SKALD: Against the Black Priory Early Access Teaser

Scape-IT’s retro RPG SKALD: Against the Black Priory will be launching into early access sometime around summer of 2021. We’ve known that for a while. But now, with the game’s Steam and GOG pages up and running, things are a bit more official. And apart from those, we also get this stylish trailer:

And here’s the game’s updated description:

You drag yourself from the black tides, across the corpses of drowned men, and onto the unwelcoming, craggy shoreline. Gulls cry overhead and the stink of seaweed fills your nose. By some miracle you have made it to Idra. It will take all your skill to survive and unravel the eldritch mysteries of the Black Priory. Pray your sanity holds.

About the Game

‘Skald: Against the Black Priory’ is an old-school roleplaying game that combines modern design and a fully realised narrative with authentic 8-bit looks and charms.

Delve into a dark fantasy world, full of tragic heroes, violent deaths and Lovecraftian, cosmic horror. Explore an engaging, branching story mixed with rich exploration and crunchy, tactical, turn-based combat that will seem familiar yet innovative to RPG fans, old and new.

Do you have what it takes to lead a company of broken heroes from the tainted shores of Idra to the gates of the Black Priory – and beyond?

Features

Lovingly crafted retro-style art:

• Experience a richly illustrated world of authentic pixel art using thousands of hand-drawn tiles and images
• A palette inspired by the legendary Commodore 64 computer.
• Optional CRT filter for that authentic old-school experience.

Deep character creation:

• Build your main character and recruit a party from among a dozen diverse characters, each with their own skill-set, agenda and personality.
• Choose from a dozen classes and backgrounds as well as heaps of feats, spells and equipment as you take your party from level 1 to 20.

Crunchy tactical combat:

• Engage in challenging, fast-paced, turn- and grid-based combat.
• Play it your way, with fully customizable difficulty and feedback settings. Or hit ‘auto-resolve’, lean back, and (hopefully) watch your party cleave a bloody path through their foes.

A richly detailed, living world:

• Explore the vast expanse of Freymark and the Outer Isles and watch your actions spell doom or salvation for the region.
• Focus on the rich, branching narrative… Or live the life of a mercenary and explore varied sidequests and encounters – the plot will wait for you.
• Manage your party as you make camp, recruit hirelings, travel by land and sea, and interact with powerful factions and their visions for the world.

Become part of a fantastic community:

• Skald was made possible by crowdfunding and already has a large, passionate and welcoming community that can’t wait to meet you.
• By joining Skald’s Early Access you’ll have a direct line to the developer, get sneak peaks and give feedback on forthcoming plans and help shape the game into a modern classic.
• We will publish the powerful tools used to create the game in an effort to support and encourage modding and content creation once the game has fully launched.