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The Hand of Merlin - turn-based Arthurian/cosmic horror roguelite RPG

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://versusevil.com/the-hand-of-merlin/




https://af.gog.com/game/the_hand_of_merlin?as=1649904300



Developed by Room C Games, published by Croteam as their incubator initiative. Originally called "Guardians of Erda".

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There are as many worlds as there are stars in the sky. In each stands Camelot; in each there is a Grail. But there is only one Merlin, and his eternal burden is to stand against the horror from beyond. Each world that is saved is saved forever; each world that is lost is lost for good.

The Hand of Merlin is a turn-based rogue-lite RPG in which Arthurian legend clashes with cosmic horror. Recruit a company of up to four mortal heroes and guide them in spirit on a desperate journey from Albion to Jerusalem. Explore a richly-imagined medieval setting on the brink of apocalypse. Trade with merchants, improve your heroes, and unearth ancient relics. Search for the lost fragments of your soul, scattered across the multiverse - and save as many worlds as you can.

KEY FEATURES:
A Roguelike Experience
Carve a path across the lands of Albion, Marca Hispanica and Al-Andalus. Will you take a dangerous route, risking life and limb in pursuit of a legendary relic? Or will you choose a safer path? Plan and prepare. Negotiate, barter, fight. Tackle challenges. Suffer losses. Recruit new Heroes. Earn Gold, Supplies and Renown. Be careful: your choices are permanent, as is death. But don't tarry - evil never rests.

Tactical Turn-Based Combat
Master the tactics of squad-based and turn-based combat to conquer both human and demonic foes. Your enemies will be tough and ruthless; make use of high ground and cover, set up ambushes and coordinated attacks, harness synergies between different Hero classes and skills.

Non-Linear Narrative
Enjoy a compelling story inspired by Arthurian legend, the Matter of France, and the history of Al-Andalus - with an unusual twist. Make choices in interactive encounters that change every time you play. Written by Jonas Kyratzes (The Talos Principle, Serious Sam 4) and Verena Kyratzes (The Lands of Dream, Serious Sam 4).

Dynamic Leveling
Use Renown to level up your Heroes, and choose between a randomized set of new skills or improved attributes. But choose wisely! Select skills with great synergy and balance your party for the road ahead.

Equipment Upgrades
Seek out towns to improve your arms and armor, or stumble upon hermit artisans in the wild. With every day that passes, the world plunges deeper into darkness, and you will need all the equipment gold can buy.

Relics
From a peasant's humble luck charm to the legendary sword wielded by Arthur himself, items imbued with magical power are scattered about the world. Some you will be able to purchase from merchants and collectors, but others will have to be earned through acts of heroism - or displays of wit.

Spells
Rain thunder and brimstone upon your foes! Seek out and gather Soulstones to restore your power and unlock new Spells. Even if defeated, your spirit will retain all of your collected arcane knowledge as you jump into the next dimension.

Alternate Dimensions
As you jump from one parallel dimension to the next, history is reshaped. Different kings rule the land, changing the encounters, characters, and events. No two worlds are ever quite the same, and each journey will be unique. And should your heroes fall, remember: defeat is not the end, only a new beginning.
 
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Sentinel

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Ommadawn
Damn I was almost very excited by a Croteam TB RPG. The setting interests me a lot as well.

I'll still keep an eye on it.
 

U-8D8

Savant
Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
168
Okay I admit I didn't know about that specific guy in the Arthurian Legend. Usually devs just take the presence of Palamedes as a reason to include blacks. (Which Saracens still weren't. :| )
I understand, but if I'm going to get my Arthurian panties in a twist, it'll be on account of this haircut being in a King Arthur game.
DelunBH.jpg
 

Dexter

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
15,655
Cosmic Horrors in Medieval Britain. Merlin wants the player to venture to Jerusalem to save the world. Supplies are used while traveling (one per turn). Random encounters per turn that can lead to battles depending on choices made. Every character and enemy has HP and Armor, the second of which regenerates after combat. If your party dies a new one undergoes the journey.
Interesting, but the bit I played seemed a bit boring. I stopped playing after my first party got wiped and I was supposed to start from the beginning again.
 

baud

Arcane
Patron
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Dec 11, 2016
Messages
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Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Croteam?
As in Serious Sam's Croteam ?
O_o

They're only publishing here, I think. Though since they did the Talos principle (a puzzle game) not so long ago, it's not surprising they are continuing to branch in genres other that FPS
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
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Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I think the developer is basically an internal division within Croteam created to make turn-based games. A bit like Owlcat and My.com before they went independent.
 

Beowulf

Arcane
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,963
Demo is nice, but didn't grip me that much.
Game seems to be designed with multiple shorter playthroughs in mind. Supposedly it's 1/4 of the full game.

The text adventure parts are nice. Once you know how the mechanics work you can plan your way through the first island. The final boss fight is tough, so you have actively seek ways to gain renown, relics and level up your characters.
That's where the RNG comes into. I did a couple of runs, most ending miserably, but it seems that it's ok and you are hardly getting the shorter end of the stick.
Faster animation speed is a must (thankfully devs included that option) and combat is not trivial, with enemies stronger and outnumbering you most of the time.
The maps are repetitive (and rather small usually) and AI hides its shortcomings behind its numbers (or overpowered abilities). There are also some UI issues and qol features that they hopefully will iron out before the release.



Might be worth a look if you're looking for a game to play in short bursts without the need to invest much time into learning the mechanics.
 

Sentinel

Arcane
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Messages
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Ommadawn
I tried the demo. Didn't read any tutorial prompt and rushed to the closest combat encounter. It seemed to have some sort of armor system similar to divos2, which made me alt+f4 immediately and uninstall.
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,949
Pathfinder: Wrath
I played it for around 50 minutes, killed 2 bandit groups and a group of the creatures. I'll recount my positive impressions first:




That is all. Nah, I liked the CYOA sections, the feeling of scarce resources, and how you don't normally regain health between battles. Oh, I also liked how there are no wizards.

Now for the more negative ones. It commits the cardinal sins of these types of tactical games right off the bat - damage is everything, it's too deterministic, and it uses the silly nu-XCom cover mechanics which I'm starting to slowly despise. When I saw how only cover affects to-hit and everything else is 100%, I immediately knew I should go for straight damage and buffs to damage (due to not being able to repeat actions) and ignore everything else. Barbed arrow + caustic weapon shreds everything. This is the trifecta of bad tactical game design. I doubt I'll play more because once you've played a single battle in such a system, you've played them all.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
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Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/600610/view/2890706687194385388

Come and play The Hand of Merlin with us!

Gather around, knights, and hear the story of how Merlin saved our world
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You know that you can Join us on Discord anytime and we’ll be happy to chat with you! However, we'll be hosting a special live Q&A session on our Discord this Friday, October 9th, so here's a reminder to... well, set a reminder on the right side of this screen! At the same time, we'll be live streaming The Hand of Merlin Demo gameplay here on Steam.

This probably goes without saying, but The Hand of Merlin Demo is now live, with new updates and improvements, and we'll even have a fresh build ready soon, before the festival is over. So give it a go, play the Demo, and join us on Friday to let us know your thoughts and we'll be glad to answer all of your questions and share some of our plans going forward.

Once again, singing, dancing, and eating cheese during this session is not only allowed but is encouraged. To get things going, we might even drop a key or two! :wink, wink, nudge, nudge:

In the meantime, have a great festival, and please remember to wishlist and follow The Hand Of Merlin.

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/600610/view/2890706687194471150

Why The Hand of Merlin?
Enter Room-C Games

Earlier this year, just two weeks before the lockdown, Mateus Farias arrived from Brazil to Croatia. A week later, a not-a-very-nice-magnitude earthquake devastated downtown Zagreb, leaving our game designer without a roof. He found a new place to stay, but that's when the floods came...

The Hand of Merlin is a game about the endless struggles in life. We wrote this sentence down in the game design document, to give some deeper meaning to the game we're working on. Just in case someone asks what's it all about and if the aliens are a metaphor, or, you know, we had to write an artist statement.

Yes, it's about fighting aliens with your Arthurian medieval knights, and yes, Merlin is an alien, and it's all grim (and leftfield) as it sounds. The plot owes everything to our lovely writers' duo, Verena & Jonas Kyratzes, but we wanted the game to really be about doing the right thing, even when it's hard. And about those occasional sparks of magic in our lives that help us push through.

One pandemic, one earthquake, two floods, and one engine switch later, Room-C is doing great with the hardships! We're fairly light on those magic moments so far, but this is all about to change when the game finally gets out there and we can feel that magic already: we were happy to see The Hand of Merlin accepted and recognized by so many shows (we made the PAX Rising selection just recently, and the game was featured on Digital Dragons and TGS). And finally, we're here, at Steam's own Autumn Festival - thanks for checking out The Hand of Merlin and playing the demo!

---

The Hand of Merlin is a roguelike turn-based RPG, coming soon from the engineers of The Talos Principle and Serious Sam, and written by Verena & Jonas Kyratzes (Phoenix Point).
 
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LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Early Access release in May. This will be published by Versus Evil instead of Croteam (which was acquired by Devolver).



https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pres...WORTHY_GENRE_MASHUP_IN_THE_HAND_OF_MERLIN.php

ARTHURIAN LEGEND AND SCI FI HORROR BRINGS A WORTHY GENRE MASHUP IN THE HAND OF MERLIN

Baltimore, MD – March 15th, 2021 - Independent developer Room-C Games in co-production with Croteam and in partnership with indie publisher Versus Evil are excited to share the latest gameplay trailer from their rogue-lite RPG game, The Hand of Merlin which will be coming to PC via Steam Early Access in May.

The Hand of Merlin is a turn-based rogue-lite RPG in which Arthurian legend clashes with sci-fi horror. Players recruit three mortal heroes on a desperate journey from Albion to Jerusalem to explore richly-imagined medieval lands on the brink of apocalypse - assaulted by an otherworldly evil.

In the gameplay video, Mateus "Mat" Farias - Game Designer, provides some keen insights into the game as he walks us through the second zone of The Hand of Merlin and reveals the inner workings of the tactical turn-based combat in this rogue-lite RPG.

The Gameplay, from yesterday's reveal at the Media Indie Exchange (MIX) was one of many games shown by indies showcasing their projects to the press.

For more details on the game head over to its Steam page here

About Versus Evil
Founded in 2013, Versus Evil, LLC is the US based video game publisher behind critically acclaimed video games Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and The Banner Saga trilogy. Publishing games on all major mobile, PC and console platforms, Versus Evil works with independent development studios from around the world. The corporate philosophy is to champion for the independent game developer. For more information visit versusevil.com

About Room C Games
Room-C Games is a spin-off studio started by some of Croteam's most talented game engineers and core team members (The Talos Principle, Serious Sam). They are a small 9-person dev-team based in Zagreb, Croatia, composed of an (almost) equal number of industry veterans and passionate young blood with a simple, but challenging mission – to enrich players’ lives with memorable gaming experiences.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Specifically, May 11th:



https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-hand-of-merlin/early-access-release-date

The Hand of Merlin is an Arthurian RPG with a sci-fi horror twist, hits Early Access next month
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If you enjoy tactical RPGs like Divinity: Original Sin II but are also partial to taking on demonic beasties and “otherworldly evil” straight out of science fiction, you’re in luck – there’s an upcoming PC game that smashes these two worlds together coming up soon. The Hand of Merlin is a “turn-based roguelite RPG in which Arthurian legend meets with sci-fi horror”, and it’s headed to Steam Early Access next month.

The news of The Hand of Merlin’s Early Access release date – which is set for May 11 – is accompanied by an announcement trailer, which you can check out below. Inspired in part by Arthurian legend, as the clip shows, the game sees the evils of a cosmic force known as the Cataclysm approaching the many worlds that exist in the game’s universe. Its “abominations” have been “gnawing at the Veil since the beginning of time”. Gulp.

The holy grail was created, imbued with powers, and handed to the champion of each of these worlds – King Arthur – to help tackle this threat, but that plan failed. So, now it’s up to the player to finish the job.

On this quest, the game sets you on a non-linear narrative journey in which you’ll have to make choices that change in each playthrough. Along the way you’ll have to get to grips with turn-based (and squad-based) combat to overcome the Cataclysm’s invading, demonic foes. “Your enemies will be tough and ruthless,” developers Room-C Games and Croteam explain. So you’ll need to “make use of high ground and cover, set up ambushes and coordinated attacks, [and] harness synergies between different Hero classes and skills”.

It’s a roguelite game, too, so you can expect some consequences for getting it right – or wrong. Choices and death are both permanent, so you’ll need to pick and plan out your options wisely. “Plan and prepare. Negotiate, barter, fight. Tackle challenges. Suffer losses. Recruit new Heroes,” as the devs say.

During your journey, you’ll earn gold, supplies and renown to help take you forward, with the latter letting you level up your team of Heroes and choose between a randomised set of new skills or improvements to your existing attributes. The gold will let you improve your kit when you head into towns, and there’ll be some magical artifacts scattered about the lands to give you an edge, too, if you can track them down.

If you do find yourself on the losing side of a scrimmage with those demonic forces, the good news is “defeat is not the end, only a new beginning” in The Hand of Merlin. You’ll get to retain your accrued knowledge of magic combat (as a spirit), and hop from one parallel dimension to the next. Each time you do, you’ll find the next world different from the last, with different monarchs in charge and, as a result, changed encounters, characters, and events.

So, it looks like The Hand of Merlin will offer a fresh and distinct spin on the RPG genre through its gameplay mechanics and injection of sci-fi horror into the mix. “The popularity of roguelite RPGs, coupled with the uniquely disruptive clash of worlds in a beautifully crafted game like The Hand of Merlin really emphasises the game’s narrative,” says publisher Versus Evil’s general manager Steve Escalante. “Versus Evil prides itself in finding immersive games with great storytelling and this is an exciting addition to the ranks.”

The Hand of Merlin hits Early Access on Steam, but also the Epic Games Store and GOG on May 11. There’ll be both standard and deluxe editions to pick from, with the latter also including a copy of the game’s soundtrack.
 
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