The CRPG is experiencing a resurgence. Presently, games like Torment: Tides of Numenera from inXile Entertainment and Larian Studios’ Divinity Original Sin 2 are generating buzz in early access, while others like Obsidian’s Tyranny and inXile’s Wasteland 3 are eagerly anticipated. In addition to the rich worlds they explore, all of these games share a common core of branching storytelling, isometric perspective, deep customization choices and thoughtful combat that uniquely defines this branch of the RPG tree that goes back to Baldur’s Gate, the first Fallout games and others. Building off of the recent success of titles like Pillars of Eternity and Wasteland 2, this resurgence of the classic genre has tapped into the authentic role playing experience that a vocal group of gamers crave. What’s behind the strengths and revival of the genre? Let’s take a closer look at where these games intersect and how they’ve relaunched back into the collective gaming consciousness.

A Commitment to Story

These games all share a storytelling approach that involves presenting some higher narrative concepts. It’s not just a save the world from the big bad villain. They delve into philosophical musings on life and death, spirituality, war, the dark side of culture and society and the fabric of reality. It is precisely these topics which make them risks for traditional publishers aiming for broad appeal, while also generating ravenous interest for gamers interested in exploring deeper and perhaps darker themes. In Tyranny, evil has won, in Torment, a god walks among us, and in Divinity all of existence is threatened. The stakes are high, the outcomes are murky and the plots are memorable ponderings on the dreams and fears that haunt us all.

The element of collaborative storytelling with the developers and players is very similar to the tabletop genre. There are many branches woven in, encouraging the players to explore, but steering clear of right and wrong type choices and dialogue options, which results in quests that go beyond the fetch this, kill that conventions. Shades of grey abound and the games all have dramatically different outcomes based on how players approach it. This not only personalizes the experience, but creates a replayability element for players who want to see every possible permutation of choice. You can see a great developer panel on story and choices with members of the Tyranny team below. These are games, but the developers are serious about the choices they give to the players and they are taking advantage of the increased capacity of modern gaming to pack in the layers of content.

Worldbuilding has become a primary focus for these development studios, creating living breathing worlds with cosmologies and creation stories, as well as fleshed out demographics and histories. Whether it’s an original world like in Divinity or it builds off a rich tabletop setting like Torment does with the tabletop game Numenera, the concept of a dynamic lived in world with millions of stories to tell has allowed these developers to unleash their inner Tolkiens. This taps into the zeitgeist of big world properties like Game of Thrones and wikis can now cradle these creations and make their locations, quests, people and bestiary easy to reference at a moment’s notice.

Deep Character Customization

This deep and free approach to storytelling carries over into character customization for these titles. Origin stories in Divinity Original Sin 2, affinities and descriptors in Torment, choosing the fate of the world in Tyranny, are all just a beginning to creating the character and playing the role you want to be in these worlds. Moving into gender, race, class, and skill selection further refines the characters. More than just cosmetic, these choices often tie in with choices presented to players during the course of the game, whether it’s through a reputation system like in Tyranny, reactions to an origin story like Divinity or bias against specific races in the world.

The freedom to be who you want rather than a fixed protagonist changes the way people play, often allowing them to commit to choices in the game they may otherwise not make if they were following someone else’s mold. Having a game dynamically react to your person creates surprises and puts players in situations they could not anticipate, challenging the role play and refining it in a way that we haven’t seen before.

Return to Tabletop Elements

Mechanically, many of these games represent a return to the tabletop elements of games like Dungeons & Dragons. Skill checks abound and create a feeling of chance and hope as well as shocking failure, which all makes the game feel alive. As mentioned before, the collaborative storytelling that changes based on the player’s choices is a re-imagining of the tabletop session, where the campaign takes twists and turns all prompted by player improvisation. While no game system can recreate the pure improv of the tabletop setting, the multitude of branching paths help to create a sense of adaptive storytelling from the developers.

The combat and top-down perspectives also reinforce the tabletop cores. Turn based or pause and play that employs abilities with either cooldowns or points to spend encourages thoughtful combat rather than fast twitch reflexes. With the rise of esports and competitive multiplayer that focus more and more on speed and reactivity this more pensive approach to gameplay is a refreshing deviation, even it does slow things down some.

Choosing the skills to equip, the order to use them in and which to combine with others adds an extra strategic layer to gameplay along with responsive enemies that demand adjustment. This combines with deep progression systems that positively reinforce equipment, abilities, stats and more. The isometric view allows for environmental strategies that you can’t always achieve in first or third person settings. All of this approximates the tabletop feel in a way that capitalizes on the renewed modern interest in the tabletop genre, with board games and campaign rulebooks setting sales records. Keen on this, we are seeing experimentation with Dungeon Master modes for their games, such as in Sword Coast Legends or in Divinity Original Sin 2’s upcoming Game Master mode, which has been teased during their kickstart campaign as well as in more recent updates. People are looking to be absorbed and transported by their games but also want the flexibility to define their experience, and that fine line is where these new games are thriving.

The DIY Approach: Kickstarter & Self Determination

But all of these elements have always been around in some form, haven’t they? After all, their progenitors like Baldur’s Gate and Fallout are nearly 20 years old. So why the wane and wax? As we see per major concept, each developer has managed to modernize the conventions taking advantage of new technology and ideas. This modernization of the genre has been parlayed into a re-imagining of how to bring a game to the masses while retaining creative control, specifically through crowd funding and self management.

The self determined approach to bring a game directly to fans for financial backing has bucked the trend of AAA titles with big budgets and small risks. While not featuring the operating budgets of a Skyrim, they have been able to raise millions dollars via crowd funding, with Torment specifically raising over 4 million USD. This may not buy the bells and whistles or the latest in visual effects and graphical fidelity, but what it is buying them is the freedom to create passion projects that would not be possible with traditional publishing arrangements. Moreover, the prevalence of digital distribution has made it possible for these studios to take on a digital only distribution of their titles if they opt not to go with a publisher.

What Kickstarter does is let us make a game that is absolutely reminiscent of those great games, since trying to get that funded through a traditional publisher would be next to impossible. Feargus Urquhart, CEO Obsidian Entertainment

These kickstarter projects are not just fundraisers, they are great ways to create 1 on 1 connections with fans as well as give them access to the development process with updates on the game’s progress. Furthermore, the types of rewards offered to backers are unique digital and physical products that are collectible connections to the game and its world. Through early access rewards, players are given a chance to shape development. This creates value and bonds to the studio and game, which results in loyalty. When you feel invested you are going to feel patient during the development process. When the games do come out in early access and in full retail, all of these rewards and investments makes the launch memorable. It takes away the feeling of being a consumer and makes gamers feel like they’re part of the process.

These connections are more evident at gaming conventions like E3 and Gamescom, where the creators themselves are the ones leading the walkthrough rather than representatives from the publisher. This results in a more personalized presentation, with many more insights to be gleaned. Furthermore their presence on social media and developer blogs put the fans directly in touch with the creators, making the game that much more accessible.

The Whole Package

Despite the different themes these games explore, they share a rich experience that players anticipate when launching the game. Technology continues to pull gaming in all sorts of different directions, but the CRPG will always have a common core that attracts a dedicated slice of the gaming world. Their commitment to modernizing storytelling with meaningful choices, extensive customization and tabletop like elements has resonated in the new frontiers of crowd funding and digital distribution allowing these concepts to thrive precisely when they seemed most in danger of leaving us forever. In a genre that prides itself on heady musings, total creative annihilation is one existential concept best left unexplored.

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