EXODUS - Sci-Fi Action-Adventure RPG with Time Dilation from James Ohlen's Archetype Entertainment

[Bakir]

A washed up has-been developer is trying desperately to relive his glory days. Next!

He was offered a blank check which basically forced him out of retirement but I get you.

 

[Abu Antar]

This and Dawnwalker are my most anticipated RPGs but I have to say,
their marketing strategy is beyond abysmal. None of my friends have any interest in this.

Who cares about novel length books and big chunks of lore dumps if you can’t capture the market’s interest?

I’d love to see it succeed but please someone let them know how terrible of a job they’re doing at marketing.

Is it also safe to assume the game is not a 2025 release?

Friends with good taste. What has been shown so far didn't exactly look awe inspiring.

 

[Yosharian]

A washed up has-been developer is trying desperately to relive his glory days. Next!

He was offered a blank check which basically forced him out of retirement but I get you.

This time the game will be great!

 

[Camel]

This and Dawnwalker are my most anticipated RPGs but I have to say,
their marketing strategy is beyond abysmal. None of my friends have any interest in this.

Who cares about novel length books and big chunks of lore dumps if you can’t capture the market’s interest?

I’d love to see it succeed but please someone let them know how terrible of a job they’re doing at marketing.

Is it also safe to assume the game is not a 2025 release?

I don't think James Ohlen and Drew Karpyshyn are great devs to justify your trust. Don't really know anything about CDPR has beens who are making Blood of Dawnwalker.

This time the game will be great!

Does it count if it's not BioWare itself, just their has beens?

 

[Roguey]

Karpyshyn's slop but Ohlen has a great track record if you love classic Bioware: BG, BG2, NWN (asterisk on this one), TOR. Though he's ultimately only as good as his team.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

WotC owns a bazillion neglected IPs like D&D settings and so on, but they decide to throw millions inventing another as a vanity project for one guy? Fuck off. Hasbro should be liquidated and their IPs put in public domain.

 

[Harthwain]

WotC owns a bazillion neglected IPs like D&D settings and so on, but they decide to throw millions inventing another as a vanity project for one guy? Fuck off. Hasbro should be liquidated and their IPs put in public domain.

I'd rather see what a guy with a dream can accomplish than making yet another DnD game. Gameplay-wise I hope it will be less Mass Effect and more Remnant 2 (because Remnant 2 had a lot of build porn in it, which really allowed you to play in different ways).

Not that I have high hopes for what seems to be another Mass Effect (it is better to keep your expectations low), but at least it seems visually more interesting than most sci-fi games out there. And after Remnant 2 I think 3rd person shooters with melee can have potential if done properly. Maybe someone else will realize that having the ability to make different builds is a lot of fun (as it was in Remnant 2).

 

[Riddler]

This and Dawnwalker are my most anticipated RPGs but I have to say,
their marketing strategy is beyond abysmal. None of my friends have any interest in this.

Who cares about novel length books and big chunks of lore dumps if you can’t capture the market’s interest?

I’d love to see it succeed but please someone let them know how terrible of a job they’re doing at marketing.

Is it also safe to assume the game is not a 2025 release?

Hamilton is pretty good writer and the book was allegedly one of his better. Granted, it's a duology and how well the series will be perceived hinges a good deal on the conclusion.

This of course doesn't mean the game has to be good but this is not your regular crappy tie in novel shit.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

I'd rather see what a guy with a dream can accomplish than making yet another DnD game.

Agreed, but not all D&D settings are generic interchangeable Tolkien ripoffs. There’s Dark Sun, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Planescape… the same company also created various historical, modern, future and alternate history settings like Gamma World, Urban Arcana, Star*Drive, Dark•Matter, Agents of PSI, Bug Hunters, Thunderball Rally, etc. Hasbro has a lot of rpg IPs they’re just sitting on for decades and I don’t see anybody else making anything similar. Copyright law is effing stupid

 

[Roguey]

Hasbro has a lot of rpg IPs they’re just sitting on for decades and I don’t see anybody else making anything similar. Copyright law is effing stupid

The market decided it wanted Forgotten Realms.

 

[scytheavatar]

Hasbro has a lot of rpg IPs they’re just sitting on for decades and I don’t see anybody else making anything similar. Copyright law is effing stupid

The market decided it wanted Forgotten Realms.

The market decided it wanted generic interchangeable Tolkien ripoffs. A Dragonlance CRPG has the potential to do very well if it is made by competent people. Erotic stuff like Spelljammer/Planescape/Dark Sun are just too "good" and too risky to make video games for.

That said I do suspect something like a Curse of Strahd CRPG is low risk and has the chance to be very successful. If I am in charge at WOTC I would demand any studio that wants to make a Baldur's Gate 4 to make a Curse of Strahd CRPG first to prove they can be given the job.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Erotic stuff like Spelljammer/Planescape/Dark Sun are just too "good" and too risky to make video games for.

They did adapt video games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelljammer:_Pirates_of_Realmspace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Sun:_Shattered_Lands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment
These were all well received, except Spelljammer due to numerous game breaking bugs.

 

[Yosharian]

Erotic stuff like Spelljammer/Planescape/Dark Sun

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Erotic stuff like Spelljammer/Planescape/Dark Sun are just too "good" and too risky to make video games for.

They did adapt video games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelljammer:_Pirates_of_Realmspace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Sun:_Shattered_Lands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape:_Torment
These were all well received, except Spelljammer due to numerous game breaking bugs.

Although the two Dark Sun games and Planescape: Torment could be described as "well-received", they certainly sold far less than if equivalent games had been created for a conventional fantasy setting, such as Greyhawk, the Known World / Mystara, Dragonlance, or the Forgotten Realms. It's a sad and unfortunate fact that the audience for unconventional fantasy settings is relatively meager.

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

It's a sad and unfortunate fact that the audience for unconventional fantasy settings is relatively meager.

The audience for *anything* unconventional is relatively meagre. If something has a substantial audience that makes it conventional, almost by definition.

 

[coldcrow]

It's a result of the standard IQ-distribution curve. While it doesn't fit for all cases, it explains the vast majority of them.
Games produced for gamers with an IQ of 90-110 sell the most, considering all other factors being equal.