Black Geyser: Couriers Of DarknessĀ sure looks like a BioWare game. It isnāt, because BioWare hasnāt made BioWare games for centuries. This is in fact made by a small team, yet when it goes into Early Access next month, will apparently boast real-time combat, a set of companions, and over 300,000 words of storytelling.
Successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2018, itās fair to say Black Geyser has somewhat missed its August 2019 release date. Instead, itās to be August 2021, and then as an Early Access game, intended to be fully complete early next year. However, itās an RPG, so of course itās two years late.
Inspired by games like Baldurās Gate and Icewind Dale, itās clearly inviting some extremely dangerous comparisons. Yet looking at the footage in the trailer, it sure looks like a classic BW Infinity Engine game!
Itās going to have pausable real-time combat, companions to buddy up with, all that dialogue, and a bunch of lore to go with it. Ho boy, if they can pull this off, Iāll be pretty excited. Itās not like BioWare can be bothered to make proper CRPGs any more, so someone else might as well completely lift the look and feel.
The game is set in Yerengal, where they say ādark gods have brought nothing but venality and greed,ā which doesnāt sound very nice. Yet a nation called Isimerald has had a spot of peace, until, oh boy wouldnāt you know it, a civil war is brewing. How you interact with this story will, apparently, involve a āunique greed mechanicā, who Iām fairly sure did the last service on my car.
When this comes out in EA next month, itāll have the introduction and first two chapters complete, with the second two still to come. Combat and the like is finished, but obviously will be polished during the next few months. Iām never sure whether to jump into an RPG when theyāre Early Access, but Iām also not sure I can resist a game that looks this much like Baldurās Gate, when Baldurās Gate 3 doesnāt.
