Here are a few of the upcoming RPGs that are currently on my personal wishlist that I thought I’d pass on to you. I’ve actually decided to do more lists like this quite regularly, quite randomly, really, just to get a bit more exposure for the various projects I’m keeping an eye on.
The list of promising games is absolutely endless, so the only way to give any of them a fair go is to keep plowing through them in small batches. I’m pretty certain that at least some of the five turn-based RPGs I’ve selected for today’s piece have probably never even crossed the minds of a lot of you until now.
Unspoken Echoes
Let’s start with something a bit different, which I stumbled upon a few hours ago. Unspoken Echoes from Staplebird Studio is set in the English countryside in 1911 and is about a family reunion which is going to turn out to be a whole lot more unpleasant than anyone expected.
Three siblings (Lucius, Regulus and Drusilla) are back at the family estate following their father’s death. A murder very quickly complicates things, and they only have a few days to work out who did it before another member of the family is killed.
Rather than being a dungeon crawler/battle oriented game, it’s really an investigation-based gothic RPG with a strong emphasis on dialogue and narrative choices. You play through the story as one of three different protagonists, each of whom will have a different take on the mystery. There are multiple endings, and it’s suggested that your choices during the course of the investigation will have a significant impact.
Visually, it’s a mix of detailed isometric pixel art with modern lighting and shadows, which works absolutely perfectly for the psychological horror theme. There’s no confirmed release date at the moment, though there is a demo on Steam for those who want to take a look at this rather dysfunctional family. Unspoken Echoes on Steam
The Secret of Weepstone
Anyone who’s been around since the very beginning of tabletop role-playing will be instantly familiar with The Secret of Weepstone, this new dungeon crawler from Talesworth Game Studio (publisher DreadXP). I absolutely love every single pixel of it, and it’s probably in my top 10 of most anticipated games. I know I say that all the time, really, so perhaps my top 10 could use a few more than 10. Just a few.
Anyway, it’s most obviously a black-and-white thing, with the image style taken straight from the classic D&D books of the 70s and 80s, but the retro feel goes way beyond the image, though.
The adventure kicks off in the downtrodden village of Weepstone where the local lord is suffering from a series of strange visions and a very worrying illness. With no legendary champions to be found, it’s a group of very ordinary villagers who are going to have to go and investigate the nearby derelict keep. In other words, the fate of the village is in the hands of people who probably had far safer plans for the afternoon.
Players can build a party of up to eight characters, explore the treacherous dungeons, solve puzzles, collect equipment, and get involved in turn-based encounters where the outcome of attacks and skill checks are determined by visible dice rolls.
One of the more interesting mechanics is the Mortal Favors system which gives you some very specific benefits when your party members die. Death is still a major setback, but it can also be a source of new opportunities for those who happen to survive. The Secret of Weepstone is due in 2027 and there’s already a playable demo out on Steam. The Secret of Weepstone on Steam
That Which Rises
I don’t tend to go in for the adult-only titles, but I think there’s more to this one than just the adult content. Most fantasy RPGs have you out there saving the world from some ancient evil. That Which Rises takes a slightly different tack in that you’re actually working *for* the ancient evil.
Developed by TORii and A Memory of Eternity this is a dark fantasy RPG where you play as a cultist trying to awaken some of the most powerful eldritch entities known to man and in the process corrupting the entire nation of Dyavol.
I was featured not just for the adult content (which of course I enjoy to see), but for the various RPG mechanics it combines. You’ve got the classic RPG structure there with a good dose of 4X strategy thrown in, a huge open world full of settlements, competing factions and units you can recruit. Battles are grid-based and turn-based, but you can of course plan sabotage and manipulation as well as other ways of influencing your enemies, which will all go a long way to helping you extend your master’s influence.
A very interesting aspect is the AI strategy, with the various factions being set up to act on their own rather than just sit back and wait for you to do the next thing. There’s also a promise of very powerful magic with very real consequences, which opens up some fascinating avenues in terms of risk and reward.
There’s a very high degree of mechanical depth and the way the various systems work together will be one of the key things to watch. That Which Rises is scheduled for Early Access (exact release date still to be confirmed) with a demo available now. That Which Rises on Steam
Hibernaculum
Hibernaculum is one of the few dungeon crawlers on the horizon that really does capture the feel of classic PC gaming. It’s a first-person sci-fi horror RPG from Victor Pflug, which is very much the sort of game you’d have stumbled across on an old PC from the mid-90s, and that’s absolutely the way I like it.
Rather than the standard fantasy dungeon full of skeletons and treasure chests, Hibernaculum plunges you into the depths of a derelict industrial space ship. The corridors are dark, the machinery is unsettling and the atmosphere is very much that of a sci-fi horror where opening the wrong door invariably has you dead.
Players will create their own character and then go out and explore a non-linear environment, choosing how aggressively or how cautiously they want to go about dealing with all of its many dangers. Exploration, survival, equipment management and character progression are all part of the experience.
The devs are also adding in all the modern conveniences (on-screen minimap, waypoints, tidied-up character system, etc.) without in any way sacrificing the atmosphere and complexity of a proper dungeon crawler.
There are still a lot of questions around the nitty-gritty of the combat, but the blend of retro look, environmental storytelling and survival horror alone makes Hibernaculum a very interesting proposition. No release date has been confirmed at this time; the game is still listed as ‘coming soon’. Hibernaculum on Steam
The Tainted Lands
We’ve now got The Tainted Lands, a hand-drawn tactical RPG from Arete Games that’s a party-based RPG in the traditional sense but set in a world which is very much inspired by cosmic horror. Players take control of a wanderer afflicted by a strange curse and are forced to go into the Forbidden Lands in search of a cure. The Forbidden Lands are home to ancient ruins, hostile creatures and powerful beings who are very unlikely to be particularly keen on assisting you.
Survival will be down to putting together a competent party of adventurers, each with their own skills and potentially their own agendas. Exploration takes place across the world map and individual locations, with encounters then progressing into turn-based tactical battles which are determined by initiative and the abilities of the individual characters. The devs also stress meaningful narrative choices, character progression, and limited permadeath.
Another good point is the very distinctive hand-drawn look of the environments and creatures, which gives them a very different feel from the run-of-the-mill fantasy RPG. The Tainted Lands is in the process of preparing for an Early Access release, with the intention of gradually expanding the story and content over time. A playable demo is currently available on Steam. The Tainted Lands on Steam
That’s it for this selection. Five RPGs with very different ideas worth following. Now let me know your opinions and also if you have hidden gems to suggest. Wish you the best. Ciao
