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Game News Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos is coming to Steam later this year

Infinitron

I post news
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Tags: Team ADOM; Ultimate ADOM: Caverns of Chaos

Classical roguelikes aren't our main focus on this website, so after ADOM was released on Steam back in late 2015 I didn't pay much attention to it. Obviously the game continued to be updated, and it was eventually released on GOG in late 2018. Last year creator Thomas Biskup even crowdfunded an ADOM tabletop RPG on Kickstarter. However, for the past few years his team's main project has been Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos. Originally announced in late 2017, Ultimate ADOM is actually a sequel of sorts set after the defeat of the original game's villain, superseding Biskup's abandoned ADOM II/JADE project. The game is just a dungeon crawler this time without ADOM's open world, but it's got a heavy focus on factions. It's based on the Unity engine and has an optional isometric graphical mode. So why am I telling you this now? Because the game appeared on Steam yesterday. Here's its teaser trailer:



The Story so Far

Evil has been vanquished. Peace has returned to Ancardia, and the peasants dare to dream once more of prosperity. Seven very different factions vie for control over the cataclysmic aftermath left behind by Andor Drakon’s defeat. And somewhere, deep down in an inhospitable cave, ChAoS is stirring again.

Pick up your blade, prepare your spells, check your daggers and ready your bow, for you are about to enter the ominous Caverns of Chaos. Choose your allegiance carefully, for you are nothing more than an expendable asset to the masters you choose.

Fight for a mercenary's glory and purse, for the justice of a folk in decline, for the light of purity or even for ChAoS itself. Every choice you make will determine how you approach the ever-changing Caverns of Chaos before you.

Features and Gameplay

  • Ultimate ADOM is a modern reimagining of traditional rogue-like dungeon-crawling.
  • Endless procedurally generated dungeons, countless monsters, items and a grand selection of very different skills allow for unlimited replayability
  • Intuitive control system will get rid of the need to memorize hundreds of keys. Though you can still do so, if you're into that. We are not judging.
  • Your chosen class, gender, race and allegiance will change the way the game challenges you. NPCs will react differently, new quests will be open to you and the world may change completely based on your performance.
  • A deep magic system with several unique schools of magic and dozens of spells per school. Flaming auras that damage nearby enemies, cold snaps that freeze rivers, animating the very walls of the dungeon to aid you - everything is possible.
  • A stealth system introduces a totally new way of playing the game: Instead of hacking or blasting all opposition to pieces you now can sneak past adversaries and avoid conflict by silently sneaking out of deadly situations.
  • Interactive items! Topple braziers to spill their burning oil on unsuspecting enemies. Push coffins to block passage ways, or smash them in hopes of loot. Lock doors, smash them, open them or turn them into wooden golems to (hopefully) serve your bidding.
  • Turn yourself into an abomination and graft your enemies’ body parts on yourself. They won’t need them any more, and what is better than wielding two swords? Two swords and an axe to harvest more bodyparts than ever before.
  • Choose or toggle between graphic mode and traditional ASCII at any time. Toggle between 3d mode and top down view, in ASCII or in the graphic mode. Toggle everything you wish, we probably have a game mode just for you.
  • “Play the way you want” – countless options of how to tackle the dungeons awaiting you. Befriend or tame creatures, slay monsters, delve deeper or keep exploring and expanding the cavern levels you have already found. Set traps and smash doors, or unlock them with the keys you found. Push coffins and other objects!

Ultimate ADOM will apparently be out on Steam "later in 2020". If you'd like to know more, there's a ton of information on the game's official website, where you can also sign up for the closed alpha.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Curratum

Guest
I was ready to give it the finger but it seems it has multiple ASCII modes, so it's all good!
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
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It always seemed like the only thing ADOM needed was a fix to the jackal level-scaling issue. But I've lost track of things.
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,476
Good god, that is some of the worst artwork I've ever seen in a video game. Are the walls 3D? Is this an isometric 2.5D game? Why would you do that? I mean, the weird proportions would make sense if it was just an overhead view. They wouldn't be good. Nothing is going to solve that. But it looks like the camera isn't tied down in any way, which wouldn't do the best-looking game any favors either.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
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Messages
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Not so, at least when I played it. My recollection is that there is a basically feature where the more of enemy X you kill, the stronger enemy X becomes. For the most part, this is fine, because the rate at which you kill enemies roughly corresponds with your power growth rate. But with jackals, sometimes you would encounter were jackals (?) who kept summoning more packs of jackals, and it was very easy to kill lots and lots of jackals all the time while exploring the world. In fact, it was hard to avoid it. The result is that eventually you reach a point where the previously trash spam battles against were jackals are now certain death given the strength of jackals. The bug (which two or three times made me abandon my game because I had no idea what was happening to cause it) was flagged and on the to-do list for years.

EDIT:

"Jackals were once notorious for potentially becoming incredibly powerful due to an oversight with the KPL system in v. 1.1.1, by an effect to which the jackal gave its name" -- sounds like the bug is fixed.

See https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Uberjackal_effect
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,859
I'll stick with Zorbus thank you. Its very crunchy in the sound department.

Now this ADOM 2.5 view.... ehhhhhhhh, its giving me a mild headache. I haven't even played wizrogue yet and its in my cache from steam. I'll need to see abd hear gameplay.

 

Theodora

Arcane
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Glory to Ukraine
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anima Bȳzantiī
I don't care that it's a gimmick, I love it.

xnlSvrk.png


Codex needs more roguelike love.
 

Lady_Error

█▓▒░ ░▒▓█
Patron
Joined
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Messages
1,879,250
I'll stick with Zorbus thank you. Its very crunchy in the sound department.

Now this ADOM 2.5 view.... ehhhhhhhh, its giving me a mild headache. I haven't even played wizrogue yet and its in my cache from steam. I'll need to see abd hear gameplay.



This looks interesting actually, despite the animu avatars. Is it hack'n slash only? Are there any NPC's or shops?
 

getter77

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Oct 12, 2008
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861
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GA, USA
I have confidence it'll get there in the fullness of time---especially now that they've finally captured dev momentum. Ultimate ADOM is, ultimately, going to be a suite of titles though---the first incarnation the deep and elaborate dungeon dive experience through the CoC here, the next fused branch more along the lines of what was ADOM 2/original ADOM in terms of sprawl on top, and so on though you have to dive back some years on the ADOM blog happenings and reckonings to refresh memories on the finer points of it. Time and life definitely intervened heavily on them these past years, but they are finally on the other side of it all.

A situation somewhat akin to Examina into Sui Generis I suppose---only proceeding as intended from the start, in the right order without any mix ups.
 

680x0

Learned
Joined
Dec 27, 2019
Messages
128
I'll stick with Zorbus thank you. Its very crunchy in the sound department.

Now this ADOM 2.5 view.... ehhhhhhhh, its giving me a mild headache. I haven't even played wizrogue yet and its in my cache from steam. I'll need to see abd hear gameplay.



This looks interesting actually, despite the animu avatars. Is it hack'n slash only? Are there any NPC's or shops?


It plays very "mobile game"
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,859
Will ot work on my old old computer?

DcPdhOy.jpg
 

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