Ardenfall is almost cheeky in how close it is to a classic Bethesda game. The demo to this open-world RPG has been around since 2022, and now it’s set for an early access release this year.
Ardenfall is notable for its lack of marauding ‘go here next’ fingers. Instead, you’ll navigate its world through NPC hints and the original signposting itself. There are factions, conversation stats, quest reactivity, and all that good stuff. As for combat, here’s a quote from Steam:
“Choose your weapon. Now choose another. If you are stuck, there’s always more options to get you out of a bind – a throwing potion, a single use spell, or a throwing knife of fire may do the trick. A mage specialized in summoning may spawn a great beast to do their bidding, while a thief may toss a potion of silence on their targets to ensure a clean kill”.
Ardenfall is developed by sixteen-strong Spellcast Studios, including voice actors, and they’ve been working on the game for seven or so years now. Every NPC in the game is killable, charmable, or stealable-fromable.
*The official RPS term for ‘trailer’. Unless Edwin ends up editing this, in which case I have no idea how that got there.
