Psychic Software

Factsheet

Developer:
Psychic Software
Based in Galway, Ireland

Release date:
TBA

Platforms:
Steam

Website:
http://www.psychicsoftware.com/thenecromancer

Regular Price:

Description

The Necromancer's Tale is a classic top-down RPG where you play the role of a minor noble in the 1730s, drawn into the Dark Necromantic Arts as you uncover a complex multi-generational intrigue. The game focuses on conversation, narrative and ritual more than on combat. Yes, there are battles, however fighting on its own will not be a route to success. Choose your words wisely, because the characters you meet are already suspicious of the weird events in the town.

History

Sam had been knocking around with the basic idea of the player as a necromancer in a medieval town for a while – perhaps with a similar motivation to that behind our 2015/2016 game Goblins & Grottos – i.e. to focus on the player experience as an outsider, a character that is normally the enemy and normally a non-player character. However, we realised its potential as a narrative game when considering a funding application to the EU Creative Media fund. Sam and Kirsty wrote the draft story and ideas in 2018, and were successfully co-funded in 2019. A number of writers, artists and voice actors have been working with us since late 2019.

Features

• Classic top-down RPG.
• Stongly driven by narrative and conversation.
• Turn-based combat.
• Eeriness: Confusing dreams, strange distant lights through the trees, spooky voices whispering your name, a loosening grip on reality - the game focuses on the unsettling experience of becoming a necromancer and transcending mortality, whatever that may mean...
• Themes of death, change, morality, and a gradually eroding sense of time and place.
• Deep focus on magic and ritual: which are not treated like guns, that you acquire and then use without a second thought. The process of gathering/manufacturing materials and knowledge and then the process of putting them into action is non-trivial and is a focus of the game.

Funding

• Part-funded by the Creative Media Europe MEDIA fund.

The Necromancer's Tale Credits

Sam Redfern
Programming, Game Design, Level Design, Narrative Lead.

Dave McCabe
Narrative, Game Design.

Askhat Mizambekov
Art Lead.

Damir Omic, Michael Thomét, Zachary Pope, Sarah Madsen, Bradley Allen
Writing.

Contact

Inquiries
sam@psychicsoftware.com

Twitter
/twitter.com/psychicsoftware

Facebook
/www.facebook.com/groups/273019119384361

Web
/www.psychicsoftware.com