Wild-eyed stickman brawler Judero seems to have kicked off a small wave of pagan-themed video games – or somewhat, it has recalibrated my mind to be extra conscious of pagan-themed video games. The newest to catch my fancy is party-based RPG Banquet For Fools, out in Early Entry as we speak with a demo. Created by two-person Hannah and Joseph Video games, it casts you as one of many Vollings – a race of gaunt elven humanoids, hailing from the identical faculty of manky action-figure as Judero, who’ve been shunned by their gods and have accordingly turned to paganism.
Particularly, you are a lord who has arrange a spice farm on a „cursed“ island, the previous house of a long-dead civilization. This definitely appears like a silly factor to do, and it is no enormous shock that everyone in your farm has gone lacking. So off you trot with a workforce of 4 custom-generated companions to unravel the thriller, and likewise make up gnarly spells by daubing your blood on timber.
The island itself is a type of „dwelling, respiration“ open worlds. Maybe extra „disquietingly animate“ than „dwelling, respiration“: a few of the residents are ghosts. There are cities you may go to for clues the place you may obtain quests, and there is a Morrowindy emphasis on exploring with out the help of trendy UI fixtures – no questlog and no magic wayfaring compass.
Guards and retailers have schedules and you’ll steal from retailers, at the price of not having the ability to purchase that merchandise in future. Fight is real-time with a pause when your motion bar fills up, as within the elder Remaining Fantasies. Get together member stats could unlock distinctive selections in dialogue, along with evolving relationships. It is definitely piling on the options – I’ve scraped the merest palmful from the squirmingly loquacious Steam page – however what I am most right here for is the haunted Plasticene artwork path, which jogs my memory of that Keane video about beds.
Additionally of nice curiosity to me: the odder skills and the magic system, which seem to lean into the pagan premise. Singing and music are weaponisable in Banquet For Fools: you may get maintain of some shepherd pipes that may summon indignant ravens, for instance. You too can be taught new spell elements from particular timber, and assemble them right into a {custom} enchantment by etching runes in blood utilizing the mouse cursor. Undecided if there’s any character HP loss concerned, however there needs to be. Instead of the normal magical parts or lessons, in the meantime, Banquet For Fools provides you „Fauna“, „Vines“ and „Spores“.
I need to confess, I would not know what paganism actually seems to be like if it shaped a torchlit procession to my doorstep and dropped a menhir on my head. I believe I am in peril of succumbing to caricatures of paganism as being squalid and fecund and excitingly gross. However I approve of the muckiness of Banquet For Fools, and welcome extra video games on this vein.
The sport might be in early entry for round 8-10 months, in keeping with the Steam blurb. „Banquet for Fools is characteristic full, we’re engaged on maps and content material for the sport over this autumn and winter,“ the builders write. „We’re basically completed with all of the exhausting components and solely have content material to work on, and thought it will be time to open it up for ruleset strategies and suggestions for balancing out your gameplay. It is a single participant expertise so we’re not too anxious about over-balancing, however need all play types to have challenges and areas of success.“
Probably time to pounce on that demo. When you benefit from the aesthetic, you may also like Felvedik.