Bioware has finally confirmed the nature of their latest IP after teasing it for several weeks. It’s called Shadow Realms, and it’s a PC-only online action RPG.
Set in ”a world where modern meets fantasy”, Shadow Realms sees four player characters battle against a fifth player, who takes the role of antagonist The Shadowlord, in a series of co-op missions.
All those odd videos about being chosen? Well, you’re chosen to fight in a war against the Shadow Legions of Embra, an evil force opposed by the Radiant Empires, who I think we can assume are the good guys recruiting you. With the rise of the Shadowlords, mysterious, evil beings of great power, the Shadow Legions are set to invade modern-day Earth. It’s up to you to stop them.
”This game brings us back to our roots in the realm of classic Pen and Paper RPG, but also delivers something that’s completely new and innovative for our fans,” said Jeff Hickman, General Manager and Vice President at BioWare Austin. ”Shadow Realms is a new BioWare RPG that has the hallmarks of all BioWare games with a rich story, a unique world setting and deep combat progression, but built as an interactive experience that evolves the genre and broadens the appeal to online gamers all over the world.”
The game will feature an over-arching narrative that will be released episodically, with Bioware hoping to capture the feel of an addictive TV show which the community will discover together. On the website there’s an introductory post from lead designer James Ohlen, who explains that he wants to bring ”the magic of tabletop RPGs to the digital realm”. You can check out the list of player classes here, which are mostly slightly modernised spins on classic fantasy archetypes - Ranger, Cleric, Warrior and so on.
So there we go. It’s going to be released through Origin as a PC exclusive, and you can sign up for alpha testing on the game’s new website, where there’s also a bit more information on what Bioware are trying to achieve here. What do you think, does this new modern fantasy title intrigue you?
