Respected CRPG developer Owlcat Games (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous; Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader) is getting into the publishing game starting today. Their stated goal: to help indie developers around the world introduce story-driven titles and RPGs to everyone. Considering the high quality of the studio’s own games (aside from some remaining issues with Rogue Trader), this is great news for fans of RPGs and advanced stories.
Initially, Owlcat will publish Rue Valley and Shadow of the Road. The former is an eerily unison and intriguing narrative RPG that features a man caught in a time loop while undergoing psychotherapy (perhaps Hellblade-esque), while the latter is an isometric turn-based RPG set in an alternate history feudal Japan. . And by alternate history, I mean steampunk and supernatural creatures (known in Japanese as yokai). (Sign me up, dammit.)
Rue Valley comes courtesy of Emotion Spark Studio (based in Serbia) while Shadow of the Road (based in Poland) is developed by Another Angle Games. Both studios were chosen after Owlcat read through more than 50 different titles.
Each game is in the early stages, but we’ll get a first look at them during this year’s Gamescom (August 20-25).
As part of its venture into publishing, Owlcat also gained full control of META Publishing, with whom it partnered on the excellent Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Although from the sounds of it, this will be treated as its own offshoot that focuses on “play-first” titles with a co-op bent (its past titles include the Train Valley series and puzzle game Biped).
Seeing Owlcat grow from the relatively small outfit that is made up in part of ex-Heroes of Might and Magic developers to the 450+ employee strong studio it is today has been a sight to behold, and not unlike what we saw with a Belgian CRPG -developer Larian Studios. (although they still have some reaction to do). Some of you may be reading this and still thinking ‘Who?’, but that was Larian not too long ago, so you’ll definitely want to keep your eyes out for a Baldur’s Gate 3-style epic from these guys soon.
Want more CRPG coverage? Check out our Pathfinder WotR: A Dance of Masks Walkthrough right here on Pro Game Guides.
