Game News Iron Tower's next game is Heralds of the Third Apocalypse, a Lovecraftian bronze age tactical RPG

[Oreshnik Missile]

Will it be ruined by gratuitous 3D + dogshit camera like ITS' other games?

 

[Ibn Sina]

Is this a new setting or using existing AoD setting vance? If its a new setting and it does good, can we expect a full RPG in that setting in the future?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Is this a new setting or using existing AoD setting vance? If its a new setting and it does good, can we expect a full RPG in that setting in the future?

New setting. What if it does well enough to put a full-scale RPG back on the table? Let's not jump that far ahead.

 

[Jaedar]

Hmm, combination bronze age + lovecraftian seems weird to me. I believe ITS will make it interesting, but it seems like a nonbo. Lovecraft was about undoing the fragile hubris of modernity by showing how little we know, and how tiny we are. Not sure this works in a setting where most people can't even read. Like, you run into a shoggoth and all you can say is "wow, people from out of town sure are weird. Oh well, back to farming the fields". Teaser logo looks sick though.

 

[0sacred]

Hmm, combination bronze age + lovecraftian seems weird to me. I believe ITS will make it interesting, but it seems like a nonbo. Lovecraft was about undoing the fragile hubris of modernity by showing how little we know, and how tiny we are. Not sure this works in a setting where most people can't even read. Like, you run into a shoggoth and all you can say is "wow, people from out of town sure are weird. Oh well, back to farming the fields". Teaser logo looks sick though.

people in a bronze age civilization would have a pretty good idea of how their more immediate surroundings look and what goes there and should be able to place an eldritch horror as something unusual...

 

[Ibn Sina]

Hmm, combination bronze age + lovecraftian seems weird to me. I believe ITS will make it interesting, but it seems like a nonbo. Lovecraft was about undoing the fragile hubris of modernity by showing how little we know, and how tiny we are. Not sure this works in a setting where most people can't even read. Like, you run into a shoggoth and all you can say is "wow, people from out of town sure are weird. Oh well, back to farming the fields". Teaser logo looks sick though.

You raise a good point. Lovecraftian only works when you realize the technology you wield is nothing compared to Eldritch entities. That is why most of the best lovecraftian settings is in the 1930-1940s imo, because that was the age when papers reported on new technology and inventions being discovered everyday and man thought he was invincible.

How will this work in Bronze age setting when a medium size bobcat can kill you with ease on your way home from the water well.

 

[Old One]

Bronze Age plus Lovecraftian made me think it could be about the Qantari.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

Lovecraftian means cheap cop out aimed at people who don't know better, essentially an indie cash grab. Wow.

I agree with you this time.

Everybody knows what they would like to see in a Lovecraft game and it is not this.

I may start on it after EAT THE BUGS but I will have to finish my 2D ISO Fallout clone.

 

[Zeriel]

Bronze Age plus Lovecraftian made me think it could be about the Qantari.

For whatever reason, Iron Tower seems determined to not use the setting of their best game. Oh well. I guess you can't control what the heart wants.

 

[Skinwalker]

Like, you run into a shoggoth and all you can say is "wow, people from out of town sure are weird. Oh well, back to farming the fields".

Yea, ancient people wouldn't be horrified and maddened by abominations like these

, coz they CoUlDnT rrEaD (

)

 

[TheDarkUrge]

Looks cool. AoD was fun but the magic was hidden and you didnt realize it was even real until late in the game, this sounds like they'll make the world a lot weirder up front and allow for more fuckery. Good luck Vince and company

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

imagine how good it would be with tokens

Tokens designed by esteemed RPG developers:

 

[luj1]

Lovecraftian means cheap cop out aimed at people who don't know better, essentially an indie cash grab.

I agree with you this time.

Everybody knows what they would like to see in a Lovecraft game and it is not this.

Let me add that none of the recent games marketed as 'Lovecraftian' are really Lovecraftian.

Interestingly, certain titles which have nothing directly to do with Lovecraft, are way more Lovecraftian. It's not about namedropping.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Hmm, combination bronze age + lovecraftian seems weird to me. I believe ITS will make it interesting, but it seems like a nonbo. Lovecraft was about undoing the fragile hubris of modernity by showing how little we know, and how tiny we are. Not sure this works in a setting where most people can't even read. Like, you run into a shoggoth and all you can say is "wow, people from out of town sure are weird. Oh well, back to farming the fields". Teaser logo looks sick though.

It's not that unusual combination.
Original writer of Conan, Robert E. Howard had some correspondence with Lovercraft and there was some Cthulhu-mythos incorporated into his stories.

 

[Serious_Business]

Looking forward to it. I appreciate the change in direction, even it is made out of necessity. Creativity is driven by lack of means, you know how it is.

This forum will be useless as a source of feedback I suspect. Not only it has no serious taste for tactical games, but it really went down the toilet. I don't mean this in the traditionnal sense - going down the toilet for 20 years - I mean that the design discussion is very thin here these days. I'm not even sure half of the members that constantly complain know exactly why they do so, it's just some kind of itch they have to satisfy. And of course the the tentacles are going to be seen as woke somehow.

 

[luj1]

This forum will be useless as a source of feedback I suspect

It will be, because VD asks for feedback then ignores it (everyone warned him about the interface, etc.)

And of course the the tentacles are going to be seen as woke somehow.

They won't be seen as woke. But they will be seen as a parody of Lovecraft.

 

[Fenix]

Original writer of Conan, Robert E. Howard had some correspondence with Lovercraft and there was some Cthulhu-mythos incorporated into his stories.

Haven't read much of original Howard's Conan, but Beyond the Black River is what I remember today (some lovecraftian vibes?), unlike Scarlet Citadel which is meh imo.

 

[Fenix]

There were a lot a surprised recently - gothic's authors come back with crawler, underrail's hacking, but this...
when I heard of this, my heath warmed a bit, even in this wretched world, even today. Well, yesterday.
If I'll be fine I'll support it, for now I have like 5$ per day week for food so...
I'm glad to see such comeback, no matter what.

 

[Mortmal]

Procedurally generated quests ?
"Sounds cool, too bad it sucks. The shortcomings of this greatly overhyped feature have already been explored to death, so there is no need to waste words documenting them. If you want to know how bad it is, read this Radiant AI overview and watch this famous "dinner party" video. Yes, it's THAT bad."

In 2006, VD was just a fledgling Oblivion reviewer. Now, in 2025, he's a game designer. What can change the nature of a man?

 

[Jinn]

Procedurally generated quests might be alright for minor side content, but at the very least major quests should be handcrafted. I prefer no procedurally generated content in any of my games, but I see how it's kind of necessary to a game like this.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Procedurally generated quests ?
"Sounds cool, too bad it sucks. The shortcomings of this greatly overhyped feature have already been explored to death, so there is no need to waste words documenting them. If you want to know how bad it is, read this Radiant AI overview and watch this famous "dinner party" video. Yes, it's THAT bad."

In 2006, VD was just a fledgling Oblivion reviewer. Now, in 2025, he's a game designer. What can change the nature of a man?

The quote was about the Radiant AI, not procedurally generated quests. Daggerfall's always been on my top 10 list and most of the quests were procedurally generated.

Plus as stated several times, including this thread, "Our inspiration is Battle Brothers, and while we aren't going to copy it blindly, procedurally generated quests are part of its design core." Without these quests, BB wouldn't have half of its appeal.

 

[Alienman]

The logo for the new game reminds of the excellent Mayan horror movie, The Ruins.

Anyway, I hope you guys make this project.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

Without these quests, BB wouldn't have half of its appeal.

Well that is pretty unfair characterization, "without these quests" instead of what? Fully hand made uniquely designed branching story experience or just no quests at all and you roam the map aimlessly?

Procedurally generated quests are OK tool to use in a well designed game, but you have to use it in games that have open world design as a core part of the gameplay or dedicate most of your time to design the quests themselves to not feel like absolute trash and that kind of make it pointless for a game that is not open world. Space games or management type games can use procedurally generated quests with great success and they don't even have to be decent.

 

[luj1]

"this time we are doing BB"

as long as you are chasing gimmicks so desperately, you will always be mediocre

 

[Beans00]

Setting sounds interesting but after how awful colony ship was.


Lets just say I'll wait to get it in the gift thread. Lol.