New release: Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf
Celso Riva has written in to announce the release of Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf, a new jRPG from indie developer Winter Wolves set in the same universe as Loren the Amazon Princess (itself previously covered here).
The premise:
The twins’ tale starts on a day like many others, when one of the siblings finds a young wolf and decides to take it with him/her. Thus begins the long journey which will take the siblings from the ice-shrouded Ninim to the desert-wrapped city of Dingirra to the storm-shrouded port of Shacklesplit. Explore the corruption-riddled halls of Dingirra, and contest with the crimelords who claim it as their own domain. Sail the high seas, battle mighty pirates, and discover their hidden treasures!
Travel alongside your old friend the ex-mercenary Vaelis, the illusionist Riley, the barbarian Krimm, the assassin Chalassa, the bard Jariel, and last, but not least, the crazy–ahem, the warlock Rowinda! As your relationships deepen, you may discover love with one of your companions. As you spend time together, you will find yourself influencing their very own storylines!
It seems that Winter Wolves’s trademark “Attractive People Hooking Up” mechanic is in full effect here–and if the description left you any doubt about that, the game’s release trailer will dispel those doubts:
Gratuitous titillation aside, this game is actually a pretty decent RPG, as documented in my video preview of the game’s beta from May. Also, I must say, good on Riva for giving the game a theme song; I can’t promise that I won’t still constantly get Duran Duran in my head when I think of the game, but that should help.
The game’s feature list reads:
- – Fantasy RPG set in the world of Aravorn, like Loren The Amazon Princess
- – Play as male (Shea) or female (Althea)
- – Four characters to romance: Krimm, Riley, Jariel or Chalassa
- – 8 unique party members each one with different skills
- – Advanced isometric tileset maps for a bigger world to explore
Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf is out for Windows Mac and Linux direct from the developer; and given that it’s been Greenlit, I imagine we’ll see it on Steam sooner or later as well. It’s $24.99, with a free demo (Windows / Mac / Linux).
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My wife and I bought it, based on interest in a couple of previous RPGs from the company. Some of the characters, especially the villains and background folk, have distinctive personalities, even if the settings are cliched. The real killer for us, though, was that WW has implemented a days timer in many areas, so that you can’t stay around, investigate at leisure, go to other sites, and try out different combinations of items. Your party heals most cheaply by sleeping; and when you do, time advances. So the game pulls you along.
I asked the developer about this, and he said that without it, a critic had complained that the game was “too easy” because of grinding. I suggested that there’s no one good level of difficulty that fits everybody, and that the game already has an Insane level built in. Never heard back, but it’s otherwise a reasonably built game with less of a go-anywhere-do-anything feel than its predecessor. More of a JRPG, which I don’t like–but others certainly do. Best of luck to him. 🙂
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