E3 2005 - The RPG Landscape
Brian 'Dhruin' Turner, 2005-05-09

PC RPG fans could be forgiven for sighing in frustration (or boredom) at the thought of another E3. While the expo towers over the industry with a frenzy of activity from developers, publishers and media every May, cRPG fans have suffered through slim pickings in recent years. This year, however, the signs are different - with several major titles expected to unleash a flurry of information and the tantalising possibility of some interesting new announcements, this could well be the best E3 for cRPGs players in many years.

Read on to find out what surprise announcements we think could be in store, along with an overview of the major titles expected to be on show.

New Announcements

Every year, dozens of new games are announced at E3 in carefully choreographed PR exercises designed to make the biggest impact. While we'd love to be the first to bring you the official scoop on the best-kept secrets of E3, we're going to have to rely on reading between the lines and sifting through the hints and rumours to bring you this list of potential surprise announcements. So grab a grain of salt - but remember we told you first when the announcements roll in.

Larian Studios' oddly named Divine Divinity was easily overlooked as just another action-RPG on release but went on to become a niche hit, with players revelling in the large gameworld with incredible interactivity, open character development system and quirky fantasy setting. When work began on Riftrunner (Beyond Divinity), Larian soon indicated a true sequel - Divine Divinity 2 - was planned for the future. That was back in 2003 but early this year, official news came that Divine Divinity 2 would use Gamebryo, the hugely-successful engine from NDL with versions powering everything from Morrowind to Sid Meier's Pirates!, as well as IDV's SpeedTree for lush trees and foliage. Just recently, Larian revamped their website in anticipation of "future product announcements", so it seems likely we'll see the revelation of a cutting-edge Divine Divinity 2 very soon.

French developer Arkane Studios first came to light with Arx Fatalis, an atmospheric tribute to Ultima Underworld that allowed players to immerse themselves in an underground world in turmoil, with an interesting magic system and interactive elements like baking bread and fishing. When the news hit in February 2004 that Arkane was the second licensee of Valve's Source engine, interviews seemed to hint that Arx Fatalis 2 was well underway. Over a year along and Arkane has been very quiet but an announcement must surely be drawing close. The expectations for a game using the Source engine will be high - but what does Arkane have in store?

While you may not have heard of Iron Lore before, you're sure to know Brian Sullivan - or at least the Age of Empires titles he helped create as a founder of Ensemble Studios. Iron Lore's first game is described as a "blockbuster title that expertly blends the best of the action, RPG, and adventure genres", although that's about all we know. THQ was signed as the publisher towards the end of 2004 and with the game due later this year, it's almost certain to be revealed this E3.

While Flagship Studios arrived with much fanfare, another baby-Blizzard has been quietly working away on an action-RPG, to be published by EA. Castaway Entertainment was founded by eight ex-Blizzard veterans with Michael Scandizzo at the helm. We simply don't know much about the game they are working on (although the art at the site seems to infer a traditional fantasy setting) but it's been over a year since the publishing agreement was announced with EA, so is seems reasonable to think their title may be unveiled this E3. EA will be expecting a blockbuster - what will Castaway come up with?

Rumours of two projects in development at Blizzard North have circulated for some time (with one subsequently cancelled) and in February we noticed Blizzard advertising for a Lead Game Designer to "head up the Blizzard North team that created Diablo and Diablo 2". Just recently a musician claims to have travelled to the Slovak Republic (where the soundtrack for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was recorded) to record the music for Diablo III. While this is sketchy information and the timeline is unclear, it does seem possible Diablo III could be revealed at E3 - but mark this one down as a long shot.

Headline Acts

Every year there are a number of projects that have already been revealed - yet we still know relatively little about them. Here's a selection of RPGs making their first trip to E3.

Oblivion is the pacesetter	Gothic 3 will make waves	Will Hellgate: London be as big as Diablo II?	Will we see a PC version of Jade Empire?

Bethesda's long-running Elder Scrolls series is well known for providing gamers with large, open gameworlds to explore. Oblivion seeks to up the ante on Morrowind with even more incredible visuals, Radiant AI to give life to the world, a new direct-action combat model and revised dialogue system. This time around the setting is a more traditional fantasy aesthetic after the at-times almost alien style of Morrowind, which will likely appeal to even more players. With Bethesda's Matt Ryan referring to an "aggressive schedule" there are various hints that Oblivion should ship this year, so expect a huge presence at E3 and a big response from the media.

While Piranha Bytes' Gothic series has attracted a legion of loyal fans, it remains a relatively unknown brand in many markets for a variety of reasons including the disjointed international releases to date. Gothic 3 was recently unveiled in the German magazine PC Action with the screenshots stunning readers, along with details of a gameworld three times larger than Gothic II, around 20 villages and towns, a revised interface and multiple approaches to each quest. Publisher JoWood knows this has the potential to be a genuine international hit and will be looking to make a splash at E3 - and judging from the teaser video, that shouldn't be too hard.

The success of Neverwinter Nights is apparent with BioWare claiming sales of 3 millions units (including the two expansion packs), along with a huge mod community. With BioWare wanting to concentrate on new intellectual properties, NWN 2 has moved to Obsidian. Players will be expecting a much improved single-player campaign and a toolset with even greater capabilities. We know NWN 2 will offer up to three "companions" with better AI and this alone will have some impact on the gameplay, along with rideable mounts and other improvements. Obsidian has completely rewritten the engine and added the latest graphical technologies (including hints of a tile system that looks more "organic") but we've yet to see the full details along with any in-game screens or footage. NWN 2 is expected in Spring 2006, so this should be a big E3 showing.

Flagship Studios first came to light in early 2004, with Bill Roper hitting the promotional circuit to hype the new studio that included other key personnel from Blizzard North such as the Schaefer brothers. Most observers expected Flagship to leverage their prior experience with the Diablo series to create an action-RPG and just recently, they unveiled Hellgate: London in PC Gamer. Hellgate: London depicts a bleak city of London 25 year hence, inhabited by the desperate survivors of a massive demon invasion. Like Diablo, Hellgate London is very much a modern Rogue-like with lots of randomised elements but the twist is the first-person perspective, with Flagship aiming for a more visceral experience.

With 3DO and New World Computing gone, Ubisoft purchased the Heroes of Might & Magic brand and handed development of HoMM 5 to Nival. Although a Russian developer may sound like an odd choice at first glance, Nival is an ideal fit when you consider their impressive stable of turn-based strategy-RPGs, from Etherlords (with its similarities to HoMM) to Silent Storm.

Nival is capitalising on the critical success of the turnbased RPG-strategy Silent Storm by using the engine in two new developments. Night Watch is based on the modern fantasy world of Russian author Lukyanenko, with Vampires and dark magic in the streets of Moscow. Hammer & Sickle is set in the Silent Storm WWII universe minus the sci-fi elements, effectively making it a direct sequel of sorts.

The freshly announced Age of Conan: Hyborean Adventures is an interesting concept: an online single-player RPG campaign with action combat that develops into an MMORPG endgame, allowing players to take their higher-level characters on to further adventures with other players. The press-release didn't reveal too many details, so it will be interesting to see exactly what developer Funcom has in store with this title.

Beyond the titles we have highlighted, there's still a large number of RPGs that will be on display at E3. Microsoft should have Dungeon Siege II along with Fable: The Lost Chapters on display and we look forward to seeing exactly what changes have been wrought for this PC version. Atari will be showing Boiling Point: Road to Hell and Dreamcatcher will be displaying Dungeon Lords - even though it is already in stores.

Although BioWare does not have a public display they will be present and we hope they will release new information on Dragon Age, their party-based fantasy RPG that was the biggest announcement for roleplayers last year. Likewise, we'd love to see more of CD Projekt's The Witcher, powered by a highly modified version of BioWare's Aurora engine.

In addition to Gothic 3, JoWood will be displaying the genre-blending Spellforce 2 from Phenomic while Akella will be bringing a trio of pirate/sailing games such as Age of Pirates (interestingly, Metalheart: Replicant Rampage is not on their E3 list). Cenega will display The Roots and Buka will bring Battle Mages Sign of Darkness and perhaps Hard Truck: Apocalyptic Wars.

Finally, while it is an online-only game, fans of turnbased party-based RPGs (which is an endangered species looking through these titles) may want to keep an eye on Imaginary Numbers' Tactica Online.

Looking Forward

Despite the flurry of activity this year, there are still plenty of interesting projects for next year and beyond. It's too early for Bethesda to show Fallout 3 and the same is probably true for the Unreal Engine 3 projects in development at BioWare, inXile and Obsidian. We can't wait to see Irrational's BioShock in more detail but we suspect that's for another year, as well. Will there be a Jade Empire for the PC? Is Baldur's Gate 3 in active development?

With E3 only a little over a week away, we're in for an interesting ride…