Summary
Creating a video game is a huge undertaking. This remains true whether a game is being made by a solo developer tinkering on a passion project, or is part of a huge AAA studio endeavor to createmassive open worldsand intricate, finely tuned gacha systems that operate like clockwork. Money dispensing clockwork. It seems like, just as the technology to develop games becomes more advanced, so too do the standards for games grow higher—alongside their budgets.
As such, even as creating a game might become easier—or at least more streamlined—for developers, there is still an immense amount of time, energy, and risk that is involved with the creation of a video game.Isometric RPGsare no strangers to this risk, with modern titles often relying on fan backing due to the genre’s more niche appeal, and games coded in the trenches of early 90s CRPG software often struggling to break even for developers even if they were well-crafted products. These isometric titles in particular not only risked themselves or the companies attached to them during the development process, but came out on the other side of this process as huge successes.
This is one of those monumental titles that redefines the landscape of video games. However, unlike other games that have made this kind of impact in recent years, likeStardew ValleyorFortnite,Disco Elysiumhas spawned almost no imitators because of how focused and novel this kind of game is. That said, if done improperly, the very thing that makes this game so unique could have been its downfall.
The near-complete lack of combat in a CRPG-style game is a huge risk to implement in a genre that often bases itself on combat between narrative story beats. While RPGs in this sub-genreare often philosophical, the decision ofDisco Elysiumdevs ZAUM to remove any instance of combat as a core part of its gameplay was a huge risk in this industry.
Obsidian Entertainment, as a developer, has been responsible for some of thegreatest RPGs of all time.Knights of the Old Republic 2is one of the fewStar Warstitles to take the binary clash between the light and dark side of the Force and turn it into something unique.Fallout: New Vegasis considered by many to be the undisputed peak of the 3DFalloutgames. In both these instances, however, the end result of Obsidian’s work was compromised by brutal crunch times and publisher demands.
The prospect of being free from such things and being able to make a game with crowdsourced funds must have been incredibly enticing to Obsidian—but crowdfunded games come with a long list of risks. If Obsidian failed to gain enough funds to make their game, or couldn’t meet all their goals with the funds provided, it would have been a PR disaster. Luckily, instead of this, players got one of the best CRPGs in the modern age inPillars of Eternity.
Much likePillars of Eternity,Torment: Tides of Numenerawas a crowdfunded isometric RPG looking to bring back that spark of creativity and ingenuity from CRPGs of years past. However, the inherent risk with this title was even greater than Obsidian’s gambit withPoE. InXile are seasoned, talented developers, but they hadn’t received the same kind of recognition and attention that Oblivion had. Beyond this, this title was setting itself up to maintain an incredibly high standard.
Considered the pinnacle of CRPGs during the height of theirpopularity and production,Planescape: Tormentis one of those titles that can very uncontroversially be called one of the best games of all time.Tides ofNumeneralabeling itself as a spiritual successor to this masterwork was sure to set backer standards high well before its release, and yet it still managed to come out on top.
Classic RPGs don’t get much better than the originalFallout, which is still lauded today as one of the funniest and most insightful titles on the shelves. While more modernFallouttitles have taken up the mantra that “nukes are really fun actually, and should be used indiscriminately,“Falloutin its original conception put the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world on full display.
However, this harrowing message of an irradiated future was coming out at a time when fantasy titles were all the rage. Without a pre-established IP to rely on,Falloutwas at high risk of being overlooked in favor of the more mainstream fantasy titles. Instead, it became one of gaming’s benchmark post-apocalyptic franchises.
The road to a full releaseforBaldur’s Gate 3was a long and winding one, with hype that built up over years of beta releases. The sheer ambition of a game that shoots for this size and scale already presents an incredible risk when it comes to actually sticking the landing.
There is a parallel universe whereBaldur’s Gate 3wasn’t able to meet its goals, or found trouble with its fans through certain mehcanics (failing checks, permanently losing companions, etc.), and video essayists across the world would be able to make a tidy living examining what went wrong. Thankfully, this is not that world.Baldur’s Gate 3somehow exceeded expectations and became an instant classic RPG that will be extremely difficult to top.
Few franchises can claim to have the same level of in-depth, labyrinthine, and utterly expansive lore as theWarhammeruniverse can. Bringing the Black Library’s content into a classically styled isometric RPG is risky enough, but trying to faithfully meld CRPG mechanics with the mechanics of the board game that shares same name could have gone horribly wrong.
Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects ofWarhammer 40k: Rogue Traderis how its developers didn’t alienate audiences who were unfamiliar with the lore. Anyone looking for a dark space fantasy title, whether they’reWarhammerenthusiasts or not, will be pleased to hear this game more than hits the mark.
The central feature ofTunicis quite different from its peers and more than a little meta, and there’s a chance that, if implemented improperly, it could have made this game fall flat.
The game starts offincredibly small-scale, and the manual that explains everything to do in this title must be manually restored, piece-by-piece, as players continue exploring. This includes the game manual itself, as well as the ability to decipher the language it is written in. This kind of obtuse gameplay mechanic could easily alienate players; instead, it madeTunican indie darling.
