Elysian Shadows announced

Composer

Connor Linning writes in to announce Elysian Shadows, an action RPG being developed by a group calling themselves simply “Team ES.”

The premise:

Elysian Shadows takes place in a world caught in constant conflict between magic and technology. The gift of magic is bestowed upon loyal followers of The Creator, while the nonreligious sects of society are forced to rely upon technological advances in their daily lives. Upon uncovering a mysterious artifact deep within one of the ancient ruins scattered throughout the land, Julien and friends find themselves thrust into the middle of this mounting conflict, and they must now solve the mystery of the ancient civilizations to prevent the destruction of their own.

The main selling point of Elysian Shadows seems to be the technology powering the game, which employs real-time dynamic lighting and shadows, with a sort of normal mapping on the game’s sprites a la Legend of Dungeon. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the game turns into something like a 3D pop-up version of itself whenever the player ventures indoors.

Combat is real-time, and looks somewhat reminiscent of Crystalis to my eyes (minus the “charging up the sword” mechanic). You can see this for yourself in this early trailer:

You may remember that we discussed Elysian Shadows in our last Back to Back; it remains on Kickstarter, where it is more than halfway funded with 23 days remaining. (The devs assure me that development will continue whether or not it hits its funding goal.)

Elysian Shadows is planned for release on Windows, Mac and Linux, with Watermelon Co. (creators of Pier Solar) publishing a physical release for the Sega Dreamcast.