The lead dev of inXile's steampunk RPG says it's a 'love child' of two of the best RPGs ever made—and he should know, he helped make them
«Our game is like if Dark Souls had a baby with God of War,» The marketing guy insists to you. «It is as though The Sims had sex with Neverwinter Nights,» He raves, fingers digging into your arm. His eyes dilate, «Our game is reminiscent of a theoretical scenario where Twisted Metal was the illicit court paramour of Barbie Horse Adventures, and they produced a royal bastard capable of upending this kingdom's fragile politics.»
I've heard this shtick before, is what I'm saying, but it's definitely way more believable when the guy saying it actually helped make both of the copulating games in question. «With deep world building, compelling narrative, crunchy RPG systems, engaging gameplay, and massive reactivity,» Wrote Chad Moore, project director on inXile's Clockwork Revolution, «I’ve always described [Clockwork Revolution] as the love child of [Arcanum] and [Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines]»
In another life, Moore was a developer at Troika Games, the legendary (and legendarily chaotic) developer of cult hit RPGs Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines. Having someone with significant credits on both Arcanum and Vampire say Clockwork Revolution is a «love child» of the two with «massive reactivity,» man, that's a Manchurian Candidate activation phrase for a certain kind of RPG freak like myself.
Troika games just hit different. The studio was founded by Fallout 1 creators Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson, with their first game, Arcanum, feeling almost like an alternate Fallout 2—it sports a similar world map and structure, tile-based areas, and a reliance on 3D, pre-rendered art turned into 2D sprites. Arcanum's an isometric
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