UPDATE 13/4/22: Aspyr has acquired Beamdog and will release its recently announced MythForce.
Aspyr is best known for his Star Wars remasters and is currently working on a remake of BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic.
Beamdog, itself founded by former BioWare executives Trent Oster and Cameron Tofer, will serve as an independent studio in Aspyr, owned by Saber Interactive. In the end, this means that Aspyr is now part of the huge Embracer Group, formerly THQ Nordic AB.
ORIGINAL HISTORY 12/4/22: Beamdog, the developer perhaps best known for its remasters of Black Isle Studios classics like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment, has unveiled MythForce, a new first-person fantasy rogue lite inspired by 80s Saturday morning cartoons.
First of all, MythForce looks something glorious and does an admirable job of capturing the mood of any number of 80s comic book favorites, albeit rendered in full 3D. There’s a clear vibe to the lovingly remembered Dungeons & Dragons’ animated outing about it, for example (with a little bit of arcade cult classic Dragon’s Lair thrown in), which is perfectly appropriate as Beamdog describes his game as a first-person sword & sorcery adventure .
At the heart of MythForce is a roguelit dungeon crawling experience that sees up to four co-op players – in the role of either Victoria the Brave Knight, Rico the Charming Rogue, Maggie the Wise Belly and Hawkins the Deadly Hunter – storm a colorful cartoon slot packed with “treasures, traps and horrors”. Beamdog promises to arm players with “legendary weapons and powerful magic” as they try to survive the forces of evil inside.
MythForce’s rogue lite structure means adventurers will be forced back to the start of death, with the castle reconfiguring itself with each attempt. However, all will not be lost, with players able to use a “meta-progression system” to level up between races.
Beamdog chooses to go the early access route with MythForce, and its first release will include four playable heroes and its first episode, Bastion of the Beastlord – with new weapons and enemies that will be added as the development continues. The game is expected to remain available early for about a year, with major content patches – which introduce e.g. new episodes and other “heavier” features – which arrive “every few months”.
MythForce launches in early access on April 20, but only in the Epic Games Store.