Sovereign Syndicate - isometric narrative RPG set in steampunk fantasy London

[cyborgboy95]

Another #ScreenshotSaturday! This week is Dolores Chen, seamstress and proprietor of a Chinese Laundry in Red Lantern Lane. Dolores is a well-connected, cunning, and shrewd business woman who's made a name for herself in the local underground after emigrating from Hong Kong.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

>Game features Londonistan infested with subhumans and monsters.
I guess this is a simulator.

 

[Infinitron]

Keep an eye on our steam page during Gamescom 2022 our upcoming playable demo.

Sovereign Syndicate is an isometric steampunk RPG inspired by games like Baldurs Gate, Disco Elysium, Arcanum and Divinity Original Sin. The game is currently in development by Crimson Herring Studios, a Canadian developer based out of Edmonton, Alberta.

 

[flushfire]

Inspired by combat-heavy games except one yet has combat "de-emphasized"

 

[rusty_shackleford]

eventually rpgs will just be a "new game" button that just shows an end cutscene + credits, people will argue they are in fact rpgs because fallout, PST, etc., also had an end cutscene and credits.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Harthwain]

To put it short - I am not too impressed.

The game uses Disco Elysium's skills to deliver internal dialogues, but it all feels like a bland mimicry, including avatars' depictions. It's style without substance. I don't find writing to be interesting, perhaps partly because I am not a fan of the victorian language. Could be just not my style. Even so, I would say the writing is mediocre overall. And a mediocre writing in a game that relies heavily on text is a bad sign.

The mechanical side is questionable also. You gain bonuses by levelling up skills/attributes. You level up skills/attributes by picking corresponding dialogue options. Which means you're encouraged - mechanically - to pick dialogue options for the sake of skills/attributes they are correlated with, not because you are interested in what a specific option does. I don't see it as a good design. It's a bit better when attempting skill checks.

When you attempt a skill check you can add a variable by picking one of a few cards. You have a higher chance of passing a check than you'd have in Disco Elysium if you happen to draw a good card* (which you can gain by leveling up attributes) because you can get higher bonuses ion addition to having higher attribute level, but this feeds into the questionable mechanic of picking specific dialogue options to unlock upgrades for related attributes, so it's a bit of a mixed bag.

* However, I did happen to draw an upside-down black card that gave me -100, making me fail a skill check. On the upside, failing a skill check cost me Vigour (life), so like in Disco Elysium not all failed skill checks seem to be flat out failures (some failures do not net you anything though, only make you lose Vigour/health or Nerve/mana).

 

[Terenty]

Yeah...if you so blatantly lift things from another game make sure your game is better or at least on par with the source material.

The game immediately brings Disco Elysium to mind and loses in every category. What's even the point of it? Why not come up with something unique if it's obvious from the start you will not survive the comparison?

 

[HoboForEternity]

Yeah, i haven't tried the demo, but it makes sense. Compare it to sunday gold for example it's p much disco inspired but from the demo it tries things very differently in term of mechanics so it feels fresh

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Üstad]

No character creation? Seriously? Neither Arcanum and PS:Torment had good combat, we'll see how it goes for this game.

 

[The Wall]

Very few people in scenes. Feels almost like scenes exist so plot-relevant NPCs can talk to you. Needs more alive Victorian London. This better be based on historical Victorian London with all its technological advancements, old world superstions and social mores merged with fantastical. That's the premise, that should be delivery. Noone wants yet another Netflix production

 

[HoboForEternity]

not too promising tbh. the writing doesn't hold a candle to disco, it seems just like a blatant copy to the point how the skills portrait are drawn are like less talented artist try copying disco's style. presentation is is very drab and the "combat" in the demo is just not fun. that's why, and why it's good disco doesn't have combat.

probably a bargain bin title.

 

[HoboForEternity]

overall thought from the demo:
+ tarot cards are p cool
+ atmosphere is good
+ the quests are pretty interesting as it's mostly based on investigations

- writing doesn't hold a candle to disco. i understand writing is hard, especially with a good prose. i think a compact writing will do better for this game. invest in an editor if you can, or make few passes yourself to reduce the bloat. don't try to be dickens. disco works because it has extraordinary writing team. if you don't have the extraordinary, stick with simple and what works. it's subjective, of course, just for me because of the expectation of what the game is inspired by, sovereign syndicate's writing doesn't really do anything for me.

- "combat" encounter in the sewer against that skinny guy isn't interesting at all. why disco's "combat" work is they're all a very scripted interaction that can go anywhere unexpected. they are a very rare happenings and they're all over in an instant. either you succeed, and shorten your goal, or you failed an something interesting/hilarious happened. in sovereign syndicate, you just trade blows either until you die or you successfully make a check. i like that the girl helped you by stabbing the bloke from behind, but it's the failure state that's just not interesting in that particular moment.

if you want to make that particular encounter interesting, ditch the "traditional" combat flow, where you just try rolling the dice until you succeed. makes it a lethal situation where if you fail your check you are dead or your progress immediately impeded. just like real life. if you get into a knife fight, with both parties armed, it'll be over quick and will end up with one of you dead or severely wounded.

or

just create an actual combat system instead of "combat" from dialogue prompt which i think is really boring.

i ended up writing a short feedback to the devs, which honestly i don't think it would go anywhere but eh, maybe it'll get read and they will consider it depending on how much they've done with the game.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Infinitron]

Uploaded to YouTube:

 

[Infinitron]

Isaac and Tarmack from Crimson Herring discuss the recent playtest and Steam demo of Sovereign Syndicate, how feedback was received and actioned as well as how the demo has been performing overall.

 

[Infinitron]

$$$

Isaac discusses the various funding sources Sovereign Syndicate has received to date and our plans for the future. We've received over $1 Million in total funding and are so excited about what this means for our game.

 

[Tony]

I hope it isn't a CYOA like Disco Elysium. Games without an emphasis on combat usually have very poorly done combat and RPG systems.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Dhaze]

 

[Infinitron]

Travel troubles and other confusion, but our GamesCom experience was certainly interesting. Isaac and Tarmack give a rundown of what GamesCom is like, the events we participated in and people we got to meet.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/sovereign-syndicate-is-shaping-up-to-be-steampunk-disco-elysium/

Sovereign Syndicate is shaping up to be steampunk Disco Elysium​

"I don't want to be this kind of animal anymore," says Disco Elysium. "Want to be a minotaur then?" says Sovereign Syndicate.

As our associate editor Tyler Colp recently put it, the fate of Disco Elysium 2 is uncertain, but other games might make up for it. One such potential plug for the Disco-shaped hole in our hearts is Sovereign Syndicate, a CRPG set in an alternate Victorian London. You can tell it's an alternate reality because the menu screen shows it's got zeppelins, as all alternate realities are required to have by law. The minotaur's a bit of a giveaway as well.

While the final version of Sovereign Syndicate will have three player-characters to choose from—Clara the corsair, Otto the automaton, and Atticus the minotaur—the current demo is restricted to the minotaur. An alcoholic in a top hat, Atticus Daley is a small-time illusionist and big-time loser who begins the game in extremely Disco Elysium fashion by waking up from a bender with a head full of voices and a gut full of bad booze.

The similarities extend to the interface, which scrolls dialogue down the right-hand side of the screen as abilities like Wit and Spryness offer their opinions, each illustrated with a stark portrait. One difference is the addition of an external voice called the Crone, who the other chatterers are upset to find cohabiting your skull. The first quest in my journal is to figure out who she is and what she's up to.

More pressing matters emerge in the shape of the masked stranger who wakes me up, insists we have business, then waits for me to pull myself together. This opening scene involves meandering around a grubby London street, examining discarded junk. From a newspaper and a poster I pick up a couple more quests, one to find some missing orphans, the other a mysterious "courtesan killer". From the other garbage I pick up my handy sword cane, and some gears and cogs I'll be able to sell later, immediately reminding me of all those bottles I recycled in Martinaise.

One exit from this street is blocked by an electrified fence, beyond which is the Werewolf Containment Zone. I can't remember the last time three words made my imagination feel so fizzy, but tragically the Werewolf Containment Zone is beyond the scope of this demo. Instead, we move on to the Red Lotus, an opium den where I'm a regular customer.

Things can go a couple of different ways here, depending on whether I cast an illusion to make myself look a little more human, or stay bull-shaped and force a confrontation with the bigoted centaur behind the front bar. Attempting skill checks, like the one to cast an illusion, costs Nerve. That's a resource lost whether you pass or fail, based not on dice, but drawing tarot cards face down then choosing one to flip. Each of the four suits relates to one of your four abilities, and while the rules aren't clearly explained, I muddle through just fine.

Picking dialogue responses and making decisions flagged with abilities gives you points in the bodily humor(opens in new tab) linked to each one. Animal Instinct is yellow bile for instance, while Self Discipline is phlegm. They're the equivalent of experience points, with every 10 letting you choose to either increase that ability by a point, increase one of the skills related to it by three points, or take a card from the major arcana that has some kind of special bonus.

One major arcana card I earn highlights whichever facedown card I draw during a skill check has the lowest number, while another gives me back three Nerve points every time I flip a face card. It's a flavorful idea, as is the character sheet styled after a phrenology exam—though given my bull's head, it also looks kind of like a diagram for cuts of meat.

Successfully hiding my horns makes the next interaction easy, but on a replay I try dealing with this bouncer the hard way. Confrontations are shown as comic strips, each panel a separate step, whether it's an attempt to bribe your way out of trouble or rapping someone on the chin with the pommel of your cane-sword. The black-and-white pictures are another flavorful touch, like old-timey newspaper illustrations or some of Kevin O'Neill's art for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. These blow-by-blow comics get in the way of the story less than another combat system full of range penalties and movement modifiers would.

Sovereign Syndicate's demo covers a few more interactions inside the Red Lotus, then wraps up. It's clearly got a long way to go, with a suggested release window of "holiday 2024(opens in new tab)." Right now there's no way to move the camera, and the ending's pretty abrupt. It remains pretty high on my list of anticipated games, not out of any particular interest in steampunk—never a big fan of Arcanum, I'm afraid—but because I'd love to see more wordy, Disco-like CRPGs that emphasize story, and squeeze in characterful oddities like the Werewolf Containment Zone. You can try the demo for yourself on Steam(opens in new tab).

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1674920/announcements/detail/3647390066625626106

Fully Funded! What’s Next?
Hi Everyone!

It’s been a busy few months here at Crimson Herring and I wanted to take some time to share everything we’ve been working on.

In our last update I shared a lot about our recent playtest, our Steam demo, and what it was like to participate in Gamescom. About the same time, we had a major funding announcement and I’d like to share more about what this means for our studio and Sovereign Syndicate.

We’ve recently received a generous investment from the Canada Media Fund that will allow us to complete work on Sovereign Syndicate and make it the best game we can. It’s been a huge relief for us to have consistent and dependable funding to allow the team to focus on delivering the game without distractions or interruptions.

While this was exciting news, we also had some technical debt and unanswered questions about the game that we needed to address before we could proceed in earnest.

To that end, we’ve spent the last few months answering these questions and solving some technical issues to allow us to spend 2023 fully focused on production; with aim to deliver Sovereign Syndicate for PC release in Q1 of 2024.

I’m excited to share these latest developments with you in upcoming playtests and a relaunch of our demo; but here’s a sneak peek at some of the things we’ve been working on:

• Improved player onboarding experience to help players understand the user interface, tarot card, and character development systems more easily
• Improved UI with some thought and preparation for future controller support and console release
• Support for localization
• Upgrade to Unity Universal Render Pipeline (URP) making the game more performant and increasing graphic fidelity
• Implemented new narrative tools to improve organization, speed narrative pipeline, and prepare for localization
• Improved level design and asset optimization, improving performance and adding NPC’s and more interactable items to various scenes
• Growing the team to facilitate additional content production

With these new tools and systems in place I’ve been pleased with the quality and speed of new content generation to meet our production deadlines.

In future updates I’ll be sharing our development roadmap, planned marketing activities and conference attendance, and information about future playtests and other opportunities to get involved with our community.

Thanks again for all your support, as always you can join us over on Discord or subscribe to our mailing list to keep up to date on all the latest developments.

 

[The Wall]

West is incapable of making good RPG or making sure trains transporting nuclear fuel NOT explode. It will be shit.TM, just like modern West is