Akella’s latest addition to the Disciples RPG franchise, Renaissance, will introduce a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be. The game combat in Disciples III is now based on a hex system where as a former square grid was replaced with a hex one which, in their minds was a more natural way for the game to be played. Along with these changes to the gamplay, Akella also sent us some information on the Elven Alliance and the Legion of the Damned that will be prevalent throughout the game. You can read up on them after the jump.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned – each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

Hopefully soon we will have more on Disciples III: Renaissance, so until then check back with us often.

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Coming this Fall to a PC near you is Akella’s newest RPG/strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance. This is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned – each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

The sent us a bevy of screenshots for the game today, and they look pretty cool to me -of course being an RPG nut I am always on the lookout for something new to pique my interest. Stick around for more updates on Disciples III: Renaissance. I have posted more screenshots after the break.

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Recently I had the opportunity to preview Akella’s latest RTS naval simulator game PT Boats: Knights of the Sea, and if WWII games are your thing and you are tired of playing aerial or ground war titles; then this game was made especially for you. With the video game market overly saturated with WWII games, Akella wanted to produce something different starring one of the most under-appreciated heroes of that era, the Patrol Torpedo Boat. Faster and easier to maneuver than a large battleship, PT Boats were used when accuracy and speed were of the utmost importance and they got the job done. Being smaller did not mean that they could not cause serious damage to a larger vessel though, because they could take a tanker down with their torpedoes – and while they were indeed more vulnerable than their larger counterparts, they were essential to any maritime battle.

As the title of the game states, these unsung heroes are the boats you will be manning and your mission is to get the job done without getting yourself blown to bits. While that is the basic premise of any video game where you are in battle, PT Boats: Knights of the Sea is a bit different than your standard war game. Your job is to not only join the battleships and carriers during battles, but you will also be called upon to escort convoys, do a bit of reconnaissance and protect strategic coastal points.

During the demo of the game, players can choose one of three sides, Allied, Germany, or the USSR in six different mission episodes and experience battles twice via either defensive or offensive mode. Now, please note that this was just a preview demo, so some of the graphics features were not running at 100%, so be rest assured that the graphics within the full game will be less banal. The map is very easy to navigate and can be viewed in 2D or 3D mode and the wonderful thing about it is that you can click on anywhere in the map grid and be taken directly to that point without having to get to your destination in real-time mode. While in map mode you can also pause the game and change your speed for up to 4x the norm.

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I really like the folks over at Akella. They produce decent games and they are a great bunch of people with a solid work ethic who absolutely love making video games. However, I have to disagree with their choice of soundtrack for the trailer they sent us this week. Originally titled Showdown: Scorpion, the trailer shows off what can only be described as a fragfest with good graphics and frightening surprises around each corner. With that said, the scariest thing about the trailer has to be the woman singing – if she is not Yoko Ono, she sure as hell is related to her. Take my suggestion, and listen to it about 1/3 of the way through the trailer just so you will have an idea of what I am talking about – then turn your sound off lest your ears start to bleed.

Coming to the PC this Spring, the basic premise for Scorpion’s backstory is that the world in 2028 has become a place without mercy, compassion, or sympathy. Drastic changes that followed a sudden crisis split society into several parts – all of them opposing each other. You are offered to wear the shoes of a special agent who has to penetrate the Umbrella Corporation Zenith Corporation that breeds monsters, initiates killings and, actually, rules the world. Full of monsters, zombies, and dangerous dungeons Scorpion seems like it will be a mix between your basic FPS with a bit of survival horror thrown into the recipe. For gaming features and a more in depth look at the backstory, continue on after the break. In the mean time, please take my advice above to heart regarding the dying cat they recorded as background music. Dear God it is hideous. Sorry Akella.

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For months, we have been reporting news regarding Akella’s Hard to be a God, and while the slated December release date came and went without any word from the developers, some of us were starting to get a bit concerned. Well, I was anyway. Yesterday, Akella sent us the English demo for the game and I was finally able to get a taste of what the game is offering. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hard to be a God, I will give you the basic rundown.

Hard to be a God is a non-linear RPG for the PC with several story branches and 4 endings depending on the main character’s in-game behavior. One of the gameplay features is the interference of two epochs in the game universe – the medieval and the alternative future. This provides the peculiar variety of different weapons and armors; from swords and bows to mini-guns, from full plates to force fields and equipment-like binoculars and night vision goggles at characters’ disposal. The standard RPG equipment “doll” is amplified with slots for swords, shoulder belts and hidden weapon scabbards on wrists and arms. The events in the game take place in a universe depicted in the novel of the same name, written by the Strugatsky brothers. But the storyline of the game doesn’t repeat what’s happening in the book, but rather continues it. The action in the game takes place about two years later after the events described in the novel. Hard to be a God is a third-person-view game featuring dynamic combat, many weapons and fighting techniques and also a well thought-out and diverse role-playing system. Also, special attention has been paid to in-game dialogs and the storyline.

Ok, now that you have been reintroduced to the game, I will give you my impression of the demo.

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You may recall that back in November, Moscow’s 1C Company acquired Akella’s “Sea Dog” in-house development studio, and now we receive word that 1C has also purchased Russian developer Ino-Co, the team behind Fantasy Wars and Star Wolves. The studio will be renamed 1C: Ino-Co, and the good news is that they are currently working on a Fantasy Wars sequel titled Elven Legacy, which is slated for release sometime in 2008 and are working on two other projects as well.

This new acquisition has buffed up the 1C Company’s game portfolio which also includes the IL-2 Sturmovik, Pacific Fighters and Theatre of War titles. With a PC publishing division based in Prague, a deal to publish titles for Atari and joint ventures with Fireglow Games, the 1C Company is definitely one Central and Eastern European publisher whose star just keeps getting bigger and brighter.

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz

City of Abandoned Ships is a new naval RPG in which you can take to the high seas and explore exciting new lands. Amass fortune and fame as you navigate the open seas with ruthless enemies in pursuit. In City of Abandoned Ships you’ll take the leading role as a fearless pirate in a desperate attempt to seize your rightful place as one of the most respected sea dogs in history. Starting out your buccaneering career, you can choose to go it alone and become the most feared pirate on the seven seas, terrorizing Spaniard and English gentleman alike. Or prove your loyalty and take the coin of one of four different navies: French, English, Spanish or Dutch.Sailing the high seas as a swashbuckling dread pirate or as a dashing naval captain, you will explore strange new countries and alien civilization, raid and plunder fortified ports and cities, and search for ancient treasures. But beware, the dead do not sleep easy and in the dark South American jungles myth and reality intertwine. Solve the ancient mysteries of a vanishing tribe, cross swords with the most notorious swashbucklers ever to sail the ocean blue and make sure that no foe ever sets foot on land again.

Features:

• Explore the accurately-mapped paradise of the Caribbean. Sail your tall ship around the islands of Cuba and Jamaica to Belize and Bermuda.
• Vast array of land-based locations, from dense South American jungle to dark Caribbean cave complexes.
• Meet real-life historical characters, such as Jamaican governors Colonel Thomas Lynch and Thomas Modyford.
• Take your part in quests based around actual historical events.
• Experience mirrored missions for different states – defend a Spanish territory in one instance and orchestrate a ruthless attack in another.
• Unique P.I.R.A.T.E.S system of character progression: Power, Impression, Reaction, Authority, Talent, Endurance and Success.
• Face fierce ship-to-ship combat or stand toe-to-toe with the most feared swordsmen in the Caribbean.

For more information on the game, you can check out the official website. This looks like a pretty cool new game from the folks at Akella, and possibly one that will stand out amongst all of the different “pirate oriented” games that are flooding the market. You can expect City of Abandoned Ships to be available for the PC during the first part of 2008.

A Stroke of Fate is the upcoming adventure game from Akella, where you’ll play a spy infiltrating Hitler’s regime near the end of World War II. The game will have you joining the Gestapo and working on a plot to assassinate Hitler himself. Personally, I’ve been interested in this title since I learned about its intriguing and somewhat controversial setup. Luckily, I got a chance recently to ask some questions of Boris Chuprin, the project leader of the SPLine development studio, about what gamers can expect to explore in the game and how the team has kept everything historically accurate. From the sound of it, they’ve put a lot of effort into making this one deep and compelling game.

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It has been a while since Hard to be a God has been mentioned, but with the December release date just right around the corner, our friends at Akella sent us a batch of new screenshots to get your interest piqued once again. As you can see from these fresh assets, there are multiple options to tear your way through the obstacles in becoming a god– you can negotiate for a peaceful solution, sneak to disarm and take advantage of a favorable situation, or just jump in and start hacking and slashing your way through to vitctory.

With a non-liner storyline with up to 5 endings, real-time combat, a wide dialouge tree, free movement through locations with random encounters and sci-fi technologies instead of the traditional magic system popular with RPGs, Hard to be a God is definitely not going to be your run of the mill hack and slash. The interference of medieval and alternative future epochs in the game universe along with simulation of independent life of of the game’s population, this interactive gameworld decides how the hero develops during the course of game and the game also develops around a character.

But you know what? We have told you all of this before in our previous posts, and heard about specific game elements in our interview with lead designer Stephan Vakhtin. So, if you want to learn more, click on those links and check back with us later on in the year as I am sure we will have much to discuss when Hard to be a God is released. Hopefully we will have a game review for you as well – enjoy the new screens.

Akella has launched the teaser website for A Stroke of Fate, complete with new screenshots and a trailer. The new site has been created in anticipation of the game release, and when it fully launches to coincide with the game release in 43-days, it will feature a plethora of new details on the game along with new media assets.Jonathan has been posting information on A Stroke of Fate since June, and it sounds like it is going to be a compelling adventure game for the PC, then again, any game with the main task being the assassination of Hitler would be an interesting thing to play.

Key features:

• Compelling pseudo-historical plot
• Ingenious brainteasers and quests to reflect German peculiarities of the 1940s
• Photorealistic graphics
• Authentic places and historically derived personalities: Muller, Goebbels, and Hitler
• You can walk along the Secret Police building and Hitler’s private study

The new screens depict the office of Mueller (chief of the Gestapo) and a search in the room of a suspect. The screens are very detailed, and so clear they almost resemble still photos. Check back often for more information regarding A Stroke of Fate, and be sure to go back and read Jonathan’s previous posts.

MORE SCREENS POSTED AFTER THE BREAK

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