In a prior age, a game called Telepath Psy Arena 2 was released and generations before that, when mixtape didn’t mean Spotify playlist perhaps, there was a game simply called Telepath Psy Arena. Soon, there shall be Telepath RPG: Servants of God, or Brain-Bending Bishops as I’m calling it. Turn-based strategic combat is the order of the day, like that found in The Battle for Wesnoth. With this being an RPG though, as it says in the title, there’s lots of talking and wandering as well. I should be loving this and the sizable demo is eventually entertaining, but it does take a while to get going.

You’ll probably want to see a trailer with some hand drawn bits and loads of over the top music, won’t you? Oh, go on then.

I haven’t heard anything that operatic since Heroes of Might and Magic II and, yes, that does expose the fact that my only exposure to opera comes through games. There is an opera-busker in a nearby square actually, but she’s actually less operatic than this so there you go. Opera-buskers need large piles of skulls in place of their small piles of pennies. They should also be a class in every RPG, with an equal capacity for mooching and shattering glass.

Brain-Bending Bishops’ combat isn’t immediately gripping, with early battles acting as tutorials with no variety or threat. There’s depth in there though and a sense that the scenarios are so finely balanced as to be more like a puzzle than a tactical field of play.

The world isn’t another take on Tolkien, with a Middle Eastern flavour that really ruins my bishop references but laces through the steampunk filling rather well. Be warned though – there’s a lot of text even at the early stages, introducing characters and concepts at a fair old pace. Like I said earlier, I should be in my element: turn-based combat and a new world to explore with no goblins or rats in sight. Regretfully, my element remains steadfastly elsewhere, though I’m willing to concede it may be found further into the game. Perhaps you’ll find your element there as well?

Demo here, which requires Adobe Air as that’s where it lives. You can also play earlier games in the series for free, which is financially pleasing.