Today video games try to whet the nostalgia of those who already played 20-30 years ago with a retro aesthetic, in other cases remastered editions of old glories are made, but Alaloth: Champion of the Four kingdoms has chosen a different path: it does not mention the past, comes directly from the times of Last Online, Moonstone and from the first few times you opened a red box of Dungeons & Dragons to bring you the rigor and excitement of a classic role-playing game full of adventures.
Alaloth is a video game by Gamera Interactive, software house founded in Padua in 2017 collecting some veterans of the sector, and has been in development for about 4 years, of which at least a couple lived during the pandemic, which obviously lengthened the timing. It will take a few more months for the debut of Alaloth, but we had the opportunity to preview it and it is clear that we are faced with an ambitious, vast and intricate project, which mixes classic RPG dynamics with some ideas from the past that perhaps have been abandoned too quickly and a narrative full of stories that intertwine as the adventure takes its course.
In Alaloth we will take on the role of a hero or a heroine who have the purpose of defeating an evil deity located in the center of the map (Alaloth, in fact): to do so we will have to travel far and wide and get 4 objects that will allow us to open the portal that gives access to the final battle. We will not be the only ones to do it: the game is divided into 4 large areas, which correspond to as many races that we can be part of, that is dwarves, orcs, humans and elves, which despite being classic as a setting are not completely so in the final characterization . Each race has specific bonuses (orcs resist poison) that will add up to all the choices we decide to take to shape the character according to our inclinations.
From here we will choose the path, carrying out main and secondary quests, visiting the combat zones to get rewards and be the first to eliminate the most dangerous creatures and maybe find allies, managed by the computer or by a companion, to make things easier. Everything is handled in one isometric view, also in homage to the past, which mixes three-dimensional models and truly spectacular and very different designed environments.
The fact that Alaloth is a game he wants remind us of a time when video games didn’t take you by the hand this can be understood from some precise design choices:
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you cannot move around the map using a fast travel system, but some rare portals can be unlocked by completing an assignment;
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It is not possible cancel your choices as for the character’s abilities, if not just once;
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When if you die there is a risk of losing all equipment accumulated, except for some basic weapons, which will be recovered by charging it to those who were in the area and were allowed to plunder our body.
The most interesting aspect is probably the challenge with artificial intelligence: We will not be the only ones looking for the artifacts that will allow us to challenge Alaloth, because at the beginning of the game 3 other champions will be randomly drawn who will try to do the same thing. Each of them has different personalities and characteristics. Some are more aggressive, some less, some will try to hinder us, others will mind their own business at times. they will rob us of the prestige of killing the strongest opponents, in other cases they will try to thwart us when we least expect it, which will make, combined with the many character customization options, each game unique in its own way.
Everything is intertwined with pages and pages of dubbed dialogues and documentation that will allow those who want to enjoy it the intricate narrative structure of Alaloth, with the collaboration of the writer Chris Avellone, who in the past has put his signature on titles such as Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2 e Divinity: Original Sin. In short, a master of fantasy storytelling linked to video games and not.
The impression we got of Alaloth (which will arrive for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch) is that it has all the potential to become a cult title in the community of RPG enthusiasts. Perhaps his radical choices could be indigestible to those who have become accustomed to the comforts of some titles of these years, but if you let yourself be carried away by the vision of Gamera Interactive and its love for the genre you could find yourself facing the surprise of next year.
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