The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes
Kamigoroshi
Member Posts: 5,870
Been a long while since we had any kind of worthwhile The Dark Eye/Das Schwarze Auge videogame. So you may relate to how surprised I was when I found out about this upcoming title:
https://youtu.be/5-yE3H5xBOU
It is currently being developed by Random Potion and published by Wild River Games. Not much is known about this cRPG other than what was shown in its announcement trailer and the informations written on its steam page. Which doesn't come as a surprise, given that it has only been two weeks since they announced the game on Saturday 10th August in Ratcon Limburg roleplaying game convention, Germany.
What we do know for certain is that:
All in all it seems to follow the classic German PnP Tabletop game rather closely. The last videogame that came close to that imho was Drakensang: The River of Time. So, for me personally, Spring 2020 can't come soon enough!
https://youtu.be/5-yE3H5xBOUIt is currently being developed by Random Potion and published by Wild River Games. Not much is known about this cRPG other than what was shown in its announcement trailer and the informations written on its steam page. Which doesn't come as a surprise, given that it has only been two weeks since they announced the game on Saturday 10th August in Ratcon Limburg roleplaying game convention, Germany.
What we do know for certain is that:
- its combat will be isometric RTwP in singleplayer mode and RT in Coop
- Encounters can be dealt with in more ways than merely battle them
- has 4 playable races (Dwarves, Elves, Half-Elves and Humans)
- features 12 professions/classes (Blessed, Soldier and Assassin amongst them)
- you create your very own player character
- it has a singleplayer campaign with optional coop or multiplayer mode from the looks of it
- and its art designs are being done by official The Dark Eye artists
- the developer plans to have post-release DLC content
- also, there will be no toolset or level editor
- but most importantly: it is neither a Diablo clone, nor an action RPG. Watch the designer Interview for more
All in all it seems to follow the classic German PnP Tabletop game rather closely. The last videogame that came close to that imho was Drakensang: The River of Time. So, for me personally, Spring 2020 can't come soon enough!
Post edited by Kamigoroshi on
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I am a bit wary, but given that every other cRPG these days is using stupid-ass TB combat, I will keep an eye on this game. However, that it looks to be RT and not RTwP has me concerned, especially since it also says combat will be fast and brutal.
Here's an insightful preview of the game by Orkenspalter TV. Most of it is in German, so you'd have to turn on English subtitles. But at least the interview with the Finnish indie developer is spoken in English. Didn't know for instance that Random Potion was first interested in having a D&D licence for their game, but were apparently told off by WotC for one reason or another. Luckily for them it didn't took long getting an offer by Ulisses Spiele instead.
Edit: HA! Would you look at that:
Orkenspalter TV even did a fully English designer interview with Random Potion.
Honestly, if WotC's attitude is to kiss Larian's ass while giving the finger to anyone else who wants to make a D&D-based game, I'm beginning to think that maybe I should start rooting for Larian's game to flop.
Random Potion did release two more trailers that show gameplay footage. And honestly now: devs really deserve more exposure than what they currently getting for their game. The fact that almost no one seems to know of this upcoming RTwP game boggles the mind.
The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes will release in Q2 2020. So be a dear and wishlist it on Steam if you like what you're seeing in those trailers.
Another video from the German gamer channel Orkenspalter TV. They had the chance to play a bit of the pre-release build 0.9.8 (more precisely through the tutorial and two missions). Meaning some things are bound to change in the final release.
In a nutshell:
- The developers have targeted a singleplayer campaign of 20-ish hours.
- Graphics have been objectively enhanced since last year. Especially dungeon textures and character models.
- The game itself plays similar to a Baldur's Gate 1 clone, apparently.
- There's currently little to no voice acting. Whenever the final build gets more or not is unknown.
- The used ruleset is The Dark Eye 5th edition, but somewhat simplified.
- The worldmap shows half of the Middenrealms (kiiinda like West Faerûn, but not quite)
- Each dungeon room will be randomly generated. Encounters and things to do within them will also change accordingly.
- There are lots of books, trinkets, notices and other references of The Dark Eye lore.
- The devs designed missions to be replayed by single and co-op players alike.
- A single dungeon will take up approximately between 30 minutes and one hour to clear. Depending what's generated.
- Missions may involve killing bounties, fetching items, solving puzzles and so forth.
- On Character Creation you pick your character's reason for adventuring, which present itself through the gameplay via sidequests.
- Both potions and equipment can be crafted by the player. Of course also buying and selling stuff.
- Mercenaries can be created for singleplayer, but are fully AI controlled. Each class has its own AI that acts differently inside dungeons.
- Party size is always 4. Either 1 player with three mercenaries. Or 4 players in co-op mode. Doesn't look like solo is a thing.
- There's currently only a text chat for co-op gamers. But an ingame voice chat is also planned.
- After completing a mission, you get special Inra cards and Adventure Points to level up / flesh out your character.
- Players may or may not get their own room and stash inside the Inn (hub) to store items. That's still being discussed between the devs.
- The price is still undecided, but it won't be a full priced game. Something like 30-ish bucks, maybe?
Orkenspalter's first impression is that Book of Heroes is more of an enjoyable "snack" than a "5-course dinner" cRPG where you easily clock in 100+ hours. They also noted that it's a niche cRPG that tackles the limited things it does really well. So people who expect some epic The Dark Eye plot story akin to Drakensang or Demononicon may end up getting disappointed without having prior knowledge of what this game is all about.
Still, given that this will be the *very first* isometric The Dark Eye RTwP cRPG ever created. And it's made by only 11 people. I will definitely buy it on day one. If only because video games which use this particular IP are a rare breed indeed nowadays.
Lookie, such shinies! The German publisher did a little "Making of" series about Book of Heroes and the Finnish studio behind it. Even comes with English subtitles. Nice!
Glad to hear that they are working hard on bringing in more outside-of-combat content to the game. Especially since The Dark Eye isn't supposed to be as combat heavy as D&D. Hence why the Point & Click adventure games Chains of Satinav and Memoria were more successful than the Blackguards franchise for instance.
For those interested what the Hundeblume is (which is confirmed to sadly not be in the game), see the spoiler.
Yes, it's a chimera between dogs and flowers. And it's an official creature found inside The Dark Eye TTRPG.
Not much new informations in it, given that they also had the 0.9.8 build from PAX East like Orkenspalter TV did. But it seems that combat won't be a walk in the park for the unprepared.
New video with a couple of yet unseen scenes. Noteable are new instances of traps, puzzles and the resting/camping mechanic.
- its price has been confirmed to be €29.99
- there will be no Early Access phase (yay!)
- Book of Heroes will also see no console ports from the looks of it
- Steam will be the only place for getting the "digital" version of the game. Possible plans for a physical release?
We are getting closer and closer to getting our hands on the game, even with the global pandemic going on.
Boron's "portfolios" include Funeral, Blood, Darkness, Ghosts, Night, Prophecy, Rest, Sleep, Silence, Souls, Death, Peace in Death, Dreams, Undeath and Obliviscence. So the Blessed One of Boron is probably the closest you will get to a necromancer build out of the bunch. The Dark Eye's classic necromantic profession is known as Metamage and possess the Skeletarius spell: allowing them to conjure skeletal undead. They were playable in both Drakensang titles, but aren't in Book of Heroes. At least for now.
As for the other full casters:
- Black Mages hail from the Al'Achami of Fasar, a school of mindmages that is mentioned in old Tulamydian writings and shrouded in many mysteries. Basically an academy of Illusionists and Enchanters.
- Gray Mages of the Lowangen School of Transformation study healing magic and transmutation.
- White Mages graduated from the Gareth Academy of Sword and Staff, a branch of the Alliance of the White Pentagram. Your typical muscle brained battlemages that hold little interest in researching the Arcane.
I am not sure how close they are to PnP but I would expect non of those classes to be summoners/necromancers. There are Black Mages who do both but they picked an academy with a very different focus.
The metamagic=necromancy thing is a Drakensang adaptation so I would not necessarily expect to see that again. It is a completely different domain in PnP with no Academies which focus on both areas.
I mentioned the Metamage because to most gamers Drakensang was pretty much their only exposure to the Dark Eye IP. Well that and maybe Chains of Satinav/Memoria. From my experience the TT PnP game isn't all that well known outside of Europe.
First, Random Potion did post a steam update about some of the professions. Including the Assassin, Black Mage, Blessed One of Boron, Blessed One of Phex, as well as Blessed One of Rondra. Interesting choice they did with showcasing a dwarven Black Mage.
We also do have a second steam update talking about the release date: June 9th 2020 is the day!
On a very special note, a physical Collector's Edition will also be available on Amazon for €69.99.
It comes with a 16 pages-long Comic, a CD of the OST, a digital Artbook, a rather stylish DVD case, as well as two steam keys within. Looks like there will be no DRM-free game DVD in this one. Given the numerous instances where the article summary lists having a steam account is required and all.
The newest updated speaks of the character creation proccess. Even comes with a new video:
I thought these answers about Book of Heroes' AI henchmen will interest my fellow singleplayers here as well. Good to know that the not-really-mage henchmen won't run out of spells. It would have been a small nightmare otherwise, given that players cannot take control of them.
The above comic was created by the talented Elif Siebenpfeiffer - a well known illustrator of The Dark Eye's tabletop game.
Unfortunate that they don't just allow us to create four characters for single-player.
it will probably suck like Druidstone.
So does this mean we have no direct control over our henchmen?
The henchmen are completely AI controlled, yes. But from the above AMA answer we do know that players can influence them. Albeit nowhere near as versatile as taking direct control over them like with the henchmen in Kingmaker. Also worth noting: