There was absolutely no way I wasn’t going to devote a page to a game that was, in fact, born out of years and years of D&D experience on the part of the developer and then realized as a tactical RPG in a very lovely pixel art world.
Echoes of Aromia began as a novel, then evolved into a D&D campaign and is now the subject of Studio Targa’s pixel art RPG.
The tactical gameplay puts you in battles directly on the maps you’re exploring, with movement on a grid and the ability to destroy bits of the environment. I’m looking forward to seeing just how much you can use the various bits of scenery (furniture, trees, etc.) in the course of a fight, but now I’ll tell you more about this project.
A Battlefield You Have Already Been Exploring
Studio Targa states you can use the environment for cover and positioning, with things like tables, trees, and lampposts being destructible.
In the dev playtest notes, there’s an example: once you’ve made peace with the raiders, you can interact with the captive, or you can break its cage in the middle of a fight. The same location can therefore be played out in very different ways depending on your choice.
You can customize your character’s look, and the classes are Warrior, Sentinel, Ranger, Alchemist and Gunslinger. Progression is via experience and skill trees. The dev notes also touch on upgraded weapons and armor and shops for each class.
There are already some very clear differences between the weapons. The Sentinel now has halberds that can reach two tiles, giving it a more offensive option in addition to its shield. The Warrior axe can hit two of your nearby enemies at once so where you position your targets is going to be important. The Ranger has Call of the Wild, which allows a bear to join the fight and use the character’s agility.
A Fantasy World Entering Its Industrial Age
Echoes of Aromia takes place twenty years after the Clockwork Revolution (a world war that ended with the defeat of the Clockwork Army).
The cities are in the process of rebuilding, and industrialization is beginning to have an effect on society. There’s corruption, there’s conspiracies and there’s a lot of lost history. Studio Targa describes it as pre-steampunk, set in a world where technology is just beginning to take off.
David Justino (Targa) wants to make a fantasy RPG without magic. Alchemy is absolutely central to the world. In an interview, he said industrial progress has made alchemy more refined, more experimental, and more dangerous.
He also pointed to Skyrim’s ingredient gathering and experimentation as having been the inspiration for the crafting system.
The dev notes talk about planting locations, more plants, and new recipes, so the alchemy system has a lot more to it than just the purchase of ingredients. There’s a codex for characters and factions as well as NPC schedules. All of that could go a long way to making it feel like you’re actually living your life as you go from quest to quest and around the city.
Some Trouble Can Be Talked Through
There are already instances of branching dialogue in the game. In Those Who Sat Down there’s a recent update which allows you to talk to the raiders prior to a fight. Zid’s Bar has a very calm option which uses skill checks. These are the moments where dialogue can actually influence how a situation unfolds.
The tabletop gaming roots are obvious. Justino has been a DM for years and this is his first game. Combat has been influenced by Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. The game has been in development for just over a year with some external help on the art, music and programming. The story and campaigns, though, have been around for a lot longer.
Justino has been funding the dev out of his own pocket and is contemplating a Kickstarter if there’s sufficient interest, so let’s try to give him a reason to keep pushing on.
Playable content is being constantly updated. Local quest markers are now in the game and can be hidden by untracking the quest. The dev is still working on interface tweaks and balancing.
Echoes of Aromia is coming to PC via Steam (no release date at this time). There’s a free demo available which contains four main quests and four side quests set in and around Braver Hook Thorn. The demo features Aliziel (Arbiter Knight from Lumbya) and Iolani (alchemist from Naryza). The dev says it will take you around 2-3 hours to play through it. There’s also a massive squirrel to deal with which I think is absolutely the perfect first job for a new adventuring party.
