Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden

Yet another video game took me to the New England region of North America, this time to the end of the 17th century. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a third person action RPG from Don't Nod. The game is quite similar to the studio's 6 years older title Vampyr. The games are even set in the same universe, albeit the actual connections are almost nonexistent: one collectible note confirming the fact, one piece of gear called "Red Goddess" -- and maybe one of the protagonists saying once: "It's locked, alright", like Dr. Jonathan Reid in Vampyr stated every damn time upon encountering a locked door.

Dungeon Lords - Steam Edition

Last year when playing Outward, I started reminiscing about Dungeon Lords: another third person action RPG -- little known and one of extremely janky nature. The game was originally released in 2005 with a lot of stuff missing. In 2006, when I beat it, the game was rereleased as more complete Dungeon Lords Collector's Edition. After the game's publisher Dreamcatcher Interactive's remains were acquired by Nordic Games (now THQ Nordic), the game got yet another rerelease: Dungeon Lords MMXII (2012). And finally, in 2015, the game's latest version Dungeon Lords Steam Edition came out.

Hogwarts Legacy

I read the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling once back in the day when they were coming out hot off the press. Beyond that I have by happenstance watched maybe one of the film adaptations but otherwise that's where my following of the Wizarding World stopped. In 2023, Hogwarts Legacy by Avalanche Software (not to be confused with the Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios) provided an entirely new addition to the universe in the form of a third person action roleplaying game. It looked cool enough to play and was just recently added onto PC Game Pass.

Outward

For the the longest time I was undecided if I really wanted to play Outward or not. It is a third person fantasy action roleplaying game that emphasizes survival mechanics, preparation, and learning by trial and error. Would it actually be fun to play or would all the management get tiresome? Since the game's release in 2019, there have been quite a few mods made for it; you no longer have to play strictly as the developer, Nine Dots Studio, intended. Thus I ended up eventually picking the game up.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

THQ Nordic had at some point acquired the rights to the third person action roleplaying game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning from EA and commissioned Kaiko to remaster it. (Kaiko had previously put together the Darksiders Warmastered Edition.) The remaster, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, was released in 2020 and came with all its old downloadable content, which include two expansions I had never bought nor played. Kaiko also set out to develop a whole new expansion for the game: Fatesworn, which came out in 2021.

Gotham Knights

I wonder if Gotham Knights had a development story akin to Redfall in how it was maybe intended to be a live service title but then, for whatever reason, pivoted away from it before release. Perhaps Warner Bros. as a publisher and/or the developer studio in Montreal decided it had no staying power. Or WB deemed the then-still-in-development and now recently-released Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League more fitting as their title for Batman universe microtransactions.

Of Orcs And Men

There was still one more older Spiders game I was slightly interested in: Of Orcs And Men (2012) that Spiders co-developed with Cyanide Studio. The latter went on to make two prequels to it later on -- the Styx stealth games I have already played.

Demonicon

If I recall right, Demonicon was a pure impulse purchase for me: I saw a deep discount and the logo of the German tabletop RPG, The Dark Eye, which I had encountered before in the Blackguards games. And I suppose my backlog wasn't as lengthy as it is currently. Demonicon didn't turn out to be the worst experience ever but there's just not much of a reason to play it over something else.

Risen 3 - Titan Lords

In an unexpected turn of events, you don't continue playing as the same nameless hero in Risen 3 - Titan Lords. Instead your previous character has been demoted to a cameo role while the spotlight is taken by Captain Steelbeard's son -- who suddenly exists, I guess. He's also left nameless, which I think is dumb. It doesn't add to immersion in any way. The most jarring thing is his (English) voice however: he kind of looks like Chris Pratt and I definitely wasn't expecting to hear a voice that tries immensely hard to sound like the baddest motherfucker there is. I never grew to like it and started truly missing the previous protagonist.

Risen 2 - Dark Waters

Risen 2 - Dark Waters takes the series into a pirate themed direction. The still-nameless hero, currently a soldier of the Inquisition, goes undercover to put an end to another Titan threat. Shields, plate armor, and arcane magic are gone and instead you get cutlasses, muskets, and rum. There is also voodoo magic if you decide to side with native tribes.

Risen

Here's Risen, another title I had hidden on Steam -- a whole trio of Risen games in fact. I thought I might do a full franchise run but apparently whatever Deep Silver bundle the second game came in didn't include its DLC, so that will have to wait until a sale happens.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Perhaps due to the success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) and desiring a piece of that success too, has Ubisoft introduced more roleplaying elements to their Assassin's Creed franchise. Perk trees, equipment, and combat was made more complex than before, and dialogue choices and story branching were added. Assassin's Creed Origins (2016) had some already, I believe, but it was Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018) that took it even further. What really got me interested in the series again however, was seeing Odyssey's The Fate of Atlantis DLC. It appeared Ubisoft Quebec had gone full fantasy action RPG with the game.

Vampyr

Microsoft announced and launched Xbox Game Pass for PC at this year's E3. For a monthly fee you get access to a selection of games on the Microsoft Store. The initially available ones included three titles from my wishlist so I thought I might as well spend the 1€ for the first month to try and maybe even play through them.

Bound By Flame

Bound By Flame is a third person action roleplaying game developed by a French studio called Spiders and published by Focus Home Interactive in 2014. It didn't look like the most expensive production but I hoped it would still be able to provide entertainment.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Evidently War in the North was not a commercial success for Warner Bros. Releasing it a week before Skyrim (and on the same day as Uncharted 3) probably did not help but the game itself also lacks in about every aspect to have even hoped to sell millions of copies. It is still an enjoyable little action RPG that has some added value from the well-established setting it used.

Darksiders II

Darksiders II's events take place concurrently with the first game. You play as Death who has taken as his task to redeem his brother horseman War by restoring the Third Kingdom (ie. humans). He does not know how exactly is he supposed to do that, though, and the quest takes him across many realms. Thus you are not stuck on the overgrown ruins of Earth like in the previous one.

Divinity II: Developer's Cut

This one was another case of a sale bugging me many times until I finally decided to buy the Divinity bundle from GOG. What actually made the purchase decision was probably the chance to get some insight to the Divinity universe for Divinity: Original Sin that I will likely buy at some point.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I reckon a considerable amount of money was involved in the making of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to ensure its success. Todd McFarlane (the creator of Spawn) was brought in to watch over the art design and R.A. Salvatore lead the story writing. And as the game's executive designer acted Ken Rolson, who was the lead designer for Elder Scrolls: Morrowind and Oblivion.