Indie Passageway of the Ancients - Baldur's Gate-Like RPG with Dual-Persona Character Development

[cyborgboy95]

https://www.passagewaygames.com

ABOUT THIS GAME​

Inspired by classic CRPGs from the late ‘80s and ‘90s, Passageway of the Ancients transports players to the world of Aieryon – the galaxy’s sole remaining magical planet – where they explore the city of Ithgar to solve their parents’ murder, all the while hiding their Dragonkindt nature... An atmospheric RPG with visceral combat and complex lore, Passageway of the Ancients is being developed by Passageway Games – a three-person studio in Abilene, Texas founded by septuagenarians Jon Grierson and John Hendrick.

Story & Gameplay​

In Passageway of the Ancients, you’ll need to not only survive ever deadlier skirmishes but also manage your party, develop and customize your character, pick locks, and solve Runic puzzles. The game’s innovative battle system employs both strategy and real-time combat – taking inspiration from historical weapons and tactics. Furthermore, the player has dual personas – a hidden Dragonkindt and a public-facing race of their choosing (Dwarf, Elf, Human) – which must be leveled up at the same time.

Dragonkindt

“Part angelic being, part shapeshifter, and part Dragon. These creatures were thought to be merely the phantasms of some eastern poetic genius, inspired prophet, or demented scholar.”

Key Features​

Blended Combat System: Use both strategy and real-time elements – drawing on real medieval weapons and tactics.

Dual-Persona Character Development: Develop your character’s two personas simultaneously – the hidden Dragonkindt, and a public-facing race of your choosing.

Powerful Magical Items: Equip items carefully; they affect intelligence, will, and other character attributes.

Complex Decision Trees: Manage battle spoils, solve puzzles, adjust the frequency of special activities, choose interactions, and gather clues.

Fully Customizable Characters: Choose your character’s alternate persona, appearance, and gender as Dwarf, Elf, or Human.

 

[Bester]

Remember the lock picking minigame in baldur's gate and the 80s games? Oh man, classic!

 

[Infinitron]

The creators are two Texan men in their 70s. That's certainly a thing.

https://www.passagewaygames.com/game-development-back-story/

Game Development Backstory​

I have always been passionate about RPGs with deep stories. When I wasn’t acquiring degrees or working as an R&D software engineer, I was involved in playing and creating various types of fantasy role-playing adventures for more than 50 years.

My loyal crew of role-playing adventure gamers would studiously read obscure texts, such as the Hermetica by Hermes Trismegistus. Many an hour was spent developing a magical spell system that adhered to our thoughts on how a magical system should function – both physically and philosophically. Alongside researching medieval magic, we would pore over reports that detailed how medieval weapons and armor functioned – as well as how they were employed in battle.

When I wasn’t knee-deep in studying medieval magic and combat, I developed my storytelling skills by taking on the role of Dungeon Master in tabletop RPG adventure games. I learned very early on as a DM that if I wanted to keep players engaged and satisfied, I had to create a vast world for players to explore.

From these early experiments, I developed a complex lore and fable system that form the basis of novels, which will accompany or follow Passageway of the Ancients and additional titles in the planned series. Having played every major RPG title I could get my hands on – such as the Ultima and Diablo series, and countless other offerings – and with my intimate RPG experience, I’m excited to be working with the rest of the Passageway Games team to create an epic RPG unlike any other!

 

[Krivol]

This... looks beautiful.

Sadly I am depressed with current gaming and don't believe in pretty things (I did not touch JA3 nor BG3 even IK am a big fan of both series for eg.), so this one will be on my list until I see it's worth more than 2zł (it's more or less price of a candy bar).

 

[Kedar]

Reminds me of Hero-U, another game made by a couple in their 70s. Except this one is uglier but also, apparently, way more robust mechanically.

 

[Eisen]

lockpick puzzle lol

 

[d1nolore]

Looks interesting, I liked the lock mini game in Oblivion

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Aemar]

The creators are two Texan men in their 70s. That's certainly a thing.

Yes, and they can't afford wasting time on the development process like Chris Roberts and Madoc Evans.

 

[Ladonna]

I'll keep my eye on it. I enjoy trying these B list RPG's, even if some of them don't work out as well as hoped.

 

[JonG]

Krivol: Thanks for the kind comment about our game. I think you will be well pleased by our proposed price.

 

[Abu Antar]

Infinitron A developer tag is neeeded.

 

[Grauken]

The creators are two Texan men in their 70s. That's certainly a thing.

Let's hope they manage to finish the game before the grim reaper gets to them

 

[JonG]

Abu Antar: Thanks much for helping me get the appropriate tag.

 

[moleman]

Remember the lock picking minigame in baldur's gate and the 80s games? Oh man, classic!

 

[JonG]

Grauken said: Lets hope they manage to finish before the grim reaper gets them.
Rest easy the game is complete and going through the final adjustments before the demo is released in October with a full release to follow early next year.

 

[Grauken]

The only good thing about Hillsfar

 

[Atlet]

I love the art! The mechanics are quite interesting as well. And liked devs story. Day 1 purchase fosho

 

[Krivol]

Rest easy the game is complete and going through the final adjustments

I think I have heard this before...

 

[Shadenuat]

Looks pure jank like bg meets sacred. Kinda charming.

 

[JonG]

Krivol Said: I think I have heard this before...
A fair criticism all I can say is that this game is truly complete minus its final tweaks and some minor additions here and there. You'll also be very pleased with the price. Upon starting this game I was on a mission to produce a unique fantasy RPG using a minuscule team of 3 people and as few resources as possible.
This would allow us to keep a severe lid on the actual final price of the game. RPG fans would be given a complete game, with no commoditization of anything in the world, an epic story line and addictive game play all at a minuscule one time price
I felt that fantasy RPG's have been traveling too far down the trail of ever more spectacular graphics. This vector has admittedly been a narcotic for all of us that love fantasy RPGs, but it has side effects: game budgets soar along with the final price of the game while the lynch pins of story line, game mechanics and game play often suffer.
Fantasy RPGers want to immerse themselves in an alternate reality. They want to be connected to that world emotionally. intellectually, spiritually, visually and auditorily not just visually. To become real in the mind of the player you can't overwhelm him or her on the visual channel while doing just so so in many of the other channels. Our challenge was to produce a game that was viable graphically (thus keeping the cost way down) while striving for excellence in all the other channels enumerated above.
In trying to produce a game that mastered as many of these channels as possible we knew we had the story line vector aced with an unpublished novel of mine that never made it to publication due to my enrolling in graduate school at the time and lacking the personal resources to go through the lengthy process of editorial revisions. We also had game play/game mechanics under control with a singular battle mechanics system that elevates combat far beyond mere button clicking while keeping the experience fun and engaging. In short it was only the graphics that proved to be a real challenge. We chose to base our graphics on those games produced in the 80's, 90's and 2000's because of their charm and unique visual signature. This graphical style admittedly is not as spectacular as the purely modern approach but it has an appeal all its own at a fraction of the cost of the spectacular ones.

 

[Shadenuat]

Maybe if nwn1 oc had you be a great lizard agent all that time it wouldn't be so bad.

 

[Aemar]

Looks pure jank

It sort of reminds me of KotC2. And it also reminds me a bit of Stellar Tactics in its initial stages, a game that went through a serious visual overhaul over the years.

 

[Tyranicon]

Looks decent. Give the codex a ping when this comes out.

 

[Joseph King]

Will overusing the angelic reptile form result in varying story effects?

The creators are two Texan men in their 70s. That's certainly a thing.

So this is one of those boomer rpgs I keep hearing about.