If you googled about this game, chances are that you will find some over enthusiastic fans talking about the isometric Fallout 3 that was never released. That has some truth in it, but with some caveats. Underrail takes the post-apocalyptic atmosphere and perks of FO1 and FO2 (in Underrail they are called “feats”), improve the combat and exploration tenfold, but cut most of the skill checks and reactivity. The weakest aspects in the game are the writing and the quests, which represent the usual variety of kill things or delivering something to a NPC. However, even if the writing of Underrail is not stellar, at least it has a lot of personality and it’s very immersive. I love the causal way in which NPCs talk about creatures, like rathounds and hoppers, or the different cities and stations, etc. This, accompanied with a direct presentation, makes everything in the game look like a real world. The strongest aspects of the game are the combat, the exploration and the atmosphere. The variety of builds and feats are fantastic. The crafting in this game is rivaled only by the crafting of Arcanum. There are tons of quests to do, and the tunnels and caves feel endless. The cities are great too. Overall, the game is falloutish in some aspects, but it’s a very different game on its own and has a lot of personality. Which is good, especially if we consider how many attempts to imitate classics resulted in grotesque caricatures of great games. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Underrail is, by any reasonable standard, a new classic to be added on the pantheon of great cRPGs.
Age of Decadence (AoD) is the first creation of Iron Tower Studios and a bold attempt in a superficial game industry dominated by gratuitous ego stroking. The game has various sources of inspiration, from PnP RPGs and the tough love design of “Gothic 2”, “Prelude to Darkness”, “Darklands”, to the reactivity of “Fallout”, “Fallout 2”, “Arcanum”, and the literary vibe of “Planescape: Torment”. Set in a brutal Romanesque post-apocalyptic world divided by factions fighting for power, AoD is a tour de force composed of excellent writing, amazing reactivity and a challenging combat system that rewards experimentation and thought. I’m pretty sure that the best and the brightest who know that cRPGs are more than FPs will acknowledge this game as new classic.
