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Shadow Realms is the name of the new IP on the way from EA’s BioWare.
It’s a PC exclusive and is due out some time next year. It appears to be set in the modern day, but is still heavy on demons and magic. EA says the game hopes to recapture the feeling of playing Dungeons & Dragons on your kitchen table.
It will be an episodic release, too
Shadow Realms has its genesis in old school Dungeons & Dragons,” lead designer James Ohlen said. When I first started designing BioWare RPGs back in the 90s, what drove me creatively was the desire to give players the experience I had while playing pen and paper games as a youth. The great storytelling, the feeling that anything could happen – these were experiences that you couldn’t find in any other game. And the great thing was that these adventures never had an end. A good Dungeon Master could keep a story going for months or even years.
BioWare RPGs have successfully replicated many of the things that made classic tabletop games fun: powerful storytelling, being able to create your own character, levelling-up that hero to achieve the heights of fantasy power, and tactical combat against a fantastic array of monsters. But the stories always come to an end and AI systems can’t replace the creativity of a human Dungeon Master. Shadow Realms aims to change that.
It is a game that finally fulfils that fantasy of a never-ending RPG where the players meet up regularly to keep their epic adventures going for as long as they want. All the enemies, traps and challenges are squarely in the hands of another player, who controls them just like a Dungeon Master. The monsters and villains are smart and unpredictable, making every battle a test of strategy and power. Best of all, everyone gets to enjoy a story that plays out like their favourite TV series, but where they decide the fates of its world and characters.”
Expect the trailer to go live here shortly.
