Saturday, April 30, 2005
The Single Player RPG Is Not Dead
Some people in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg are whining that the single-player PC RPG is dead. Well here's some release dates and info on RPG titles out now or due this year. Enjoy.
Heretic Kingdoms just came out in the US, I'm getting ready to review that game. Demo is here: http://www.gamershell.com/download_7167.shtml
Freedom Force vs the Third Reich is a strategy/RPG based on comic book heroes that just came out recently. Demo on FilePlanet or maybe other places if you search around.
http://www.fileplanet.com/150322/150000/fileinfo/
Dungeon Lords is out May 3 or 5 (can't remember) and it's a single or multi-player co-op (small party) action/RPG. Demo on GamersHell:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_8736.shtml
Restricted Area is a cyberpunk single player RPG for the PC that is coming out soonish in the UK/US. The German version is already out and has gotten some good press. There is an english demo for download, link to it on the RA website here: http://www.ra2083.com/
Looking at ActionTrip they list release date of May 10, so it may be out soon.
Guild Wars is multiplayer no-fee online game, but the PvE part is very soloable and could be treated like a (short) Morrowind style game.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an FPS action game with RPG trappings that should be out in June.
There's something called "The Fall" which looks similar to Fallout. Not sure if this game is out yet or not, they got some kind of "extended version" on their web site but I've never seen this on US store shelves, it might be import-only at this point. Just looking at the web site it appears they at least have a German and a French version released so far.
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion should be out later this year, it's got an August release date so far. Expect it to be similar to Morrowind but hopefully better.
An expansion to Sacred called Sacred: Underworld which is coming out this summer.
The Bard's Tale remake that was released on PS2 and Xbox is either out now or will be out soon for PC, and there is a demo for it available here:
http://www.pcgameworld.com/details.php/id/5833/
Dungeon Siege 2 should be out in August.
There's a combo RTS/RPG called Dragonshard that is based on D&D that is coming out this summer from Atari.
If Jade Empire does well (and it seems to be doing well) I wouldn't be surprised with an announcement soon for a PC port.
Gothic 2 Night of the Raven expansion should be getting a UK release soon so an english version. Not sure if they are going to release to the US but I bet GoGamer gets some import copies in.
And on that note Gothic 3 has been announced and will probably be out with the German version in early 2006, so maybe by late 2006 we'll get an English version.
There's something called Hellgate: London that will be a first person RPG similar to Diablo 2 in game mechanics that just got a preview here:
http://tinyurl.com/8z4b7 [ computerandvideogames.com ]
They didn't give a release date.
Geneforge 3 should be out this winter. Damn I can't wait GF1 and GF2 rocked. You can get them at http://www.spidweb.com with large demos available. The 3rd one is out now for Mac but will be out later for PC this year.
Dragon Age by Bioware should be out 2006.
NWN2 is in development. No release date yet.
Strategy First has an RPG in development called Golden Land that is single or multiplayer and supposed to have 100-120 hours of gameplay. Graphics looked kind of like Fallout ish but it's not a post-holocaust setting. No release date so far.
RPGDot lists something called ExMachina on their release dates page as a single-player RPG but going to http://www.exmachina-game.com/ it talked about a post-apocalyptic car combat game called Hard Truck Apocalyptic Wars. Like some kind of Mad Max game. Sounded cool but didn't sound like an RPG unless it's going to be like the old Autoduel game by Origin Systems.
There was something on the list called Forgotten Stories: Echos of Destiny with a November launch date, and the web site at:
http://www.oniric-games.com.ar/ForgottenStories/fs_index_en.htm
has a beta demo available. Looked kind of like a console-style RPG to me.
There were some other games I didn't bother researching that were on the RPGdot release dates page which is here:
http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10055
So I think the rumors about the death of the single player PC RPG have been largely exaggerated.
Heretic Kingdoms just came out in the US, I'm getting ready to review that game. Demo is here: http://www.gamershell.com/download_7167.shtml
Freedom Force vs the Third Reich is a strategy/RPG based on comic book heroes that just came out recently. Demo on FilePlanet or maybe other places if you search around.
http://www.fileplanet.com/150322/150000/fileinfo/
Dungeon Lords is out May 3 or 5 (can't remember) and it's a single or multi-player co-op (small party) action/RPG. Demo on GamersHell:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_8736.shtml
Restricted Area is a cyberpunk single player RPG for the PC that is coming out soonish in the UK/US. The German version is already out and has gotten some good press. There is an english demo for download, link to it on the RA website here: http://www.ra2083.com/
Looking at ActionTrip they list release date of May 10, so it may be out soon.
Guild Wars is multiplayer no-fee online game, but the PvE part is very soloable and could be treated like a (short) Morrowind style game.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an FPS action game with RPG trappings that should be out in June.
There's something called "The Fall" which looks similar to Fallout. Not sure if this game is out yet or not, they got some kind of "extended version" on their web site but I've never seen this on US store shelves, it might be import-only at this point. Just looking at the web site it appears they at least have a German and a French version released so far.
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion should be out later this year, it's got an August release date so far. Expect it to be similar to Morrowind but hopefully better.
An expansion to Sacred called Sacred: Underworld which is coming out this summer.
The Bard's Tale remake that was released on PS2 and Xbox is either out now or will be out soon for PC, and there is a demo for it available here:
http://www.pcgameworld.com/details.php/id/5833/
Dungeon Siege 2 should be out in August.
There's a combo RTS/RPG called Dragonshard that is based on D&D that is coming out this summer from Atari.
If Jade Empire does well (and it seems to be doing well) I wouldn't be surprised with an announcement soon for a PC port.
Gothic 2 Night of the Raven expansion should be getting a UK release soon so an english version. Not sure if they are going to release to the US but I bet GoGamer gets some import copies in.
And on that note Gothic 3 has been announced and will probably be out with the German version in early 2006, so maybe by late 2006 we'll get an English version.
There's something called Hellgate: London that will be a first person RPG similar to Diablo 2 in game mechanics that just got a preview here:
http://tinyurl.com/8z4b7 [ computerandvideogames.com ]
They didn't give a release date.
Geneforge 3 should be out this winter. Damn I can't wait GF1 and GF2 rocked. You can get them at http://www.spidweb.com with large demos available. The 3rd one is out now for Mac but will be out later for PC this year.
Dragon Age by Bioware should be out 2006.
NWN2 is in development. No release date yet.
Strategy First has an RPG in development called Golden Land that is single or multiplayer and supposed to have 100-120 hours of gameplay. Graphics looked kind of like Fallout ish but it's not a post-holocaust setting. No release date so far.
RPGDot lists something called ExMachina on their release dates page as a single-player RPG but going to http://www.exmachina-game.com/ it talked about a post-apocalyptic car combat game called Hard Truck Apocalyptic Wars. Like some kind of Mad Max game. Sounded cool but didn't sound like an RPG unless it's going to be like the old Autoduel game by Origin Systems.
There was something on the list called Forgotten Stories: Echos of Destiny with a November launch date, and the web site at:
http://www.oniric-games.com.ar/ForgottenStories/fs_index_en.htm
has a beta demo available. Looked kind of like a console-style RPG to me.
There were some other games I didn't bother researching that were on the RPGdot release dates page which is here:
http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10055
So I think the rumors about the death of the single player PC RPG have been largely exaggerated.
