You might not have played, or even heard of Gothic, but the German game from 2001 has been an inspiration for open world RPGs for a long time.
The upcoming Sword Hero comes closer to that inspiration than many, and has a lot of exciting ideas of its own.
Modern Gothic? It Might be Sword Hero
The inspiration is pretty much worn on its sleeve, with the visual style, no level scaling at all, and the desire to make the growth in power satisfying and earned. Thankfully, Sword Hero, the open world indie RPG developed by studio ForestWare, also pays attention to gameplay elements which Gothic was not particularly… good at.
Combat alone looks vastly superior to the clunky swipes (they were clunky nearly 25 years ago and they are clunky now, but the game still rocks) from Gothic, for example. The consequences also go beyond just a loss of HP and maybe some money. You might lose body parts, for instance, which then might get replaced with prosthetic limbs by a not particularly sanitary medical flesh robot which looks like it’s on loan from Warhammer 40k.
Dismemberment mechanics are going to feature strongly in gameplay, with targeted attacks which might hit a weak point or slice off something valuable. Perhaps all of it will play into fighting the colossal creatures like a dragon featured heavily in the trailer? One can hope.
Reputation System, Appearance Matters and Many More
Other promises of Sword hero involve a reputation system, robust NPC reactivity and routines, faction politics, housing, and some other simulation systems. The trailer even shows off wall-running, which is something I would never have expected in a Gothic-like.
However, a promise I find particularly interesting is something that’s been rarely seen in the genre since the Fable games: changes in appearance as your stats improve and the character goes through life with the daring of a typical adventurer. Dynamic changes according to gameplay events and player choices feel like they should be a standard thing, and yet it’s rare to see them implemented.
This One Should be on The Radar!
Sword Hero looks ambitious and complex in a way many large studios are reluctant to attempt. If it all comes to fruition, and there is a good chance that it will, it might turn out to be the next indie RPG hit, with a cool setting, deep systems, and high interactivity.
You can check the Sword Hero demo already up on the game’s Steam page and if you find the ambition worth supporting, their Kickstarter campaign is “Launching soon” (at the time of writing).