So, I pre-ordered Age of Decadence. Those of us who pre-ordered were promised a 60% demo to try out, and I got the announcement for the demo in my inbox this morning. For those of who you not in the know, Age of Decadence (henceforth referred to as AoD) is an indie RPG developed by Vault Dweller and the other fellows at Irontower Studio. A spiritual successor to the original Fallout, AoD brings back all the things we've grown to love and cherish, such as proper turn based combat, a classless character system, a post-apocalyptic world, dark humour and political intrigue. Do not expect to carve through a band of raiders like a hot knife through butter – compared to the resistance faced in most other games, your enemies in AoD certainly know how to fight and will slaughter you like a pig if you do not play your cards right and utilise every strategic advantage at your disposal. The acute danger of entering combat feels refreshing, and makes exploring other venues an interesting possibility, if not a matter of necessity. Indeed, a peaceful playthrough without any bloodshed seems perfectly possible and given the quality of dialogue and narrative in this game is a very exciting experience. I have played through the 60% demo as a charismatic loremaster, and I have not had to fight once, except for this one fight in the end which I am fairly sure I could have avoided had I picked different options or dedicated more character points to certain skills. You start the game in a city called Teron, your exact circumstances decided by the background you choose during character creation. Today I decided to play as a loremaster, but you could be an assassin, a thief, a praetor (knights/nobility) a merchant, a grifter etc all dependent on your preferences. If you love a game with challenging combat, intelligently written dialogue, an excellent story and all that Falloutesque goodness, look no further. This game holds up to all its promises. Head on over to http://www.irontowerstudio.com and fetch the public beta, try out your skills in the old combat demo or support the developers by pre-ordering the game! LP coming soon.
It looks pretty good, though it doesn't seem like they have a mac demo even though they are planning on a mac release. I guess if it reviews well I'll probably pick it up, you have me intrigued.
I've played the demos released previously, and based on those I'd say AoD will be superb. Thumbs up from me.
Also played the previous demo, managed to find stuff to do for hours. And that's like a 10% demo right?
I know I'm late to the party here as I've been on an extended absence, but this looks interesting for sure. Also, you could name your character "Philes" if it was a 25% demo, as that's all the further he would ever get.