Pathway announced

German indie team Robotality, creator of sci-fi tactics RPG Halfway (covered here), has announced development of a new tactical RPG set in a pulp 1930s setting. The name? Pathway.

Given the trend, I can only assume that their next game is going to be called “Graphway,” about a war between graphic design professionals; or “Laughway,” about a team of comedians who must fight to survive th…I’m getting off topic here, aren’t I?

The premise of Pathway has something of an “Indiana Jones Tactics” vibe to it:

The year is 1936.

Ancient, bewildering artefacts are materializing on black markets around the world. Rumours of a new element, which German researchers allude to as Valkyrium-500, are spreading. Hushed voices speak of an elusive “Projekt Walhalla” – the meaning of which remains obscure. Meanwhile, agents of the Reich are reportedly conducting frantic excavations around the globe.

However, these puzzling artefacts also managed to draw the attention of wealthy private collectors. As the owner of Lankford & Co, a specialised business known for recovering unique items quickly and discreetly, you welcome this.

Your responsibility is to uncover the remains of a lost civilisation, before the Germans get to it. How exactly you go about this, is up to you and your thrown-together band of eccentric adventurers!

The developers have announced that the game will be like Halfway, but with a couple of major shifts in mechanics: they’re scrapping to-hit chances in favor of a deterministic system, and they’re scrapping modules in favor of old-fashioned leveling up and learning of skills. I have yet to see determinism carried out in a line-of-sight, gun-focused combat context like this, so it should be quite interesting to see how the developers approach that.

Pathway is being developed for Windows, Mac, and Linux; ports to other platforms are speculative. Pathway is tentatively planned for release sometime in 2017.