On Gamescom Friday we got the chance to check out the newest games and updates from publisher Daedalic Entertainment. It was a fun presentation, as it was the last presentation of this years Gamescom and people were in a good mood altogether.
The transition from development studio to publisher, really worked out well for Daedalic, as all four games presented, looked great and the charming developers made the presentation even better.
Surviving Deponia: A Return to Daedalic’s classic series with a twist
The first presentation we got to see was a lovely video from the Surviving Deponiadevelopers, who unfortunately couldn’t make it to Gamescom because of illness.
After the conclusion of the point-and-click adventures of the chaotic anti-hero Rufus, Daedalic and AtomicTorch Studios return to the iconic world of Deponia. However, Surviving Deponia isn’t just a continuation and a point-and-click adventure, but transports the series into a new genre altogether. Instead of making your way through a linear game full of puzzles, Surviving Deponia is a proper survival craft and base building game.
You explore, fight and build your way through the game. Collect enough scrap from the fallen city of Elysium to upgrade your gear and weapons and solve the problems of a colorfulcast of old Deponia characters and a roster of new characters and deal with the issues of Elysium’s fall.
Fighting, solving quests and other activities, earn you experience points which you can use to level up and get skill points to improve your character. From better damage, to collecting more effectively, there are quite some options to improve and adapt the character to your playstyle.
From the short presentation, one thing stood out especially for me and that was the presentation of the game. Even though I only played the first Deponia game to completion, the familiar look immediately caught my eye. Even though the new look, is quite the departure from the point-and-click adventure games, the lovely 2D hand drawn character designs and surroundings were immediately recognizable. And during talks, the camera zoomed in to highlight the character art.
Even though Surviving Deponia is quite the departure from the point-and-click adventure games of previous Deponia games, it still oozes the charm and humor of previous titles. Surving on a garbage planet, couldn’t be more fitting for the genre. And if you want to check out Surviving Deponia yourself, there is still a playtest running on Steam.
Ghost Haunting – How to deal with grief in an Eifel ghost story
Presented by Tali Barde, Head of Games from Three Headed Monkey Studios, the next game we were able to see was Ghost Haunting, an old school point-and-click adventure playing in the German Eifel region and about the eight-year-old Gigi who deals with the death of her grandma Gundi in her own way.
Ghost Haunting is the debut game of Three Headed Monkey Studios, and you can already tell by their name, that they are fans of old point-and-click adventures, as their name is a reference to Monkey Island. Why it plays in the Eifel, you ask? Tali explained that in order toget federal funding, chances were higher if the game actually played in Germany or even better in the federal state. So the game’s setting moved from Scotland to the Eifel region in North Rhine Westfalia and once the team got federal funding, took a trip to the region to explore the Eifel and investigate local folklore.
But back to the game. As said before the game is about eight-year-old Gigi who is dealing with the death of her beloved grandma Gundi. She is thinking her grandma is rather on a very long vacation and will come back at some point. It doesn’t help that she is living together with her weird and grumpy grandfather Giovanni now, who doesn’t know how to deal with an eight-year-old either.
So, Gigi is doing what all kids at her age does, she is exploring the neighborhood and is doing all kinds of mischievous things. On one of her strolls, she discovers the talking pumpkin Baron Butternot, who is supposedly a demon in disguise and promises Gigi to help her find the Realm of the Dead to bring back her grandma. And if that is not enough, he also spills the secret that Grandpa Giovanni is an experienced ghost hunter.
Ghost Haunting’s story is full of humor and slapstick comedy, just like it’s role models, without losing sight of Gigi’s story. It takes Gigis grief seriously when necessary and highlights how a young child can deal with the loss of a loved one.
Gameplay wise, Three Headed Monkey Studios is aiming for the classic point-and-click adventure experience. Weird and goofy characters, such as Potlins (Goblins in toilets) or Vegan Vampires and lots of puzzles to solve.
Tali Barde pointed out that puzzles and puzzle solving are aiming for fun solutions, but puzzles that are making sense, instead of the player clicking around the environment and combining items that make no sense.
Modern features such as a highlight system, which points out all interactable points on the screen or a fast travel function, are quality of life features that make the game feel more in the now. But if you want an old school experience, you can turn them all off.
The gameplay we saw was voiced in English and the game will also feature a packed cast of German voice actors of new and known voice actors and multiple localizations at launch.
Ghost Haunting looks like it shapes up to be a wonderful old-school point-and-click adventure experience. The unique setting and the promising story of how Gigi deals with the loss of a loved one, hooked me right away and I am looking forward to a release date in the near future.
Hordeguard: Winds of the North – A base building tower defense hack and slash
In Hordeguard: Winds of the North, you build and protect your own Viking village. While collecting resources in real time to upgrade your village buildings, defenses such as walls and towers and recruit units, you are constantly making decisions and adapt to the imminent threat of hordes of enemies attacking, once the timer runs out. Each wave of enemies gets stronger and once every couple of waves a boss attacks your village as well.
And here is where it is getting interesting. Besides the collecting and building part under the pressure of a real time timer, you can also venture outside the village with the hero you control to explore and find valuable loot and fight monster camps and find upgrade cards to further increase the strength and skills of your hero or strengthen your defenses
Getting stronger yourself is also a way to deal with the ever-growing threat of the hordes you fight.
Once back in the base, you continue enhancing your structures until you either win or get overrun.
However, losing the game doesn’t mean you gain nothing. As Hordeguard also has rogueliteprogression, you earn persistent perks and unlock runes and stats for your heroes.
Hordeguard can either be played alone or in local two player split screen coop through Steam Remote Play with a friend. And playing with a friend makes it even better. One person can collect resources, while the other builds or repairs buildings and recruits’ units. You can both head out on adventures, tackling more dangerous foes early on, depending on the heroes chosen and you can defend your base together or at different entries.
Asking the developers about online coop, they said it is something they look at, but since Black Deer Games is only a two-person studio, it is something that right now is beyond the scope of the game, but you never know.
Even know though, Hordeguard is already very addicting, and you can try it out yourself in the current Steam Playtest. The mix direct hack and slash gameplay combined with resource gathering and base management is super addicting and reminds me a lot of RTS mods of old. Especially in coop with a friend.
Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown – Everything was Q
The final presentation at Daedalic was about the newest content for Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown. The developers Q and Q from gameXcite presented the newest content updates for the game to us.
The Q-Trials are a new and free gameplay mode, and the Equinox is a new paid DLC-ship, both releasing on October 1st.
The difference between the Q-Trials and a regular playthrough of the game is the focus on more gameplay and less story or flavor text. Remote missions are much shorter and are primarily stat based. You pick your crew to fill the right stats and in a matter of seconds you have the results.
At the beginning of a run in this roguelike mode, you choose a Captain, in our presentation Harry Kim (finally a Captain for once) and Q picks a random crew for you to deal with. Furthermore, you either pick the Voyager or if you own the DLC, the Equinox, which comes with a different ship layout, is much smaller and has less energy. And then it is up to you to deal with the challenges of each sector and jump home.
Three times during a run, you must pick a modifier that gives you something positive, but also negative and a small reward. Either a hero, technology or more resources. If you pick a technology the technology is permanently unlocked for the rest of the mode.
If that sounds too easy for you, every time you finish a Q-Trial, you unlock the next of up to 10 difficulty stages of the mode. And if that is not enough there are also additional Q-Modifications, which give you a positive and a negative effect. An example they showed in the presentation was that if you want more resources? Then you get attacked more often.
While presenting the Q-Trials to us, the developers were very proud to announce that they got John de Lancie, the original actor of Q in Star Trek on board, who recorded special voice lines and snarky comments for the game mode.
While the main game of Star Trek: Across the Unknown was quite story heavy and a playthrough took quite some time, the Q-Trials are a great way to invite the players to come back to the game and play it more. Focusing less on the text heavy story and slimming down the remote missions, make the roguelike mode fast as well. Multiple ships, if you include the Equinox update, every character bringing something new to the table as a captain and a random crew. Modifications, technologies to unlock and an ever-increasing difficulty, make every new run rewarding and different.
