some great music and a cool pixel art style.

The developer of Chronicles of Crystal Wars let us know that a demo of his game can now be downloaded.

The demo has been made with RPG Maker VX Ace and lets you play a young soldier in charge of reviving an old device to save his kingdom from an ancient curse; this quest will make him meet people who will change his life forever.

Although the base gameplay is comparable to the average RPGM game, every visual element in the game has been created on 3DS Max: VN-like backgrounds for cutscenes, 3D modeled parallaxes as maps, all custom battlebacks and more. It also has some magical or steampunk mechas in.

The project is also on Steam Greenlight.

What? No, of course I'm not playing Pokemon! This game is completely different, it lets me collect hundreds of unique and powerful creatures and evolve them into new and exciting forms!

Originally announced for iOS, the monster collection game Moonrise is now also headed to  PC through Steam early access. Here's the trailer.

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that:

Battles involve “real-time speed” but, thankfully, appear to be similar to Final Fantasy’s Active Time Battles rather than scrappy clickfests. There’s a full singleplayer campaign, taking place in a world with all kinds of different scenery – forests, deserts, villages clinging to the side of enormous land-spires – and PvP battling.

Moonrise is Undead Labs' followup to their pretty great 2013 survival horror sim State of Decay, so I wouldn't write this off.

Indiegalas' latest Bedlam Bundle has a few rpg's for those who may be interested in them. One is a jrpg called "Darkend" & a match 3 puzzle/rpg called "Gunspell." Also included is N.P.P.D. Rush, Pixel Puzzles, Pressured, Gold Rush ( an old DOS game that comes with dosbox to run on newer systems),  Bedlam & an older RTS called "Z", which has some of the funniest cut scenes ever. 

While A Slime Story doesn't exactly fit our usual game profile, it's still a brand new RPG and the developer regularly posts his updates in our Indie forum. So let's give him some exposure. Here's the trailer for your enjoyment.

The game is available now.

A new Kickstarter by Koji Igarashi has launched and has been quickly funded. Currently it is at 1.2 million, where they 'only' asked for 500K. The game they will develop is named Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night with the following short description:

• An exploration-focused, side-scrolling platformer featuring RPG and crafting elements.
• Koji Igarashi, the namesake of "Igavania"-style games, is leading the project, with Michiru Yamane composing the music and Inti Creates leading the development.
• If funded, the game will be developed for XBOX One, Playstation 4, and PC. For the first time on Kickstarter, backers will have the option to receive actual PS4 / XB1 / PC retail discs.

Thanks HiddenX

We have been informed that the game Nekro is available on Steam Early Access. We have also been told the following:

Nekro, i’s shaping up to be a fitting, if twisted, spiritual offspring of seminal titles such as Dungeon Keeper, Myth: The Fallen Lords and Giants: Citizen Kabuto. In the game players summon demons and spawn unholy weapons of war as a gleefully evil Necromancer with an insatiable blood lust for the innocent and corrupted alike in this darkly humorous, old skool blend of action RPG and strategy genres.

Customize your minions and perfect your ideal ‘fiendish loadout’ as you tear your enemies limb from limb, harvesting their twitching corpses to strengthen your powers. Legions of twisted abominations await your command in Nekro. Revel in the slaughter of the King’s corrupted lackeys as you uncover the alternately sinister and chuckle-worthy history of your creation. Manipulate the flesh and souls of those who have passed beyond the veil. Use the sins of the fallen to unlock new summons and customize their skills in an ongoing battle of supremacy between the Undying Legions and The Order.

Further tailor your experience by equipping different Powersets for any of the four Necromancer classes, unlocking varied new Nekro abilities on your journey. Feast on the blood of the slain as you wade through their entrails, giggling quietly to yourself.

A new indie RPG is running a Steam Greenlight campaign: Tanzia.

Become the greatest shaman to ever lob a fireball. Retrace the steps of your Akazi ancestors to prevent your island home of Tanzia from being overrun by an ancient evil. Your elders will guide you, but it is up to you to master your skills and live up to your family’s legacy. 

An old-style RPG made with modern tech and set in a unique world, Tanzia combines elements of favorite classics like Dragon Warrior, Zelda, and Everquest in an open 3D world full of magic and monsters.

 In a thread here on RPGWatch the developer added:

It's an old-style RPG made with modern tech and set in a unique world. No microtransactions, no ads, no gems to buy to fast-track your progress, just a good old-fashioned RPG.

A story trailer should be released soon.

We've received a note that Warside, a MMO from the Russion indie developer Kraken Game Studio is now available on Steam Early Access.

Warside is an unusual mix of game genres. It is a sci-fi session-based MMO with 2,5D shooter gameplay and RPG elements. The game has both PvP and PvE cooperative game modes, it offers 5 different battle-modes, flexible character leveling system, hundreds of weapons, armor suits and gadgets.

We do not follow MMOs that much, so not sure if this will be on the radar very long.

I received word today from an indie developer about his game called Kings and Generals: A Divided Loyalty, and it seems his game is made with the RPGMaker engine.

War has broken out between ostensibly peaceful neighbor nations. After centuries of peace and prosperity, a cascade of events has lead the Kingdom of Farheen to become aggressor and invaded your homelands – the Empire of Avaria. You are up and coming John Fox, an up and coming general known as the Dragon of Avaria, thrown into the mist of the political skirmishes and turbulent unrest in the lands. Will you be able the crush the enemy state troops marching at your doorsteps to restore the balance of power and regain the once great peace before its is forgotten?

“Kings and Generals: A Divided Loyalty” is a 16-bit RPG Visual Novel with a deep and immersive storyline that will truly satisfy the fans of classic JRPG’s like Final Fantasy, Suikoden and Grandia.

The game features:

– more than 1 hour of cutscenes.
– professional voice-over acting
– original orchestral score
– gripping story line
– rich high fantasy setting
– immersive world with side quests and
   charming NPCs.

Estimated 6 – 7 hours of gameplay.

I was sent news today from developer Geek Beach for their open world multi-player RPG game called OreLight. Here is the usual trailer, and short game description.

OreLight, a dungeon crawling, multiplayer RPG with crafting, mining, base building and stabbing.  Everything in the world can be dug up, replaced or moved, so building anything from a small hut to an entire town is possible. The world is split into multiple areas; each area has its own procedurally generated world with dungeons, camps, forests, skeletons and a bunch of other OREsome stuff.

I received news from a developer called Proteus Studios about their game Machine Made: Rebirth. So here is the usual video trailer, and gamed description.

Machine Made is a Turn-based RPG, with Puzzle & Adventure elements and a focus on Collecting and Crafting that allows for a high degree of character customization and a deep level of strategic thinking. The story takes place in a beautifully crafted Steampunk world with Fantasy/Sci-fi influences that will capture your imagination.

You can also check out the games development page for more information.

Thanks to Craig Stern of IndieRPGs.com I have news of a game called Dragon Fantasy: The Volumes of Westeria to share with everyone. Here is the video to get started.

Experience an all-new old adventure! Fight your way through hordes of strange, silly, and scary monsters! Explore the caves, castles, and dungeons of an ancient evil! Meet warriors, princes, pirates, zombies, and crazy old woodsmen in a huge world of epic retro adventure!

If the video got you interested the game is only $9.99 on Steam.

Crypt of the NecroDancer a rhythm roguelike game I covered last year is finally getting close to release, and the  developer sent out a new press release.

Crypt of the NecroDancer to be Released on April 23

Brace Yourself Games' hardcore rhythm roguelike,  Crypt of the NecroDancer, will boogie its way out of Steam Early Access on April 23. Even in its Early Access state, Crypt of the NecroDancer is the  third-best-reviewed game (among players)  ever  on Steam, and it been selected for more than a dozen gaming festivals and award shows across four continents.

This brand new trailer should instill in you an arcane power known as  the funk, and should prepare you sufficiently for the game's eagerly-anticipated full launch. Please note that side effects of playing Crypt of the NecroDancer include unintentional booty shaking and uncontrollable fits of  gettin' down.

If you've already played the game, here's what's new in the final release:

• The final zone (zone 4) has been added, with a whole host of new enemies, traps, secrets, and minibosses
• Unique final boss battles for the main characters: Cadence, Melody, and Aria
• Story cinematics for Cadence, Melody, and Aria, after completing each zone
• One additional insanely difficult character: Coda
• 10+ more achievements
• A new "technique trainer" lobby NPC who helps teach the game's higher-level techniques
• Some musical surprises we can't yet reveal!
• And, of course, a bunch of polish, balance tweaks, and bug fixes

Find out more at  http://necrodancer.com.

I received word of an ARPG called Barbarian from developer sfbaystudios. The game will be released shortly on mobile devices. A PC release is also planned on Steam later.

As usual here is the video trailer, and game description.

What platforms is The Barbarian on?

We plan to release on iOS, Android & Windows Mobile as well as Mac & PC, and we hope to one day release on consoles and handheld devices including Nintendo, Playstation & XBox.

Looks like Diablo!

That's not a question, but... While The Barbarian looks similar to Diablo, the play style isn't quite the same. In The Barbarian you do not click on an enemy to attack, nor click a spot on the map to move. The game also resembles many popular "Hack & Slash" games. While you'll be doing much hacking and much slashing, pressing the "Attack" button over and over and over again in quick succession won't do you much good in The Barbarian, as fighting takes a bit of skill to time the attack correctly. At higher levels, holding down the attack button will result in multiple, more powerful attacks back to back.

Developer Turning Wheel sent news about their Roguelike game called Barony.

Barony is a 3D, first-person roguelike. The goal of the game is to descend to the bottom of a dark dungeon known as the Devil's Bastion and destroy an undead lich named Baron Herx, who terrorized the peaceful town of Hamlet in life and is now harboring a curse against the land from beyond the grave. To aid you in your quest are friendly humans who have been eeking out a rough life within the dungeon for generations, as well as any friends you can bring with you in real life: Barony is the first of its kind as a first-person roguelike in that it fully supports cooperative multiplayer for up to four players.

Well to me it looks like a Minecraft RPG.

I found out about the following game on the Square-Enix Collective website. The game is called Severed Winds, and got enough votes to get help with crowd-funding.

Severed Winds is an episodic JRPG. It is a turn-based RPG that combines the old-school feeling with ideas that are completely new and fresh. One of those ideas is the concept of Episodic storytelling. We aim to deliver a story that will keep you absorbed and evoke an emotional attachment to the world and the characters in a way that will leave a lasting impression well after playing the game. The game will be filled with cliffhangers leaving you eager to play the next episode.

You can also check out the games Facebook page , and Tumblr page for information.

Thanks to IndieRPGs I found information that an RPG game called LISA: The Painful RPG has been officially released, and can be purchased online on Steam.

Lisa is a quirky side-scrolling RPG set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Beneath the charming and funny exterior is a world full of disgust and moral destruction. Players will learn what kind of person they are by being FORCED to make choices. These choices permanently effect the game play. If you want to save a party member from death, you will have to sacrifice the strength of your character. Whether it’s taking a beating for them, or chopping off limbs, or some other inhuman way. You will learn that in this world being selfish and heartless is the only way to survive.

I found news about this game form the PC Gamer article from yesterday, and it's called Else Heartbreak from a small development team funded by the Nordic Game Program.

Sebastian has just landed his first job in the distant city of Dorisburg. He moves there to start his adult life and figure out who he really wants to be. Among a strange collection of people, hackers and activists he finds some true friends – perhaps even love. But can they stop the terrible deeds of the people ruling the city? And who will get their heart broken in the end?

Well it you loved playing retro ASCII's games from the 80's then the following game might interest you. It's called SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition from developer Black Shell Games.

Here is the Early Access video, a short description of the game.

SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition is a humorous and strategic turn-based dungeon crawling ASCII adventure. Drawing heavy inspiration from both Roguelikes and Japanese RPGs, the game offers a robust action-RPG inspired combat system.

The following game called Centauri Sector by developer LW Games was brought to my attention earlier today. While it's not a true RPG it does have some RPG elements.

Here is a new Alpha video, and the games description off Steam.

Centauri Sector is a top down space combat game powered by a dynamic campaign, RPG elements, fleet management and detailed ship control.

Features:

- Pilot your flag ship in a top down 2d combat.
- While in combat manage your shields, power, weapons capacitor and more.
- Engage in advanced tactical combat by forming your own fleet and issuing commands to destroy your enemies.
- Gain new active and passive skills and bonuses by climbing through the ranks.
- Equip your ships with a wide variety of modules and guns.
- Engage in a dynamic war powered by a turn based dynamic campaign that doesn't always plays the same.

The turn-based roguelike RPG 1Quest is now available from Steam.

1Quest is a turn-based roguelike RPG where you play as a young adventurer who pursues an evil blood cult that has abducted several children, including the princess of the kingdom!

You got 7 days before they can start their evil ritual to summon an ancient demon by sacrificing the children. Each region of the realm contains dungeons full of hostile creatures, but you will also find help and get various rewards depending on which path you take towards rescuing the children. But you need to hurry, if you want to save them all...

Fight monsters, grab loot, become more powerful and prevent the blood cult from summoning the demon.

Key features

• Turn based RPG
• 5 races
• 18 Differents classes
• More than 150 class abilities and spells for characters
• More than 100 monsters
• 20 Differents dungeons with specific rewards
• Magic system based on spell schools and magic affinities for more diversity and replayability

We have been informed that Sim Heroes, which is labeled as a RPG Management sim, is about to be released. The game was succesfully funded on Kickstarter last year and Rock Paper Shotgun have written a small piece for the game two months ago, which contains the information I do not need to repeat... OK, well only this small part from the RPS article:

The story goes that you’re exiled to an island and must start a settlement, placing down a tent and expanding from there. Place down a second tent and you’ll attract (unseen) villagers, who can be set to forage and hunt for food or chop down trees. Place a Wayrest and you’ll attract heroes, who can be formed into parties, their equipment managed, and then sent off for adventures at nearby caves, dungeons and the like. They do the fighting out of sight, but when they return – assuming they survive – you can paw over their combat logs, see what they encountered and how far they reached, and then make tweaks before their next adventure.

This then creates a compelling loop: your adventures unlock new building types, which allow you to expand your little village, gather more resources and upgrade your buildings, and the increase of fame brought by success will attract more and more powerful heroes to your settlement.

Lucky Day's Android game The Wizards's Grave can now be donwloaded for free from the Google Play store.

A Single Player Western Style Turn Based oldschool RPG dungeon crawler made exclusively for Android by one guy (me) with help from a freely available media.

no location tracking
no online required
no ads
no DLC

You are a budding apprentice in a Wizard’s school full of smelly old men.
While on assignment for your master you discovered something mysterious in the late Head Wizard’s apartments but your master wants you to be quiet about it while you go investigate.

We also have a discussion thread for the game on our forums.

I received news about a game called Spellbind. While the game is not an RPG I know we have some adventure fans on our website. So here as usual read on.

Spider Key Games introduces Spellbind, their new first person point-and-click available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Players play the role of Luppe, a young thief who enters the cellar of Lord Amatar's house to steal his oldest, most expensive bottle of wine. A challenge that sounds easy and possibly could be so, if only the owner of the house had been someone else.

I received news today about new game that is soon to released on Steam called Mythos: The Beginning from a developer named Dark Gaia Studios.

Mythos: The Beginning is a survival horror/adventure role playing game based on the pulp-horror and monster movies of the 1930s. Set in London in 1934, Mythos tasks you with creating your own paranormal investigator from scratch and guiding them through a frightening exploration of the infamous Harborough Asylum. Three young university students have vanished while attempting to conduct a scientific survey of this dreaded place, and it's up to you to find them! Throughout the night you'll discover that Harborough Asylum's reputation is more than an urban legend, and you'll have to fight for your life against otherworldly Lovecraftian foes.

I received  news of a free Fallout MMO game called FOnline2 from the games developer Jacek Karpiñski. So as usual here is a video, and brief description of the game.

Fallout fans can take a trip down memory lane and fight, co-operate, and discover their way through a brand new world using the original Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 setup, taking place in year 2237, just 4 years before events known from Fallout 2 took place. Enjoy the game through the main quest line or just take your time and mind your own business. Form a player faction and get recruits, get bases and cars, craft items, trade with NPCs or other players by setting your own shop or just go solo and fight your way through the various dungeons. Want to be a thief, a sniper, a big-gunner, or scientist? No problem, it's all up to you. Tailor your character to your play style. FOnline 2 is offering deep PvP experience. Calculate your moves, use strategy and tactics, in order to be the last man standing during Turn-Base fights in random encounters all over the Wasteland, or take part in massive Real-Time battles between rival factions in order to take control over the towns and profit from the tributes.

I was sent news of a new hack & slash role playing game called Exilium from a developer called Conflux Games. The game costs $9.99 from the games website.

In Exilium is a hack & slash role playing game in the same vein as games like Diablo, yet focuses on exploration and discovery as opposed to creating an expansive RPG experience. You play as a king who has been exiled to a strange, hostile world by an unknown force. There are no other characters and no quests to help you along the way. Only through exploration can you learn why you were exiled and how to return…

Features:

- Single player campaign
- Many secrets to explore and puzzles to solve
- Boss battles, lots of boss battles.
- Randomized loot.
- No other characters, no hand holding quests. Exploration and discovery focused.
- Seeded, randomly generated end game dungeon [Spelunky Style!]
- Online multiplayer battlegrounds
- PC, Mac and Linux builds

I was sent news of a new Indie RPG on Desura called Survivalist. From a brief look at the game it might interest a few of you, and the good news is it will only cost you $2.99.

It's one year after the collapse of civilisation and hedge fund manager Joe Wheeler emerges from his specially constructed bunker in search of food. This is a story-driven survival game where the aim is to find other survivors, gain their respect, and build a community. You'll have to maintain a steady insulin supply for a diabetic woman, solve the mystery of why certain people have disappeared from a nearby community, and search for a truck full of stolen gold bullion that will make you unimaginable wealthy in the new gold-based economy. You'll scavenge for supplies, trade, plant crops, go on quests, face moral dilemmas, go to war, and uncover dark, terrible secrets! Or you could just kill everyone you meet, it probably won't get you very far but the choice is yours.

Wirezapp Games announced a new RPG on their website called Fero. They unfortunately don't have any videos, or images to share yet.

Each and every world that the player steps into will not only have an entirely procedurally generated landscape and layout, but the way that the story itself unfolds will be entirely unique to that world in addition to being affected by how the player decides to influence it. This means that the world that you step into was created just for you, and the narrative that shapes the landscape around you is constantly impacted by the choices of those inhabiting it (you know, much like this thing called “real life”).

The world, the characters, the factions, the conflicts, the emotions, will all be procedurally (“on-the-fly”, so to speak) generated, making every single detail about a world that much more personal to the player. But there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to share this experience with a friend, of course you’ll want to live this amazing journey with some buddies, comrades and allies. That’s why we are going to be allowing you to bring your friends in to explore your world with you, and stand by your side when you want them. You will be allowed, and encouraged, to invite friends to join you in your world and help shape the massive landscape that you will experience over the course of your adventure in Fero, an adventure that is assured to be groundbreaking, stunning, revolutionary and truly unique experience from the start.

Developed by Wirezapp Games, a dedicated indie gaming studio with some of the most talented and creative minds in the industry fueling it, Fero is their latest groundbreaking RPG. Set in a uniquely, procedurally generated world created just for you, the title revolves around a strong, close community and is rapidly becoming a highly anticipated upcoming title. Release date and opportunities to get your hands on Fero is TBD.

Thanks to IndieRPGs.com I have three new RPGs that might interest a few of you.

The first game is called Deja Vu Chronicles, and is from a developer called NebelSoft. The good news is the game is free to download. Here is the link.

It's a short, classic adventure in fast forward ( or rather, "in rewind"? ) with a few comedic elements and a (hopefully) curious 'background' story.

The second game is a new SRPG game in development for mobile devices by a 4Hands Games, and is called Swords of Anima.

Guide Dolian and Laocorn, Captain of the XII Squad, in a journey to unmask the true enemy of the Empire as they find new allies to join their ranks. From Adastrea to the Islands of Fog, you will face relentless pirate Berserkers, spooky Custodians from Khoda and the savage Gerspent battlemaidens.

The third game is a new Norse based Zelda-like from Thunder Lotus Games.

Jotun is an action-exploration game for PC and Mac that takes you on an epic journey through Viking purgatory.

Roguelands is a new game from SmashGame that is inspired by DayZ and Fallout. The only downside to the game is that its another online sandbox RPG.

So if your still interested here is a short distortion.

In Roguelands, players will explore procedurally generated post apocalyptic landscapes in order to search for supplies and gear to survive. From ruined cities and suburbs to lush forests and farmlands, players will encounter a variety of monstrous beings that seek to destroy everything in their path. But these monsters aren't the only threat; dangerous gangs of other players might shoot you on sight and loot your dead body.

As you gather materials and defeat enemies, your character will acquire experience points. These points are vital to your character's progression. Upon leveling up, players can upgrade a certain path of talents and perks such as lockpicking, medicine work, raw strength, and much more!

This game features permanent death, so one wrong move and all of your gear is gone. If the game is too hard, then try to team up with your friends to increase the chances of survival.

IndieRPGs has a one hour playthrough and first impression of the recently released Halfway.

Merry Prankster Games sent us an email about their new RPG called Temple of the Abyssal Winds. Here is a video, and a short description of the game.

Temple of the Abyssal Winds

Twenty years ago, the demoness Urgoroth rose to power from the depths of the Temple of the Abyssal Winds. She was defeated, but your parents were lost in the conflict. Your aunt and uncle have raised you in the small village of Tomm's Crossing, where life has been mostly peaceful. Until now…

So begins the classic-style role-playing game Temple of the Abyssal Winds. Features:

•     Epic fantasy adventure.
•     Single player, controlling a band of adventurers.
•     Real-time pauseable combat for realism and control.
•     A combination of open-ended exploration and strong story driven plot.
•     Tactically challenging encounters featuring many different strategies.
•     Deep, complex role-playing system, inspired by popular paper-and-pencil role playing games.
•     Dozens of quests, enemies, and monsters to tackle.
•     Build the character you want to - dozens of skills and powers, and hundreds of spells and items.

Try the first chapter for free, which includes a full adventure and conclusion. If you like what you see, continue on to the following five chapters. Merry Prankster Games invites you into the world of Temple of the Abyssal Winds!

I received word of a new retro ASCII-based game called Sanctuary RPG in a short press release from the games developer Black Shell Games.

SanctuaryRPG Indie Game Press Release

Black Shell Games just completed development of our flagship game, SanctuaryRPG. In a nutshell, it’s a retro ASCII-based RPG built similarly to classic hits such as Nethack and Zork. It’s has a soundtrack with over 40 original 8-bit chiptune tracks composed specially for the game. We’ve been working on it for almost one and a half years now, and it’s grown immensely since its inception. There is no other game like it in development today, and it has received immense praise from fans.

Drawing inspiration from Roguelikes and Japanese RPGs, we have poured over 10,000 hours of meticulous work into this game. Every aspect is designed to offer a compelling and replayable gameplay experience.

With dynamic combat, hilarious dialogue, and plenty of weapons at your disposal, this is truly one of the most ambitious ASCII-art RPGs of 2014. The game is FREE to download and play to your heart's content, with no strings attached.

Link to Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMI6IXF3ZXE
Link to Download: http://www.PlaySRPG.com

We have received word that Skylight Freerange has been released. This is the first time I've heard about it, but that doesn't say anything really. Here is the info that we received:

Dragoon Entertainment has just released its newest independent RPG, Skylight Freerange, for PC.

Skylight Freerange takes place in Canada in 2041, ten years after a nationwide firestorm. The player controls the remains of a team of secret agents trying to put an end to the civil war that started in the aftermath of the firestorm.

Over the course of the game, the player will be able to create their own main character and customize their team with 16 weapon types and close to 200 active and passive abilities, and can lean towards melee, long-range, stealth, traps and summoning among others. The player will be able to explore an open world where their actions will affect a number of things, including the story paths, final battles, endings, province-wide quests, cutscenes and social situations. Aside from story and combat, the player can develop their main character's life and make friends with random citizens in different social circles, which can possibly allow them to have certain benefits such as getting married, creating a business and going on survival skill campouts, among others.

More information, as well as the game demo, trailer and screenshots, can be found at the Dragoon Entertainment website.

There is also a trailer for the game.

At GDC 2014 both Epic and Crytec have announced a subscription model for their respective  engines Unreal 4 and CryEngine. With a royalty free $9.90 a month for CryEngine and $19.99 a month (with 5 % royalties) for Unreal 4, better graphics are now within the reach of indie developers.

Although this might be good news for the Indie developers out there, making an RPG requires a lot more from an engine than just making your game look good. As a result both these engines might still need quite a bit of work in order to add that missing functionality. As an alternative to RPG developers out there, Larian's Swen Vincke has hinted a few times already that he is considering providing their engine, which they use for Dragon Commander and Divinity Original Sin, to developers. Although it is doubtfull that Larian wants to enter the market as an engine developer and unclear if they want to provide their engine to others at all, it does look like it is an egine that is quite capable of providing the functionality needed for making an RPG and it is quite a step forward from RPGMaker.

Sjors Jansen, who has formerly worked on Deus Ex 3 and the last couple of Tomb Raider games has started his own company to develop an educational type of game, name AnimalAlbum

So with that I'd like to introduce you to AnimalAlbum, which provides this:

• Adventure game, as in talking, actively thinking about connections between characters.
• JRPG in general look and feel, exploring a world, searching for animals.
• Different sort of battles/encounters. It's about what you know. Encounters are not mandatory.
• Real animals, real data, real knowledge.
• Jump in, jump out co-op play. One player is the leader (child), other is the follower (mum or dad for example).

He is trying to achieve the following with his game:

What I'm actually trying to achieve is getting people to take more interest in the creatures of the world we're living in. You can see the game as a Pokemon of sorts with real animals.
Part of the motivation behind it ties back to a letter printed in science magazine by a group of conservationists who were basically surprised to find that kids knew more Pokemon than actual real animals, calling out to the community to take heed of that.

I haven't really seen much come out of that except a "print yourself" trading card game, and I can't expect the game industry to jump on this since you'd automatically be dealing with the "educational game" stigma. But I feel it's something that needs to be done. So I'm creating this really laid back game that mostly tries to be kind and lets you do your thing. I mean, how many kind games do you know besides earthbound?
I'm hoping the idea will start brewing in the minds of the general public, because videogames still need to show that they can be useful on a large scale. And AnimalAlbum could potentially grow into a series that would ideally cover all of the animals on this blue ball of ours. So I'm hoping for your support.

The game has an estimated release date of early 2015 and is scheduled to be released on PC at a retial price of $12. You can find more information on his website.

I don't think I'll be following this actively, but thought I mention it here as it has some RPG elements and the guy is Dutch :)

Crypts of Avaritia is a new game I think some of you might be interested in. Its described as the following in the developers own words.

Crypts of Avaritia is a combination of randomly generated dungeons together with a first person view with gameplay similar to Heretic/Hexen combined with Dungeon Hack, Ultima Underworld, Dungeon Master, Might & Magic, Daggerfall, Arena and other games in the same genre. The gameplay will not force the player into melee combat as many other RPGs do, instead choice will be given to approach any problem the way the player seem fit, just like in Deus Ex. As such there are many non-combat skills for the player to upgrade. There are strong survival-mechanisms coupled to the gameplay, such as the player need to sleep, eat and drink water. You can also break bones, bleed and get poisoned.

I also have a video that shows oof the games Settings, sleeping, and gameplay.

Just a small update of the things I have been working on lately, a lot of other things has been done under the hood but you will see that once it is done :)

If you have any questions you can ask the developer on our forums.

Chaos Reborn is an update of the classic 1985 ZX Spectrum game 'Chaos: The Battle of Wizards' by X-com creator Julian Gollop. The site calls the game a turn-based strategy game with strong RPG elements.

Here are the details.

'Chaos Reborn' is an update of my classic 1985 ZX Spectrum game 'Chaos: The Battle of Wizards'. Why am I choosing to update this old game? Because it was a unique game with simple, yet fascinating game mechanics that guaranteed a unique experience each time you played it. The premise was straightforward - you controlled a wizard with a limited number of spells in an arena with enemy wizards, and you had to be the last wizard standing to win the game. I want to take the core mechanics of the original Chaos and expand on them to create a rich experience with diverse multi-player and single-player modes.

In my 30 years of game development, after many critically acclaimed projects, I think the original Chaos stands out as a game with unrealised potential. I have spent the last year working on Chaos Reborn, writing the game design, creating a playable prototype and building my team. I intend to raise funds via Kickstarter to complete the project within a year. It will be available for PC, Mac and Linux.

Please sign up with your email address to be notified when our campaign launches (probably early 2014) - and please add comments below with any questions or suggestions you might have. Thank you for your support.

In a blog on Gamasutra Folmer Kelly has a different take on the several articles with the list of things Indie Devs should be aware of that have popped up in the past and which he thinks are false.

I know, I know; you're getting this a lot right now.

"10 tips for aspiring indies!"

"15 hard truths about being an indie dev!"

"8 things they don't tell you in video game school!"

I guess maybe it comes with the time of the year. Best Of lists show up all over the place, the IGF nominations are in, we start looking back and I guess that means we also start looking forward.

Before I released my first game, I used to eat that shit up. I read all of them and I believed every word simply because they were written by people who had done the thing I wanted to do but hadn't. These people were better than me by virtue of having done what to me seemed to be the impossible: They had made a video game. They were gods.

I wasn't going to question gods.

It wasn't just that though. The second part of it is, pretty much all of these articles list the same fucking things. And every time I read them, they became a little more true in my head. The facts cemented, then hardened, then they were stuck. Universal truths.  

And that messed me up for a long time. Which brings us to the reason I'm writing this, and I'm hoping that anyone who is looking for "ASPIRING INDIE ADVICE" reads this because I refuse to believe I was the only one who ever fell into this poison mind state, or the only one who ever will. 

It messed me up because after I released my first game, and then my second, and then my third, most of the shit I had "learned" turned out to be false. BUT: Because it was all written by people with experience, and because so many of those bullet points and snappy one-liners had been on a constant loop in my mind, I thought the problem was me, the problem was my games. Oh shit, I was making games wrong!

But then after I made my fourth, fifth... I started getting suspicious. And eventually I smashed the shit out of those cemented facts.

Cradle is a new open world fantasy game with RPG elements. It's being developed by a studio called Mojo Game Studios. They have a tech video based on the CRYENGINE.

Cradle is an open-world fantasy adventure game for the PC in development by Mojo Game Studios. It’s the story of an exiled traveler caught at the center of a monumental struggle between humanity, nature, and the gods. In addition to an immersive narrative experience set in a breathtaking world to explore, Cradle offers an exciting new type of strategic first-person melee-combat experience. The game features five playable character classes, four unique open worlds, an augmentable weapon and armor system, competitive multiplayer, and much more.   

Amulets & Armor was a Arcade RPG released back in the 1990's with little success. You can check out the game on the projects website as it's now free for eveyone.

Happy New Year!

The work on the classic version continues. This is most of the last important bugs found in the game (see below). If you find more bugs, don't hesitate to send us a report by email! We're now going to focus on the OpenGL port of the game.

• Option added to disable dropping items when character dies.
• Option added to change speed of mouse and keyboard turn rates from 20% to 200%.
• Toggling between look and mouse mode no longer causes the look angle to jump.
• Added missing music files (MUSIC6 and DANCE). Now music can play on all adventure levels.
• Fixed a crash at the end of the first level of Elmore's Retreat.
• Fixed leak when playing a long time that would cause music to stop playing or crash.
• Fixed problem when teleporting to water covered area while wearing ring of water walking. It no longer constantly teleports back and forth.
• Movement speed is now properly recalculated when strength changes from spells.
• Health and Mana properly update when using amulets and rings fo food and water conservation/nourishment.
• Improved diagonal strafe/sidestep calculations.
• Players can no longer move when dead.

Download the latest from the download page.

Heroine's Quest is a free Adventure/RPG that takes inspiration from Hero's Quest. If your interested check out the games website for the free download link.

Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok is an adventure / RPG hybrid. Like in many adventure games, you have a world to save, and must use your wit, guile and inventory to puzzle your way through. Like in many roleplaying games, you can customize your character with various classes and skills, and must train yourself in combat to stand a chance against the fierce monsters in your way.

The game is designed in the spirit and atmosphere of the classics, and strives to have the same high quality of art, music, and plot. With multiple character classes and several solutions to many puzzles, the game will have excellent replayability.

Thanks go to HiddenX for the link and video.

Ama's Lullaby is a new cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic RPG project currently in development. You can find more information on the games Facebook page.

Ama's Lullaby is a cyberpunk/post-apocalyptic role playing game project currently in development. This is the first video captured in game. Some features are:

- selection tools for the characters
- basic animations (idle, walk).
- camera system (pan/rotate/zoom with mouse, travel with arrows keys)
- some physic collisions
- game objects become transparents when they hide a character
- basic sounds

More Indie news, this time on Boscombe, an RPG wich allows you to deal drugs.

You play as Stoned Steve and start with nothing. You mission is to get out of Boscombe and get to Sandbanks (home to Harry Redknapp and Piers Morgan among others). Start off dealing some weed, then maybe a bit of MDMA or some Acid? 

Just watchout for the Crackheads, Teenage Mums and Chavs....

I didn't want to post this many mobile RPG news, but as it is news on Lucky Day's game The Wizard's Grave, I'll make an exception.

His game is on sale until the new year for just 99 cents and it's available for both Android and iOS.

Just in case you are searching for a mobile Zombie Survival RPG, here is one named Overlive”, of which info found its way to our mailbox:

It’s difficult to label because there are no games that I know like it. At its core, Overlive is a Role Playing Game that plays kind of like an interactive “Choose Your Own Adventure” story, set in a zombie post-apocalyptic world. Between the zombies and remnants of the military gone rogue, the primary goal of Overlive is to escape your zombie-infested city before the city nuclear plant has a meltdown, and achieve the best possible score grade based on your conduct (were you good or evil?). It’s a heavily choice-based game where the Player, a survivor, must choose what to do each day, ranging from training their skills, resting, or exploring the city. Combat plays out in real time and includes melee, ranged, and explosive attacks. There are thousands of decisions to make during exploration. The Player can focus on combat or non-combat skills (computers, lockpicking, engineering, etc) to overcome obstacles and get through the game.

Forum member Lucky Day sent news that his indie phone RPG The Wizard's Grave is now available. Here are the details.

Just in time for Black Friday my game The Wizard's Grave is now available.

Formerly called Wizard War! the name had to be change as another game beat me to it.  Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

Wizard's Grave can be found on the Google Play store here for only $2:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.start.wizardwar&hl=en

The Wizard's Grave is a single player turned based Western style dungeon RPG dungeon crawler written in Android.  You play a student wizard trapped in the secret warren of the late Headmaster.  The dungeon is filled with all kinds of beasts and your former masters who, for some reason, are bent on your destruction.

A discussion thread for the game can be found here:

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22520

To read the blog thread for what went into making the game, you can find it here:

http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18078

Thanks all to the Watch community for the feedback, encouragment and help with Beta testing.

Ossian Studios has released the first trailer for The Shadow Sun. You may recall their premuim and free NWN 1&2 modules. If not check them out here

Ossian Studios is proud to present The Shadow Sun official trailer, which gives the first exclusive peek at gameplay in this groundbreaking new iOS Western RPG.

Set in a brand new, dark fantasy world developed by Ossian Studios, The Shadow Sun combines everything the team has learned from previously working on the Dungeons & Dragons and Witcher franchises, and is produced by a former BioWare producer for the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights games.

To all iOS RPG gamers - this is the deep, story-driven RPG you've been waiting for! For more details on The Shadow Sun, go to www.theshadowsun.com

Deepfall Dungeon is a free dungeon crawler RPG made by a developer called LOD Games. You can download the game here if your interested.

Deepfall Dungeon is a 3D first person fantasy role playing game. You have entered the dreaded Deepfall Dungeon and must find the exit! Along the way, you will fight monsters, find treasure, cast spells and build your character from a nobody to a legend! Will you make it out alive?

Indie Games for Good is hosting a new marathon to raise money for charity by playing a huge selection of indie games. So give it a look and see if if your interested as it's for charity.

Hey again everyone! I'm happy to announce that donations for IGG 2013 are officially LIVE!

This year, we're using a "buzz" system to help us create our game schedule. Basically, this means that rather than locking a game in for a set amount of time, your donations will generate buzz for your chosen games. This allows us a little more discretion about how long to play each game for, so we'll be able to keep playing that game just a liittle longer so that we get to the really cool part, rather than being slaves to the clock. This way, we can keep the stream full of variety and make it more exciting for you guys to watch!

One last thing... Get ready for all the raffles, auctions, and giveaways we'll be holding this year! We've got tons of great prizes lined up already, and more are coming in every day. I can't wait to show you guys all the cool stuff we have!

See you all October 17th!

Pixels or Death has a new article about Bastion's music, and how it's storytelling surprises us.

In Bastion, you, as the Kid, are thrust into a world that has largely been destroyed. In silence, unaccompanied you make your way through a decimated city in search of, well, anything.  This search turns out to be fruitless, and so you a hop a ferry and leave the city limits.

As you venture onward to Prosper Bluff, you are greeted by the multitudes of hostile creatures that now reign supreme in the rubble that was once your home. You hack and slash, used to the violent routine now, making your way forward. Yet suddenly, something surprising happens. Distant chords strummed on the strings of an acoustic guitar can be heard over the breeze blowing through the reeds of the marshy wilds. As you continue to wander a voice chimes in. A human voice

You discover that the song in actuality serves as a grim warning — a war song. The song reassured you, made you feel safe but now hints that the same terrible mistakes might come to pass once again. But despite the song’s troubling message, you carry onward eager to learn more about the woman who dares to return music to the wasted world.

Now if your not interested in JRPGs please move on, and don't waste your time.

Now for the rest of you still reading  Memories of A Vagabond: Broken Destiny is a new JRPG made using RPGMaker.  You  try a free demo or buy the game here for $4.99.

Become a young mercenary and travel from soul to soul to avenge your fiance and her family. While finding a way to travel back in time, you will encounter many obstacles and meet new allies. This turn based RPG on PC is meant to explore your imagination and intelligence. WILL YOU BE BRAVE ENOUGH!!?!!

Lucky Day is need of a few beta Testers for his indie RPG Wizard War. Visit the link to the games thread in the forums, and a big thank you to all those who are interested.

Hello Watchers

Wizard War! is nearly finished and I'm looking for for beta testers.

I've finished the ending so all that's left to do now is build it and implement it into the game.  What I'm looking for is folks that are willing to play the game from start to finish, report any bugs they find, or suggest any design improvements that can implemented in a reasonable manner.

All that's needed is an Android device that can run at least Honeycomb (Android OS 2.3.3) or, if you don't have one, you can run it on an emulator like virtualbox.

Playtesters will be given a free copy of the game and my eternal thanks.

Lucky Day

I have another indie game that might be of interest to you. It's called Steam Marines, and is described as a Squad-Based Tactical Roguelike game.

After watching that video, and you still need convincing they offer a demo.

Halfway is a new game from a two man indie developer called Robotality. They describe the game as a sci-fi squad-based tactical RPG.

Halfway is a turn-based strategy game taking place a few hundred years in the future. You take control of a small group of people who are witnesses to a violent overtake of their spaceship by an unknown species. As you fight your way through the dark corridors and rooms of the ship, you will uncover more and more details of what has taken place.

At the heart of the game are tactical gun fights. Battles are conducted in a typical turn-based manner with transparent but interesting tactical decisions. The whole game is entrenched in an engrossing storyline that unfolds more and more the deeper the player delves into the game. Your squad will be built out of distinct characters you pick up along your journey, each with their own part to play in the whole story. You will develop skills and find items as you uncover all the corners of the spaceship, adding a touch of RPG elements to the game.

Halfway will be released on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux later this year.

Bundle In A Box announced their new offer: The Indie RPG Bundle. It includes no less than 8 Indie RPGs in the $1.99 tier and another 5 in the BTA. All games are DRM free, many on Desura too, a couple on Linux or Mac and a few on Steam.

The hightlights are two games we covered extensively:

• Telepath RPG: Servants of God by Sinister Design
• Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon by Rampant Games (our review)

Detailed infos can be found on the BIAB Blog.

Forum member Lucky Day needs your help coming up with a new name for his Android RPG. If you have any suggestions you can visit the forum here.

It seems there are two other Android games with the same or similar titles.  I'm looking for suggestions to newly annoint said game.

Ghan, Kaplan, and Pladio have already made some hilarious suggestions.

In case you don't know, Wizard War! is a solo first person turned based dungeon crawler in the same vein as Wizardry written exclusively for Android written solely by myself with the help of free assets I've gleaned off the web.

Right now I'm finishing off spells, then its coming up with an intro and an ending before the final spit and polish of balance.  I estimate 1 or 2 months before its finished at my current rate.

Also, its the one year anniversary since I started development on it.

A team of gamers is developing Mother 4. It's a fan-made addition to the cult-classic series Mother. I also have a trailer for the game if your interested.

Mother 4 is the fan-made sequel to the international cult-classic series, Mother. Set in an idealized vintage America, Mother 4 follows the adventures of a young boy and the leader of a biker gang, who get caught up in the whirlwind events surrounding a group calling themselves the Modern Men.

www.Mother4Game.com
www.blog.Mother4game.com

Ackk Studios is developing a new game called Two Brothers, and is perfect for those looking to play a classic Zelda game.

Two Brothers is an Action Adventure game that features a classic Gameboy aesthetic.

You play the role of Roy and Bivare guarder, two scientists who are researching the origins of life.

While researching, Roy is met with a terrible fate, and has a near death experience. While Roy is on the other side of death, he visits an afterlife filled with beautiful 16 bit colors. Now that he has experienced this visual glory, he becomes obsessed with bringing the colors from the afterlife in to his mono chromatic world.

▪ Explore a vast non-linear world and story with multiple endings, and deep side quests!
▪ Take the game world from black and white 8bit to full color 16bit!
What makes Two Brothers unique:

Two Brothers takes a long hard look at death in video games... when the player is killed in combat or triggers a deadly trap, instead of being greeted a familiar GAMEOVER screen, the player finds himself in what we call the "Afterlife Hub".

This realm of the dead is a colorful and mysterious place where the player can explore, find clues, and interact with characters who have passed on in the games story... sometimes even bringing some of them back from the dead.

When the player wants to return to gameplay, they can jump from the edge of the heavens and get back in to the action and exploration!

Super Fighter Team announces the release of the RPG Trifecta Pack.

The long awaited Windows and Mac OS editions of our three best selling role-playing adventure games for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive are finally here! The RPG Trifecta Pack combines Beggar Prince, Legend of Wukong and Star Odyssey together in one convenient, self-installing package. Formerly console exclusive, all three of these great games can now be played and enjoyed on your home computer for the first time!

An indie developer named Tim Keenan plays some of the experiences he had with publishers when trying to pitch his game A Virus Name Tom. And according to the Rampant Coyote, it is something he can relate to.

In an earlier episode Tim showed the difficulty of explaining that he was making a PC game to a friend.

When I first found this game I had to bring it to everyones attention. It's called Ittle Dew and is a parody of all Zelda games. You can buy it on GOG for $12 or the Humble Bundle Store for $13.99.

Adventuress Ittle Dew and her sidekick Tippsie crash onto a strange island, filled with loot and mysterious inhabitants. It quickly dawns on the duo that this might become their biggest adventure yet.

Ittle Dew boils down the classic adventure formula until there is only fun left. Experience devious puzzles, timeless gameplay and lots of exploration!

Indierpgs has a new article on a new tablet & android ARPG called Isle of Bxnes.

Whalenought Studios writes in to announce that they are working on a new caveman-themed action RPG called Isle of Bxnes (pronounced like “Isle of Bones.”)

Isle of Bxnes is the brutal adventure of a caveman’s odyssey though savage islands where he hunts, collects supplies and grows his tribe while following a mysterious guide. The player uses a combination of attacks, dodges, and voodoo traps to navigate the largely hostile islands on his journey. At the same time, he’s upgrading his raft, increasing his offspring that will replace him as you die, and collecting relics for his totem.

This game sports a variety of roguelike features, plus locational damage and the increasingly common (but in my opinion, still really cool) mechanic of trying again as your progeny after your character dies:

• Permadeath
• Reincarnation through your sons (who have randomly chosen skills, attack dmg and stamina)
• Variety of enemies, non-hostiles, missions and bosses
• Skill tree with 27 skills
• A health system divided by body parts

Isle of Bxnes is being developed for iPhones, iPads and Android devices

The RPG Codex has news on a game called The Tangut Prophecy. The codex has this thread that gives info on it. It looks interesting so I recommend a quick look at it.

Description:
"The Tangut Prophecy" is a stand alone RPG game based on the FOnline Engine. It is a historical fiction RPG game set in medieval 12th Century China.

Features:
*Historical Fiction set in XII Century China.
*A Single Player Campaign that focuses on cRPG mechanics.
*A plot with mysteries, secrets, conspiracies, political intrigues, and twists.
*Non-incidental interconnecting side quests.
*Multiple quest branches and resolutions with lasting consequences.
*Multiple dialogue options with different reactions.
*Multiple endings to you, your companions, NPCs and the game world.
*4 playable races with 4 corresponding language skills.
*Unique character builds.
*Detailed NPCs and companions.
*Radiant game world that accurately portrays the included medieval East and Central Asian tribes.
*Turn based combat.
*Small scale battles with mounts and controllable troops.
*A wide range of medieval arsenal and equipment.
*Limited currency and items with real monetary value.
*Travel to the world's extremes: From scorching deserts, to shivering glaciers...
*Non-tiled prerendered map locations and graphics.
*Fully detailed and animated character sprites.

Screenshots:  Media gallery- http://postimage.org/gallery/aqa303u/

Links: MODDB Page- http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-tangut-prophecy

They also link to an interview at FODev.net.

What can you tell us about The Tangut Prophecy? How many people are working on the game and what's the current status?

The Tangut Prophecy is the game that I've been working on for the past almost 3 years. It is a FOnline based, historical fiction singleplayer RPG set in XII Century China. The game covers the small evenlope of peace time, about 40 years long, starting in 1167, between 3 historical Chinese nations: the Western Xia of the Tanguts, the Jin of the Jurchens, and the Song of the Hans. We seek to bring the harsh reality of medieval China, along with a focus on player choices and story telling, to the singleplayer experience. The game will be available for download, free of charge, when finished.

I'm the only official, committed member as of today. It pretty much has been this way ever since the inception of the game. It's almost like a full time job for me. I work on everything: Writing, scripting, graphics, mechanics, you name it. So if you see something crappy, feel free to blame it all on me. I do receive help from other people occasionally. A friend of mine for example, who is a professional working in a major Taiwanese company, lends a hand on the graphics from time to time. I also received some help on animating the horses and other animals in the game. Just things like that in general.

As for the game's current development status, it is going okay. There is still a lot to do. I don't want to put a timer on myself; I have seen enough games being ruined by inadequate development time. Who knows what we would've gotten had Troika spent 6 more months on Arcanum before it was released. Anyway, I'm looking at 2014/2015, not promising anything. Speaking of which, I'm also looking to recruit 10-15 beta testers once the game is ready to enter the testing phase. More details on that coming soon.

Contract Work is a cyberpunk inspired RPG shooter giving players full control when tackling situations. The creator of the game said he was inspired by Deus Ex and System Shock.

Contract Work was created in HTML5 and can run on all major browsers, without plugins or installations. Hong is also considering Steam and Ouya iterations of the game.

I came across this game on TouchArcade. It is called Iesabel, and before anyone says it yes it's a tablet Diablo clone. Anyway it will only cost you $1.99 to buy.  

In the times of darkness, only the mightiest of heroes can save the world. Stand out against the evil all by yourself in epic single player mode, or form an unstoppable team with up to 7 of your friends in an extraordinary co-op mode. Swarms of bloodthirsty monsters, loads of epic gear to collect, dozens of skills to obtain and the most beautiful world in any Action RPG Hack n Slash on iOS, await you. Grab your sword and fling yourself into action now!

iTunes Store Page:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iesab...

Homepage:
http://support.forever-entertainment....

Cube World now has an alpha version that you can pay money to play. but the site has ran into DoS attacks on a regular basis. Someone tell Joxer to stop it.

In the meantime you can  try this mini demo.

Q: Where can I download my game?

A: You can download it in your My Games section. If it doesn't show up immediately after buying please wait a while and refresh.

Q: I can't login in with the launcher.

A: Make sure your Picroma account emails and password don't have a '+' (you change them in your picroma account settings). We're currently working on a solution for this.

Q: The game isn't working anymore. It exits on the starting screen.

A: Please delete cursor.plx and restart the launcher.

Q: I can't reset the resolution.

A: Stop the game, delete options.cfg and restart the game. This will reset the resolution.

Q: What's the server port for multiplayer?

A: Currently it's set 12345 and can't be changed yet.

Q: The game is slow on my computer/there is so much blue fog in the game.

A:Some computers have an Intel/on-board video card and a dedicated video card. To make sure your computer can run Cube World smoothly, right-click the Demo/Game and hover over "Run with graphics processor" if it is there to make sure you run it off a dedicated GPU if you have one.Try fullscreen mode, disable antialiasing and lower render distance in the options menu.

Q: I get the error: Could not initialize XAudio2.

A: Try to run the game as administrator.

The developers of a new ARPG Platformer Valdis Story sent news of their new game. Check it out you might find that you like it.

Assume the role of Wyatt in this Action/Exploration Platformer as you explore the ruins of a holy city that was lost many years ago. Battle various types of demons, angels, and a new threat known only as the “Ferals”, using swordsmanship, martial arts, and sorcery. There are many customizable skills and equipment that will aid Wyatt on his journey.

STORY:

Over 40 years ago, the goddess Valdis was killed by her daughter, the dark goddess Myrgato. Since this event Myrgato has been at war with her twin sister, Alagath the goddess of light. This perpetual war is fueled by human souls that the gods use to create their warriors; Myrgato twisting souls into demons, and Alagath manipulating souls to create angels. Each day the remaining human population dwindles as they are forced to choose a side or die.

FEATURES:

- Intense combat weaving sword and sorcery together seamlessly.
- Find magic souls that aid in combat and traversing the ruins of the city.
- Level up stats and a variety skills to customize your play style.
- Upgrade Weapons and Armor.
- Unique accessories that can give you the edge in combat, or get you killed!
- Interconnected zones allow you to explore new areas or backtrack.
- 2 playable characters on release and more to come!
- Compelling original soundtrack spanning over 2 hours of music!

DEMO:
Download and play the demo

Ossian Studios relayed news that their iOS-powered RPG The Shadow Sun has officially reached beta. They also relesed four new screenshots.

The Shadow Sun is currently in beta and things have been progressing very well! With everything still on track for our summer release, we wanted to share a few more screenshots. Scroll to the bottom of our TSS page to get some new glimpses of the city of Shar, from the sacred Temple Precinct to the scummy sewers, as well as a shot of the game’s inventory GUI.

An expansion to Sword of the Stars: The Pit, named MindGames will be available next week as we learn from this press release.

MindGames Expansion Coming July 1 to Sword of the Stars: The Pit

Mind over monsters! Kerberos to release “The Pit: MindGames” expansion

Kerberos Productions are pleased to announce the upcoming release of the first expansion to their acclaimed role-playing game, Sword of the Stars: The Pit – MindGames. MindGames will launch July 1st, 2013 on Steam and other fine digital retailers everywhere.

The Pit: MindGames expands the fun, fast, light-hearted roguelike RPG of Sword of the Stars: The Pit with new playable characters, new monsters, new levels, new weapons and items, and – best of all – psionic powers for you to unleash as you dive ever deeper into The Pit. Incorporating even more of the popular Sword of the Stars universe, the game offers a rich science fiction backdrop and sharp modern gameplay with a playful art style and accessible gameplay that are suitable to a wide audience.

“The Pit--with its random elements and permadeath--is justified in its boast of replayability…” – PC Gamer

“Has that same feeling of ‘okay, just one more run’ that both Binding of Isaac or FTL: Faster Than Light have…” – Destructoid

“Sword of the Stars: The Pit is an absolute must-play for gamers that want a new spin on an old genre.” - Indie Game HQ

FEATURES

• 2 New playable characters; the Human Psion and the Tarka Ranger – the first playable alien character!
• 10 New floors of ancient, evil science add to the challenge!
• New room types, including wide, multi-level biospheres!
• New traps, new weapons, new items, and new recipes!
• New game mechanics, including 28 Psionic Powers!
• New Psionic enemies to fight, drawn from the Sword of the Stars universe!
• 2 New Play Modes; “Infinite Mode” as well as “Seriously? Mode”, for those players that find “Insane Mode” isn’t insane enough!
• Expanded meta-game aspects, including the ability to “bank” XP and spare items from one session and start the next run of the game on a deeper level, using your “banked” equipment.

According to  the developers of Balrum the planned kickstarter is being pushed back due to the ideas and suggestions on forums and the internet.

Hi everyone!

In the past few days a lot of things happened to us. We received lots of comments, and we like to thank those who helped us with constructive comments! A special thanks to those of you who are actively trying to help us with your ideas and suggestions on our forums! In the past week we realised that we probably made a mistake. The mistake was that, that we kept the project to ourselves for too long! Seeing the great ideas on our forums made us rethink things. We are going to start the kickstarter campaign a few months after we originally planned! We would like to start the campaign knowing, that we tried to put everything that our community wants in the game! So we humbly ask you to join us in creating an indie RPG! Anyone who has ideas/suggestions feel free to post it on our forums!

We plan on creating polls that will decide if a feature or idea will be a part of the game.

We think that this was a necessary step in creating a game that not only we love, but you guys too!

See you at the forums!

I reported on a game called Cube World last month. It's a voxel-based exploration RPG, and now the webpage has been updated with more infomation. Give it a look and see if the game interests you.

I'm Wollay, the creator of Cube World. I started this game in June 2011 as a hobby project. My inspirations were Minecraft, Zelda, Secret of Mana, Monster Hunter, Diablo, World of Warcraft and many more. My aim was to create an infinite, colorful, procedurally generated world, full of adventures, monsters, and mysteries. The result is Cube World, a voxel-based role-playing game.

My wife joined development in 2012, and we're planning to release an alpha version for Windows PC soon. The alpha already has many features, but some are still missing. You can check out a feature overview below.

The alpha will be available for a lower price than the beta version and the final version. We're planning to release updates regularly. Updates are free.

Infinite Worlds

A main feature of Cube World is the random world generation. In contrast to many games, worlds are not designed by a level designer, but generated procedurally by the game using math and random numbers. The result is an endless world (nearly endless, i.e. players can't reach the borders), so players can explore new landscapes all the time.

Players can generate their own worlds by specifiying one single number, the seed. The same seeds result in exactly the same world, so players can share their worlds with friends by telling them their seeds.

Worlds are generated on-the-fly while playing, so there are neither long precomputations nor huge save files at the beginning.

No borders

There are no artificial borders. You can literally reach each cube the world is made of. If you see a mountain on the horizon, you can climb that mountain. If you see a tree, you can climb on top of the tree. At least if your climbing skill is good enough. :)

Landscapes

Cube World consists of different lands with varying climates and themes. There are grasslands, snowy landscapes, wide oceans, dangerous lava lands, jungles, and deserts. Landscapes are full of mountains, caves, rivers, lakes, forests, rocks, dungeons, castles, ruins, catacombs, temples, villages, and more.

Here are a couple of recent previews and one interview for Supergiant Games' upcoming action-RPG Transistor.

GameRant

Besides launching both short and long range attacks along a prescribed axis, the Transistor grants Red the ability to stop time, move from cover to cover or around her opponents, and launch multiple attacks on multiple targets in a single ‘turn.’ Each decision drains a section of the Transistor’s stored power, and when the power bar is drained, the player must execute the chosen moves in the real world, watching as Red makes real what they had planned out beforehand.

If all of that sounds a bit more complicated than Bastion’s brawler mechanics, the game’s tutorial helps communicate the surprisingly intuitive and simplistic control scheme against a number of single enemies. But when the Process arrives en masse, the game’s true genius begins to shine through. As mentioned above, Red’s attacks are only damaging along a single line drawn directly out from her position; if the player can manage to line up the enemies like dominoes, Red’s attacks are capable of inflicting damage against everytone in that path.

Those who recall the more frenzied and frantic sections of Bastion’s endgame – or that game’s Training modes for individual weapons – don’t need to be told just how quickly a battle can become a fast-paced game of chess. Planning out repeated strikes against larger opponents and seeing the damage to be inflicted stack up on screen, or using attacks with higher splash damage to inflict widespread injury is satisfyingly calculated. The balancing comes when Red is forced to seek cover and stay mobile until the Transistor recharges, before returning to the offensive once more.

RPGFan

At the top of the screen is a meter that comes into play when you press R2 to immediately freeze time. At this point, you can move Red around and queue up attacks. Each of these actions takes up a portion of the meter, but you are free to move and line up attacks on rows of enemies, which is where the unique pattern of each attack comes into play. Once you're ready, pressing R2 again will unfreeze time, and Red will execute all of the selected moves and actions. Enemies are still able to move — albeit slowly — during this phase, but careful planning of attacks often allowed me to wipe out an entire room of foes. The meter recharges quickly, so the flow of combat has a unique pace, with real-time action beats alternating with meticulously executed queued combos.

The queuing mechanic also seems like it will be used in puzzle solving. One such situation included a locked door with two switches. Pressing both switches would open the door, but not long enough to pass through. By using action queuing, I was able to hit both switches and pass through the door before it closed. I was pleased to see this, because it gives me hope that the full game will feature more extensive puzzles that make creative use of your abilities.

And finally an interview with creative director Greg Kasavin.

Regarding the greatest excitement of working on Transistor, Kasavin noted that the team simply enjoys making deep and interesting worlds wherein players "give a damn." The team enjoys its games' unique identities and wants to explore the limits of their potential. When asked if he felt pressured to produce a game at the level of Bastion's success, Kasavin noted that the real pressure comes from being surrounded by so many talented people on a daily basis and wanting to contribute as effectively as his colleagues. He also remarked that debate and disagreement within the company aids in the creative process, ultimately providing a better product. Fortunately, events such as E3 present the opportunity for validation from the public, letting Supergiant Games know that they're moving in the right direction.

In terms of qualities specific to Transistor, Kasavin noted that "The Process" is a sort of force that seeks out the Transistor, a blade that the protagonist, Red, discovers at the onset. While exploring, players encounter columns jutting from the floor and monsters; Kasavin states that this is The Process. The sentient blade, Transistor, is aware of The Process, and responds in the present, differing significantly from the omniscient narration of Rucks in Bastion. I asked Kasavin if the types of powers gained from the dead bodies Red encounters had anything to do with the deceased's former lives or personalities, to which he was bemused, noting that that may be a motivation behind the types of powers gained.

PlayStation LifeStyle has a preview of Transistor, and Gamespot has a video of gameplay footage.

Gameplay Footage

Here we are with another E3 announcement this time about Transistor. You will be able to play the game early next year on PS4 and Steam. While those waiting for a Mac and Linux version you will have to wait longer.

One of the most common questions we get about our next game is, which platforms is it coming to? Today we’re excited to have a specific answer for you at last: When Transistor is released sometime early next year, it will be available day one for PlayStation 4, and for PC on Steam. We plan to bring the game to Linux and Mac afterwards, and haven’t ruled anything out beyond that.

You may know that our first game, Bastion, is available for more than six different platforms at this point. But it started on just one. We were still working on new versions of Bastion more than a year after the initial launch on Xbox LIVE Arcade. The main reason Bastion ended up in so many places, of course, is because a lot of people liked the game. And the main reason a lot of people liked it is because we were able to create the game we wanted to make in the first place, by not spreading our focus too thin and making sure Bastion ran great on XBLA, then on Steam, and so on. So, in short: Our strategy of focusing on a console/PC launch worked well on Bastion so we’re doing it again on Transistor.

We received a new email today about a new Indie RPG called Balrum. I'm sure many of you will be interested I know I am.

My name is George and me and my fellow developer Attila have been working on our PC RPG game for about 2 years now. In the game you need to survive with your grandfather in a village hidden from the world. Ultimately, you will find out about the reason why the village is hidden, and after that, you will explore the world that has been hidden from you. The game mixes elements from: Gothic, Arx Fatalis, Arcanum, Ultima, Eschalon Book, TES, Thief.

Main features of our game:

-crafting (craft and name your own potions, armors, weapons..)

-farming (to survive you must eat, maintain your farm to always have food on you..)

-building (build your home, craft furniture, make chests for your loot..)

-combat (hybrid turn based, cooldowns, buffs, debuffs, AOE, lots of different spells with truly different mechanics..)

-exploration (explore huge dungeons, find hidden treasure, explore deep forests..)

-stealth (use water arrows to disable distant torches to ensure that you remain hidden in the shadows..)

-lots of clickable stuff (mushrooms, plants, minerals, and other materials..)

-HD resolution, dynamic lighting.. blah blah and stuff like that :)

DarkForge put it's successfully Kickstarted ARPG/real-time strategy hybrid Nekro on Steam Greenlight. It's descrided as a ARPG/RTS hybrid single player MOBA.

Nekro is a dark, twisted action game about summoning demonic forces to do your bidding. With a fully-customizable array of powerful monsters to summon, Nekro challenges you to create a specialized army of hell-spawn to counter the forces of a corrupt King.

Playing with the speed and fluidity of an old-school action game, Nekro breaths fresh life into the genre with a deep and robust minion upgrade system. Use different monsters in unison to create a force that's greater than the sum of its parts. Utilize a blood mechanic unique to Nekro by harvesting the flesh of your enemies to power your unholy war machine. With the style and gore of a cheesy B-movie and the tactical and strategic depth of an RTS, Nekro promises an intense and captivating gameplay experience from start to finish. Nekro: It’s to die for!

• Create unholy armies using the corpses of your enemy!
• Blood permanently stains the battlefield; body parts squish, bounce, and roll!
• Upgrade your minions to create the perfect 'monster loadout'!
• Equip powerful armors that literally change the playstyle of the game!
• Dozens of abilities, enemies, monsters and powers!
• A randomized world event system throws exciting twists into each match!
• 3 unique factions to conquer or enslave!
• No play through is ever the same!

 

Please keep in mind, Nekro is currently in ALPHA! That means it's not yet complete and we have much left to do!                           

A new game called Black Talons has been announced. It looks to have a few RPG elements, but those are not the focus of the game. This trailer offers a look at work-in-progress gameplay they say does not reflect the quality of the finished product.

Black Talons  is set in a sci-fi universe, featuring a mercenary commander trying to prevail in a ravaged star system.

Black Talons will feature:

-Persistent and customizable squads.
-Deep campaign mode. The actions of the player directly affect the balance of power on the system. There is one main objective to achieve, but there’s much more to do.

-Customizable Battlecruiser. The Battlecruiser serves as the base of operations, and can be customized with weapons or infrastructures that will boost the squad numbers, teleport soldiers or even bombard the battlefield.

-Faction relations. There are a number of neutral minor factions in the game. These factions will have missions available for contract work. When the player completes missions for a certain faction, the relations will improve with that faction. On the other hand, completing missions against a faction will lower the relations with it. Having good relations allows the player to train or buy units unique to that faction. Having bad relations will make that faction randomly attack the player during missions.

-Upgradeable and unique (per class) skill tree for all units
-5 worlds with different environments and weather conditions that directly affect the battle: rain, fog, snow, ionstorms and more insane stuff.

-Different unit classes with specialized roles: Recon, Tactical, Assault, Support, Engineer. -Each class can carry a different set of weapons and has its own abilities. Powerful mechs can enter the battlefield with salvaged or bought equipment and weapons.

A new Indie RPG called Crypt of the NecroDancer combines dancing, and dungeon exploring.

“Crypt of the NecroDancer is a hardcore rhythm-based roguelike game. Can you survive this deadly dungeon of dance, slay the NecroDancer, and recapture your still beating heart? Or will you be a slave to the rhythm for all eternity? Players must move on the beat to navigate procedurally generated dungeons while battling dancing skeletons, zombies, dragons, and more! Groove with the game’s epic dance soundtrack, or select songs from your own MP3 collection! You can even play with a DDR dance pad to really shake your bones!”

Rocket City Studios announces Second Chance Heroes, a co-op action/RPG coming this summer to Windows and OS X this summer. A beta is underway next month, and those interested can sign up on this page. They are also running a Steam Greenlight campaign.

IndieGameHQ has brought to my attention a new indie RPG called Dark Gates. It's worth a look at least. You might be interested.

In Dark Gates you lead your team of 6 heroes into a dungeon where they will fight their way through numerous monsters and traps in order to destroy Dark Gates and an evil mage, the master of the dungeon. The main feature of the game is the dungeon itself. There is no predefined layout and every time you play, the map is always different. The dungeon randomly generates itself as you play. In your quest you will find monsters, magical items, trap, puzzles and treasures. Glory awaits the one who destroys Dark Gates and the evil mage.

     Features

    20+ heroes to choose from
    20 Monster types
    Over 10 spells to use
    Earn gold and experience to upgrade your heroes
    Random Labirynth every time
    Find mirrors to locate Dark Gates
    Classic tabletop game experience
    Turn based combat

Doctor Psitronix a new member of the watch, but in his own words a long time lurker brings news of his own RPG product. It's called Project Uncanny Valley. I'll bring more news on the project once I get more information.

Hello Watch,

First a little about me.
I am a long time lurker for years. I have decided to join finally for two reasons.
1. The resent success of the Kickstarter projects, TTON and DD:OS come to mind. Has convinced e that the Decline in gaming is trending down,finally.
2. My involvement with the project I will describe below.

I have got to know a number of you by your posts over the years and I hope you approve with what I will write here. (DArtagnan shhhh)

I am here to introduce on the Watch and the Codex(I'm there too) the following Indie Project.

Key Points:

1. Graphical Mud-Like
2. Simulation First, Game second
3. No teh Epic Quest(*unless you make one or fall into one)
4. Living World(What part of Simulation do you not get)
5. C&C where even the gods may move in mysterious ways to thwart your royal ascension
6. You wont know the difference between Npcs and Pcs unless you ask
7. Insane amount of characterization(200 classes at last count)
8. ROLE-PLAY vs ROLL-PLAY
9. THIS IS EARLY ALPHA
10. More to come

This project consists of me and my friend who is lead programer and who I will simply call Ken, he is a bit shy,but the proverbial eccentric genius. Seriously 180 IQ.

Below is a series of questions to help introduce this project,he is answering,his exact words, and I add some clarification if needed.

I am trying to gauge interest and I humbly ask for feedback.

A new update has been released for Ballikin, bringing it to alpha level 48. A lengthy list of changes can be found on the download page, but the highlights are these:

* You can now resize the game window.

* Graphics overhaul (increased size slightly, and sprites re-drawn at new size).

* Combat (and other) floating text display.

* Two new items, a Lantern for more light, and a Healing Balm to .. Heal you!

* Mobs now drop a better range of items.

I came across another indie RPG, and thought it deserves more attention.  Anodyne uses the classic top-down, 2D adventure, most reminiscent of Link’s Awakening.

In Anodyne, you explore and fight your way through nature, urban and abstract themed landscapes and dungeons in the human Young's subconscious, evoked by a GBC/16-bit-era visual style and a moody, dream-like soundtrack.

I found another indie gem on wingedpixel. The game is called Heroes of a Broken Land. It's described as a classic style, turn-based RPG under development.  If you purchase now you get a discounted price plus access to playable builds under development.

Heroes of a Broken Land is a classic style, turn-based RPG under development.  If you purchase now you get a discounted price plus access to playable builds under development.

Features

• Unlimited worlds – a new, procedural world is generated for each game
• A large overworld to explore
• Multiple parties of up to 6 heroes each
• Party based dungeon crawlling in a variety of dungeon types and layouts
• Town management and construction – find and upgrade towns to equip your party with the best equipment

What will be in the Full Version?

Heroes of a Broken Land is still in development, so there’s still a lot of content and features yet to come.

• Lots more unique buildings and places to visit
• Diverse and devious enemies to fight
• Complex quests and dungeons, including secret rooms, nefarious traps and puzzles
• More playable races, each with unique powers and abilities

We have another indie game called Paper Sorcerer that sadly wasn't given any attention in the news. The developer is UltraRunawayGames and they susssecfully completed there kickstarter.

The game is described as a stylish first-person turn-based RPG with adventure game elements. You can try the game demo off the site to get an impresssion.

Thank you Nameless One for bringing the game to my attention.

Alpha 47 of Ballikin has been released and it brings us the following highlights:

• You can now use Blueprints to create Building Cornerstones. At the moment you can only build the Blacksmith Cornerstone.
• The Blacksmith (once the Cornerstone is placed) can be used to Repair your items!
• Armor Durability is now in the game.
• Numerous UI enhancements.

For more detailed info on the build notes See these and more in the Build Notes, on which page you can also find the download link.

For those who are not bothered by the lack of graphics here is something that might be interesting: A RPG made in Excel. The name of it is Arena.xslm and it has the following features:

• Random enemies: Over 2000 possible enemies with different AI abilities.
• Random items: 39 item modifiers result in over 1000 possible item combinations and attributes.
• An interesting story with 4 different endings depending on how the player has played the game.
• 8 boss encounters, each with their own tactics.
• 4 pre-programmed arenas followed by procedurally generated arenas. Each play-through has its own challenges.
• 31 Spells. There are many different strategies for success.
• 15 Unique items. Unique items have special properties and can only drop from specific enemies.
• 36 Achievements.
• This is all in a Microsoft Excel workbook.

At the very least it shows some impressive Excel skills.

Digitally Downloaded have interviewed Australian indie developer Paul Turbett on his plans to do a re-make of the DOS game Trial by Magic and the failure of his most recent game in the App store.

DD: Trial By Magic is a remake of an old DOS game. Firstly, we love DOS RPGs! Secondly, how are you updating the game for the modern audience?
PT: There are three main areas.

First, the controls. I've played the old Trial By Magic in a DOS emulator recently, and the control scheme and UI are hard work for the player. The whole area of Human Machine Interface has advanced a lot in the last 15 years, so how the player interacts with the game needs to be modernised.

Next is the production values. Obviously there have been advances in graphics technology since 1993 (like for example 3D graphics cards!). So instead of sprites, the game will be all 3D models, with modern lighting, particle effects, etc.

Then there are the game systems, like combat and magic. There is still a lot to do here, but the core RPG systems will get an overhaul. The intention is to update the systems to be modern whilst providing a "classic" RPG experience. One thing we are doing that I’m really excited about is switching to a classless system. You character will start off as a “blank slate”, and the character you become will be based on your actions in the game, not an arbitrary choice made before you even start playing.

There are probably other changes, such as an improved and better integrated story, maybe some online features, but those are the main things.

I don't know how this translates to Indie RPG developers, but the developer of the indie game Cook, Serve, Delicious created an article showing what he made on developing a PC and iOS game and the problems he had with getting it to sell.

Right away I realized why games don’t get released on a Friday: if you don’t get any buzz by the end of Friday, you’re next shot is Monday. That’s two days that my game was going to be dead in the water, right after launch. How could I have been so dumb?

Actually, I remember why: because I felt like the people who were going to buy the game were the ones reading my blog since March, and the ones who really loved Ore no Ryomi and had played my previous fan games. I felt that was enough to push me to my $2k goal, a goal that while very short from the $8k I spent, would set me on track.

Well, by Sunday I had made about $250. I was panicking already. The audience that I thought was there was significantly smaller than I had imagined. Very few websites picked up on the game on Friday, leaving me with a dead weekend. I told myself that it would be OK with the Mac and iOS release I was going to work on, which I really felt was a more lucrative market, but it still marked the most depressing weekend I’ve ever had involving my indie game pursuits. I felt like a complete failure.

The developer of Balikin informed us that Alpha version 45 is available for download now from his site. The full list of changes can be found here, but the highlights are:

* Steel and Copper Weapons and Tools.

* Chests randomly spawn in the desert biome, and can hold fat loot. Or phat lewt also.

* Clicking on "X" also shows the names of any nearby mobs (in addition to showing you items on the groun).

* When you discover a waypoint, you now get experience! Huzzah for the traveller!

We mentioned Autoloot's indie turn-based game The Dark Triad a week back and now they have a new video about the game editor used to create the game:

Craig Stern is giving his views on the eleven differences between Telepath Tactics and The Battle for Wesnoth, which can be viewed as similar games. This is what Craig mentions on why to begin comaring them anyway:

There is an argument to be made that this isn’t even a legitimate question to ask. Even if the games were similar, what would be the harm in having more than one game in a similar style on the same platform? Ask this sort of question of virtually any pair of similar games, and it sounds transparently silly. “We already have a ton of Fire Emblem games. Why do we need Fire Emblem: Awakening?” “We already have the Diablo series. Why do we need Torchlight?” The answer is obvious: variety. For someone who enjoys the core experience of these games, even the relatively small differences between Diablo and Torchlight, or between Fire Emblem: Awakening and its predecessors, are sufficient justification for the new games’ existence.

But let’s set that aside for a moment and talk about Telepath Tactics and The Battle for Wesnoth specifically. I was actually confused when people first started asking what the difference was; it is only a slight exaggeration to say that this is like demanding to know the difference between Risk and Chess! These games are about as different as two games in the same subgenre can be.

Lofi Games has kicked up a new trailer for Kenshi, showing off some new features from the upcoming 0.40 release:

Sinister Design has an update on Telepath Tactics covering recent improvements, offering an updated demo to try and a new video:

But enough about that–let’s talk about what’s new in Telepath Tactics. With a second go at Kickstarter on the agenda for mid-to-late March, I’ve been hunkering down and working to improve core aspects of the Telepath Tactics engine.

• Telepath Tactics now supports branching, scripted dialog: which means the game now also supports branching campaigns.

• By far the biggest undertaking this past month has been improving enemy AI in Telepath Tactics. There are already a number of noticeable upgrades–among them:
  • AI characters now grab item sacks lying within reach, then continue their turns;
  • AI characters now intelligently use items sitting in their inventory;
  • AI characters with non-turn-ending attacks now continue moving after attacking; and
  • badly injured AI characters now flee in the direction of a friendly healer if they can reach one. [...]

Indiestatik have an editorial about when a game can be tagged as an Indie game. In the end the article cannot really give a concise answer, but does state it is not as simple as 'no publisher is involved'.

Alright then. Let’s start this thing from the top: ‘Indie’ is short for ‘independent’, right? And a game studio can be ‘independent’, i.e. not owned, funded or aided by the money of a publisher. So………..there ya’ go, then! Problem solved! Jeez, why have you guys been struggling with this one for so long? This question’s a cinch! Yup. Without a doubt I have just crafted an ironclad definition that, as a community, we can all agree is 100% accurate:

In-die   noun
1.      A video game created by a development studio that is ‘independent’ from publishers.
…..
…..
…..
HAHA. Oh man. I even fooled myself for a sec there! I mean, good lord, if only it really was that simple! Well, actually it would seem there’s plenty of people out there who DO think it’s that simple, and are more than willing to cause one hell of a ruckus about it…….when it suits them. For a rather unflattering example, one need only think back to the 11th month of the 32nd year of our lord Notch (known to some as May 2012), when the unholy titan of evil, Electronic Arts, dared unleash a plague of cut price video games upon the fair province of Steam. The name of this abomination? The EA ‘Indie’ bundle.

Daniel Fedor writes on his blog about upgrading the resolution of NEO Scavenger, which currently runs at 800x600. It's much more complicated than it sounds and an interesting read if you like data:

Before deciding on a new resolution, I thought it would be helpful to see what most users have. Unfortunately, that's one statistic the in-game NEO Scavenger metrics don't track.

However, one benefit of running one's own storefront, and hosting one's own game, is that I have website logs to turn to. It's not as good as tracking that info from within the game, but it's pretty close. So I opened up Google Analytics to take a look

Hm, that's not as clear-cut as I had hoped. The top 10 resolutions only cover about 57% of all users. Worse still, look at the lower right hand corner. That's right, there are 1336 different screen resolutions used to view bluebottlegames.com!

The Dark Triad: Akhazal Quest is a turn-based, isometric indie RPG in development by Autoloot. They have just hit Steam's Greenlight and are crowdfunding on their own site with a Kickstarter to come later.

But what is really The Dark Triad: Akhazal Quest?

• A deep history with unexpected twists and many secrets to uncover.
• Brutal and bloody turn-based combats. A brand new system where you define the degree of action & strategy and the speed of battles.
• Choose among 5 different cool classes.
• A brand new skills & specialty system. Customize your own builds.
• Hundreds of quests & side quests, with non-boring intriguing dialogues.
• A vast map for you to enjoy during tens of hours.
• An incredible host of enemies for you to slash & crush.
• Pets and Sacred Guardians to assist you in the heat of the battle.
• Fully detailed characters and environments in 3D.
• Items system with thousands of combinations and unique artifacts.
• More than 5000 achievements.

The Dark Triad: Akhazal Quest is a 3D isometric, turn-based computer RPG game, where we’ve created our own combat and IA system from scratch, and the same goes for the story, as you can see in the sneek-peek game intro video here http://tinyurl.com/baspyau! =)

Our goal in the end is to make a funny, immersive game with a balanced mix of combat & story for all RPG fans to enjoy. 

We haven't checked in on NEO Scavenger for a while, the indie post-apoc survival RPG form ex-Biowarian Dan Fedor. A few days back Dan wrote a 2012 Retrospective on the game, which seems like a good place to catch up:

With the new combat system launched, I began work on a wounding system that would integrate with the extant player conditions, and offer opportunities for resourcefulness and strategy in dealing with wounds. I would argue that this suite of combat and wounding systems was one of the more important changes to NEO Scavenger so far, as it greatly enhanced the game's uniqueness, depth, and fun factor.

Another New Year's report, this time for Kenshi:

As I said before, I'm keeping my head down for a while so I can get some serious coding done. So not many updates or forum presence from me, I better give you guys another progress update.

So I'm still working on the big big 0.40 update. In a previous post I talked about the new research, mining, farming and brewing features.  Since then, I have added some more stuff.

Electricity

Certain buildings need power to operate, and this is supplied by your generators.  In 0.40 there will be simple generators but in later updates they will consume fuel, which you will either import from other towns or mine it yourself.  There will also be an alternative option of building wind turbines instead.  This will give you the option of 2 alternative research paths.  Wind generators will be less powerful and a less reliable source so you will also need to build batteries to smooth out your supply, but the plus side is you don't have the dependance on fuel supplies.

Generators can break down or be sabotaged, leaving a town more vulnerable to assaults.  When I eventually add sneaking to the game, this will give you a good approach for attacking bases.

Shopping

The AI traders and civilians now actually shop around to buy food and drink in the towns.  You can set your own town to be open to traders who will come by and buy stuff. 
Also you can buy a building in an existing town now, and open a shop there, or just use it as a safehouse.

Starting Situations

When you start a new game now you will have a choice of starting situations.  You can start as a retired soldier, who has decent combat skills but is enemies with the Holy Empire, meaning he has to watch his back and protect his teammates.
You can also start with a group of characters and a supply of building materials.  This sets you up to start with a base right off the bat, if you prefer the RTS side more.  It still won't be easy mind.You can also mod your own in quite easily.  Later on I will be adding lots more starting options, like a farming village in the grip of bandits, a slave, a farmer, a group of refugees, fun things like that.

Shadows

Finally the game will have a proper shadowing system.

ART

And of course, all the new artwork is still coming along, although only the buildings will be in the 0.40 update.

Update:
X@COM project lead Kyzrati notified us that we've mixed up two games. X@COM is a sci-fi ASCII remake of the original X-COM, while the A Rookie's Tale mod is a feature-complete RPG experience in itself, but has nothing to do with X@COM besides the fact that they run on the same engine.

------------------------------------

X@COM is a "fantasy X-Com roguelike", which is a curious idea to my mind but well worth a look:

Ever wanted to play a deep tactical fantasy game based on the great X-COM mechanics? Answer: Yes.

"A Rookie's Tale" is exactly that and much, much more.

Our protagonist, Victor Wade, alien-fighting soldier turned interdimensional traveler, suddenly finds himself in a world guided by magic rather than science. How he got here we've already seen, how he gets back is another story.

Not every story will be the same, though. To call this mod a single mission would be an understatement. Perhaps "epic single mission" or "game-in-a-mission" might be more appropriate. Making full use of the engine's greatly expanded and improved mod support, Rookie's Tale is a highly dynamic experience that shows much more of what the engine can really do--the R7 scenario Cataclysm was an interesting experimental introduction to the new dynamic content system, but barely touched the surface compared to the variety you'll see in this mod.

Victor is not alone, at least not for long. As he explores the world he can recruit party members from the local population (you control them this time around) and take them along on the search for a way home. There are seven standard character classes, each with class-based special abilities, and a host of other unique characters that may come to Victor's aid. On your travels, you'll talk to NPCs, recover artifacts, topple paranoid warlords, stop rampaging ogres, repel goblin invasions, uncover demon-worshipping cults, delve into ancient ruins, open interplanar gates, pilot gnomish inventions, loot treasure troves, face (or run in fear from) liches, demons, and dragons, and a whole lot more. Okay, maybe not all at once, but you'll definitely use magic from among 50+ arcane spells and holy incantations (mostly of the fun and interesting kind, not a bunch of cookie cutter direct damage stuff), along with 25+ special abilities. Under the right circumstances, your allies will even raise levels to gain better stats and more abilities. And be on the lookout for others, friendly or not, who may have made the dimensional jump as well...

The fantasy setting is obviously not original. It's D&D meets X-COM meets my imagination (that last one can be considered the glue--or crazy glue depending on your perspective). This is both intentional and necessary at this point because X@COM is still lacking UI support for providing detailed info about objects/units, so I'm trying to rely on your existing knowledge to help you get into the game, and [maybe] survive. Don't worry, there is plenty of unexpected content of my own design to catch you off guard, but having your traditional RPG hat on while you play won't hurt.

Thanks, getter77!

Developer Stu Andrews writes of an update to Ballikin:

There's a new Ballikin build up and ready for playing.

http://ballikin.com/download/

The big note items are:

* The world is saved and loaded between play times. Previoiusly it randomly generated each time (although kept your Player History).

* The world now has Rivers! If only there were craftable rafts to sail away.

* When generating terrain (only happens when a new game is created), the regions/biomes are less square, more noisy.

IndieStatik has generated a list of 50 indie games they are waiting for with anticipation this year. The search for the term 'RPG' brings up a few RPGs amongst which Barkley 2 and The Banner Saga.

Ballikin has advanced to Alpha 35: "The interface has been significantly upgraded, further than the last couple of builds".

Basilisk's home page points out Eschalon: Book 1 is part of the Be Mine 6 indie bundle, which you can grab from $1 minimum. For $5 on, the bonuses include Two Worlds and Dawn of Fantasy along with others.

Stu Andrews writes that his indie RPG Ballikin has a new Alpha:

The significant element of this build is that the gui/interface has been dramatically changed so that the major windows are now grouped into a single one.

This makes Ballikin look more like .. well, you know. A game!

Along with that, chests make an appearance (but that's about it for the moment). Some terrain "not" generation logic. And some info labels on the character window.

Gamasutra shares with us Ichiro Lambe's views (an indie developer) on 9 common mistakes that indie developers should avoid.

They are short and compact, so here are all of them:

1. Starting too large

Lambe notes, dryly, admitting that he's fallen into some of the same traps with his indie titles: "People see games like World Of Warcraft or Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare… and [believe] they can create an MMO in 9 months." Being overambitious with scoping is a classic indie failing. So why not pick a smaller game?

2. Creating that one perfect game

Lambe suggests that when you have a game in your heart that you simply must make, you can sometimes over-reach technically or conceptually, because the idea isn't scoped correctly.

His advice: "Step back and consider all the other games you might create" - but don't necessarily go for a grand slam first.

3. Manufacturing your game just to sell

Lambe cautioned that after he had success with a Palm Pilot title, he ended up making a large amount of other simple casual titles, and he believes his lack of passion rubbed off and ended up with lackluster results. It's only when you inject a certain amount of passion into the process that you may find a middle ground.

4. Thinking tactically vs. strategically

A lot of developers think of things tactically and individually - switching between game design, PR, and customer service in a very monolithic fashion. But if you think of your overall developer brand, you might want to do each task in a strategic brand-specific way - maybe by using videos to reply to text-based comments on a Rock Paper Shotgun article, as Dejobaan joyously did.

5. Failing to plan

It's easy, as an indie, to muddle along in a variety of inefficient ways. But when you get it together -- as Dejobaan hopes they have with its upcoming Drunken Robot Pornography, where they talked to Steam early and got extensive Steam Workshop integration for item construction into the title -- you'll save yourself a lot of headache down the road.

6. Going it solo

Although you certainly can go at it alone, you'll have nobody to bounce ideas off of. Even as a small studio, if you don't speak to other small independent game studios, Lambe cautioned: "You're missing out."

It turns out that your fellow indies do actually care about you, and they aren't competitive - they are happy to counsel and help and suggest.

7. Imaginary constraints

Lambe joked that many developers think, "'This is how we're supposed to make a game.'

"But let's do something different. There really are no constraints in the game industry, and you shouldn't be afraid of wacky concepts," something Dejobaan often shows with its odd game titles.

8. Ignoring relevant focus areas

A lot of developers simply say "I am creating a game to create a game". They don't worry about interfacing with journalists, they don't worry about PR, and as a result, things don't go well.

You can be creative on your own, but do have to think - at least a little bit - about what the outside world will be interested in, Lambe concludes.

9. Falling in love with your work

An important final rule is relatively simple: "Don't fall in love with it so deeply that you are ignorant about its faults."

Lambe gives the example of a game trailer that might have a 10 second animated 3D logo at the beginning, rather than actual gameplay. You can tell the person who made it was delighted by it, but they are, perhaps, lacking perspective. You need to ask your peers, and you need to show the game to the public through development, Lambe concludes. Only through this will you love your work, but not fall in love with it.

Sinister Design has kicked up a November update for Telepath: Tactics, offering an overview of the game and a couple of videos. A Kikckstarter will apparently also launch in a week.

Here's the feature list:

• See the world of Telepath RPG as you’ve never seen it before, with gorgeous hand-made pixel art by Lorne Whiting!

• Destroy walls, build bridges and lay explosives, changing the face of the battlefield to your advantage!

• Capture the high ground to get damage and range bonuses for your ranged attacks!

• Shove enemies off of cliffs!

•  Fling enemies into environmental hazards like water and lava!

• Inflict nasty status effects like blindness, burning, weakness and stun!

• Control the map to grab randomized item drops before your opponent does!

• Build an army from 22 different classes, each with its own suite of attacks, stats, and elemental strengths and weaknesses!

• Battle with multiple play modes including Last Man Standing, Generals, and Capture the Flag!

• Play 2-6 player matches right on your computer in hotseat multiplayer, or have a long-distance match over the internet!

• Confront aggressive enemy AI that reacts to your moves and doggedly pursues your most vulnerable characters!

• Tired of multiplayer? Play through a Fire Emblem-style single player campaign with all-new characters in a story of war and political intrigue!

• Employ the easy-to-use Telepath Tactics map editor to create and share your own battles; easily mod in new characters, items, attacks, tilesets, destructible objects, and even brand-new single player campaigns!

...and one of the videos:

The recent release of v0.30 gives me a reason to post about Kenshi, which we haven't mentioned for quite a while. The patch notes for this release:

0.30.0 "Re-Population"

Lots of huge internal changes, but it won't seem like much has changed gameplay wise
FEATURES

• Massive code restructure.  Put entire physics system on the background thread, slight performance increase and world load times are now just a couple seconds.
• Flophouses added to some towns, you have to pay to use the beds.
• Made a town auto-population function so it will be easy to add new guilds and shops etc

BUGFIXES

• Fixed the new ghost towns bug (will need a restart/import to fix it if you have this bug)
• Fixed the level editor crash
• Enemy prisoners are now considered non-enemies, so passing squads won't attack them.
• Crash dumps give me a bit more information now, not that you really care.
• Lots of fixes

Charles let us know that Underworld Gold is on sale during the weekend for just $9.95. So this is your chance to get it at a lower price.

David, the developer of The Wizard's Lair informed us that he just launched the beta version of his game. He is asking half of the final price (3.5 pounds) for the beta, which will give you a free copy of the game when it is released. This is his way to fund the further development. The information on the game is very limited, but here is some:

The beta of "The Wizard's Lair"! is up for sale now with a pre-purchase discount direct from my site - http://www.wizardslair.co.uk/ - for £3.50 or ~$6, and it comes with free updates and a copy of the game when it's finished. It is also pending release on Indievania. The game is an RPG in the spirit of Roguelikes and the Mystery Dungeon series, in which the hero(you) is tasked to descend the Dungeon and defeat the Wizard of Anarkhis, who has stolen the Staff of Chaos and threatens to destroy everything in his wake! It has randomly-generated dungeons, fearsome monsters and a bunch of potions and spell scrolls to use! A short video containing some gameplay can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF40TbnW3MA

Sinister's Design october update for Telepath Tactics is available on their website discussing art, character anaimation, security issues, interface changes and the manual.

The biggest change, however, was in the removal of the individual character “Done” button. Basically, it was vestigial–I had put in mostly because it appears in pretty much every other tactical RPG, and therefore it had to be useful. Right?

As it turns out: no. Unlike most other tactical RPGs (and I include previous Telepath games in that statement), Telepath Tactics lets you swap back and forth between characters as much as you want, revisiting characters you’ve moved previously and moving them again/attacking/rotating/etc. There’s rarely any reason to ever hit “Done,” and thereby permanently foreclose your ability to return to a character later in the turn. It could theoretically be useful for keeping track of the characters you could no longer do anything useful with, but from what I’ve seen of people actually playing the game, mostly all the “Done” button did was massively screw players who clicked on it by accident. So it’s gone–simple as that.

Stu Andrews sent word about the 28th alpha release of Ballekin, which with respect to the previous report contains the following enhancements:

• Character Levels (ties to what you can harvest/create)
• When you do something (harvest, combat, create) you get XP (yay for Guild Wars 2)
• Item Durability is in (Weapons and Tools so far)
• Blocks show their own durability (actually, it's density for blocks) when being harvested.
• Bad Snails! (they only come out at night)

Another low-profile release, R.A.W. is now availabe from Steam:

Do you have what it takes to survive the Realms of Ancient War?

Take control of a fearsome Warrior, a powerful Wizard or a Rogue, and plunge into a grand quest full of action!

Key Features:

• The explosive Hack’n’Slash (action/role-playing game) R.A.W takes you, alone or with a friend in co-operative mode, on a fantasy world ruined by an ancient and violent war.
• Level your heroes up, collect more powerful weapons and armor, unlock new and more devastating spells, and exterminate by the dozens at once the hordes of enemies that are standing in your way.
• Thanks to your talent of incarnation, take control of your most powerful opponents to unleash their power and seed destruction among your enemy’s legions!

PC Gamer has a brief look at Flare, the indie action/RPG:

Fans of action RPGs have been spoiled silly over the last couple of weeks, but if you have any free time between Torchlight II and Borderlands 2 sessions – I mean, you are wasting around eight hours on sleep – you might want to keep an eye on Flare. The 0.16 alpha version of the ambitious open source RPG has just been added to Desura, with number 0.17 expected on the morrow.

Either one will grant you hours of isometric exploration and monster-stabbing, for the low, low price of absolutely nothing. The game is expected to move into beta in 2013, but there’s already a lot of bang for your no bucks, even if Flare is a little rough around the edges.

Sinister Design's September Update for Telepath Tactics is up, discussing character animations, a possible delay and the other features implemented:

I’ve made more dramatic changes on the single-player campaign front. In particular, I’ve added a lightweight scripting system to character dialog that will let me (and you!) do all kinds of fun stuff in addition to making characters say things during cut scenes. Move characters around on-screen; rotate them to face whoever they’re addressing; spawn them; remove them from the scene; make them join or leave your team; or even kill them outright. This power is now in your hands!

Remember Nyrthos? The indie, browser-based action/RPG with with lush, 2D backgrounds reminiscent of Divinity? We haven't heard anything for a while but they've released a video announcing they will go Alpha on October 31st.

You can register for the Alpha on their website and, once a slot opens, preordering for $9.99 gets you access if I understand correctly.

The latest Humble Indie Bundle is out, offering RPG fans Torchlight and SPAZ (if you don't mind me stretching the genre) among others. As usual, pay any price you like or pay over the average for a bonus.

Merry Prankster Games writes in with their free "demonstration game" 10 Fantasy Fights, a realtime-with-pause party combat game designed to test out their engine for further projects:

10 Fantasy Fights is a demonstration game by Merry Prankster Games. In 10 Fantasy Fights, you control a party of adventurers though a series of 10 fights designed to exercise all aspects of the SENG game engine. You will rapidly advance from a simple battle of a single inexperienced warrior against lowly minions, all the way to controlling a mighty band of legendary heroes against a near-invincible demon lord.

10 Fantasy Fights is a single player computer role-playing game for computers running Microsoft Windows. 10 Fantasy Fights is evocative of the classic CRPG games of the 90s, but updated to run well on modern computers, using modern technology.

Features:

• Pause-able, Real-Time game-play - 10 Fantasy Fights runs in real-time for maximum realism, but allows you to pause the game any time to issue orders to your adventurers.
• Party-Based - In 10 Fantasy Fights you control up to 4 main heroes, and can control additional summoned creatures.
• Custom Game System - 10 Fantasy Fights uses the custom SENG RPG system, which will be familiar to pencil-and-paper RPG players, but updated to work well in a real-time computer environment.
• Character Development - 10 Fantasy Fights features over 80 skills, hundreds of spells, and hundreds of items to customize your heroes to your liking.
• 3D graphics - 10 Fantasy Fights uses a fully 3D graphics engine to provide a detailed, dynamic environment for your adventures.
• Varied Adventure - 10 Fantasy Fights will lead your party through 10 fights with widely varied environments and tactics.
• Free - 10 Fantasy Fights is a demonstration game, and is free for your enjoyment. Please give Feedback on the game so we can improve our games in the future.

Give 10 Fantasy Fights a try! http://www.prankster.com/10ff

The Indiefort indie bundle is back with their "Championship" offer, which lets you choose the games you want from a selection. Prices range from $3.99 for three game to $8.99 for nine games and a number of RPGs are on offer. Sinister Design sent this in, so I should mention their turn-based, middle-eastern flavoured Telepath RPG: Servants of God:

Hey! Great news: Telepath RPG: Servants of God is now in its first bundle, IndieFort Bundle 3! There are three different ways of mixing and matching the games on offer in this one to essentially create your own bundle, which is pretty awesome. You can get TRPG:SoG, Cardinal Quest, Dark Scavenger, Shepherd Slaughter, and a variety of other indie RPGs at a really steep discount.

Speaking of which: even if you like no other game in the bundle--even if you take the $3.99 option and only select Telepath RPG: Servants of God--you will still get TRPG at a massive 84% discount. (And then you'll have two free games left over.) Everyone on the planet who has been waiting for a price drop to get TRPG (and I understand that there have been a fair few of those), this is about as good as it gets.

IndieRPGs.com reveals DataJack, a "2D cyberpunk stealth action / RPG" that sounds quite interesting. Here's the description and head over for a gameplay video and some comments from the developer, Epic Banana Software:

DataJack is an upcoming 2D cyberpunk stealth action / RPG game which has been under development for four years. Set in the year 2030, following the collapse of nation states, the world of DataJack is run by megacorporations who recognize no rule of law beyond sheer military force. The game follows the career of a corporate mercenary who hires out his abilities as assassin, hacker and gunslinger to the highest bidder.

Focus has released a video showing off the Rogue from R.A.W.:

RAW - Realms of Ancient War, the explosive Hack'n'Slash (action/role-playing game) developed by Wizarbox for Xbox LIVE®, PlayStation®Network and PC, today unveiled the Rogue in a new video!

Planned for release on September 19th, RAW introduces, after presenting the Wizard and the Warrior in their own trailers, the 3rd playable hero of the game: the Rogue. Follow her now in this new trailer of RAW, which is entirely dedicated to her frenetic battles!

The Rogue is a polyvalent and cunning young woman, who masters bow and daggers with equal virtuosity. Unlike the Wizard, her versatile skills make her lethal in close combat, yet very capable of safely harassing her opponents at range, where the Warrior would struggle. However, her rather light armor and average constitution do not fare very well in lengthy fights against numerous foes. Therefore, she will use her stealth abilities, traps and other dirty tricks to get rid of isolate enemies, before emerging from the shadows when she sees fit and exterminate the remaining opponents!

RPG Italia caught up with Dejan from Stygian Software about Underrail:

9 – RPGItalia: Will there be only a main quest or also some side quests? And what kind of interactions can we try in this quests? Stealth? Hacking? Violence? Diplomacy? Please give us an example.

Dejan: There will be plenty of side quests.

Most quest you will be able to solve with violence, if you come prepared and well equipped, but sometimes a different approach can be better.

Here are the examples of what I did in the demo video outside of direct combat complete that area more easily:

- I avoided fighting with sentry bots by using stealth and the ventilation ducts. I could have just killed them, but they are very tough to beat, especially on lower levels. I would need stuff like armor-piercing rounds and EMP grenades, which are rare and expensive.
- I hacked the turrets to kill a good amount of invaders because I had enough skill points in hacking to do so.
- I deflected the initial (unfavorable) confrontation by intimidating the invaders, convincing them that I had backup.
- I could have avoided fighting completely if I managed to persuade one of the captives to tell me where the key card I needed for was.

These are the kind of thing you will be able to do to win encounters that otherwise might be too hard for your particular character build to face head on.

Stygian Software announces the release of an Alpha Demo for their indie RPG, Underrail. The file runs to 577Mb and here's a reminder on the game:

Underrail is an old school turn-based isometric indie role playing game that focuses on exploration and combat. It's inspired by western RPG classics such as Fallout, Arcanum, Neverwinter Nights and System Shock 2.

This demo showcases a number of starting areas of the game. It should provide for a couple of hours of gameplay.

Sinister Design sends in the August Update for their turn-based strategy/RPG. Telepath Tactics:

First and most importantly, Telepath Tactics now supports user-created campaigns! You may recall me mentioning last month that Telepath Tactics will have a single player campaign. Well, why limit it to just one? The game now supports an unlimited number of user-created single player campaigns, each with their own custom characters, battles, enemies, items, attacks, dialog, and even cut scenes.

Kot in Action has kicked up a video of Alpha 10 for Tomes of Mephistopheles to show off the new features in this build.

Dejan from Stygian Software writes the playable Underrail demo is "coming along nicely and shouldn’t be long now before it’s out" - but in the meantime, here's a piece of new art for the title screen.

RPG Codex caught up with Alex Norton to talk about Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox, which you may remember from its recent Kickstarter campaign:

You claim that MALEVOLENCE is almost entirely procedurally generated -- weapons, items, dungeons, cities, creature stats and even dialogue. Is the procedurally generated content based on the player character's level, on current quest objectives... or something else? How do you balance the game's challenge and how do you implement plot goals in a procedurally generated world? Are all quests going to be procedurally generated as well?

Yes indeed. All quests are generated by the game, and yes, they are somewhat based around the characters level. That being said, the game most certainly does not spoon-feed you. Many modern RPGs make it so that the game levels with the player. MALEVOLENCE does this, too, however it does so in a much more harsh way. At any point, no matter what level you are, you will be able to find things that are much too easy or much too difficult for you. That way, the player can choose their pace of gameplay and follow the path that is right for them.

One thing about procedural generation is that it seems to be in danger of making the game too generic, both in its looks and its gameplay. How do you introduce enough variety in it?

Well the short answer is that in an infinite game, there's always going to be eventual repetition of 3D assets, voices, textures, etc. It's just the nature of it. However, we have a large variety of biomes, environments, buildings, dungeons, etc to keep the player occupied. Think of it like the DIABLO series. They would re-use the same assets, but rearranged in a different order and it had great replayability. Most people assume that we're making an infinite game so that people can play it forever, but that's not actually the case. We're making an infinite game so that people can play it for as long or as short a time as they'd like, rather than have to have it end. There's nothing worse than reaching the end of a game that you love and wanting more!

Grinding Gears send us the following press release, announcing a public open-beta event for Path of Exile this weekend:

Indie Action RPG Path of Exile Hosts Open Beta Weekend

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – 23 July 2012 – Upcoming Indie Action RPG Path of Exile is opening its doors to everyone for two days with a public test this coming weekend.

Currently in a Closed Beta, Path of Exile has its own dark and highly customizable take on the Action RPG genre.  It has been in development for five years by Grinding Gear Games, an independent studio of hardcore RPG fans in New Zealand.

The Path of Exile Beta servers will open for public access at 5pm PDT on Friday, July 27. Public access will end at 11:59pm PDT Sunday night, July 29. A full FAQ about the public weekend is available at www.pathofexile.com/publicweekend/.

The game has added a host of new features and content recently. The latest version adds a challenging Act Two boss fight, weapon swapping, and a new end-game system featuring Maps whose properties, risks and rewards can be modified by players.  There is also a new layout for the game’s passive skill tree which features over 1300 skill nodes, allowing highly customized character builds and hybrid classes.

The game is free to play, but does not feature ‘pay-to-win’.  A previous public weekend in May attracted 48,000 players.

While the game is currently in a Closed Beta, fans who pre-purchase at least $10 of credit for the game’s ‘ethical microtransactions’ receive a beta key.  Over USD$700,000 of credit has been pre-purchased to date, with over 50 fans buying the $1000 ‘Diamond Supporter’ pack.

Grinding Gear Games’ producer Chris Wilson says the news features make this weekend a great opportunity for action RPG fans.  

“The Path of Exile community has been growing rapidly and always give us valuable gameplay feedback. We’re particularly looking forward to their feedback on our new end-game content.”

“Two of the most important things in action RPGs are items and the end-game.  Almost everything in Path of Exile, including skills, can be itemized, traded and upgraded.  We thought it would be cool to design the end-game the same way - as itemised areas that players can trade, modify and build characters around.”

The Open Weekend will also feature special events, such as two hour ladder races and competitions to clear areas first.  To take part sign up at www.pathofexile.com.

Key features of ‘Path of Exile’:

• A dark and gritty game world rendered from a fixed 3D perspective
• Unique and extremely customizable skill gem system
• Completely free to download and play, but never ‘pay-to-win’
• A persistent online world capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of players
• Randomly generated levels and items for extreme replayability
• Online ranking and ladders for every game mode
• Visceral combat with dozens of combinable skills
• Battle in PVP tournaments for worldwide recognition

View gameplay footage at www.youtube.com/grindinggear

HD trailers are available from www.pathofexile.com/video

Kot in Action has kicked up a couple of Tomes of Mephistopheles screens showing the new GUI design.

Sinister Design announces their tactical turn-based MP strategy/RPG Telepath: Tactics will get a single-player campaign. There's also a lengthy ~30 minute video with the news, so take a look:

Since the last update, I had the opportunity to demo Telepath Tactics at Tech Week. The response was pretty much universally positive, with several people returning repeatedly over the course of the two days to keep playing matches.

Since then, I’ve focused on bug fixes and adding in a working campaign mode. Now, I know I said in the last update that a campaign mode was not a top priority, but I’ve gotten enough feedback since then demanding a campaign that I’ve decided it would be silly not to put one in the game. This has meant a few weeks away from coding the multiplayer, instead putting in things like a dialog system, cut scene support, and support for custom named characters. I hate to take so much time away from multiplayer, but it’s hard to argue with the results.

Here's the first proper gameplay trailer for Neocore's hack'n'slasher, Van Helsing:

Call of Chthulhu: The Wasted Land is currently free for iOS devices - we don't know how long this will last, so get in quick.

Thanks, Jaakko!

Sinister Design has posted an update for Telepath Tactics, their strategy RPG set in the Telepath gameworld:

Telepath Tactics hotseat mode is pretty close to being feature complete, mechanics-wise. The game now has full support for custom attacks, custom battlefield objects, custom items, and custom tilesets; Last Man Standing and Capture the Flag game types; highly customizable match rules; competent AI opponents; working music and GUI sound effects with independent volume sliders; a clickable mini-map; random item drops; elevation; status effects; environmental hazards; swimming; bridges; object creation and destruction; a full-featured map editor; support for player-created maps; etc.

StygSoft writes in with a new video for their indie CRPG, Underrail. Dejan from StygSoft has posted regular updates on our forums but, if you haven't read those, here's a description from the official site:

The game is set in a distant future, when the life on the Earth’s surface has long since been made impossible and the remnants of humanity now dwell in the Underrail, a vast system of metro station-states that, it seems, are the last bastions of a fading race.

The player takes control of one of the denizens of such a station-state whose life is about to become all that much more interesting and dangerous, as our protagonist is caught amidst the conflicting factions of the Underrail as they secretly but violently struggle for the Humanity’s last gem of hope.

• Great character customization possibilities through stats, skills, feats, items and more that allows for many different play-styles
• Tactical turn based combat that utilizes weapons, energy shields, grenades, psi abilities and more
• Vast underground world to explore: city states, abandoned building complexes, natural caverns, secret areas and more
• Elaborate item crafting system

...and the video:

Mark writes in with his "strategy roguelike" Ultima Ratio Regum, which will get a v0.0.1 release on June 30th. You can read the latest update here about climbing, fighting on cliffs and trees but here's a snip from the feature list, since we haven't featured the game before:

Complex AI with their own motivations, loyalties and objectives. Unlike in many RPGs and Roguelikes, enemies will not simply throw themselves upon your sword. They act as ‘players’ too, and have their own motivations – wealth, martial prowess, ideology or anything else, but ultimately self-preservation. They intelligently assess the battle and decide when to attack, whether to rally their comrades, when to flee, which items are worth picking up and using, pass information about your combat strengths and weaknesses to their allies and many other actions besides. Intelligent creatures on your side will need a good reason to fight, while intelligent creatures facing you will not hesitate to back off and regroup if appropriate.

Dozens of factions and species to gather support from. Humans, Dwarves and Elves are looking for allies as ever, they are not the only races you can align yourself with. Many species including Minotaurs, Liches, Titans, and even some of the more diplomatic legions of the Undead can potentially ally with you, aid you, and eventually be converted to your cause, given the right encouragement. There also exist a large number of wild animals and monsters of various strengths that impact upon the growth of empires, and might need to be removed to gain access to particular shrines, resources, etc.

getter77 sends word of Kraflab, a graphical roguelike that has added new content and also gone semi-commercial. Some details on the game:

Game Concepts

Dungeon

The game is split into floors of a dungeon, which are procedurally generated.  There are a few different dungeon generators used, so every now and then you will find a rare/strange layout.  When you die in the dungeon your character is finished (permadeath).

Loot

All weapons and armor that you find in the dungeon is equipped by your enemies.  There is no unexplained system where rats drop plate armor or where diamond daggers are just lying about all over the place unclaimed.  Loot also scales up very quickly from level to level and each floor has a unique set.  You aren’t going to find that amazing artifact that suddenly makes the game easy, and likewise you are under no pressure to find it in the first place.

Creatures

Like equipment, there is no creature that appears on two floors.  There are also rare creatures that you might never see.  No longer will you have to trudge through 5 meaningless rat/goblin/kobold floors to get to the interesting stuff.  On the first floors you can expect to find Robotic Snowmen, Dual Wielding Sea Otters, and Crazed Martial Artists.  As with gear, the enemies ramp up in difficulty quite quickly.

Character Customization

Skill (meaning skill with melee weapons or dodging etc) is separated from class.  The player picks a skill proficiency (e.g. Magic) and then picks a class (e.g. Spacetime Nomad).  There is absolutely no exclusivity in any way here, so a melee-elementalist is just as viable as a shield-cultivator.  After this, the character can pick traits as they level up to add bonuses, such as faster healing or the ability to set enemies on fire.

Abilities

Weapons can have abilities and effects attached to them, which automatically activate, and there are special abilities the player gains while leveling up, which correspond to character class.  Weapons recharge over time, while player abilities recharge in between dungeon floors.

Healing

You can heal yourself up to 50%, but must find certain altars or campsites to fully heal yourself.  There is also a system of limb damage in the game.  You can heal a wounded leg, but you can’t heal a crippled or dismembered limb without outside aid.

Fatigue

All actions (including walking) increase the player’s fatigue.  This acts as some kind of “clock” for the player but it is not overly imposing (if you become too fatigued you will merely pass out from exhaustion).  It is nevertheless something that the player must be aware of.  Careful play makes it less of a factor.  There are two campsites per floor that the player can use to sleep and recover.

Alchemy

The game has an alchemy system as a pseudo-identification system.  There are 10 ingredients, which have random alchemical color effects.  Experimentation will lead the player to discover ingredients with the same colors and then they can create the corresponding item.  Thus you won’t know until you create a ‘Red’ item that it is a fire bomb for instance.  Items you find, such as smoke bombs, are always identified.  This means you don’t have to spend the first X levels drinking potions of poison to get to the point where you can actually use strategy (as fun as that may be).

Gods

The game has 7 gods, which the player can worship with various effects and complications available.

Plot

There is actually a rich plot in the game, although it is not directly forced on the player.  There are little snippets of information on certain levels to provide some kind of insight into what bosses you can expect to find and why they are your enemy.

Graphics/Interface

The game is tile-based, where the tiles all consist of 8×8 resolution.  This is enough to give players an idea of what their looking at, but maintains a lack of detail.  You can see what equipment an enemy is wearing just by looking at them, so you won’t be surprised that they are wielding a rare item.  The interface is designed so that almost everything you need is always visible to you on the screen.  You don’t need to know keys to access the inventory or ability list because they are always visible.  The game supports mouse and keyboard controls, including pathing and autoexplore.

Inheritance

There is a global tracker across all playthroughs that measures enemy “knowledge”.  When you have killed a lot of enemies, you gain a slim combat bonus against them on future characters.  This is at the same time not enough to make a huge difference in the game, but enough to feel like all those lost characters at least contributed something.

getter77 sent this one in a whike back and it got lost in the E3 shuffle. Lips of Suna is an indie "tongue-in-cheek" action/RPG that has just seen a major update, moving to the OGRE engine:

Lips of Suna is a tongue-in-cheek action RPG that takes place in the chaotic dungeons of Suna. The five intelligent races of the world descend to the dungeons with their goal to save the world from a conclusive disaster.

In your journey to the depths of the dungeons, you will, among other things, have to fight creatures of different varieties, solve quests, explore new places, and craft custom items. Luckily, you don't need to do all this alone since you can crawl the dungeons with your friends.

Red Wasp Design's Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land has launched on Android:

The final rites of gibbous summoning have been completed and the world counts down to oblivion as the critically acclaimed ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ today launches for Android phones and tablets. The game is now available from Google Play (with Amazon’s Android Store to follow) at a price point of $4.99/€3.99/£2.99 or alternatively for only 2 Voorish Signs. The game’s designer Tomas Rawlings remarked, “We’ve had a huge demand from fellow gamers for Cthulhu to spawn onto Android, so we’re really excited to be able to deliver on our promise today.”

The game requires Android OS version 2.3 (aka Gingerbread), OpenGL ES 2.0 plus a touch screen to run. The developers say they have tested the game on a range of devices including HTC, Samsung, Acer and are confident it will work on most touchscreen tablets and phones.

Thanks, Capt. Huggy Face.

VG247 has a teaser trailer for Neocore's action/RPG, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. There's no gameplay, so don't expect too much.

Gnoblins is first-person RPG with "roguelike features" that I've not heard of before but is now featured on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. There's a playable Alpha, so give it a go and let us know about it in the comments:

Gnoblins is called Gnoblins and that’s pretty much all I needed to know to convince me that downloading the freely available alpha version might be a very good idea indeed. That it turns out to be a first person RPG, with roguelike features such as random levels, lots of items to equip and mysterious dangers to discover. The Gnoblins themselves are minions, to be added in a future release, that will apparently provide an RTS element to the game and there’s even mention of developing areas of the dungeon for your own use. Dungeon Keeper plus roguelike plus Ultima Underworld? Let’s hope so. It’s tremendously exciting, even if the early version is obviously missing lots of planned features and content. Try the alpha and if your name is Richard Cobbett, click more.

A number of indies have joined forces for a Because We May Sale, which celebrates portals that allow indies to control their own pricing.

Among the games we follow that are participating, you can get great deals on:

Frayed Knights - $9.95 (normally $24.95)

Telepath: Servants of God - 40% off

Avadon for $5

Dungeons of Dredmor and DLC - 50% off

IndieRPGs.com has a list of all the RPGs in the sale, which inclues others such as Cthulhu Saves the World, Dark Scavenger and more. Sale ends June 1st.

Lace Mamba sent us the following press release on Dungeon Gate, their recently announced action/RPG:

SHAPE-SHIFT INTO YOUR ENEMIES:
NEW PC RPG DUNGEON GATE OFFERS NEVER-BEFORE SEEN GAMEPLAY APPROACH

Brighton, May 17^th, 2012 – There’s no better disguise than looking exactly like your enemy: Dungeon Gate is an upcoming PC fantasy RPG, featuring the possibility of giving its players the opportunity to shape-shift into their enemies and even into any NPC creature to get unique opportunities to win battles and solve the game.

Imagine approaching a horde of mummies, giant scarabs, slimes or any other of the more than 60 foes in this 3D fantasy RPG – and being able to sneak right into the center of the group, because your character looks exactly like your enemy and is even able to use the same special abilities, powers and weapons, as long as your energy allows it. Or even sneaking past them unnoticed, because your character looks like a harmless, cute, little bunny. Shape-shifting into any NPC is the unique and never-before seen gameplay approach Dungeon Gate offers to the gaming community.

Dungeon Gate takes players to the besieged world of Barrilian, which is being devastated by dragon hordes. In a small village, pillaged and left to burn, not one soul was spared except for two babies. One was recovered by the dragons, and the other one by a mysterious mage… 20 years later, a vicious tyrant has taken over the people of Barrilian, forcing them into slavery by using the influence he has over the dragons. By making the people extract precious stones from mines which enhance magical his skills, the citizens are unwillingly witnessing the gain of magical strength in the dictator.

Now it’s up to the player to free Barrilian from the tyrant: They take over the role of Dysan, a young hero. He possesses the exceptional power of being able to drain the DNA of all NPCs he meets and encounters, whatever creature they are. This will not only help him in battles, but also gives him the opportunity to change the way he plays through the story, solves puzzles and overcomes obstacles. So, players can not only use the powers of strong and even stronger enemies, but also shape-shift into a chicken or a rabbit or any other animal if they feel this helps them. All they need to do is to once drain the DNA of a character.

In Dungeon Gate, players don’t select a class for their character, but rather train the skills of the character classes they drained the DNA from and now can shape-shift into. This opens up a huge set of skills, abilities and special powers.

Dungeon Gate, developed by Wild Games Studio (based in Québec, Canada), features a huge open world and a storyline with multiple endings.

Lace Mamba Global plans to publish both digital and retail editions of Dungeon Gate. The retail release is scheduled for September 14^th, 2012.

Catching up on some news, Rock, Paper, Shotgun has the announcement of a new game from Neocore (King Arthur) - an action/RPG titled The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, due Q4 2012.

We've covered Smuttlewerk's Companions and Time of Heroes for iOS before, so they let us know of new developments for their TBS game. A second campaign for Time of Heroes has been released and here are the details:

The Wrath Of The Prophet

Features:

- Seven brand new maps

- Two new heroes (Oskar, the iron golem and Runtula, the elven mistress)

- Three new units (iron golems, elven drones and elven archeresses)

- New achievements

- Hours of playtime

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This chapter concludes the story about the arrival of the northern people in Altland:

The servant of the dark god Detexx, the Prophet, has only one wish: to destroy every living being in Altland, especially the insolent humans who dare to defy the power of his insane god. His wrath is inconceivable! His powers terrifying!

The player has to lead prince Minos and the alliance of humans, dwarves and elves into gruesome battles against the “Hordes of Nether”!

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Players who are into turn-based strategy games, will get another round of great battles waiting to be won.

The campaign is available through in App purchase for 2,99$/2,39€.

For those who are unsure whether to buy the game or not, we designed a free “Time of Heroes – Zero Edition”. The first two maps can be enjoyed for free, the rest has to be purchased as IAP just as in the old version of the game. Once a campaign pack is purchased all ads we put in this version get removed.

Check out the video on Youtube.

Adam Smith from RPS has penned a Wot I Think for Cthulhu: The Wasted Land on PC:

Despite containing the horror of gas attacks, trench warfare, zombies and shoggoths, the story is more camp than creepy, with echoes of Wolfenstein and Hellboy. It’s serviceable enough, if on the short side. I don’t like to mention price but given that there are only nine missions, it’s useful to know that at $4.99 there’s a few hours of entertainment here. It’d be an uncannily lucky fellow who survived the later missions on a first attempt and even if so, the multiple objectives lead to some tough, drawn out defensive knuckling down.

No gasts will be flabbered by The Wasted Land but it’s a stern challenge with a strong set of numbers and rules governing its combat. As is often the case with this sort of turn-based skirmishing, there’s sometimes a puzzle-like precision needed to achieve victory, but in The Wasted Land there’s usually enough leeway for triumph to feel personal and well-earned, which made every minute I spent testing my mettle satisfying at the very least. And that’s in spite of the rough interface, which insists that the mouse button is clicked and then held for the majority of actions leading to the occasional mad slide around the map in an attempt to target a large man with a machine gun.

They also found the Intel AppUp thingy fairly harmless, so have a read if this is on your list.

I don't often post on user campaigns and polls but UnEpic's author Fran wrote in and asked for help getting the game on Steam. It's a fantastic platformer/RPG mix, so head over to the Steam forums and consider posting in their thread.

Still no real details about the open-world RPG Warhorse is developing but Dan Vavra's latest blog post titled Choosing Your Religion talks about how they chose CRYEngine 3 for the project:

So here we are at Games Convention in Koln, Germany, knocking on the door of the booths of the likes of Epic, Crytek, Havok and many others, which was totally new for Martin and myself since we had always worked with in-house technology and only had a vague idea about how much it would cost to license an AAA gaming engine. I personally was also unsure if a company like Epic would be willing to deal with an unknown startup like us, but as it turned out this was totally unnecessary. We talked to almost everyone from Epic to the guys from Bitsquid and they were all great. Everyone was very supportive and open to various models of financing. Hell, it almost felt like they wanted to give it to us for free (and in the case of Cryengine and Unreal UDK, for indie developers they are). If I were to decide what we’d buy solely on my feelings, we’d have to buy everything.

Ex-BioWare dev and creator of NEO Scavenger, Daniel Fedor, has been interviewed at The Digital Fix, mostly about his background and inspiration. You may recall NEO Scavenger is a post-apoc survival game - well worth a look. Here's a lengthy snip from the interview, which offers a trip down memory lane for some classic games:

You describe yourself as a "huge RPG nerd". Which games have inspired you?

As kids, we played a ton of AD&D. Pretty much all of the campaign settings. We also played quite a bit of Rifts and Shadowrun. Outside of those, we dipped our toes in Car Wars, Traveller, Twilight 2000, Mage: The Ascension, and GURPS, and I bought at least half a dozen RPGs just to enjoy reading the rules and settings.

In the realm of video games, I was big into CRPGs like Fallout, Shadowrun (Sega Genesis), Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Nethack...man, this could be a long list. Looking over the stuff on my shelf, I think there are definitely some front-runners in the list of direct inspiration.

Rifts is a big one, for sure. I really enjoyed the mix of sci-fi and supernatural horror in a post apocalyptic setting. It went a bit bonkers, true, but the core concept was really cool to me. Arcanum had a similar tech/magic mixture, and offered a cozy paradise for the scavenging type.

GURPS's mechanics were always fascinating to me (and therefore Fallout's). The idea that one chooses a balance of advantages and disadvantages really grew on me later in life, as it forced more interesting role-playing and problem solving. You'll find that direct influence in NEO Scavenger right from the start, when choosing skills and traits.

The GDW games like Traveller and T:2000 were awesome because of their attention to detail and realism. I like my science fiction moderately hard, and most of the tech in NEO Scavenger is meant to be plausibly grounded.

Finally, the way magic is handled in Mage: The Ascension is really attractive to me. That it works in various and mysterious ways, and cannot be fully understood nor explained, is really cool to me. I'm annoyed by games where magic is formulaic to the point where a spell is just a +/- stat and one of the four Greek elements. Old D&D had some cool magic: the kind that was so idiosyncratic and full of contradictions that it felt like a forbidden art. If I can capture the mystery and power of magic like they did, I'll be happy.

There are a ton of other games that inspired NEO Scavenger, which itself is really just a collection of things I like from gaming. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, Deus Ex, Civilization, Silent Storm, Nethack...there are just so many games I've been influenced by, it'd be hard to list them all.

I have a number of indie newsbits to catch up on, so I'll collect them here rather than spam them separately.

First, Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land Has Risen is now available from Intel's AppUp thingy for $4.99 - if you try it, let us know how you find Intel's client and, of course, the game.

IndieRPGs.com writes in with reviews of the indie strategy/RPG Styrateg (2.5/5) and turn-based strategy Age of Fear: The Undead King (3.5/5).

Megamat from our friends at RPG France wrote in with a new development called Fraternity Project, an "online" post-apoc 2D "old-school" project.  I can't tell you much more but there is a bunch of concept art on offer from the link above and they need more manpower if you are interested.

Von Paulus points out Sovereignty: Crown of Kings, a turn-based fantasy strategy game from The Lordz, described as "Risk meets Master of Magic". Due late 2012 - early 2013.

Lastly the Rampant Coyote has an indie roundup with a bunch of projects we follow but a number of others also.

Open-world squad-based RPG Kenshi has launched a crowdfunding campaign at IndieGoGo to pay for contractors to help round out the game with additional programming, art and sound. Kenshi has been around for a while and can be purchased as an Alpha, so it will be interesing to see how this effort goes:

• Original take on the RTS-RPG hybrid genre. No "hero" characters with artificially stronger stats than everybody else-  Every character and NPC you meet is potentially an equal, and has a name, a life. 
• You are not the chosen one.  You're not great and powerful. You don't have more 'hitpoints' than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe, and you are not special. Unless you work for it.
• Freeform gameplay in a seamless game world stretching over 400 square kilometers.  The game will never seek to limit you or restrict your personal play style.
• Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business.
• Start with a mining business and build up your own fortress or outpost
• Research new technology and craft better fortifications and equipment for your teams.  They need to be ready when an enemy horde is at the gates.
• Carry your wounded squad mates to safety and get them all home alive.
• Variation and possibilities of gameplay. Be good, be evil, be a business man, be a thief, live in a town, live in the desert, join the army, fight the army, travel alone, travel in hordes, build a fortress, raze a city.
• Dynamic, ever changing world. Support or hinder whoever you wish, or keep to yourself, the world won't stop moving. This is not just a "game", you are living and surviving in a simulated world.
• Absolutely no Level-scaling.  The world does not level up along with you, and the shops don't change their inventory to only items matching your level. At the start of the game almost everyone will be stronger than you, and survival will always be a struggle.
• Realistic medical system that affects gameplay.  A character with a wounded leg will limp or crawl and slow the party down, wounded arms means you must use your sword one-handed or not at all.  Lose an eye and it will affect your field of vision.  Blood loss means you can pass out, and the blood will attract predators.  Exhaustion affects performance and is increased by equipment weight, weather, blood loss and thirst.  Severed limbs will need expensive robotic replacements.
• Intelligent AI that allows for characters to reason and work towards long-term goals and desires. Squads work together and carry their wounded to safety. Characters can be setup to take care of micromanagement for you.
• Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh desert. 
• Independently developed with no design influences, or alterations dictated by men in gray suits who have never played a game before in their lives.
• Original game world. There are no fantasy-knock-off cliches. No magic.

Kot-in-Action has kicked up an update for for their indie first-person dungeon-crawler Tomes of Mephistopheles:

Character Saving, Inventory, Spell Book and Quick Bar in Progress

Just a quick update on what's currently in progress:

Mouse Driven Inventory:
It will start with 25 slots, and items will be stackable. For those who like to keep things organized, you will be able to arrange items any way you like.

Spell Book:
Simply a list of spells you have available so that you can place them on the quick bar.

Quick Bar:
Items and spells can be placed on the quick bar and activated on the fly with keys 0-9, or any other key you've rebound them to. Using up an inventory item will not remove the shortcut from the quick bar, as it will assume you would like to keep the shortcut for when you pick up more of the same item later.

Character Saving/Loading:
Before choosing, generating, or joining a world, you will be able to create a character or choose an existing one from a list to be loaded upon entering a world. Single player characters and multi-player characters are currently the same, so you can play offline, then join a server later with that same character, retaining the inventory, skills, health, and mana, and saving upon leaving the world.

This update may take time as there are many things involved that all must be implemented at the same time, but I will keep you updated with screenshots of the GUI as development progresses.

And of course, bug fixes are happening as well.

We've previously covered Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land when it launched for iOS but now it is coming to PC. The release will use yet another client called Intel AppUp, which I've never encountered before. From the developer Red Wasp Design's website:

Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ Summoned to PC via the Intel AppUp center

Whispers in the darkness today confirmed that the critically acclaimed ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ today announced their hit game is coming to PC. The developers, Red Wasp Design, revealed the existence of a Cyclopean pact with the Intel AppUp^SM program to spread the insanity onto laptops, Ultrabooks and desktops worldwide. The Intel AppUp^SM  center is a service that aggregates, curates and distributes validated digital content delivering a fuller, richer experience on the PC.

The game will launch on the AppUp^SM  center on 5th May 2012 at the RPC Germany international RPG event. The games developers will also be at the event demoing the PC version of the game to fans and fellow gamers. The price point will be confirmed on the release date. AppUp^SM is free to install and has lots of games and applications on it for Windows PCs. The PC version of the game runs in widescreen and has been optimised to run on laptops, Ultrabooks™ and desktops including support for Windows 7 touchscreen powered PCs.

For those new to the cult title, the indie game is a turn-based strategy RPG inspired by the works of cult horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The game was developed in co-operation with Chaosium, the publishers of the cult horror role playing game, Call of Cthulhu. The game features nine 3D levels set in the trenches of World War One. In ‘The Wasted Land’ the player controls a team of up to six investigators charged with uncovering a deadly inhuman conspiracy underlying the clash of empires of the Great War. Barbed wire, mustard gas and machines guns will prove to be the least dangerous thing that the investigators will encounter as they venture out into No-man’s land to solve the mystery of the Wasted Land. As the game progresses, the player can build up the skills, weapons and equipment of the team to suit their playing style. As well as the physical danger, the investigators must guard their sanity against the myriad horrors that threaten to destroy it.