Aveyond 2 and Fatal Hearts
Rampant Games has two new titles available in the Adventure & Roleplaying section of the site... Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest and Fatal Hearts. One is an RPG, and the other is an adventure game - of a non-traditional sort.

Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest is the next latest epic in Amaranth Games' role-playing game series, which began with the freeware Ahriman's Prophecy (link temporarily unavailable) and continued with the best-selling indie RPG Aveyond. The series uses the RPG Maker engine, and is reminiscent of the classic 16-bit SNES / Sega console RPGs of the early 90's. It has cute characters, lots of dialog, turn-based combat (and LOTS OF IT), a BIG storyline, and a very playful sense of humor that doesn't stop it from getting serious at times.

In Aveyond 2, you control a party centered around the main character, an elf named Ean. Ean comes from an elven community in a place called the Vale that has been magically secluded from the rest of the world. But when your best friend, Iya, disappears without a trace, and everyone's memory of her but your own has been completely erased - as if she'd never existed - it is up to you to leave the safety of the Vale and rescue her from the clutches of the Snow Queen. And that's only the beginning! Your quest soon gets you embroiled in events that threaten the entire world.

Many moons ago, I had an interview with Amanda Fitch, the creator of this game. She's an awesome person to chat with, and is frankly an example to me of what an indie game developer ought to be. She's driven, professional, and yet devoted to her community and fans. If you missed the interview, I recommend checking it out here:

Interview with Amanda Fitch

The other game is Fatal Hearts, by Hanako Games, the studio behind the other hit "casual" RPG, Cute Knight. I would describe Fatal Hearts as being more on the "Adventure Game" side of the fence, but even that doesn't begin to describe the game. It could be described as a "visual interactive novel" done in anime style.

For me, I draw the parallel with the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series of the 1980s - stuff I kinda grew up with, back in the days where the "home computer" concept was still waiting to catch on. Well, okay, I could play Zorks and Ultimas on my computer, but I still read / played the books. In the books, you'd read a page or two of story, and then you'd be presented with a choice. Your choice would have a page number you'd be instructed to turn to in order to continue the story.

Fatal Hearts does the same thing, but with the advantage of memory of past actions. So your actions may not have a major impact on the story immediately, but may come back to haunt you later. In addition to this, there are several challenge sections - often puzzles are clue-hunting adventure sections - that you may need to solve. For example, you may come across what appears to be a journal, but it is locked with a concentric-ring combination-lock style puzzle.

Fatal Heart's story deals with a fifteen-year-old girl with mysterious dreams, the supernatural, and murder. Because of its subject matter, it is not recommended for young children. The developer has recommended it for teens and above. And older male gamers like me might find it a little trickier to get in touch with their inner teenaged girl mindset of the game. But hey, I can imagine myself a battle-hardened athletic super-soldier with supernatural speed and resistance to damage in dozens of games, so how much more of a stretch is it?

I've interviewed Georgina Bensley, the principle designer / developer of Fatal Hearts, in the past. She complained before the interview that she didn't think she actually had anything interesting to say about herself, but then immediately proved herself wrong. If you missed the interview, you can catch it here:

Interview With Georgina Bensley

If either of the above game descriptions tickle your fancy and you feel you'd like to try them out, you can download the demos and try them out right away. Let us know what you think!

Download Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest

Download Fatal Hearts

(Vaguely) related opinions offered absolutely free and worth every penny:
* Aveyond 2 First Look
* What Makes a Good "Casual" RPG?
* Guest Post: Survey of Top Indie Graphic Adventure Games
* The Evolution of Computer RPGs

You can post comments here, or in the forums.

Labels: Adventure Games, Aveyond, Cute Knight, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:16 AM (Permalink)