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The Bard’s Tale IV: Director’s Cut tries to puzzle it out again on August 27th
Whatever your feelings on The Bard's Tale IV: Barrow's Deep (and opinions were all over the place), you can't deny that InXile's puzzle-heavy RPG could have used a couple more months in the oven. Probably for the best, then, that they're relaunching it next month. Due on August 27th (and as a free upgrade to anyone with the original release), the Director's Cut was once…
Wasteland remaster looks a whole lot like a remake, and I’m not complaining
The Wasteland is a lawless place, son. We don't have time for fun and games, and we especially don't have time to worry about stretching everyday industry vernacular to its absolute limits. InXile Entertainment's remaster of the original Wasteland - which was announced back in June 2018 - seem have locked the word 'remaster' in a barrel of nuclear waste for a few decades, rubbing…
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They just keep coming don't they? A lot of games were announced at E3 2019, things that we didn't know about, as well as stuff that's previously announced, or expansions to already released games. Now, to the casual outsider, what we're doing might seem absolutely nuts, but we thought we'd put together an alphabetical list of all the PC games that have been confirmed to…
Feature: Torment and tide wait for no man
Torment: Tides Of Numenera is apparently a 'thematic successor' to Planescape: Torment, which, as descriptors go, is even more woolly than 'spiritual successor'. Translated into jargon talk, this is a single-player RPG with an isometric perspective, set in a part-fantasy part-steampunk universe, and it's so story driven that it's basically like reading a book.
The Bard’s Tale IV adds free saving, old-school grid movement, old heroes and more
Whether you appreciated its fresh approach or loathed the concepts behind The Bard's Tale 4, it's hard to deny that the revival of the ancient RPG series needed a few more months in the oven. Today's big ol' patch, which developers inXile are calling the Second Sight Update, smooths over some of the bigger cracks in its pseudo-old-school facade. For the good of everyone, you…
Microsoft acquires RPG studios Obsidian Entertainment and inXile
Microsoft have once again added to the fleet of studios under their wing, this time acquiring Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind games like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, and inXile, who created Wasteland 2 and The Bard’s Tale IV. Both studios put out videos talking about how exciting this all is, and promising that yes, they’ll still be making the kind of RPGs…
Feature: Lights, camera, rock, paper, shotgun!
The Monday Matinee: Highlights from the RPS video department
In case you live under a mossy rock, or aren't subscribed to Rock Paper Shotgun on YouTube (if not, why not?), I've got you covered. It's the weekly round-up of everything that happened last week on our channel. We do have our very own video corner on the site, so be sure to check back to that throughout the week to see what we're up…
Feature: It can go whistle
The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a shoddy old mess burying some nice ideas
Are you nostalgic for The Bard's Tale? I certainly played them back between 1985 and 1988, but being under 10, that was a very long time ago. I don't really remember them with any special degree of affection. And I'm certainly free of the peculiar reverence of those for whom such cows are too sacred to criticise even the decades-later follow-ups (subtweet). What I've been…
Looking at screenshots of The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep, it seems a crying shame that it's not a game about a metal band putting on a rockin' good show to get the mosh pit fired up. Sadly, the game inXile Entertainment released today is just an olde schoole turn-based RPG - and one that our John tells me is a bit bum. He'll have…
Gather your party like it’s 1985 – The Bard’s Tale Trilogy’s first remaster is out now
Interplay's original Bard's Tale trilogy was a little before my time. With the first game launching in 1985, when I was two years old, I wasn't quite ready to crunch numbers and map my own dungeons. Maybe today's remastered release of The Bard's Tale Trilogy will help me fill in some of the blanks in time for the release of inXile's The Bards Tale 4 on September 18th.…
Return to some well-worn dungeons in The Bard’s Tale Trilogy next week
As exciting as inXile's upcoming The Bard's Tale 4 looks, it's heartening to see that the studio hasn't forgotten the roots of the series. Preempting the release of their modern sequel, they're rolling out remastered versions of Interplay's original three DOS-era dungeon crawlers. Redrawn, re-animated and given more room to breathe in a slightly more modern, high-resolution UI, the remastered The Bard's Tale Trilogy will…
Feature: Hands on with the backer beta
The Bard’s Tale IV is a rough but compelling take on first-person puzzle-dungeons
I'll be frank: The Bard's Tale IV looks like what I'd expect to see if I found a DVD-ROM from 2005 with 'Legend of Fantasy: Mages & Goblins' scrawled on it. My every instinct, after the first few minutes with it, was to run screaming from its Bratz doll faces and onslaught of fol-de-rol. Books, covers and all that, though: underneath its soupy presentation, the first few hours…
Feature: Fans of lots of text, rejoice!
Clear 100 hours in your calendar, ‘cos CRPGs are here to stay
In the mid-to-late 2000s, publishers abandoned the CRPG genre – an acronym describing the very specific genre of video games adapted from tabletop RPGs to be played on computers – which a decade earlier had been a cornerstone of PC gaming. They were more interested in accessible, console-friendly series like Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls, and PC-centric RPGs all but died out. Then, around…
You can play Torment: Tides of Numenera for free until Sunday
...and if you haven't yet, then you probably should. We named Torment: Tides of Numenera as one of the best games of 2017 for a reason, you know. You can play Inxile Entertainment's fascinating RPG until Sunday at 9PM BST through Steam, and pick it up for 60% off until Monday. Oh go on, here's a peek behind the curtain - I basically named it…
New digital store Robot Cache will use blockchain to let users resell games
Being able to sell used copies of digital games is an idea that gets kicked around every so often, and now it's back with a web 3.0 digital cyberpyramid blockchain cryptocurrency twist. New digital store Robot Cache will let people resell games and receive 25% of the cash back - in cryptocurrency. Yes, of course it's built on cryptocurrency, because everything is now. "Quick, get…
A new character has arrived in Torment: Tides of Numenera [official site] with a free update, one who might sound familiar. Oom, previously known as 'Toy', is a a character who was pitched as a stretch goal in the RPG's crowdfunding campaign then vanished. Surprise! The glob of goo is now here to be your gamepal and join you on a new quest of their…
Feature: For those familiar with torment
You know Planescape: Torment well, and chose to hear whether Torment: Tides of Numenera will betray your trust or not rather than to have its nature defined first. Please note that certain key elements of the game are skipped over here, which is because they are covered in more detail in the Torment newcomers review here. I did not wish to repeat myself unduly in…
Feature: Update your journal
Torment: Tides of Numenera [official site] is a weird-fantasy roleplaying game and spiritual sequel to 1999's revered Planescape: Torment. After being successfully Kickstarted a couple of years ago, it is released to the world today. 1. I'm new to all this. Tell me whether this is where I want to be. 2. I've been here before. Tell me what's changed. Tell me whether I can…
Feature: For those new to torment
You do not know the past of Torment, and so chose to hear everything. No, you don't need to have played 1999 weird fantasy roleplaying game Planescape: Torment to enjoy this spiritual sequel. There are references and commonalities, but they're not in any way necessary to understand or appreciate it. What is required is a reasonable degree of patience, and an enjoyment of reading and…
I get that Torment: Tides of Numenera [official site] is going for a Planescape: Torment-y talk-o-thinky vibe in a future so far-flung that ancient technology is basically magic, but I didn't know much about the story. Turns out, as a new trailer explains, oh yes it us riffing on Torment-ish themes of immortality and past selves and fates catching up and... hey, see for yourself…
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