Bevontule announced

Andy Fenton of two-person, Ohio-based indie studio Multithreaded Games writes in to announce Bevontule, a 3D jRPG they’ve been developing since May 2015.

Here’s the premise:

As the troubled continent of Onich spirals further into decay, an ancient foe reappears amidst the chaos, offering salvation.  Join a diverse cast of characters and the outcast among them, looking perhaps to stave off the looming calamity… or unwittingly hasten its arrival.

In Bevontule, you’ll traverse a massive and varied continent, inhabited by war-ravaged nations, revel factions, impregnable beasts and far-more insidious and unknowable forces.  You’ll explore expansive plains, aid survivors in ruined towns, delve deeply into caverns, and navigate forbidden ruins—all in the service of discovering the existential threat presently posed to Onich and perhaps humanity itself.

Exploration in Bevontule looks to be in modern jRPG style, with enemy mobs visible on the map. Combat, meanwhile, looks to be spatial and turn-based, eschewing grid-based movement in favor of a more freeform radial variety a la Age of Fear or Phantom Brave:

Meanwhile, the developers’ list of planned features for the final release is pretty enormous–I’ve actually edited it a bit for length:

• Mature and highly-detailed plot spanning thousands of years, inspired by games like Xenogears and Shadow Hearts.
• Beautiful 3D environments to discover, explore and conquer, including a massive, JRPG-style overworld.
• Free-roaming enemies with a wide variety of movement patterns, behaviors and habitats; avoid or engage at your own discretion!
• Unrelenting and highly-intelligent enemy AI that can be scaled to various difficulty levels.
• A large cast of interesting characters with defined roles, yet deeply customizable skillsets, with multiple builds for each combatant.
• Enemies learn and level up as you do, accessing new skills, tactics and other ‘enhancements.’
• Unlock, learn and equip from hundreds of combat skills, attribute bonuses, and world-based buffs.
• Scavenge, create and upgrade items with our original skill-based crafting system.

Bevontule is being developed for Windows, and is currently planned for a 2018 release.