Indie Archaelund: RPG that combines 1st-person exploration with 3rd-person TB combat - now available on Early Access

[Deimos]

30 to 40 months would be somewhere between July 2026 And May 2027

 

[Tyranicon]

Any codexer impressions?

I'm too busy, but I might get it anyways.

 

[Jaesun]

Any codexer impressions?

I'm too busy, but I might get it anyways.

Just still only in a bit of the beginning area.

The game is WAY more polished than I was expecting (it still needs a bit more work). It looks really good. The FP exploration is really good and when the camera moves above you to the turn-based combat mode is nice and seamless. THIS fucking kind of game I have been waiting for (FUCK YES!).

Combat has flanking, action points to move, pew pew with magic pretty straight forward so far. Premise I am ok with (you head off to a fabled once mighty empire that fell into ruin and forgotten and you are off to go find out what is actually there now...).

When you finally land, a very small and basic tutorial info (which can be turned off) and you will have a basic fight. Then, go explore. Favorite moment so far: Walking into the water. A tutorial pop up came up letting me know by the way none of us have the swimming skill (INCLINE) and are currently holding our breath (with a meter showing that). So I was like holy shit back to land!

The more in depth stuff, just going to take a while to get more familiar. For prestigious codex gentlemen, most all this basic combat and stats stuff you will already know what to do.

My one and only concern was would I actually like exploring in a FP view and then going into combat (seamlessly) I am so far pretty impressed what I am seeing so far. But I'm still just in the newbie area.

 

[Alienman]

Been playing for about 2 hours. The game is a nice blend of old and new. It's pretty hard and will punish you severely if you are unprepared. This is fine, but it also means running back to a safe spot to rest a lot. That is what I have to do when the RNG Gods have forsaken me. I love all the rolling for traps and secrets, meaning that a spotter with high awareness is very useful. Works perfectly into my view of the play-it-safe but greedy thief guy archetype. The graphics are very nice, world seems interesting. I love how far you can look from the mountaintop, planning where to go from there.

Just one issue so far. I wish the characters came with a second equipment slot, so you easily switch between close-quarters weapons and ranged, but as it is now this has to be done manually. I'm way too lazy for that. Overall, surprised by how cozy it is. Feels a bit like Wizardy 8 actually, when I think about it.

 

[The_Mask]

Will you sell this on GOG?

 

[MerchantKing]

NEWS
POSTED
Sat, January 6
Getting ready: Party creation, playable races
In these few days before Early Access release I'll share some key game elements. Let's begin with party creation

Before the adventure begins you need to do two things: create a party and choose a difficulty.

Creating an adventuring party
A standard party is
formed by 4 adventurers
. You are allowed to make a smaller party, but be warned... you'll get beaten. Badly. Later on, up to two companions can join your party. It doesn't matter if you have a smaller base party; you can never have more than 2 companions joining you.

The proccess of
creating a character is straightforward
. I don't like the games where you are forced to make a lot of uninformed decisions at the beginning, but of course this is still an RPG with a lot of depth, and some choices must be made. The good news is most of the choices will come later on, as you level up. And in character creation you can know how everything works by just hovering over stats.

If you're in a hurry to get into the game you might just
create a random party
with one click, which will automatically create a reasonably balanced party of four with at least one decent fighter, one decent healer and one spellcaster (other roles may vary). By "reasonably balanced" I mean exactly that: it can face the dangers ahead, but as you learn the ropes of the game you might probably do much better.

A good thing about random parties is they can be edited. You can go through the characters one by one and adjust some details, or completely redesign the characters.

First choice: race
In this version of EA, you can choose among five races to create your characters. (Two more races will be added in future versions, and it's also planned to add separate human cultures). The race selection screen displays all the information you need to make a choice.

I'll post here the game information about the non-human races, so you can get a little familiar with them.

Varannari

Tall and athletic natives from the primeval forests of Varannar are easily recognizable by their green skin and strong, long limbs. Varannari are brave, likeable and loyal, but prideful and temperamental.

In Archaelund:
some Varannari were brought to Archaelund by the Mercians as slaves, but escaped into the forests to form nomadic clans and live once more according to their ancient ways. Most of them, however, are part of human society and have come as colonists or adventurers.

• Trait bonuses:
  +1 Strength, +1 Endurance
• Trait penalties:
  -1 Intellect, -1 Self-Control
• Special abilities:
  Varannari gain a +15 bonus to the Survival and Athletic skills.

Goblin

In the civilized Exiled Kingdoms, goblins are considered monsters due to their renowned wickedness, and attacked on sight. The Archaelund Marches, however, can’t afford any available force to go to waste, and some goblins a tad less psychotic than their brethren can make a career as scouts and archers. Some of them become jesters for one of the Lords of the Marches, although their awful jokes are often more painful than their dented blades.

In Archaelund:
Goblins are a common sight in the largest cities, where they live assimilated into human society. But many others are dangerous outlaws, sometimes led by shamans of their dark religion.

• Trait bonuses:
  +1 Dexterity, +1 Awareness
• Trait penalties:
  -1 Strength, -1 Self-Control
• Special abilities:
  +1 Movement Point. They have innate resistance to fire (+25%) but are vulnerable to cold and shock damage (-25%)

Minotaur

In ancient times a wise and prosper people, nowadays turned into bloodthirsty monsters, roaming ancient mazes built by their ancestors while oblivious to their meaning. A few of them, however, are intelligent enough to become civilized (under a very generous use of the term) and make a living through their fighting abilities. Minotaurs are large, incredibly strong and aggressive, but often simple-minded and fearful of sorcery or the undead.

In Archaelund:
Minotaurs are rare, and sometimes frowned upon. They are often front-line fighters in adventuring parties, or lead bandit groups. However there are exceptions and a small number of Minotaurs insist upon unveiling their ancient past and recover the wisdom of their ancestors.

• Trait bonuses:
  +2 Strength, +1 Endurance
• Trait penalties:
  -1 Dexterity, -1 Personality, -1 Intellect, -1 Self-Control
• Special abilities:
  Minotaurs need two rations per rest. They don't have a 'Feet' slot, and can't wear boots or shoes. They are also unable to wear most helms.

Batrax

Batrax are small amphibious humanoids, nimble and dexterous, intelligent and innately adept in the magical arts. Unpredictable in the extreme, they can be equally violent or sociable when met in the wildlands.

In Archaelund:
wild Batrax are feared in the coastlands, where they often ambush their victims with sharp harpoons and deadly magic. Some of them, however, claim human ancestry and wish to live among humans and learn their ways, citing a fabulous tale about a human adventurer who spent a night of passion with a Batrax princess. Unlikely as this tale may be, their abilities as scouts or sorcerers are undisputed and has earned them a place in Archaelund.

• Trait bonuses:
  +1 Dexterity, +1 Personality, +1 Intellect
• Trait penalties:
  -1 Strength, -2 Endurance
• Special abilities:
  Batrax can hold their breath longer than other races. Vulnerable to fire (-50% to resistance). Batrax don't have a 'feet' slot and can't wear boots or shoes.

About game difficulties
After your party is created, and before you can begin your adventure, you must select a difficulty for the game. This can't be changed later. Once again, hovering over each difficulty will give you all the details, but it might be hard for you to determine how relevant are the listed changes.

My advice would be to go with
New School
difficulty, unless you truly enjoy challenges. As in many RPGs, the game becomes easier as you learn the ropes. For people with experience in old RPGs,
Old School
might be more enjoyable. It will force you to be more careful. The other two available difficulties (Explorer and Cruel) are for people that want a more gentle or an extremely ungentle experience. Iron Man mode is not available yet.

That's all for this write-up, in the next one I'll explain some aspects of the rest of character creation aspects (careers, skills, magic)

So where are the Gnomes?

 

[MerchantKing]

First choice: race
In this version of EA, you can choose among five races to create your characters. (Two more races will be added in future versions, and it's also planned to add separate human cultures). The race selection screen displays all the information you need to make a choice.

Where are the dwarves?

It is a gnomish trick! Wait, no there are no gnomes either. "Batrax" look very suspicious though.

Maybe if it takes inspiration from Harry Potter, the goblins will be the banker race. Not nearly as good as Gnomes though...

 

[DavidBVal]

Just one issue so far. I wish the characters came with a second equipment slot, so you easily switch between close-quarters weapons and ranged, but as it is now this has to be done manually. I'm way too lazy for that.

Added to the suggestions list below the Roadmap thread.

 

[DavidBVal]

Will you sell this on GOG?

Yes but not in a while. Maybe after 0.9, that is, in a year.

 

[Jaesun]

So where are the Gnomes?

There aren't any. In this setting at least things are a bit more refreshing and different (no Gnomes and Dwarves, or fucking Elves). Sorry.

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

So where are the Gnomes?

They got overlooked.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So where are the Gnomes?

They got overlooked.

More like undercut amirite

 

[Riddler]

So where are the Gnomes?

There aren't any. In this setting at least things are a bit more refreshing and different (no Gnomes and Dwarves, or fucking Elves). Sorry.

Then who am I supposed to fuck?

 

[Riddler]

i love the "disapproving codexer" male pose

View attachment 45323

d1p

 

[HoboForEternity]

i cannot buy it yet because a freak accident (thunderstorm) blew up my power supply. had to spend $120 on new psu (just glad it didnt fry the whole computer) and i another $60 for a surge protector.

 

[thesheeep]

Wow, not even a jetpack so you can go everywhere you can see.

 

[Johnny Biggums]

Well boys it's going to be a rough day. I stayed up till past 2 am playing.

I love the game and will likely clear the current ea a few times to experiment with builds and party comp. In the little write ups so far one of the unsung qualities is the build and party comp variety. It stands out, even at low level, in part because the difficulty level is nice. (You should see some of the whining on the steam forum.)

Archaelund takes you straight into gameplay. You start washed up on a beach, which in CRPGs is now apparently de rigeur, but there's nothing special about you aside from a thirst for adventure. The story hooks are simply that Archaelund is an ancient continent shrouded in mystery, and one of your sailing companions was abducted by an unknown but powerful faction.

There are no lore dumps. Which is not to say there's no setting depth. This takes place in the same world as Exiled Kingdoms (which everyone should try out) - Archaelund in fact being the continent from which the kingdoms are exiled - so it builds from a well-established background, and you frequently get the sense of historical and cultural depths to plumb.

Exploration of the graphically excellent landscape is a pleasure. It feels a little like an open world first person BG1, by which I mean there is just the right frequency of encounters, secrets, and easter eggs.

On the subject of graphics, NPC faces do look primitive and goofy. Think Morrowind. A couple of times, while trading in town, I closed the trade window to be suddenly reconfronted by a shocking closeup of the merchant's bizarre face. Put yourself in a mindframe where this is just part of the entertainment. There's only so much an indie dev can do.

The EA content is reasonably polished in my experience. I got trapped in a hole in the first area, but aside from that, haven't experienced any real bugs yet. You know it's fundamentally solid when what stands out most are missing QOL features (to use potions and scrolls in combat you have to open your inventory) and graphical subtleties (the combat grid is too visually intrusive).

In fact, my standout complaint so far is that the combat grid system breaks down a little on uneven terrain. The movement squares don't adapt properly to hilly grading, with the result that pathfinding of both party members and enemies becomes irrational. David is very responsive and open to QOL suggestions, but once the rare gamecrashing bugs are ironed out, personally I would prefer if time was prioritized here.

These are early impressions, and I'm sure other pickier players will notice problems I'm less sensitive to, or experience frustrating bugs that I haven't. As a codexer I have a certain level of discernment, but I'm not on the picky end of the spectrum around here. I leave that to the more learned and prestigious members. But fundamentally it's an old school yet fresh, fun, and absorbing game that deserves support.

 

[vitellus]

sounds like this game is worth the price, even in early access. can anyone tell me how long the content currently available is?

 

[Johnny Biggums]

The dev says currently 15 or so hours. I think he's being modest. I obviously can't say for certain but I feel like my first playthrough will be in the neighborhood of 25.

And yes, personally I recommend grabbing it.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

DavidBVal WHAT THE FUCK DUDE.

Spoiler

WHADDAYA MEAN CAN'T BE HUMAN? HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO PLAY THIS?

 

[Johnny Biggums]

So where are the Gnomes?

There aren't any. In this setting at least things are a bit more refreshing and different (no Gnomes and Dwarves, or fucking Elves). Sorry.

Then who am I supposed to fuck?

Minotaurs?

Tbf the horny level of this game is thankfully low. I encountered a greenskin chick with sideboob on display who seemed down (she was playing a little hard to get), and there was a female dockhand who, I'm speculating, would be a handful in the sack. Mostly it's examining uncanny NPC faces and trying to figure out if they're supposed to be hot. But there are no actual sexcapades, no romancing, no cringey softcore cutscenes, and no sleazy bearfucks and NO GAY SHIT.

 

[Swen]

This actually looks very cool.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

DavidBVal WHAT THE FUCK DUDE.

Spoiler

View attachment 45410


WHADDAYA MEAN CAN'T BE HUMAN? HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO PLAY THIS?

Faber est quisque fortunae suae.
Or not.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

DavidBVal WHAT THE FUCK DUDE.

Spoiler

View attachment 45410


WHADDAYA MEAN CAN'T BE HUMAN? HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO PLAY THIS?

Faber est quisque fortunae suae.
Or not.

I don't want a career as goddamn architect goddammit.

 

[jaekl]

Hmmm... first page says early access but that was all the way back in 2019 it so it must be out... oh wait it's actually still in early access. These accesses are waaaaay too early nowadays. Guess I'll see you guys in 2039 when the game comes out if we're even still using computers then, because at that point we could be plugging our brains directly into the cyber realm.