It seems like only yesterday when inXile, following hot on the heels of adventure game studio Double Fine, raised roughly a gagillion dollars* in the pursuit of funding for Wasteland 2.

*$2,933,252 actually, but who’s counting?

Brian Fargo, founder of inXile (and the guy responsible, directly or indirectly, for a surprisingly large number of the most important wRPGs ever brought to market) has been pretty vocal about his reasons for going with a Kickstarter campaign. If there was ever any doubt that publishers no longer want to greenlight turn-based RPGs, Fargo banished it with his acerbic Kickstarter video. He had two options: let go of ever making Wasteland 2, or go indie.

So now we’re in the unique position of having a high-profile veteran game designer eschewing publishers and joining the ranks of the indies (for one game, at least). Not wanting to miss this opportunity, I promptly emailed Fargo with a few burning questions I had about his approach to designing Wasteland 2. Hit the jump for the interview!

(more…)

Word has reached my ears of Mechlore, an indie Diablo-alike that ditches linearity and procedural generation and opts for a robot-centric sci fi setting. In other words: it’s an action RPG with classes, branching skill progression, an isometric perspective, and lots of clicking. From the game’s website:

MechLore takes place in a large non-linear world. You can explore and fight enemies and bosses that you choose to fight, in any order you wish. As you progress through the game, you will collect loot, encounter randomized monsters with special abilities, solve puzzles and play mini-games.

Here are a couple of teaser trailers showing the game in action; the more recent one is up top:

The non-linear progression, focus on distinct areas with attendant boss battles at the end, and player skill progression based on defeating bosses all makes me think of Mega Man. Come to think of it, so does the idea of a robot warrior running around defeating other robots. And that health bar…

Creator Jesse Norman has been working on Mechlore for quite some time already (3 years at last count), and has estimated a PC release “shortly after summer 2012.”

Matteo Conti of Kemco Games has written in to announce that Symphony of the Origin, a prequel to the Android/iOS jRPG Symphony of Eternity, is now in development.

Once upon a time, humans, elves and dwarves lived on the earth. Under a treaty of nonintervention, world peace was protected without any conflict… until that all collapsed suddenly. The tribes of darkness came out of the underworld and began attacking the kingdom of humans. The humans were forced both to accept battle and to go on the defensive. The humans saw the huge power of the tribes of darkness and called them ‘ Evils of the Earth-depths’…

It is during a ferocious attack of the Evils that Ryle, a young soldier of the kingdom, faces his destiny by activating a golem sleeping in the basement of the castle. The young hot-blooded guy sets off on a journey, strengthening his ties of friendship, and meeting new friends and foes- characters which will take part in this immense and legendary adventure story.

Cue incredi-cheesey J-pop trailer in 3…2…1…

According to Conti, Symphony of the Origin “is planned for before the end of 2012, first for Android™ OS and then for iOS platforms.” I’ll be sure to post when that happens!

Emil Bakalinov of Attic Squad writes in to announce the release of a unique new game called Warlock’s Bounty for Android.

The narrative premise is simple:

You are a mighty wizard, once apprenticed to the sorcerer Corax Whiteraven, guardian of the lands of Lloegyr. When Whiteraven’s familiar appears out of the blue carrying an urgent message from its master, you embark upon a mission that will test your mettle and magical abilities to the full. For Lloegyr’s guardian – the greatest sorcerer of them all – is in danger, and needs your help!

Nothing new there. Where it gets interesting is in the game’s structure. The developer describes Warlock’s Bounty as “A Choose Your Own Adventure Gamebook with Collectible Magic Cards Combat.” There is a pretty detailed rundown of how it works on the game’s page. You can get a bit of a sense for how this looks in action via the trailer below:

You can grab the full game for a mere $2.65 on Google Play.

Trent Gamblin of Nooskewl writes in with word of Monster RPG 2, a jRPG where…you recruit an elephant? You guys see that too, right? That’s not just me? Okay, cool.

Here is the plot, as summarized by the developer:

The game opens on a girl and guy picking mushrooms in the forest, and they find an old wizards staff which then possesses the guy and chaos ensues as the girl tries to rescue him from the staff. The story develops from there into new things.

Sooo…it’s pretty reminiscent of the plot from Dragon Quest VIII. Whatever. This game has an elephant, people. You want an original plot on top of that? What a bunch of whiners you are.

Monster RPG 2 has evidently been out since 2010, but it was just recently released for Android for the first time, giving me a perfect excuse to write about this as a new release! (Perfect.)

Oh, look: a trailer.

Those are some pretty nice battle graphics, actually. I have to give the game credit there.

Monster RPG 2 is available for Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac and Linux for $2.99–pretty cheap if you’re looking for an excuse to build up a party while taking turns whacking things that aren’t the same species as you.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Mitsoda–formerly of Troika, Black Isle and Obsidian–and currently one half of Doublebear, the indie studio creating Dead State.

(more…)

Grab your popcorn, folks–it’s movie night once again! This week, we have a new trailer from Dead State and a video of the latest build of Underrail. Hit the jump for the movies:

(more…)

Wild West-themed action RPG The Real Texas (previously mentioned here), described as a game “that plays like a mashup of Zelda: Link to the Past and Ultima VI,” has been released to the tune of $14.95 on Windows, Mac and Linux.

You can nab the game for 40% off if you buy it before “Sunday at high noon.” However, the site doesn’t appear to say which time zone’s high noon is being used to mark off the end of the sale, soooo it may be wise to buy on or before Saturday.

Here! Have a weird trailer:

Soldak Entertainment writes in to report that their sci fi Diablo-alike Drox Operative has entered open beta.

Windows and Mac users can pre-order the game for $14.99 to get immediate beta access (as well as discount off the price it will carry upon release).

For more info on what this game is about, check out our post about the game’s announcement last year.

Max Becker of Blindhack Software writes in to tell me about Shepherd Slaughter, a top-down action RPG with a procedurally generated open world.

Something about the game’s visual appearance makes me think of it as a much more ambitious, RPG version of Gauntlet, albeit minus the monster generators and constant weapon throwing. Take a look:

Shepherd Slaughter has been out since last year, but was recently updated with a variety of improvements. You can grab a free Windows or Linux demo to try it out–the full game is $3.00 through the developer or on Desura.