Game News Urtuk: The Desolation Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Mad Sheep Studios; Urtuk: The Desolation

Urtuk: The Desolation, the dystopian dark fantasy tactical RPG from David Kaleta of Mad Sheep Studios, was released yesterday after just over a year in Early Access. Although not a huge hit on the Codex, Urtuk apparently found enough of a fanbase on Steam and has been significantly improved over the course of its Early Access period thanks to their suggestions. There are details about that in the release announcement post, which I'll post right after the game's stylish launch trailer:

Here we are! Finally, the day has come - Urtuk is ready to leave Early Access!

It’s been a long and winding journey these past 6 years, and now it's time for the full release.
We added a ton of new content during Early Access, completely overhauled game balance, and improved the overall experience in countless ways. We've listened closely to our players’ concerns and advice, and done our best to make Urtuk as fun and brutal as possible.

Lastly, we want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to all our supporters — beta testers, Early Access players and the community at large. Urtuk could never have become what it is today without your help.

[...] You can see the full changelog here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1181830/discussions/0/1747897354334441246

But the journey is far from over!
We have a big plans for the future content for Urtuk. We're already working on:

- new faction
- new biomes
- new bosses
- modding support

These should come as free content in very near future!
Of course we'll maintain the core gameplay and fix any issues or bugs.
We're still eager to hear from you - so please if you have any suggestions, balance ideas, bug reports or anything which could improve Urtuk, let us know! Best on our Discord server or on Steam forums.

Again, I want to thank all our Early Access players for their feedback, suggestions, and even content additions!

Oh, and I won't increase the price of the game.
​

Indeed he has not. As before, Urtuk is available on Steam and GOG for $20 with a 10% launch discount until next week.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

6 years in Early Access.

 

[Infinitron]

It was just one year in Early Access. Six years in development.

 

[lukaszek]

Although not a huge hit on the Codex

didnt it receive praise during demo festival?

 

[luj1]

Art and animation are horrible, Idk if it looks more like a mobile game or a 2006 flash game

Gameplay might be good, but I'm hearing it's like a bum version of Battle Brothers (as suspected). At least the price is okay

 

[AndrewCC]

At least it has animations, unlike BoB.
And the artsytle is clearly inspired by Darkest Dungeon and again, is decent.
No comment on gameplay yet.

 

[luj1]

the artsytle is decent.

Another way of saying you have low standards

Not everything has to look realistic, but this is neither good-looking nor distinctive in style (looks like DD/DS/Blasphemous)

 

[Squidhead]

What really sold Darkest Dungeon to me was the narration. Do any of these style apes (Deep Sky Derelicts, Warsaw) have anything like that?

 

[entr0py]

I actually really dig the art style! Would probably play it on mobile.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I've been seeing this type of artstyle in more than just computer games. I see it in pnp games as well. I did the art but the paper doll movement... eh. The games use a movement similar to those paper & pin dolls one would make in gradeschool crafting class. I guess that and the heavy retro pixels are the style for now. It seems every few years a huge new style is present (think back when 2D platform, fighting, and brawlers turned into 3d polygonal games. Even boomers and firstperson - 3rd persons developed Lara Croft butt and Heretic 2 elf butt games.

Now? I dunno... a smorgasbord of.... ???

 

[rusty_shackleford]

but the paper doll movement... eh. The games use a movement similar to those paper & pin dolls one would make in gradeschool crafting class

it's a 2d skeletal animation system
looks pretty crap imo

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Bugs me too. I was watching some youtube vids and I'd swear Neptunia was using that same shit in various games. Just watch how animation is in new games and I bet its similar. I'd dare say its lazy but I can't draw myself soooo.... meh. Maybe I'll peruse gameplay vids on this one.

 

[Darkozric]

the artsytle is decent.

Another way of saying you have low standards

Not everything has to look realistic, but this is neither good-looking nor distinctive in style (looks like DD/DS/Blasphemous)

Τhis specific art style is the most cheap, boring and uninspired art and must be purged from the face of earth. I don't give a fuck if the gameplay is good.

 

[luj1]

Yup. Reminds me of those graphic novel style intros that are so popular nowadays due to their cheapness

 

[Humanophage]

How is the gameplay? The reviews on steam say that it is actually more diverse than Battle Brothers.

The art looks serviceable, at least it's 2D, although Darkest Dungeon was notoriously slow and required CheatEngine to work. Honestly, who cares so long as it works and helps people with low need for cognition to overcome their anxiety about something that looks like a turn-based strategy.

 

[Serious_Business]

How is the gameplay? The reviews on steam say that it is actually more diverse than Battle Brothers.

The art looks serviceable, at least it's 2D, although Darkest Dungeon was notoriously slow and required CheatEngine to work. Honestly, who cares so long as it works and helps people with low need for cognition to overcome their anxiety about something that looks like a turn-based strategy.

Pretty good. Solid game, one of the best indie tactics out there. Certainly can be compared to BB in quality. It has good design, it's not some shitty phone game. Of course this place is called Rpgcodex and not Tacticalcodex, so you don't have to expect people having good taste in these kind of games. I also like the art, not sure what the faggots are going on about.

 

[BlaineMono]

not sure what the faggots are going on about.

they are going about liking the art, obviously

 

[Geisler]

Even the UI looks like a cheap afterthought made in Win95 paint. I'm a gameplayfag above all but this shit looks so cheap it's distracting.

 

[luj1]

I just started it today. The main menu theme is amazing and so unfitting the infantile art direction. And yes I hear you about the UI... looks really low effort like a mobile game, it's actually hard to ignore.

 

[Thac0]

I fully expected this game to become Vaporware, with how long it was on my steam wishlist.
Can anyone comment on the progression?

I will probably buy it on weekend, while the backgrounds are ass the character spriteart is good. If it's remotely as deep as Battle Brothers I am happy, and some posters seem to imply it's deeper.

 

[Humanophage]

I bought it. It's pretty decent so far. I would recommend starting immediately on the third level of difficulty, however, otherwise the battles would feel grindy.

The interface is clear and it lets you do things like cancel movement, which respects the player. Also the gradual death system is fairly elegant - if your character dies once in battle, he's removed but will be alive afterwards. However, unless you spend a rare medical item on him that applies over time, he'll die permanently next time. Personally, I would prefer some mix between this and the wound system in Battle Brothers. Pushing and pulling characters is quite important, to the point where you can instantly kill an armored tank whom you'd otherwise keep slashing for 7 turns. Positioning is also very important because hits by one character can trigger a chain of hits from your other characters. For instance, you can have a bunch of skirmishers behind your tank who will all automatically fire a volley when the tank feebly pokes an opponent.

The style is all right, it's about identical to Darkest Dungeon. Reminds me of a Soviet cartoon, some units look pretty amusing. E.g., there's a tongue monster that can pull your unit into a pit and then mockingly wiggle its tongue at you. It's not too cluttered and there is a convenient pathplanning feature in case you can't make out if a tile is passable. Even the fastest animation is a bit slow, but it's not too bad (not like XCom 2, for example).

That said, if you haven't tried Eador: Genesis but like gameplay similar to Urtuk, you should definitely try Eador first (especially with the New Horizons mod). It's more challenging, the units are much more diverse, there are combat and strategic spells, the combat system makes more sense (e.g., a near-death unit will have their combat values lowered unless they have some special ability), there is a solid strategic layer on top of it, and it respects your time by having faster combat turns.

 

[Agame]

Knock off DD art style?

OH GOOOOOOOD FOR YOU.

 

[Strange Fellow]

I bought this a few days ago, but have since refunded it. My initial impression was that this is a game about grafting as many awesome-buttons as possible onto each of your characters and then performing l33t combos on the enemies. It felt a bit card game-y. I know it's not fair to judge a game after less than two hours, and I want to see if it really is as close to BB as people say, but I'd rather pick it up on sale later. To me it looked like a detour from the formula that I'm not interested in.

 

[Humanophage]

I bought this a few days ago, but have since refunded it. My initial impression was that this is a game about grafting as many awesome-buttons as possible onto each of your characters and then performing l33t combos on the enemies. It felt a bit card game-y. I know it's not fair to judge a game after less than two hours, and I want to see if it really is as close to BB as people say, but I'd rather pick it up on sale later. To me it looked like a detour from the formula that I'm not interested in.

I really recommend that you give Eador + New Horizons a run. Here it is for free from the mod devs, it's now standalone: http://eador.com/B2/viewtopic.php?t=4559

It's less game-y and convoluted, and pretty deep.