‘To us, the Early Access has been very beneficial’, says Kai Fiebig, Senior Producer of Blackguards, the upcoming turn-based RPG from Daedalic.
‘We gathered a lot of important and constructive fan-feedback during the first weeks of early access and will add features according to the feedback until the game’s release’, Fiebig concludes.
Blackguards, based on ‘The Dark Eye’ Pen & Paper, recently launched on Steam’s Early Access and will be released in January 2014. Due to the highly detailed community feedback, there will be, among other things, an advanced custom character generation mode.
‘In the recent Early Access version, we offer players to choose their character from three archetypes. This allows players, who are unfamiliar with the source material, to access the game more easily. Blackguards features the complete Dark Eye rules set, so players can develop their desired character from the offered archetypes’, Fiebig explains.
‘The community, after the first Early Access chapter, expressed the wish to build their character from scratch right away – and we gladly fulfill this request by implementing an option for a fully customizable character’, he announces. ‘This option will be implemented via patch upon the game’s release.’
‘We have a close eye on the wishes and the feedback of our community. We also take constructive criticism very seriously. Thus we will do our best to implement any additional features. Of course, we have to see and check which ideas are actually portable and we can’t just give them all a pass. However, we do hope that our players keep the feedback coming and help us develop exactly the Blackguards they’d love to play’, Fiebig states.
Early Access allows players to play the first chapters of Blackguards months before the official release and to have a chance to influence the development process through their feedback based on pre-release builds. Blackguards will be published chapter by chapter while in Early Access. As of now, the first three parts of the game are available. All five chapters will be made available in the upcoming weeks. Daedalic Entertainment offers several packages for interested Early Access participants. In all cases, players will secure access to the final version of Blackguards by paying a lower price compared to purchasing the game after its official release.
Additionally, they have the opportunity to buy exclusive extras that will only be available before the official release. For $24.99, players receive the Standard Early Access Edition of Blackguards, including all chapters for PC at their earliest availability, and the full PC & Mac version of the game after the official release.
For $34.99, players receive the Blackguards Early Access Deluxe Edition, an approx. 150 page artbook, and access to developer interview videos and six exclusive wallpapers. For $49.99, the Blackguards Early Access Contributor Edition additionally includes an appearance of the buyer’s name within the game’s credits, as well as the first Blackguards DLC and a copy of the The Dark Eye point & click adventure Chains of Satinav for free.
All additional content will be accessible once it has been completed.
The official release of Blackguards is scheduled for late January 2014. The game will be available for PC & Mac, priced US$39.99.
Official Website: http://www.blackguards.de
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/249650
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