KickStarter Encased - isometric post-apocalyptic RPG under the dome

[Iluvcheezcake]

The Steam forums atm are a complete shitshow

 

[Drowed]

People are angry because the game was promised to be released in 2020 when it was extremely obvious that it would take much longer than that. Go figure. I mean, that doesn't exempt the devs from blatantly lying (or incompetently underestimating the size of the job, which essentially amounts to the same thing), but it's always funny to see that level of outrage.

I was absolutely certain that this game would be delayed. Either that, or it would be released in an incredibly incomplete form. At least they are not dead - yet.

 

[fantadomat]

People are angry because the game was promised to be released in 2020 when it was extremely obvious that it would take much longer than that. Go figure. I mean, that doesn't exempt the devs from blatantly lying (or incompetently underestimating the size of the job, which essentially amounts to the same thing), but it's always funny to see that level of outrage.

I was absolutely certain that this game would be delayed. Either that, or it would be released in an incredibly incomplete form. At least they are not dead - yet.

2020 was a right time for the original idea,but then they got more money from a publisher and now have stretched it.

Honestly i am tired of all the vapourware that is filling the codex at the moment. Just notice a decent game idea that is closed to finish,begin watching the thread and then spend two years getting alerts from infi posting some pointless shit that the dev wrote somewhere. It is getting annoying,we haven't had a good rpg in 2 years now. The last good one was disco communism,and people are arguing the RPG part of that one.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Alienman]

Zidane headbutt.

 

[Dodo1610]

This is a common procedure when publishers enter these projects. Devs can't do much without consulting the publisher first anymore and the publisher has no real interest in dealing with people who already bought the game since they aren't getting any money from them. Still, I can't remember a single KS title that didn't get finished after getting a publisher so I don't see a reason to worry too much.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Zidane headbutt.

Glasgow kiss

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Neck gonna feel it in the morrow.

 

[toro]

This is amateur's hour stuff. Wtf.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/921800/view/2997683031144351147

Escape from the Labyrinth of Death

Dear subscribers! Once again, the latest issue of the post-apocalyptic CRONUS Weekly is on your screens. Can anyone hear us?

For the latest issue we have prepared a video report detailing psionics, an amazing ability of living beings discovered under the Dome. We also stopped by the Roadside Picnic gas station to see if our old friend Melvin is all right. And we prepared an exclusive interview with the man who made it out of the Death Labyrinth alive.

Psionics Report



Even before the incident, psionics caught the attention of CRONUS scientists. The corporation was spending enormous resources to unlock the secrets of these amazing abilities of living beings. But this was only the tip of the iceberg. It was those who survived the incident who were able to fully master the psi abilities. It seems that under the influence of the Maelstrom, the psionic abilities of every inhabitant of the Dome increased several times over! Many would no longer need special gloves. But what was the price for such enormous powers?

From our report you will learn everything that mankind knows about psionics at the moment!

Labyrinth of Death

Such an ominous name went to the former CRONUS prison bunkers. Not only did our editorial team manage to meet the man who escaped from the Labyrinth, but we also got a picture from a surveillance camera. It appears that the rumors about this place are true. The prison was merely a cover for CRONUS's inhuman experiments. Mountains of corpses, traces of monstrous experiments and brutal executions are scattered literally everywhere. It is frightening to imagine under what pretext all these people were sent to prison and what experiments they underwent before their deaths.

But there are always those who will enjoy chaos. A small squad of Fops settled inside and is doing just fine. So how did our hero manage to get out of such a dangerous place? Perhaps it is better to remain a secret.

Gas Station after the Incident

A pleasant surprise awaited us at the familiar gas station. Old Man Melvin survived the Incident and is feeling fine! After getting comfortable around the fire with a famous stew, our editorial staff asked the owner about the changes that had taken place at the gas station.

It was no longer just a staging post, but a real settlement, although not a large one. Melvin and his friends installed a water supply and even got rid of the toxic anomalies in the basement. "Roadside Picnic" became livable! An important task of the locals is to maintain order and safety. Turrets are working and ready to defend the settlement. And the basement under the diner became the local prison.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Looking good. Seems they got back on track. Last few weeks were really unorganized

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.rpgwatch.com/articles/e...apocalyptic-rpg-early-access-preview-507.html

Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG, Early Access Preview

Game Overview and a Disclaimer
Quick facts:

• story-driven 3D "isometric" CRPG (classic RPG), single-player
• turn-based combat, proprietary ruleset
• release planned in 2021, currently in Early Access (prologue & act 1)
• initial estimation was 30-40 hours for prologue, acts 1-3 and epilogue, but likely twice as long
• party with player character and up to 3 non-permanent companions who have their story and quests
• human race only, with 5 wings related to the style of job: white, silver, blue, orange and black
• separate small/medium areas, world map to travel between areas
• Windows platform, on GOG and Steam, 24.99 EUR during EA
• simultaneous release on Windows, PS 4 and Xbox One

This game is developed by Dark Crystal Games, after a successful Kickstarter campaign which started in September 2018. The goal was 86,000 EUR and they ultimately raised 105,745 EUR.

Dark Crystal Games is an independent video games company started in late 2017 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. The early publisher was Black Tower Entertainment, but they announced in December 2020 that they would partner with Koch Media, which would allow them to spend more time to develop the games and add extra features. This is now their main publisher.

Setting

Encased is a post-apocalyptic CRPG set in an alternate 70's era, it takes place inside a giant dome that has been built by a mysterious, more advanced civilization, the Forefathers, and recently discovered in a remote desert. CRONUS, a company founded by governments for that purpose, sent people inside the dome to explore and assess the situation. There, they found new technologies and strange artefacts left by the Forefather. More people were sent, they built facilities and brought more equipment inside the dome to recover these artefacts and try to understand the technology. The player is one of the new arrivals.

The dome has a life of its own and seems to react to the recent presence of humans by spawning anomalies, and triggering other events that will quickly escalate to a potential disaster. The journey to the dome is a one-way trip for living creatures: the explorers cannot come back, so it is up to them to face those events in order to preserve the settlements and survive.

Disclaimer

This is a quick preview of the game, which is currently in Early Access and due to release later this year. I have only spent 50-60 hours in two runs through the game, and there is less communication from this developer than others like Tactical Adventures or Owlcat Games. This means I will not go into the same level of depth as my preview of Solasta. I had the impression this game was being overlooked despite being a very promising title, so I thought it would be worth sharing what little experience I had.

Spoiler

Character creation and companions
The adventure commences with the creation of the main character. The player can either create it from scratch or select one of the 15 pre-made characters. It is also possible to use those as a template and edit the parameters.


One of the pre-made characters

The ruleset is proprietary, but it is comparable to other classical RPGs. Each character is essentially defined by no fewer than 8 base attributes: Muscle, Perception, Guts, Charisma, Brains, Deftness, Fortune and Psyche. They are set at the creation and usually don't change much during the game, except by a few perks. The wing - the equivalent of the class, adds a bonus to the relevant attributes. Wings define the type of job the player or any NPC is specialized in, there are 5 of them:

• Black Wing are military and security forces,
• White Wing are scientists, medics and researchers,
• Blue Wing are engineers and technicians,
• Silver Wing are upper management,
• Orange Wing are ex-convicts who have exchanged their prison jumpsuits for the uniform of a CRONUS labourer.

Since many parameters are calculated from them, it is critical to choose the attributes carefully. For example, Hit Points is a formula that depends on Muscle and Guts, so is Encumbrance which specifies how much you can carry. But if you want a fighter that relies on ranged weapons, you need to pay attention to Deftness and Perception, which defines the initial value of the Light Weapon ability. The right balance must be found to get a good starting point, and being able to carry the weapon and its ammo.

Since the last update, I found that the current balance was sometimes hard to reach without sacrificing other possibilities, such as being able to pick the occasional lock or repairing devices, and thus it pushes the player to specialize a little too much. Fortunately, the developer is aware of this and has already tuned the parameters to give us a more flexible experience.


A lot of secondary stats...

As the screenshot shows, there is a lot to take in: new system, many secondary stats, perks, abilities, ... Thankfully the interface is clear and provides tooltips to give more detailed information on each parameter. An optional tutorial feature triggers on early actions and displays a pop-up with an explanation on what is about to happen, for example to help with the character creation but also later in the game. Personally I find this to be the best way to replace the good old manual that few players had the patience to read anyway.

In short, the character progresses by regularly earning skill points, for example when solving quests or discovering items and areas. Those skill points buy new abilities, such as Hacking, Point-blank Shot, Lock Picking, and so on. When levelling up, the player also earns a new perk, which modifies the base or secondary stats, or helps the progression towards specific abilities.


Abilities, 30 skill points are required to unlock the next level

The system is actually a little more complicated, since it regroups the abilities in categories and levels, but that's the main idea. There are also many, many perks to choose from, which may take some time at the beginning.

To be honest, I would have preferred a slightly simpler and more flexible system, but it is not that bad, and after a little while it becomes easier to navigate through all the possibilities to make the most of the character.



Setting and storytelling
The game is pegged as "post-apocalyptic" because of some events occurring at the issue of the prologue and which I don't want to reveal. However, in my opinion, the resulting world has some post-apocalyptic features but remains quite organized and counts a number of facilities in relatively good state, so I would rather use the term "post-cataclysm" than "post-apocalypse".

The beginning of the prologue takes place in modern facilities built by the humans inside the dome, but the player soon gets the opportunity to travel between outposts and settlements, discovering other types of environments like desert wilderness, shanky towns, bunkers, and so on.


If you don't pay attention, your reputation will precede you...

The wings we mentioned earlier are not only classes for the characters, they are factions too. But it doesn't stop there; later on in the game several other factions come to existence. The player's character earns a reputation with each of those factions and with each companion; this may sometimes have significant consequences. For example, I started striking doubtful deals with the Oranges, and one of my companions told me that he was feeling uneasy about that. I didn't pay enough attention so he finally got very upset and left me on the spot. Just like that.

Without giving away too much, your adventure starts on the elevator that brings you inside the dome, where you get a comfortable introductory tutorial. It is very well done and quite fun to go through, the people you meet are usually rather caricatural of their trade, like the stiff impatient receptionist, the rookie manager who tries to organize things but ends up making a mess of it or the passionate technician eager to teach you some cool tricks.


Don't test Dean's patience

One strong point of this game is the dialogs. Each NPC can be talked to, and many of them have a definite personality and multiple dialog paths that are often very enjoyable. Some lines are only available to some factions, or with specific abilities, but I frequently found several alternative ways to solve any given problem. It is one of these games where you can either fight or talk your way out of a difficult situation, although the choice may depend on your stats.

Many NPCs also help the player puzzle out the situation, by explaining what they know on the history of the dome, how CRONUS - that company founded by the world's most powerful governments and which is in charge of the exploitation of the dome, is organized and really ticks.

Now and then an event or a situation is presented as a series of slides with options, usually to emphasize the narrative or to illustrate it with stylized images. It is very reminiscent of the "story book" presentation we find in other CPRGs like Pathfinder and Pillars of Eternity.


Narrative has several formats, here the "slide presentation"

General presentation
My overall impression of the presentation is very positive. The graphics are pretty good, it is possible to pan and rotate the camera, and zoom in and out enough to get a good view of the surroundings or see enough details. The game uses the traditional 3D down view at a constant angle (still often called "isometric"), with upper floors disappearing so your characters are always visible. The animations are fluid and I haven't encountered any performance problem, even when I was running the game on my old computer (i7 4770K at 3.5 GHz, GTX 980 Ti). The only reproach I could make regarding the graphics is the drab and brownish style of the UI elements. It is very 70's in a way, and this is a common trait of many post-apocalyptic games, so maybe it's unfair to criticize this choice of colours.


Graphics are pretty good

The music is OK, if a bit dull in some areas; it isn't really that memorable to be honest. I usually turn it quite low in games so that doesn't bother me. The sound effects, on the other hand, are convincing and give a good feedback. There is little to no voice acting in the current version so I cannot comment on that.

The interface is usually fine, at the exception of the companions. It is not possible to control them much, not even to ask them to stop following you for a while, so when the player has to go through a dangerous area like a mine field or radiations, the companions will very likely get hurt and there is no avoiding it except sending them away. I also find them very annoying in small areas, where they tend to move in your way all the time, causing your character to stop, or blocking the path to objects or containers you want to check. I mentioned that on Discord and the developers told me this would be improved and that the player would have more control over the companions in the final release.

Likewise, it is not possible to switch to another character from the inventory or the character sheet, the UI currently lacks flexibility and is a bit confusing, but that has already been improved and I saw a video showing that most of those issues were solved. They are minor points though, and I'm mostly pointing them out to illustrate that the developer is listening to the feedback and addressing the issues.

Otherwise, the UI is generally well-organized, clear and readable. Rather than overcrowding it with a lot of details, the interface relies on tooltips that the user can read to get more information. This is also used in the narrative for pieces of lore, as in other games like Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder or Divinity: Original Sin 2.


Quests
Another strong point of the game is the quality of the quests. They are divided into main quests, side quests and companion quests.

The main quests in the Early Access already have many of the ingredients that make up a great game. They are quite varied, they may make you travel all over the place to acquire key items or put plans into motion, they may require you to solve puzzles, explore a distant outpost to assess the situation and maybe resolve unexpected issues. Sometimes you receive a first general list of tasks, for which you have to meet other NPCs who know more about specific points and give you further tasks to address them. And while some NPCs are dead serious, others are completely out there and must be dealt with accordingly. It's certainly not boring!

Side quests are usually interesting and very varied too, they are about NPCs you encounter in the course of a main quest, and who have their own problems or agenda. Sometimes taking a side quest has an impact on the reputation, sometimes the way you solve the quest has an impact too. I found fewer companion quests but there are a few areas I haven't explored yet, and Dark Crystal Games is still adding content. In one case I had a companion for the short duration of their own quest, after which we parted ways, which was unexpected. So we may see a few surprises there too.

I haven't seen timed quest, except when I started a quick new game for the sake of this preview. There, I noticed a time indication for the "Newcomer to Concord" 101 quest, as you can witness in the screenshot below. That was new to me and made me wonder if timed quests would make their appearance in the final game, but they said it wouldn't be the case. Some quests require to meet someone at a more or less precise time of the day, or to wait for a while before it can proceed further, so time is a component of the game - and by the way, there is a day/night cycle in the game! Some abilities depend on it, giving you more advantage during the day or the night.


The quest log: weird choice of colours, but very practical

The quest journal does its job well, reminding you of the minimum information relevant to the tasks at hand. It also keeps track of email messages - very few at the moment, and a codex keeps the names of the important encounters, and the artefacts you have discovered.

Another good surprise is that there are no quest pointers in this game, not on the local map, not on the world map, and of course not in the isometric view either. In some rare cases, the NPC marks down a location on the map, but that's it. It didn't make the game any harder, though a few times I had to look for someone at different places. Usually the NPCs don't move much, so it is hardly a problem.


The pointer-free world map (very early in the game to avoid spoilers)

Inventory, bartering and crafting
I will only mention that there is currently a per-character inventory, but it will change to a shared inventory in the final version. It quickly becomes encumbered and unless the main character has a high strength, items have to be sorted out regularly. I'm wondering how they will proceed with the shared inventory, perhaps with shared statistics as well? What if a companion leaves, will we have to drop items? Wait and see.

Several types of crafting are implemented, for food, ammo, DIY items and so on. They are enabled by using the corresponding workbench; you can find them at multiple locations in the dome.


Your typical messy inventory

Each NPC can be bartered with, though many of them don't have any money so you have to spot the interesting NPCs to sell looted items, and those who have interesting gear or items that may help with the quests. Overall, it is well balanced, the player can get adequate equipment and I didn't feel like having too much or too little money.



Combat

Combat is turn-based with Action Points

Combat is another important element of the game. It is turn-based with action points (AP); the player plays the main character and the companions, if any is present in the party. AP can be used to move, shoot, strike, reload weapons, go through the inventory, or perform other abilities like healing. The remaining AP can also be used to boost the character's defence in preparation for the enemy's actions, or they can be partially saved for the next turn.

There are many different weapons, each often having several marks (or versions). Sometimes they can be upgraded by crafting, and must be maintained to avoid frequent jamming, although I haven't had any problem so far. They are several categories that come with corresponding abilities: melee, light weapons, heavy weapons and high-tech, but characters can also use hand-to-hand combat.

I will not go into further details, but there is more to say on combat and it is a well-developed feature in this game. Yet it is often possible to avoid it and defusing awkward situations with a little diplomacy, provided you have the necessary abilities. Be aware that if you build the ultimate fighter, you will not have enough points left to develop much in terms of soft skills, but since it is clearly not your objective, it shouldn't matter much.

Finally, you can select the game difficulty level, this helps with the combat but also with other constraints like the maximum carry weight and so on. You can change that during the game, which is a nice touch.


Will you chicken out of this one?

Game Status
They are still adding content to the game, tuning and polishing it, so we should expect many changes in the final version, including voice acting. At the moment, and because of this new partnership in fact, they are very shy about giving a status update and any definite release date. The new partnership announcement and the postponement got them quite some criticism, which also explains their reluctance to commit to any target date just yet. This criticism by fans who are getting impatient is the main reason why the recent review scores are pretty bad on Steam, it has nothing to do with the game itself; actually, the all-time score average is very positive.


This game passed the ultimate RPG test. Functional lavatory: check!

There won't be any game update until the final release, and from all the bits of news and discussions on Steam and Discord, I have little doubt that they are very close to finishing the content, and that it will be a very good indie game. The current state of the EA is quite good, there are a few bugs and the UI is not perfect, but nothing serious, this is already in better shape than other "finished" games.



Conclusion
This game came as a very pleasant surprise! I had heard very little about them before, and they don't release a lot of news so there is less transparency than some EA games like Solasta, but it's about on par with Baldur's Gate 3 in terms of updates and news.

This is a Russian developer, and the community is more active on Discord in the Russian-speaking channels, the international ones are quieter. They answer to questions though, both there and in the Steam forums, I would even say that so far they have been quite responsive, which is always a good sign.


The game is pretty solid and I was impressed by the amount of dialogs, even if they are not pages-long they still give a lot of spoken and narrative content, and often provide the player with many choices. To me they just hit the soft spot. I was also favourably impressed by the quests and the flexibility to approach the problems. I don't know yet whether the main quests will feature heavy choices and consequences, or multiple endings, but given the small size of the team, the budget and the fact this will be voice-acted, I would say that it is unlikely. Regardless, there is enough replay value thanks to the amount of abilities, perks and the different ways to go through dialogs and solve quests.

The graphics, the sounds, the animation and the game mechanics are very good and stable. Playing the game quickly gives the reassuring impression that it has been made by professionals.

On the side of issues worth keeping an eye on, there were a few awkward decisions in the UI implementation and the lack of control over the companions, but they are being addressed. Another concern is the remaining content, which will only be released in the final game and will not benefit from the same level of scrutiny than the EA content. Added to the pressure to release a first game, the extra features and the new publisher, we have to hope they don't rush it without proper testing and fixing.

If I had to name a game similar to Encased, I would say it feels a little bit like a more ambitious Atom RPG, in more polished, less harsh in difficulty and without the desperate atmosphere - the "post-cataclysm" vs "post-apocalypse" nuance mentioned earlier. I didn't go very far in Atom RPG so don't take my word as gospel, it's just an impression and I'd be curious to read other opinions.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Posting from the watch now? Will you stop debasing yourself thus?

 

[Savecummer]

full swing kick into the balls would have been funnier and more impactful

 

[Infinitron]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/921800/announcements/detail/3092259257867926795

Recent Findings under the Dome
CRONUS WEEKLY

Dear subscribers! Once again, the latest issue of the post-apocalyptic CRONUS Weekly is on your screens. Can anyone hear us?

This week our reporters visited the most secluded corners under the Dome and wrote about the most unusual finds. You'll find out how Maelstrom followers have fun, what kinds of servoshell armor you can still find under the Dome, and where you definitely shouldn't go.

Church Slot Machines

What can be better than the rest after a productive day? Of course, an evening at the slot machines, where everyone can double or even triple their money! The winnings are handed out by the attentive staff of the church. They know exactly how much you’re owed. If you come without money, you can always borrow it from the church. The main thing is to not forget to return the money, because the church does not tolerate thieves and debtors.

Servoshell Armor

Servoshell armor is one of the major achievements of the destroyed CRONUS Corporation. Variants of this heavy armor have protected almost every settlement under the Dome to this day. Which of those four variants would you use?

Forgotten Hospital

Who would have thought there was an abandoned hospital hiding in the wasteland? Our journalists immediately visited the new place.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the hospital was crawling with all kinds of mutants, who had been given incredible powers by the Maelstrom. The journalists barely managed to escape. We do not recommend going on a scouting trip without proper preparation, no matter how much the medicine beckons you.

 

[Savecummer]

steamtard ea shiteaters are crying lol i luv it

 

[fantadomat]

Hmmm those reviews are written by retards,there is no two opinions on it. But they have a valid point. They had sold the game on certain promises,now they are adding new shit to develop,things that people didn't pay for and some most likely don't want. It feels like fucking starcitizen at this point. But yeah,buying an EA is for retards,it is on the person that give the money.

 

[Rafidur]

,buying an EA is for retards

I bought Siralim Ultimate and it felt okay for the price, but that's more of a complete game called "EA" so kind of a weird case.

 

[StaticSpine]

 

[Wunderbar]

Romance-loving Biodrones BTFO

 

[StaticSpine]

The guys from Dark Crystal (the devs) also had a side gig publishing company Black Tower https://blacktower.ru/

And on Encased forums on Steam, I found out all of the games published by Black Tower (Hazardous Space, Sin Slayers, Against the Moon) were removed from the store No idea what's going on.

 

[Savecummer]

well they just pushed a milestone for koch media so it seems to be tugging along

 

[Infinitron]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/921800/announcements/detail/4706800454258479816

New Residents of the Dome
CRONUS WEEKLY

Dear subscribers! Once again, the latest issue of the post-apocalyptic CRONUS Weekly is on your screens. Can anyone hear us?

This week we escaped one of the most dangerous creatures under the Dome, found one of the forgotten warehouses with a batch of brand new Cronus jackets, and also found a great place to fish!

Devourer

When it seemed that humanity had seen all horrors of the Dome, something unimaginable fell into the lens of our crew. A black obelisk, covered on all sides with human bodies. It seemed that this living mass wanted to say something, but all that could be heard were moans and illegible screams. Our journalist did not try his luck and ran away. Who knows, perhaps under the Dome there are still brave men left, who're ready to approach this nightmare.

Cronus Jacket

Incredible luck smiled on travelers and fans of stylish equipment. In the wastelands under the Dome, a forgotten warehouse filled with brand new CRONUS leather jackets has been found. Now every traveler can buy one of those from many shops throughout the Dome. Stock up on combonds, people!

Perfect place to fish

This past weekend, our editorial staff traveled extensively and found a true paradise under the Dome. Rocky coastline, relatively clear water, and no mutants or animals to disturb your vacation. We even kindly left a set of fishing gear here in case any of our readers happen to be there. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to catch not only fish for dinner, but also a useful artifact.

 

[Savecummer]

 

[Abu Antar]