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The famous sci-fi TTRPG becomes a videogame: Starfinder: Afterlight aims to provide an enriching role-playing experience, in which you set out to become an unlikely legend in the galaxy.
Even though some triple-A publishers thought turn-based RPGs were about to become a thing of the past, these last few years have definitely proven that there’s still a huge market for these kind of experiences, which can even reach a huge success by listening to their customers and by providing a product crafted with love.
After we just saw an excellent adaptation of the D&D universe in videogame form with Baldur’s Gate 3, now there’s another game in development that may catch the eye of fans of this genre, as Epictellers Entertainment just launched a Kickstarter campaign for Starfinder: Afterlight, based on the role-playing game built by Paizo.
Last week, XTgamer had the opportunity to attend a special press event to learn more about the game directly from the developers and, from what I saw, it’s clear that the team wants to bring to life this universe in the best way possible.
Starfinder: Afterlight will be a sci-fi fantasy RPG entirely in single-player, putting extreme emphasis on our choices. It’s not a coincidence that the developers admitted that its gameplay is directly influenced by Divinity Original Sin 2, another excellent role-playing game by Larian Studios.
That will include exclusive dialogue options based on our background and choices which will apparently be able to influence how the story progresses. You can easily tell that this is a very ambitious game, although we only saw a mere fragment of the actual choices and consequences during the event itself.
As for the roster of playable characters, the whole experience has been referenced as something similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies by Marvel, so we can expect a cast of lovable misfits which may end up becoming legends. It’s also been confirmed that we’ll be able to pursue romances or even end up having members leave our team, should our choices not satisfy them in the long run. We will also need to convince them to actually be part of our squad, as it’s not guaranteed that they’re gonna join us regardless.
The voice cast will include several veterans of the industry, having experience in franchises like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Final Fantasy and Dragon’s Dogma, just to name a few. The voice director will also be Neil Newbon, which most of you probably know for his role as Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3. The developers revealed that he’s very involved with the project and is always ready to take the lead and give useful suggestions to the whole team, but at this time it’s not clear if he’ll have an actual voiced role in the game.
We can also expect a game that should be faithful to the storyline of the original board game. From what we’ve been told, Paizo seems closely involved with the project, which is also extremely motivating for the entire team of Epictellers. In any case, we can expect a game that is gonna mix serious themes with humor, with game mechanics that will probably look familiar in a good way to anyone who enjoys CRPGs.
Final thoughts
Starfinder: Afterlight will launch initially as an Early Access title, should the Kickstarter campaign prove successful. This is because the developers want to make their community extremely involved with how the game progresses, getting feedback and eventually adjusting things based on the suggestions from the players. An approach that should also help the game find its own niche of hardcore gamers, preparing the way for a successful launch.
I wasn’t able to see too much of the gameplay — understandably so, since the game is still in early development — but it already seems promising enough and the team is clearly ambitious, even with the obvious budget limitations compared to other giants of this genre. Keeping that in mind, if the development goes well, it could be a hidden gem to keep our eyes on.