We all have dream games. For many of us, dreams became reality with the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Now that we have them, it’s time to start casting our eyes to the stars and thinking of what could be. This week, we’re looking at the franchises we would most like to see turned into RPGs. Plus Star Citizen coming under fire, a new Dragon Age contest, and a crushing blow to Dead Island 2!
X-Files
The X-Files is dark, brooding, and all kinds of wonderful. The show blended elements of science fiction, horror, romance, and presented it all as one of the first genre serials on network television. The hunt for Mulder’s sister, Scully’s reluctant journeys into the scientific unknown, government conspiracy after government conspiracy… the truth is out there and we want to find it!
The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft
If you haven’t read H.P. Lovecraft, you need to. Lovecraft wrote a rich, often interconnected fiction between his short stories and novels. His mythos circulated around old gods and dead religions, mysterious priests, and forbidden knowledge that, of course, you want to know. Lovecraft’s work is all about the looming dread that makes you question whether you even want to keep reading and then you do. It’s high time we have an RPG directly from his tales and not just inspired by them. And yes, you can even throw in Cthulu and the Necronomicon.
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Sandman
The Sandman series, written by Neil Gaiman, challenged what many readers believed comic books could be. The main character, Morpheus aka Dream aka “The Sandman,” is one member of a family known as the Endless Ones who travel across time and space to fulfill natures intricately entwined with mankind. Together with his siblings, Death, Despair, Destiny, Delirium, Desire, and Destruction, Dream journeys from the 1700s to modern day, from Heaven to Hell, to the ethereal and the corporate. The series is, forgive me, dreamy and draws in tendrils of folk and fairy tales from around the world. It is definitively Neil Gaiman, and it is a tapestry we would love to adventure in for ourselves.
Batman
We talked about this quite a bit last week, so we’ll just say that Rocksteady’s Arkham games showed us how fun being the Bat can be. Unfortunately, it also makes you a passive observer to every major story event by relying on cutscenes. What we would really love is dialogue trees and a nice bump to the gear and inventory systems. Let us forge our own path and really be the Dark Knight.
The Simpsons
Listen all of you “it was better in the 90s” folks, that is no reason to throw away a good thing! We all saw how great South Park: The Stick of Truth was, and, if we’re being honest, half the charm was playing on our memories of old episodes. The Simpsons could do that and so much more! With hundreds of episodes and a sweet spot in all of our hearts, this is a series that demands a good RPG. Unfortunately for Matt Greoning, they can’t claim that “Simpsons did it” first here.
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The Dragonlance Chronicles
The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman was the Lord of the Rings of a new generation. I spent most of my eighth grade summer poring through the adventures of Tanis Half-Elven, Flint Fireforge, and the loveable kender, Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Sure, it might be a little cliche, but this franchise is built on relationship. Is there anything more universal than a group of friends on an adventure? Also talking dragons. Lots of those.
True story, I roleplayed my first MMO character as a dimension traveling Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Ahd yes, we know there are Dragonlance RPGs from years back. We’re talking modern and AAA.
Titanic
Just kidding. You can let go now, Jack.
Jurassic Park
The movies are great, but when was the last time we had a good dinosaur RPG? I know, we have ARK: Survival Evolved to scratch that itch, but it tends much closer to a survival game than a true RPG. We’d love to be let loose on an island, maybe in the aftermath of the events of Jurassic World. What do you say, Mr. Spielberg?
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower series of one of Stephen King’s finest achievements, and it would work wonderfully as an RPG. The setting is terribly unique, blending western with fantasy, but and even some elements of horror. Plus, it ties together all of Stephen King’s work in one big universe! Who wouldn’t want to be the Gunslinger on a twenty hour adventure through the Wastelands? Big ninnies, that’s who.
Quick Hits
The wait for Dead Island 2 just got longer. Deep Silver announced yesterday that they have parted ways with Yager Development in the creation of the game. Yager said in a press release that, ultimately, their vision just didn’t match with the publisher. This comes as a surprise since the game seemed to be fairly far along in development. Following Dying Light, however, one has to wonder whether how Dead Island 2 would set itself apart anyway.
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Star Citizen has come under fire this week as outside developer Derek Smart has publically declared the game impossible to make and demanded more accountability. Smart has painted a damning picture of Cloud Imperium Games with a series blog posts on his personal site. CIG has since refunded his pledge, giving the reason that they believe Smart to only be promoting his own games and, as such, is no longer a good fit for the community. This is a big issue and has popped up all over the gaming media sites since it began. You can hear our tell-all interview with Derek Smart here.
Bioware is letting players make their own accessories for Dragon Age: Inquisition in the new Untold Relics of Thedas contest. Using a list of attributes and abilities, come up with a Bioware-worthy backstory and you can be one of three lucky winners to see their items added to the game and receive a Bioware Prize Pack. PC players also now have access to the first six hours of the game and unlimited multiplayer free of charge.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has passed away following a fatal bile duct growth. He was a pioneer in gaming and will be sadly missed.
Finally, in briefer bits, Gauntlet is now accepting pre-orders on PlayStation 4 and Guild of Dungeoneering has officially launched on PC and Mac. Pick it up for $14.99.
