Eschalon: Book I Impressions
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Eschalon is a traditional 2D, tile-based, turn-based CRPG with stat-driven gameplay. Set in the fantasy world of Eschalon, the player awakes in mysterious circumstances in a corner of the Commonwealth of Thaermore, with no equipment and unaware of their identity or what happened. A strange note is the only clue as the player sets out to discover their true identity.On a personal note, I think there's a lot of untapped potential in 2D technologies, especially for indie projects, and it's more a matter of fashion than anything else that they're not using it any more. Salute to Basilisk Games for swimming against the stream.
It sounds like a story line we've all played before but with the dozen hours I've spent with Eschalon so far, it plays much better than that summary reads. I haven't progressed very far with the main quest but I've played around with several different character types, pursued a number of side-quests and experimented with the game's mechanics. So, on with some early impressions.
The first thing that strikes you is the production values this is a beautifully crafted game that doesn't just set a new benchmark for indie CRPGs, it would be perfectly at home on retail shelves if it wasn't for the fact that 2D games have been long abandoned. From the main menu on, the presentation is stellar, with a crisp and elegant interface that's both easy to use and attractive, clean graphics and solid sound. It's clear considerable thought has been put into the interface and controlling the game and there are many AAA projects that don't do anywhere near as well. The only downside is the disappointing resolution, which is fixed at 800x600 although you can play in a window.
