True nemeses rise all the time in popular shooters likes Battlefied and Call of Duty, thanks to the humans on the other end of the Internet connections, and now BioWare is bringing similar elements of humanity to its upcoming role playing game Shadow Realms.
In Shadow Realms, modern-day heroes step back in time and into the world of Embra to take on supernatural fodder and a human-controlled Shadowlord. Shadow Realms players will be able to customize both their hero and Shadowlord character as the story evolves and gamers delve deeper into the lore of Embra.
"Throughout history we have told stories of heroes and villains who wielded abilities that defy reason or logic: wizards, warriors and creatures more beast than man," stated BioWare. "Ancient cultures called them gods and monsters, while modern society considers them urban legends. The truth is that a fraction of humanity's population has always been able to wield magic, but the flow of mystic power on Earth is so poor that few ever suspect their potential."
Using a formula similar to Turtle Rock's Evolve and Lionhead's Fable Legends, BioWare's Shadow Realms will pit up to four players against a human villain. The true fallacies and genuine unpredictability of a human boss will likely remove the "cheapness" that has often been associated with AI villains, who can leverage physics systems to repeatedly launch seemingly impossible shots and appear to have the ability to see through walls at times.
James Ohlen, studio creative director, says Shadow Realm's gameplay is a nod to traditional RPG board games, in which a dungeon master creates the conflict for other players (think Dungeons and Dragons).
"BioWare RPGs have successfully replicated many of the things that made classic tabletop games fun: powerful storytelling, being able to create your own character, leveling-up that hero to achieve the heights of fantasy power, and tactical combat against a fantastic array of monsters. But the stories always come to an end and AI systems can't replace the creativity of a human Dungeon Master," said Ohlen.
To keep its story going, Shadow Realms will be driven by an episodic release of its story. Like other episodic games, such as TellTale's Walking Dead series, choices made in each episode of Shadow Realms will shape the succeeding installments.
Like the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, Shadow Realms seems to be employing real-time strategy elements to the game's combat -- though the multiplayer element takes away from the strategic pauses available in other BioWare games.
Shadow Realms was teased in BioWare's "You Have Been Chosen" campaign and was on display at Gamescom 2014. A release date hasn't been announced yet, though BioWare is recruiting alpha testers.
