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Russian publisher 1C Company with its European business conducted through the Czech Republic doesn’t only show off action and simulation games, at gamescom we take a look at three other games that are in the company’s pipeline.
Halo Wars may have given popularity to strategy games on console, 1C sends out Ancestors Legacy with a different take on the genre. The developers previously developed the hardly known on-rails-shooter IS Defense. The new game is a squad-based real-time tactics game which is set in medieval Europe. The four playable factions are Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Germans and Slav. The historically accurate depiction of each nation is one of the developer’s most important goals.
While the story is a work of fiction, the units and their equipment are supposed to be modeled as true to reality as possible. Watching the fierce close-combat up close is quite intense thanks to the use of Unreal Engine 4. Animations are smooth and the units really fight each other and don’t clip through one another as in other strategy games. If a speer hits a shield, the impact is visible. There are formations for your units but the fighters also break out of them and fight individually. All in all the combat in Ancestors Legacy is very dynamic.
As the ten hour story campaign progresses there are schemes plotted, ambushes created and troops gathered. The latter is at utmost importance as you want to stage a castle siege and destroy the enemy’s empire such as in Stronghold. The vast maps offer different opportunities such as conquering camps to get troop boni and ressources. Ressource management is streamlined as the game is being released on PC and consoles. Therefore there is no base building or micro managing collectors as in C&C.
The developer wants to lower the entry barrier by simplifying the controls. Via a touch of a face button you select individual squads or all troops on screen, switch to different places on the map or use special attacks. As we couldn’t play the game yet, that’s all just theoretical info that we witnessed hands-off.
Ancestors Legacy has the potential to transport the player into an unused setting and to ease their way into it with an easy to learn control scheme and keep them with their incredible attention for (historical) detail. There’s not yet a set release date, but soon enough we can let the four nations fight for the power of medieval Europe.
ON3D is currently developing their debut title Quantum Replica. 1C publishes this stealth-action game that is set in a dystopian cyberpunk world. At first the game appears to be a mixture of 10tons’ Neon Chrome and Mike Bithell’s Volume. Similiar to tinybuild’s Mr Shifty you have to find your way through tight corridors, avoid laser beams and armed goons with really bad attitude. As in Metal Gear Solid the enemies’ cones of vision are displayed on-screen. Fighting seems to be your last option though.
There’s cameras to get past, camouflage to attain and enemies to be silently taken care of. The futuristic city is divided into five districts. Metroidvania elements offer new ways once you get the appropriate skill. We look forward to playing Quantum Replica soon ourselves on PS4, XB1 and PC.
The developers of our next title, Micropsia Games, made the journey all-the-way from Santiago de Chile to Cologne to show off their first game The Watchmaker. You’re the eponymous watch maker and your goal is to keep your massive clock tower ticking. One day a mysterious voice awakens Alexander and he discovers there are some weird abnormalities going on inside the tower. It is your task to fix all the problems inside the tower in this 3rd-person puzzle platformer by mastering classic platforming, solving a diverse array of puzzles and even battling giant bosses.
The short demo that we can play is already out on Steam since April. The first stage of the clock tower is displayed in a charming steampunk style. Controlling Alexander is mostly pretty smooth. The puzzles involve a similar device to Half-Life 2’s gravity gun and are quite tricky at times.
If you gather your surroundings at first, you’ll definitely have an advantage. But Alexander can’t pace himself too slowly since the clock is literally ticking. After the constantly present countdown ends, you’ll have to start over from the last checkpoint. This suits the pacing of the game and uses the perks of modern save systems but offers the challenge of a classic 3D platformer.
The images above and below and our talk with Francisco Quilodran, responsible for Business Development ant Micropsia Games, offer further insight into the clock tower and its mysteries. There are five different layers to explore, tinker and fight. Just like the above mentioned games The Watchtower is planned to get a release in the coming months, for now exclusively on PC.
