Dark Envoy - guns n' sorcery RTwP RPG by Tower of Time developer

[frajaq]

Any game similar to this one's premise (aka XCOM-like mechanics but in fantasy/steampunk settings) but already out there?

 

[biggestboss]

Any game similar to this one's premise (aka XCOM-like mechanics but in fantasy/steampunk settings) but already out there?

Haven't played this but that's the vibe I got from this game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/617640/Forged_of_Blood/

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

The real time pre-combat phase looks silly.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Upon closer inspection however, game is absolutely devoid of style.

It does have a generic art style. This generic art style seems a requirement to be well-received nowadays--see D:OS, for example. It is as if every cRPG looked like DOTA overnight. Depressing.

 

[Lacrymas]

Outside of a few aspects that *must* be changed from Tower of Time, like encounter design, random items and some character building stuff, I'm kinda hopeful. The ridiculous cover mechanics from nu-XCom make an appearance for some reason and it will just force combat arenas to have this really weird layout with a bunch of waist-high walls or whatever to facilitate the cover. It's pointless and adds nothing. The art style is a bit generic in ToT as well (it's basically the same thing here), but the setting is actually creative enough to successfully overcome that weakness.

 

[Infinitron]

Updated gameplay trailer:

 

[Event Horizon]

Few new screenshots as an update - we're getting close to how the game will look like in the end.

Turn Based combat scene (all UI turned off)

A close up on our enviro and character models - they are exploring the area in real-time here.

One of the city-locations. This one is a starting city - Pillars of Tyr-Mora, (locals call it City of Bones)

One of the bio-themes in game - we call it Dark Swamp. Here presented during the night.

Another bio-theme - Forest. Here we have day / end of day time.

Each theme will have day-night cycle with few lightning modes for each day/night period - that will impact the visibility, the importance of scouting and the enemies you can encounter

 

[NJClaw]

Each theme will have day-night cycle with few lightning modes for each day/night period - that will impact the visibility, the importance of scouting and the enemies you can encounter

How did you manage to get me excited for a day-night cycle? I don't care, I can't wait to play your next game!

 

[Frusciante]

That looks great man! Visuals are much improved.

 

[Event Horizon]

Thanks! It"s reassuring to get a confirmation from the external sources - as working so much on this already, we tend to loose the perspective.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeap, it looks good! Now all that is left is everything else.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Graphics look great, especially for it being made by a small(?) team. I bought Tower of Time on Steam when it was in early access, can't wait to buy this.

 

[Mazisky]

I really like that there are many biomes with different light conditions (similar to Ufo:EU or Xcom2) but with the added value of gameplay implications.
Rain or weather would be the icing on the cake.

Are the maps procedural or handcrafted? If the latter, you'll need to make a nice amount of them to avoid stagnancy

 

[V_K]

Every time I read "Event Horizon - developer", for a quick second I start rejoicing that Dreamforge got resurrected. Then I realize it's a different Event Horizon
The city looks properly city-ish at least, that's good.

Are the maps procedural or handcrafted? If the latter, you'll need to make a nice amount of them to avoid stagnancy

You mean the former, right?

 

[Mazisky]

Every time I read "Event Horizon - developer", for a quick second I start rejoicing that Dreamforge got resurrected. Then I realize it's a different Event Horizon
The city looks properly city-ish at least, that's good.

Are the maps procedural or handcrafted? If the latter, you'll need to make a nice amount of them to avoid stagnancy

You mean the former, right?

If they are handcrafted, they need to be a lot in raw quantity.
If they are procedural, they need to have enough variation\pieces.

 

[Bara]

Apparently this game will no longer be turn based. Or at least is in debate.

We are not happy with TB so far, feels too slugish and repetitive -- so we're experimenting now with Real Time with Bullet Time.

We try to make it very different than even done before - more tactical, with physics-based skills for nice combos and more flexibile approach to classes. We're not 100% sure yet - but it is far more dynamic and engaging than TB, but still it is not button smashing but more refined experience.

We'll post an update + some gameplay video soon.

This was posted back in May and as far as I'm aware they haven't posted a new gameplay video.

 

[V_K]

Meh. If you can't make TB engaging, it's you who's the problem, not TB.

 

[Infinitron]

Coming to GOG: https://af.gog.com/game/dark_envoy?as=1649904300

Looks like the description changed two weeks ago: https://steamdb.info/app/945770/history/

Non-linear RPG with real time combat (with slow or pause) where tactics and party power are equally important.

 

[NJClaw]

I don't see how going from TB to RTwP can improve a system that feels repetitive. If it is repetitive in TB, switching to RTwP will change nothing.

 

[Lacrymas]

Severely disappointed in the change. Tower of Time was no stranger to repetitiveness, so it's not the TB the problem. Maybe release a TB demo so we could give ideas about how to make it less repetitive instead of unleashing another abomination upon the world?

 

[toro]

Apparently this game will no longer be turn based. Or at least is in debate.

We are not happy with TB so far, feels too slugish and repetitive -- so we're experimenting now with Real Time with Bullet Time.

We try to make it very different than even done before - more tactical, with physics-based skills for nice combos and more flexibile approach to classes. We're not 100% sure yet - but it is far more dynamic and engaging than TB, but still it is not button smashing but more refined experience.

We'll post an update + some gameplay video soon.

This was posted back in May and as far as I'm aware they haven't posted a new gameplay video.

Maybe they got the Bullet

 

[Bara]

We'll even though I prefer turnbased over real time we've got a lot of turn based rpgs coming up for release in 2021 that I'm willing to give a shift back to real time a chance.

So long as its more baldur's gate with set pieces and areas to explore and fight in vs tower of times explore a cool map but every combat encounter is an instanced even where the fights are designed to be a multi-wave affair.

Like ToT was alright for me at the start but I got really bored of it.

 

[Jinn]

Well, went from greatly looking forward to this to being mildly interested. Really hope they reconsider.

 

[Infinitron]

Finally an official update:



https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/945770/view/2766853536565770121

Dark Envoy 9 min Gameplay

Hello

We’ve been very silent, we know. But when you’re doing a big puzzle, until the shape of the illustration starts to appear, there is little to show.

We think we have that shape to show now. So if you wondered how Dark Envoy will play, what is the world we are creating and how (and if) it is related to Tower of Time, below you can find the 9 min showcase of gameplay.

Dark Envoy soundtrack is composed by Dawid Majewski (also Tower of Time composer). For us good music is essential for storytelling, so we hope you like the few samples we put in the clip.

On the release date -- we're changing it 2021, aiming for April/May.

It's later than we hoped for, unfortunately, but we can release the game only when fully satisfied with the quality, to ensure that Dark Envoy is a game worthy of your time and which you will remember playing.

We're working now on finalizing the first few hours of the game, so we can share a free beta/demo with you. Join our discord channel if you're interested to try the game, we will do the beta invites from our community there.

https://discord.gg/qW636PF

We will share updates more frequently now, we have so much to show you and we're pretty excited about that.

Cheers,
Event Horizon team

 

[The Wall]

Dunno, feels like Legend of Korra RPG