If the phrases “King of Dragon Cross” do not imply something to you, you owe it to your self to right that. Initially launched in 1999, it and its Six Ages successors are among the best fantasy in videogames, with systems-driven storytelling involving all the things from settling multigenerational cattle disputes to endeavor mythic quests within the realm of the gods.
Final week, its designers at developer A Sharp revealed their latest undertaking, Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists—a tactical narrative recreation with a premise that has me cackling on the proverbial sicko window.
On its Steam web page, Thousand Hells calls itself “a surreal journey into the afterlife,” which is strictly the type of journey into the afterlife I want. In every run, you will threat the bodily and metaphysical wellbeing of 4 probably-doomed adventurers as you will embark on expeditions from the Everlasting Metropolis, a “Byzantine-flavored fantasy world” perched atop a twisting, shifting hellscape.
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Your objective might be to satisfy your contract with the uncanny Ambassador. I do not know what the Ambassador’s deal is—your contract would possibly entail the Everlasting Metropolis’s salvation, or it may serve extra unfathomable ends—however on the very least, the capital A tells me they’re my type of weirdo.
“The evil under has many weaknesses, your selections will have an effect on your possibilities at surviving. Use the strengths of your social gathering in over 200 distinctive dynamic narrative encounters. Expertise will change relying in your group’s successes and failures,” the Steam description says. “Keep away from fight by sending your bard to calm the nerves of bandits. Rent a demonologist to speak with a possessed e-book. Take the chance and reap the rewards, in any other case you’ll find yourself with a damaged arm, or worse.”
Screenshots present glimpses of what sort of warped encounters we are able to count on whereas venturing via one of many Thousand Hells, like towering strolling citadels with steeple toes, battles with ears coated in knives, and petitioning the courtroom of Queen Dying to launch the kids of a grieving mom. Provided that discovering a basket of thriller eggs in King of Dragon Cross may result in fielding a unit of triceratops cavalry, I am wanting to see how the assembled bits of Thousand Hells storytelling unfold.
Should you want extra causes to be excited: Like with Six Ages, Thousand Hells is being printed by Kitfox Video games, which—after its involvement within the Dwarf Fortress Steam launch and Caves of Qud’s 1.0 launch—I’ve come to consider as a mark of systems-driven storytelling high quality.
Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists does not have a launch date but, however you possibly can wishlist it on Steam now.
