Eternal Crusade (for the 40k fans)

Third (sorta) try's the charm?

 

Yes, Dark Crusade is the one that crashed and burned before launch. It really sounded as though it would have flopped regardless of THQ's meltdown as they apparently didn't really have that great of a vision.

The big problem with 40k MMOs is that everyone wants to be a Space Marine, which in the fiction are exceedingly rare. I don't think the direction they're likely to take this game in is particularly awesome, but we're a long ways out and reading into how they presented their one little audio blurb is very pre-emptive.

I just don't see faction-based gameplay being very interesting because it's been done to death and undoubtedly better. They have a perfect setting to make the game about the Inquisition and the shadow-y dealings they undertake. You have a built-in grouping dynamic, even people who don't know the fluff can agree "Agent of the Inquisition" sounds cool and that banner encompasses a wide variety of people, skills and everything in between.

Hell, Inquisitors fight each other all the time in the fiction, so you'd even have the reason why there'd be PvP. Sadly, I don't own a studio capable of producing a licensed MMO, so we'll have to see what they put out in two (probably four) years.

 

I'm down like a clown, Charlie Brown.

I shared on Facebook and I think I sat there for 15 solid minutes when it asks you to pick a faction to side with. I mean, my initial thought was Marines... but I guarantee that every mouth breathing 10 year old in the game will play marines; and I don't want to deal with that. lol

 

Actually... I picked Eldar.

But it was a very noncommittal choice. I'd be down with Chaos or maybe the green tide.

 

An odd juxtaposition, to say the least. I'm not sure I'd consider EVE and PS2 similar in any meaningful way, even with what he's trying to say here.

Nice to have information, but I'm not sure they really told us anything beyond "We are making a game and it will have things." Past that it really seemed more like marketing speak, though this far out they probably don't have much to talk about other than vision and design docs.

 

If only... this property is cursed like AD&D. Try to transfer it to another RPG medium and it seems to fall apart.

 

On the downside, they put out Fire Warrior, Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels, and Squad Command. Also negative points for the failed MMO attempt.

On the upside, they put out the entire Dawn of War series, the entire Dawn of War II series, Chaos Gate, Final Liberation, and Kill Team

Not a sterling record, but not shameful either. Give them a chance and see what they come up with next.

 

Space Marine was a great game if you can forget about the final boss <s>battle</s> quick-time event. It was fun, showed the goofy-yet-grim nature of the 40k universe and was overall a decent romp. The multiplayer was decent too.

40k isn't any more cursed than any other licensed game; it's just that typically getting the license in the first place takes away so much money from development that it's going to be crap due to those absent resources.

 

Website and Facebook page are now up...

http://www.eternalcrusade.com/
https://www.facebook.com/40kcrusade

There is also a job position on their website, which mentions skills in CryEngine are required. Could it be we will finally see a 40K MMO in an engine actually suited to the job?!

 

Curse me for only working in Unreal Engine 2 and Source!

 

Whilst I wouldn't say CryEngine was easy all the time, it was to learn. Maybe it's because you are adding geometry to a level, not taking it away...