War of Velana announced

Word reaches me that there’s a new sRPG in development by 6-person indie studio Loreweaver. The name: War of Velana. Developer Justin Mitchell tells me that War of Velana is inspired by Shining Force (which earns the game brownie points right out of the gate, as far as I’m concerned!)

Here’s the premise:

The Black Triad waged war on Alta 200 years ago and were defeated. Now, a new dark army stirs and threatens to bring chaos to the country again. A ranger and his friends get wind of what’s happening and chase after a Kovellian mage to try and prevent another war.

Mitchell states that the interface and overall structure of the game are similar to Shining Force, but that War of Velana will depart from that series in a few significant ways. First, combat cut scenes are side-view (a la the GBA Fire Emblem games) rather than taking the “behind the attacker” perspective that the Shining Force series was known for.

Mitchell also tells me that the team took some inspiration from Final Fantasy Tactics: new skills can be learned by all classes, not just spellcasters, and you will have three turns to revive downed characters in a fight before they die. (On most difficulty settings, death is not permanent: you can revive dead characters by praying to the Goddess in true Shining Force style.)

As for the game’s aesthetic approach, this video trailer should give you an idea of what you can expect:

Planned features include:

• Multiple classes and build types. Some classes can be promoted and some are specialty classes (like Alchemist).
• Each character gets a unique set of abilities and stat growth ranges regardless of class. For example, your two Soldiers will play pretty differently.
• 6 Chapters, each exploring a different part of the country of Alta. Each region has a unique environment and design feel.
• Many layers of secrets, lore findings, secret characters, and rare enemies to find and hunt.
• Intuitive system design and quality of life features (like seeing every unit’s HP/SP bars with the pull of a trigger).

War of Velana is being developed for Windows and Mac, with a tentative release planned for spring 2018. In the meantime, it’s on Kickstarter, and there’s an alpha demo currently available right here.