"A very calm game...with mystery and conflict"

June 15, 2021 3:56 AM

Gorgeous and inspired by, among others, Le Guin, Book of Travels TMORPG (TINY Multiplayer... for small numbers of player per server) reaches early access on August 9 on Steam.
posted by domdib (6 comments total)

The contrast between 2D, indie games and what I play in VR with AAA level titles (e.g., Half Life Alex) is striking. When I got a VR headset this past year, at first I thought I'd never want to go back to the old way.

Book of Travels seems to be part of what I've seen as a growing trend towards simplification in game design. So many charming, indie games out there! I think I'll still find myself putting down the VR headset to play them.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 7:16 AM on June 15, 2021

That's a game I wouldn't mind playing and I like it very much.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:27 AM on June 15, 2021

There's a gameplay demo and commentary video; the build's from last December, so a number of unfinished assets, placeholder art, etc.

Character generation seems primarily intended more as evocative for roleplaying a character, with game-mechanical effects a secondary concern; he gets into the game world at roundabouts minute 9.
posted by Drastic at 8:14 AM on June 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the gameplay video Drastic - I love the look of the character creation, the way it uses archetypes and general character traits is refreshingly creative and evocative. I'll definitely be checking this out.
posted by Emily's Fist at 9:33 AM on June 15, 2021

The tiny feet on the character models makes me wonder if the credits include: “Rob Liefeld: Foot Art Consultant”.
posted by notoriety public at 10:21 AM on June 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

Much as I hate the contemporary tendency in games pitches to talk sneeringly about "hand-holding", this sounds pretty interesting.
posted by entity447b at 2:24 AM on June 16, 2021