![]() These latter choices have both minor mechanical impacts and larger narrative consequences. Character creation sees you picking through a pleasing abundance of stats, including Carouse and Commerce and three flavours of Lore, while also choosing a Triumph and Darkest Hour to form your backstory. Your goal in the game as a custom-created Rogue Trader is to restore the trading empire of your predecessor Teodora, who has met a mysterious fate. "So to make an RPG that has all these choices and consequences, we had to find somebody in this society who can make those choices and not just get shot." "The Imperium is a very strict and tyrannical society," Mishulin went on. Part of the thrill of playing one is going gently mad with power, but that unbridled autonomy is also essential for a plot-branching CRPG in the Pathfinder vein. Unusually for subjects of 40K's undead God-Emperor, rogue traders can amass enormous independent wealth and operate their own starfleets and planetary colonies, without getting slapped down by the Inquisition. "They're essentially pirates that explore the fringes of the galaxy to bring new worlds into the Imperium," creative director Alexander Mishulin told me before our demo. Let's dig in!įirst, a quick recap on what a "Rogue Trader" is. The framing I'm working with instead, based on an hour of hands-off Rogue Trader gameplay, is that it's sort of Warhammer Mass Effect, but with XCOM-style turn- and grid-based combat, and while there are opportunities to be a compassionate hero, you fundamentally only have the option of playing Renegade. The nearest I got to playing 40K as a lad was its Battlefleet Gothic spin-off (which none of my friends were interested in, so when I say "playing", I mean that I sat in a room staring glumly at some unpainted Lunar-class Cruisers while other kids went out and climbed trees). Or at least it will be, once you've played 100 hours of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, an RPG from Pathfinder developer Owlcat in which you can buy planets, configure your genocidal Dark Eldar friend to strike ten times a turn, and gaze on ruefully as a demon explodes out of your Psyker's head.Īn immediate and shameful disclaimer: I can't match Nic Reuben's deep knowledge of the 40K tabletop universe, which saw him ruminating upon the mysteries of the Koronus Expanse back in 2022, while holding Owlcat's feet to the fire over the absence of space dwarves. In the grim darkness of the far future, the galaxy is your oyster.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |