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Platform: PC Genre: Action RPG Publisher: TBA Developer: PM Studios ETA: Q1 2004
Related Links: Review: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (PC) Review: Thrones of Darkness (PC)
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ETROM: The Astral Essence
Often times RPGs are all about the archetype. If the game is set in the past there are knights a plenty, magic potions, and entirely too many people saying, “Well met!” If the game is in the future you can often times rest assured that humans have managed to piss off a new race from across the cosmos or the world is one of a post-apocalyptic variety. Okay, so maybe things aren’t that bad in the genre, but there’s no denying that developers knowingly, or at least subconsciously, follow certain guidelines when creating a role-playing game, making sure certain ingredients make it into their brew. Now it looks like the folks at PM Studios decided to say, “To hell with it!” and just toss everything into one game with ETROM: The Astral Essence for the PC, an RPG that has a little bit of everything in terms of settings, creatures, and sensibilities. |
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ETROM takes place on Earth well into the future where most of the planet’s surface is a desert wasteland and all of humankind has been crammed into four gigantic megacities where the privileged few hold all of the power, keeping the doomed, impoverished masses on a tight lease though secret police forces and a merciless military. All the while these megacities are in a constant struggle to gain sole control of a substance called Chroma, a mineral that can produce incredible amounts of energy but is extremely hard to find. More often than not the megacities have to look in the desert wastelands to find decent |
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amounts of the material. These wastelands are a mysterious place where, according to the party line, one must use a special respirator while venturing therein so not to contract a disease called Dark Disease. Adding more mystery to this ailment is that there are unexplored tracks of land called Void Lands where even with a respirator one is guaranteed to catch the disease. This brings up the question of what the disease is, how did it get there, and whether the government trying to hide something. Gamers will find out as they march through this non-linear game as ETROM, an ex-army officer afflicted by a strange object that has granted him visions. What he’s out to prove in the game is anyone’s guess.
What really makes this game look like a potpourri of RPGs is how it will combine the mystical and arcane with the technological. In other games in the genre titles try to have their motif meet somewhere in the middle of these two worlds, but in ETROM gamers can expect to see creatures and environments with their feet planted firmly on either side of the role-playing spectrum, tanks and robots on one side, demons and dragons on the other, all living within one world. Sometimes we’ll come across a strange mish-mash of enemies in a game that spread just as wide of a range, but often it comes off as an afterthought, whereas in ETROM it would appear that this is the goal from the onset to bring a lot of different RPG concepts into one game. Unfortunately not a lot is known about how the actual gameplay mechanics will work in the game. Just looking at the screenshots it quickly becomes evident that ETROM will have an action RPG sensibility much inline with Diablo. We also know that there will be over 30 realms to explore in the game as well as 7 different endings. If you like having lots of weapons and armor, there will be hundreds of items to select from in the finished project as well. Features: Deep and involving Storyline settled in a dark futuristic, "neogothic" world: a New Techno-Fantasy Middle Age.
Frequent and Bloody Fights: close combat with Astral Axe, long range with Energy Weapons (heavy machine-guns and bazookas) and amazing Quest Spells.
Astral Transformations (dragon knight, abyss demon,...)
Rides on futuristic Tanks and Robots.
Exploration of over 30 huge levels and secret levels: in the 4 States, in the Mysterious Void Lands, in the Dungeons of Abyss…
Hordes of Enemies.
Powerful Enemy Gods.
Non Linear Game Structure.
7 possible endings of the Game.
Free and Strategic management of the Character's Inventory (over 100 typologies of armours, objects, energy weapons, power-drugs, magic items).
Free and Strategic management of the Characteristics.
Involving and innovative MULTIPLAYER GAME! Of course when a game tries to cover a lot of ground in terms of themes and motifs all in one shot, keeping everything held together in one tight, cohesive package becomes a concern. While ETROM is trying to give RPG fans a lot to sink their teeth into, hopefully the finished project will stay on track, avoiding straying in too many directions at once. - Mr. Nash (November 19, 2003) |
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