E3 2013: Blackguards Preview

June 13, 2013

We had a chance to sit down with Blackguards’ Senior Producer, taking us through Daedalic’s first 3D game: Blackguards. The game is based on The Dark Eye pen-and-paper RPG system, which is highly popular in Europe. You choose one of three different classes when you start the game, and can specialise from there.

Blackguards uses a grid based, turn based system for battles, drawing similarities to the main series Might & Magic games. A circular menu appears when your turn begins, giving you access to various combat options. For example, you can choose to perform a feint instead of a regular attack. There’s a huge number of battle maps in the game, and you’ll need to explore each map carefully, as there are objects that you can interact with, in order to take out your enemies and find items. Both exploration and battles use the grid for movement. Battles start naturally, as you walk around, enemies will engage you if you get too close to them. You can choose to fight every enemy you come across, or go for a stealthier approach.

The game is heavily based on the pen-and-paper system, behind each attack is an invisible dice roll. The game was created in the Unity engine, and it actually looks quite nice visually. Gameplay is very smooth. You can visit towns where you move around freely, interacting with other characters. As for the plot, The producer claims that you can’t play this game as a good guy, even if you try to, you’ll turn to evil at some point. And for quests, even if you fail to save someone, the game will still continue. Your failure has repercussions, but it does not interrupt the game’s flow

Packed with content, the game features 180 battle maps, and there are more planned. Additionally, the team intends to release a map editor, which they hope to have ready for players to use on release. There’s more than 400 unique items to collect and use, and you can have a maximum of 5 characters in your party at once. On some maps, you can try to save civilians. Presumably, succeeding to do so will grant the player rewards.

Blackguards is aiming to release in November this year.