Corven: Path of Redemption – Corven and Ultima

Lycantic’s upcoming RPG Corven: Path of Redemption is said to be heavily inspired by the Ultima series, but seeing how that series spans several decades and includes all sorts of different games, we now get this developer blog that clarifies the parallels between Corven and Ultima. But before we get to that, you might also be interested in checking out this short video that shows off some object-moving gameplay:

There’s also this soundtrack sample:

And here’s the developer blog itself:

This is a message for Ultima fans.

Corven, like I wrote many times, is heavily inspired by Ultima. But what does that mean?

Obviously we can’t make Ultima X. The IP is owned by EA and there is nothing anyone can do about that. We have no interest in getting into any legal trouble with them.

But: Corven is still the game that I would have liked Ultima IX and more importantly Ultima X to be. Ultima fans will have no trouble seeing the connection to Ultima in Corven. The world it plays in can be seen as a transformed Britannia. The history of that land can be seen as the history of Britannia, with a little effort by the player. Garriott used a lot of real world lore to create his world. EA can not copyright that and we will use it. In short: Corven is my personal Ultima X, without being Ultima X. Does that make sense?

The biggest influence in terms of gameplay is Ultima VII. The only part of that masterpiece I did not like is the combat. After thinking about how to do the combat and after many revisions I decided to go with a turn based combat system that you might know from classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy. I absolutely love that kind of combat and if I learned anything working on this game it’s that you should always try to create what you yourself would enjoy. This is the only way to create something that others might enjoy too. The difference to those JRPG’s is that there is no separate battle screen, you fight right there where you encounter the enemy, and there is no long transition between walking and fighting, it’s almost instant. I do not want it to be dragged out or annoying.

Other than that the gameplay is very close to Ultima VII. The focus is on the story, the dialogues, interaction with NPCs, interaction with the world and exploration. Corven IS NOT a grindfest.

You will have party members who you will meet during the storyline. They will travel and fight with you. Each of them play an important role in the main storyline.

I hope this shines a little more light on what Corven is about.

I sincerely thank you for following our project and for giving us a chance to create a game that many Ultima fans will enjoy!

I never started a Kickstarter before, because I did not want to do it before I was ABSOLUTELY sure we can get the game done in a reasonable amount of time. I am at this point now.

In spring 2020 I will release the starting island of Corven for free for everyone to test and at the same time start our Kickstarter. I hope you will be there to support us and I thank you for that in advance!

Oh and in other news:

Sir John of Ultima VII and Serpent Isle translation fame joined the Lycantic – Corven team! Welcome Sir John!