The past few years have been a new golden age for computer role-playing games. Development studios both big and small tried their hands at the genre, providing players with sprawling adventures filled with wonders, enemies, treasures, and world-changing choices that made them feel an active part of these universes they were supposed to save or destroy.

　　Among the many cRPGs released in the past few years was Event Horizon's Tower of Time. While the game did not really try to challenge role-playing game conventions, it was definitely a solid effort and a more than worthy purchase for those who live and die by dice rolls, both real and in digital format. The development studio is now hard at work on their next game, Dark Envoy, a game that is setting out to be slightly more interesting than Tower of Time thanks to many of its features.

　　During Steam Next Fest, which will be held from February 6th until February 13th, Steam users can try out a Dark Envoy demo featuring over one hour and a half of content. I had the chance to try out this demo before its official release, and couldn't help but notice how, this time around, Event Horizon broke away from the typical fantasy cRPG trappings to offer something a little more unique.

　　Dark Envoy is set in the world of Jäan, which has known balance since its creation until humanity arrived. With their superior technology, humans started conquering vast sways of the land, taking it away from the magically-advanced Old Races. The tension between the two factions continued to increase over time, and the Human Empire and the League of Old Races are almost at war when the game's story begins.

　　Malakai and Kaela are children of war refugees and live as adventurers and relic hunters. By no means an easy life, this allowed them to thrive somewhat and achieve a serenity that most of the people of Jäan do not. Relic hunting, however, will get them involved in the impending war between the Empire and the League, making them understand that everyone has a role to play when the world is about to burn.

　　While the demo doesn't feature a whole lot of story, what it does feature feels interesting enough. The main characters are a little tropey at the beginning of the adventure, and the writing is standard role-playing game fare, but the atmosphere feels different enough from most games. It reminded me, in some ways, of the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, although with plenty of differences.

　　The demo features lots of gameplay, which has left a positive impression on me. For those not in the known, Dark Envoy was originally conceived as a turn-based game before the developers experimented with real-time with pause combat and eventually switched to it. As such, there are some remnants of the older combat system, such as plenty of environmental interactivity with a variety of objects, such as cacti that release needles causing bleeding when hit, destructible covers, and more. These elements make combat feel more dynamic than basic real-time with pause combat, forcing players to focus not just on skill usage but also on positioning. All of the combat mechanics are properly explained with in-game menus, which make the experience feel quite accessible, even to newcomers.

　　Accessibility seems to be one of the things Event Horizon focuses on the most in Dark Envoy. While the menu system is similar to those seen in countless other cRPGs, it features explanations for pretty much everything, from stats to skills, classes, and gear, detailing, for example, how improving certain stats improves the character, which perks are unlocked after reaching certain stats thresholds and so on. This is another extremely welcome feature for RPG veterans and newcomers alike, making it much easier to develop effective builds.

　　Speaking of builds and character customization, Dark Envoy will feature plenty of it. The appearance of the siblings Malakai and Kaela can be changed at the start of the game with a character creation system featuring plenty of options, as do their combat abilities. The demo features four different classes - Ranger, Adept, Engineer, and Warrior - coming with very different skills. All classes will have different specializations that were not available in the demo, so there will be a lot of ways to customize characters in the final release.

　　With crafting and enhancing rounding up the role-playing game mechanics' package, and co-op multiplayer, Dark Envoy is setting out to be an interesting RPG. While not as big, or as anticipated, as some of the biggest role-playing games releasing this year, such as Baldur's Gate 3, the game by Event Horizon looks like it will have the chance to carve out its own niche when it launches later this year on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

　　Demo early access code provided by the publisher.