The world of the Heretic Kingdoms is one where an outsider might easily think God is dead. Faith is no longer accepted or even tolerated. The agents of the Inquisition are zealously seeking out and eliminating any remaining vestiges that might remind anyone of their beliefs. One of these is an artifact, a relic somehow seen as a serious threat. You have been assigned to destroy it, an undertaking that will pull you into a conflict between two warring secret societies, one a conspiratorial group of mages whose ambition is true power, the other a shadowy cult that wishes to renew its convictions. Within this ambiguous situation, you must examine your principles. Will you be an altruistic heroine, a self-serving egotist or just a woman trying to get her job done? Will you eradicate religion forever, or become its salvation?

This tale of conflicting moralities plays out in Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition, a fantasy RPG resulting from the joint efforts of developer 3D People and game design and dialogue scripting consultancy International Hobo. Initiated by the former company with the title Cult, the game underwent an extensive makeover between the time we initially spotted it in the second half of 2002 and its well received release in Europe last year as Kult: Heretic Kingdoms. A few of the notable features are a vast environment made up of some 50 locations to explore, dozens of quests, scores of diverse monsters, and an uncomplicated but rewarding combat system that's said to keep the action flowing. With the release date for the North American version rapidly approaching, we had the chance to ask various team members about some of their creation's important elements.