Grim Dawn

[Frag]

Grim Dawn is an upcoming aRPG from the remanents of the Titan Quest development team. I'm kinda excited about their modified business model: crowd-enhanced. They have a 'pre-order' page up whereby people can donate money to the pre-alpha development stage and should the game pan out, additional content will be made from the donations and additional benefits will be given to the subwriters. A couple things allow this model to work, first is a small team who had enough cash on hand to finish the game to begin with, as well as having produced a fan-favorite game already and having earned their trust. Here is their description of their game:

Grim Dawn is an action role-playing game intended for digital distribution on the PC. It is being developed by veterans of Iron Lore entertainment, the makers of Titan Quest. Grim Dawn is being built with Crate's own improved version of the Iron Lore engine and toolset; the same technology used to create Titan Quest. As a spiritual successor, Grim Dawn will attempt to better perfect the magical formula of exploration, character advancement, and loot collection pioneered by Diablo.

Players will be thrust into the dark, war-torn world of Cairn where a once proud empire has been brought to ruin and the human race driven to the edge of extinction. Cairn has become ground zero of an eternal war between two otherworldly powers, one seeking to use human bodies as a resource, the other intent upon destroying the human race before that can happen. This cataclysmic war has not only decimated human civilization but is warping the very fabric of reality and, in its wake, giving life to new horrors.

For humankind it is the dawn of a grim new age where iron has replaced gold as currency and the importance of salt as a weapon makes it far too valuable to waste on food. Small enclaves of human survivors exist scattered throughout the world, holed up in hidden refuges. These humans have quietly watched the warring invaders destroy one another and have become wise to the strengths and vulnerabilities of their otherworldly foes. A few survivors have begun to exhibit strange new abilities after surviving possession or exposure to the warp. These unnatural powers are feared by some but give many new hope of launching a resistance to fight the "outsiders" and reclaim what's left of their world.

The feature list:

Combine any of five distinct skill classes each with multiple skill trees in which to specialize. Advance your class mastery up to 75 levels to unlock dozens of powerful skills and synergistic modifiers. New classes will be periodically released through downloadable content.

Gameplay systems design for 200 levels of character progression, equipment, and enemies to fight makes for ridiculous amounts of replay value.

Connect with old friends or make new allies in glorious multiplayer. Specially balanced multiplayer encounters will put your teamwork to the ultimate challenge.

Collect blueprints that allow you to combine salvaged components into unique crafted items and then, later, use those basic crafted items with higher-tiered recipes to complete items of unprecedented badassness.

Camera rotation enhances the three-dimensionality of the world and gameplay while levels are still designed so that players are not forced to rotate the camera.
Refined loot system drops less junk items and ensures more consistent rewards from hero and boss monsters.

Satisfying enemy damage and death effects with an option to enable blood and gore.

The ability to spend money to reclaim skill and attribute points alleviates the fear and frustration of having to make early, uninformed decisions that could permanently nerf a character.

More features are in the works and will be announced as Grim Dawn nears release.

~Frag

[kandrathe]

Sounds cool. Salt... and Iron... Hmmm, wait till they discover bat guano.