Venetica – Action RPG Game

Posted: 26th August 2009 by Maxim Bardin in Uncategorized
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Venetica is a 3D action game at the last stages of development from Deck13 – the company who brought us the Ankh series (3 games) and Jack Keane which were all ported to GNU/Linux.
Venetica like the other games from Deck13 uses the Ogre3D engine which is FOSS and cross platform.
But unlike the other games it will focus on action and RPG rather then puzzle solving.

In Venetica players take over the role of Scarlett, Grim Reaper’s daughter who is young and beautiful.. Set in a fantastic Venice, it is her mission to fight the pure evil. Venetica takes players to the here and now of its fantastic game world, making Scarlett explore Venice’s streets, canals, houses and even the roof tops. As the daughter of Death, she also has the ability to enter the Twilight World: the world of the dead. Here, she communicates with the dead and gets access to a number of unique gameplay elements. To achieve this, Scarlett needs to learn and train for special, supernatural skills and abilities – of which she initially doesn’t even know exist… During the game, her skills and abilities will allow her to get deeper and deeper into the Twilight World, and, for instance, ask the dead for help.

One of the Deck-13 developers commented on the forum regarding combat in Venetica :

“The real-time combat system is very versatile. Firstly, there’s the skill system allowing you to boost your combat abilities with more than 40 different skills. They are divided into physical (weapon) and mental (mostly magic) skills. Some are active skills and some have passive behavior, meaning that they change your combat values in some way or make you resistant against certain attacks.

There are 4 different weapon classes allowing totally different combat behavior. For example, the “spear and shield” class allows for a very defensive, protective combat, whereas the “hammer/axe” class is for those who like slow weapons with tremendous impact. The classic “sword” class is for the more quick and verstile fighter, and the “moonblade” class… I won’t reveal too much about that one.

Different weapon types have different kinds of impacts on certain enemies. Some have a shell that is very hard to pierce with a sword but can be smashed with a hammer, for example.

There’s also armor that protects the player. Different armor types are more effective regarding certain enemies and attacks, so it it wise to select the fitting armor if you enter a certain area.

There are many, many more things you can do in combat, like striking combos, blocking, dodging, and so on.

Also, the enemies have their own tactics and special moves and you have to learn to find their weak spots, or how to fight against more than one enemy at a time.

Not to mention the boss mosters…

As you can see, there’s lots of cool stuff regarding combat.”
(ref)

Also other interesting info from the developers :

“Replayability: There are different guilds you can join, and there are lots and lots of sidequests and hidden secrets. Although the game only has one specific ending (with some nice changes, though, depending on how you played the game), there’s lots of replay value. Especially if you are into exploring the more hidden spots of the game world.

Further, there are many different ways to develop your character: regarding a more offensive ore defensive style, or making him more a fighter or more a mage.

Plus, you can play as a honorable guy or solve the quest in a rather mean way”
(ref)

There are also NPC schedules like in Oblivion :

“not only does the game has a seamless day/night cylce: all citicens have their everyday schedule, their homes, and work to do. When it gets morning, you can watch them leaving their houses, and in the evening they will return. Likewise do the rogues and villains: When it gets dark, they flood the streets, looking for prey!”
(ref)

Venetica will be first released in Germany (German version) and then across the globe.
A GNU/Linux version is still unconfirmed BUT the fact that they use the Ogre3D Engine AND that all of their recent games had a GNU/Linux client says *something* about the possibility of this game also having a native GNU/Linux client.

Some of the features include :

  • Experience a visually stunning action RPG with a unique and captivating atmosphere
  • Follow the hero journey of Scarlett through a rich and original story
  • Conquer a host of merciless nightmarish creatures that pounce on the threatened world in a raged frenzy in action-packed battles and ultimately confront their masters
  • Explore palaces, villas and numerous dark alleyways in a living dynamic Venice filled with merchants, rogues, allies and traitors.
  • Learn how to use the powers of the “Twilight World” and wander between the worlds of the living and the dead and Put the ultimate powers of death to your advantage in battle.
  • Use the advantages of the “Twilight World” and the ultimate powers of death
  • Experience an open game world with dynamic night and day cycles
    Clear, easy to pick up rule system and intuitive game-play
    Experience a dynamic and open game world in which you can freely develop your own character and decide on different game strategies yourself.

Screenshots :

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GamesCom 2009 Trailer

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