The combat engine is so often the heart of an RPG, even in the tabletop sphere. Characters shuffle around a battle-grid, attacks are tabulated, armour classes are defined, hit points are shaved away until only one side is left standing. Not so for upcoming police-drama RPG Disco Elysium. In their latest development blog, Studio ZA/UM go into detail on combat in the game including why it's so rare, and how deeply intertwined it is with the dialogue and thought-inventory systems.
]]>Disco Elysium is my secret side infatuation in 2018. First the game was operating under the name "No Truce With The Furies" which the devs didn't think stood out enough (!!) and then each new look I get at the game reveals a more complicated and exciting RPG about crime solving and I just want to be playing it now. Not even for first play-though; I want to be on my third play-through where I'm deliberately trying to break the game. Bonus: there's an original score by the rock’n’roll band British Sea Power. What isn't to like here? Well, depending on how upset you are by complicated moral choices, this new set of skills listed for player development might be your cut-off point -- because it gets dark.
]]>While debate over its recent title-change remains heated, the upcoming alternate-earth detective RPG Disco Elysium continues to be a game well worth talking about for far less spurious reasons. For example, the highly creative skill system at the heart of the game.
ZA/UM Studio have already given us a peek at the Intellect skills, defining the mental faculties of your character, from their ability to recall minutia to identifying lies through your own knack for improvised dramatics. Psyche skills are a far more esoteric ball-game, as these stats determine your emotional makeup, and may even keep other stats in check.
]]>Are you going to the glittering Imperial city of London next month for games show EGX Rezzed? I’m not. I’ve got a stag weekend in Madrid where I’m expected to play Gaelic football with a crowd of storming drunks. Trust me, you’re better off in the bright glass hallways of Tobacco Dock, especially now that six more games have been added to the line-up, including Disco Elysium, the surreal isometric adventure formerly known as No Truce With The Furies.
]]>The past year has been such an amazing time for RPGs that I had almost forgotten about No Truce With The Furies, a surreal 'procedural cop RPG' that claims Planescape: Torment and Kentucky Route Zero as equal inspirations.
Studio ZA/UM reckon that the title - weird as it was - didn't stand out quite enough, so they've officially rebranded the game as 'Disco Elysium'. I am baffled, but I can't help but like the sound of it. It's a satisfying title to say, and a lot easier to type.
There's also a shiny new trailer for the game, dense with ideas, style and weirdness.
]]>As we lay 2017 to rest, let us remember all of the wonderful games that flickered across our screens and occupied our hearts and minds. But now we must promise never to think of them again because times have changed. This is 2018 and if we've learned one thing from the few hours we've spent in it it's that there are games everywhere. Every firework that exploded in the many midnights of New Year's celebrations was stuffed with games and they were still raining down across the world this morning. We cannot stop them, we cannot contain them, but we can attempt to understand them.
Hundreds of them will be worth our time and attention, but we've selected a few of the ones that excite us most as we prepare for another year of splendid PC gaming. There's something for everyone, from Aunt Maude, the military genius, to merry Ian Rogue, the man who hates permadeath and procedural generation with a passion.
]]>What do you mean there's a whole month of 2017 left? Well, the disembodied mouths of the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, are tired of waiting. This week the team look at some of the most exciting upcoming games of 2018. Adam is looking forward to smashing big robots with other, bigger robots in Battletech. Matt wants to make trousers from dinosaur skin in Monster Hunter World. And Brendan forgot all about how much he's excited by surreal isometric detective game No Truce With The Furies.
We've also got some chat about Viking strategy game Northgard and yet more love for FTL follow-up Into The Breach. Plus, our Patch Adam quiz is back!
]]>Oh no, you've tripped the alarm. Now the terrifying RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, knows you're here. It's going to hunt you down and force you to listen to it. Quick! Think of a way out of this, before you hear all about Adam becoming an accidental mass murderer in Dishonored, or John obsessively re-loading his way out of a bad situation. If you don't escape, I'll have to tell you about the time I threw a gun at someone's head in Heat Signature, to absolutely no effect. This week, you see, we're talking about Things Going Wrong.
]]>If No Truce with the Furies [official site] is a "police procedural RPG", as developers ZA/UM Studio say, then I want to see its world's CSI series. It stars a disgraced detective in an anotherworldly seaside town, and sounds to be full of interesting ideas. The devs talk about an inventory for thoughts, about walking around the inside of your own head to talk to your senses and memories, about strengths coming with weaknesses, about Planescape: Torment and Kentucky Route Zero as big influences, about disco pants... I don't know what this game is but I want to. If you're interested too, hey, peep this trailer:
]]>It's still weird to me that the Humble empire was spawned by folks who started out (and quickly returned to) making games about kicking rabbits in the face. Humble is becoming even bigger now, this week announcing the launching of an initiative to fund and publish games. They've announced an initial lineup of seven games, including ooh! Scorn! That FPS-adventure where everything's guts and gristle. The one where Pip chatted with the devs about its look. Grand. I'm glad to hear that's still coming. The rest of the lineup is interesting and varied too.
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