Game News Externus: Path of the Solari is a tactical RPG from ex-Infinity Ward devs, now on Kickstarter

[Infinitron]

Tags: Externus: Path of the Solari; Winterborn

Way back in January 2019, it was reported that a group of former Infinity Ward developers had formed an indie studio called Winterborn for the purpose of developing a tactical RPG based on the studio head's homebrew tabletop setting. What kind of RPG would a bunch of ex-Call of Duty guys create? The answer it turns out is a cartoony turn-based tactical RPG inspired by Japanese SRPGs and featuring CYOA sequences. Its title is Externus: Path of the Solari and it was announced last month, properly revealed last week, and today it's on Kickstarter. The full reveal trailer is also the pitch video:

Externus: Path of the Solari is a character-driven tactical roleplaying game (RPG) adapted from an original tabletop game. We take inspiration from classic tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Shining Force along with modern game development to craft our own story and give you characters that matter. Our approach is designed to allow you to get to know the characters in your party along with strategic combat in full 3D battlefields.

Features

• Strategic Turn-Based Tactical Combat
• Full 3D Battlefields
• Character-Driven Story
• Storybook Choose Your Own Adventure Sequences
• Death Matters, Each Ally You Lose Will Change Your Story
• Unique Full-Color Artstyle
• Based On An Original Tabletop RPG

Externus is a storybook brought to life and your actions on and off the battlefield can change the pages as they're presented. You should think about the risks and rewards of bringing certain characters and using their specialized abilities. Your actions and choices matter. This goes back to our tabletop roots of wanting to tell a collective story that changes based on the players around the table. We encourage party interaction through our campfire scenes and storybook sequences that pay homage to the original tabletop game. Think about the world in terms of Fate. Death will be permanent in Externus, how will you react? Let the story play out and see how a character's death affects those who knew them both in positive and negative ways. Maybe it'll even send a ripple effect out into the world!

We are a group of passionate game developers with over 11 years of experience in making games. We're building Externus using our custom BroadSword Engine built on the MonoGame Framework.
​

Winterborn aim to raise $50,000 and their plan is to release Externus next summer in June 2021. A basic copy of the game is available for $18 for the first week of the campaign, with beta access available at $30. There's also a free pre-alpha demo you can check out at their itch.io site.

 

[Drowed]

To be fair, the rest of the characters aren't much better.

 

[Ninjerk]

It looks awful. One can only hope it's ripped enough from the guts of FFT to be worthwhile.

 

[Eirinjas]

Good luck to them, is all I can say.

 

[Contagium]

"We are a group of passionate game developers"

Describing yourself as "passionate" about your work is the most overused and useless term imaginable. Save it until you have a game 90% done.

 

[Thac0]

From artstyle to UI to combat mechanics this just looks worse than Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark. Also japanese SRPGs are prone to killing kickstarter campaigns and busting budgets, as has happened to the creator of Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics himself, Yasumi Matsuno in https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/littleorbit/unsung-story-tale-of-the-guardians. Throw in Infinity Ward devs and this wont make it to release.

 

[Galdred]

From artstyle to UI to combat mechanics this just looks worse than Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark. Also japanese SRPGs are prone to killing kickstarter campaigns and busting budgets, as has happened to the creator of Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics himself, Yasumi Matsuno in https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/littleorbit/unsung-story-tale-of-the-guardians. Throw in Infinity Ward devs and this wont make it to release.

Actually, Unsung Story has turned very weirdly:
After the initial team (Playdek) burnt all cash on unrelated projects and transfered ownership to Little Orbit (so without any work really done, except some vague design document from FFT rockstar, and lots of obligations to fulfil), they rebooted the project and are still working on it.
It turning good would be a longshot, but it is very surprising that the project is alive after all it went through.

 

[JDR13]

From artstyle to UI to combat mechanics this just looks worse than Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark.

What's wrong with Fell Seal? Most people seem to think it's pretty good.

 

[Thac0]

From artstyle to UI to combat mechanics this just looks worse than Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark.

What's wrong with Fell Seal? Most people seem to think it's pretty good.

It is excellent in fact. I see zero reason to play this game when Fell Seal exists. It seems to make everything wrong that Fell Seal made great.

 

[Dr Schultz]

From artstyle to UI to combat mechanics this just looks worse than Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark.

What's wrong with Fell Seal? Most people seem to think it's pretty good.

It is excellent in fact. I see zero reason to play this game when Fell Seal exists. It seems to make everything wrong that Fell Seal made great.

I've found many skills in the game underwhelming (and honesly the story is forgettable at best). But overall it's a great Tactics Ogre/Final Fantasy Tactics clone.

 

[Curratum]

This only comes as a reminder that AAA "evil" publishers and obscene amounts of money are often the only things that help produce passable games and devs left to their own devices can only come up with horrible art design and furries.

 

[Urthor]

It's not going to make it, you need much more on day 1

 

[Crolug]

Yet another cliche background story... And gameplay? I got bored just looking at the trailer.

 

[Empary]

Fell Seal is getting DLC soon, so why bother

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

Eeeeeewwww.

 

[jac8awol]

Is this a joke?

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

They've added a pretty neat video:

But yeah, the story is a bit generic and what really kills it is the animation. It's just too stiff and looks too much like a flash game. Also what is with the love for low, mundane fantasy recently? You end up with something as generic as your standard D&D game, but without the fun and colorful parts. Game of Thrones has ended, normies don't want shit like that anymore.

EDIT:
Also some weird stuff on their channel

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[aratuk]

Banner Saga with anthropo-welsh-corgi??



Yes, please!

 

[yes plz]

is this an erotic rpg

 

[Drowed]

is this an erotic rpg

If so, we already have Bastard Bonds, which is already a better game, albeit extremely simple:

​

 

[luj1]

Infinitron Like, motherfucker, have you really nothing better to post other than this worthless homoerotic turd? Geneforge May update? Torchlight III? Diablo II Resurrected leak? Hmm?

... cartoony turn-based tactical RPG inspired by Japanese SRPGs and featuring CYOA sequences...

 

[Urthor]

Infinitron Like, motherfucker, have you really nothing better to post other than this worthless homoerotic turd? Geneforge May update? Torchlight III? Diablo II Resurrected leak? Hmm?

... cartoony turn-based tactical RPG inspired by Japanese SRPGs and featuring CYOA sequences...

If you can find a game I'm all ears

The game developers dried up like the Sahara there hasn't been a decent RPG come out since March

 

[Fenix]

Geneforge May update? Torchlight III? Diablo II Resurrected leak? Hmm?

What?

 

[baud]

From artstyle to UI to combat mechanics this just looks worse than Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark. Also japanese SRPGs are prone to killing kickstarter campaigns and busting budgets, as has happened to the creator of Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics himself, Yasumi Matsuno in https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/littleorbit/unsung-story-tale-of-the-guardians. Throw in Infinity Ward devs and this wont make it to release.

Actually, Unsung Story has turned very weirdly:
After the initial team (Playdek) burnt all cash on unrelated projects and transfered ownership to Little Orbit (so without any work really done, except some vague design document from FFT rockstar, and lots of obligations to fulfil), they rebooted the project and are still working on it.
It turning good would be a longshot, but it is very surprising that the project is alive after all it went through.

Also what Little Orbit is showing of the project is looking nothing like the kickstarter, from the look (now cartoony fantasy) to the combat system (with the devs removing Matsuno's idea of using triangles in the game map).