Every now and then I come across the kind of title that isn't exactly the 'beat-the-door-down-and-scream-from-the-rooftops' masterpiece that some other games are. With my prolific catalogue of game that I've played over the years, it probably comes as no surprise that there's a great many games that don't blow my socks off but are just good, and would slip from my mind mostly, but remain enough for me to recall my good memories. Maybe these aren't the leaders of their industries, but not every game has to be and I can carve out some of my day to enjoy a good RPG just as readily as the next guy. Of course, the game I'm talking about in particular is 'Earthlock', and I must admit I entirely forgot I had played that game until news broke of the vastly different Earthlock 2.
Now Earthlock, for those who are unfamiliar, was a RPG that seemed to draw significant inspiration from the odd school semi-active turnbased JRPG's of yesteryear. Final Fantasy in particular seemed to have it's DNA in this games inception, only this was a smaller game made by a smaller studio and coupled with a narrative and world which felt decidedly... distinct from FF. Earthlock created this decently adorable world with fun enough characters that all worked decently well together in a strike team, but the real innovations came in some of the unique twists upon the gameplay. Like, for instance, the complimentary ability effects that rewarded smart timed actions and tactical debuff choices. Or the 'friendship buffs', which made certain synergies incredibly powerful for particular encounters. All this contributed to making a fine and different RPG title that managed to stand on it's on two feet. If the main narrative were a little bit stronger, I might even consider this a diamond in the rough and recommend it. (Okay, the narrative isn't so weak as to invalidate a recommendation, I take that back.)
When it comes to the act of 'paying homage' to a story or genre that you like, it's all too easy to fall into the trap of making a direct rip-off. Copying sweeping ideas like story, setting, characters or just the gameplay features that made another game special, all without thinking that you're plagiarising. Earthlock, however, managed to jump out of that trap and deliver a delightfully original fantasy world which, though it may have some features similar to JRPGs, (such as the obligatory race of sentient cute fluffy animals that they all have for some reason) is still a world you can recognise at a glance. The environments were decent, though not really unique and distinct, the enemies were kinda cool, whilst also being kinda forgettable, and the activities that you perform outside of fighting, such as crafting of potions and other general base management activities, were actually surprisingly intuitive and well-conceived. Like I said, decent RPG, worth your time.
Earthlock 2, however, doesn't seem to be resting on the laurels of the first game and that's what is keeping me fascinated right now. It would have been easy for this team to completely rehash the first game with a new story and improved locales, (or not even made a sequel at all) but instead the team have taken that traditional JRPG trope of 'a different story every entry' and stretched it's definition to a more fundamental sense. Speaking plainly, Earthlock 2 is an action adventure RPG that looks to be completely abandoning it's predecessor's turn-based combat for real time combat. Now that's a power play if ever I've seen it, because I've never seen a title that completely reinvents itself for every single entry, that's a new one to me. Sure, Bioware have a tendency to reinvent their narrative structure from title to title in order to avoid Ubisoft-itis, but the game's themselves remain semi-static RPGs. Not Earthlock, however, they're taking a decided step into new territory.
Now to play devil's advocate for a hot minute, we don't actually know if this direction portends to the future of this franchise, or even if this franchise has a future at all. (Not to insult the quality or popularity of the games, I just think it's a little early to be throwing that word around.) In my optimistic brain, this lays the groundwork for a game series that could remain interesting by being wildly different with each entry touching on a new sub-genre of RPG until we get a crappy FPS entry and revert back to what we know. (I know some people like 'Dirge of Cerberus'. You're just wrong.) But in reality this could just be the developers of Earthlock quickly shifting gears to hit the popular trend that all these former turn-based RPGs are hitting. Final Fantasy has gone the action adventure route, Trials of Mana's pretty-looking remake went full action adventure, why not follow them early? As much as I'd like to think this is a series completely dedicated to paying homage to beloved bits of RPG gaming, and in some ways it still absolutely is, I could absolutely believe there's a more cold and cynical reason behind this choice. But hey, the company's indie so I'm not going to ride them for it; you guys do what you need to.
What this does portend, however, is a trend of games that you wouldn't expect having the breadth to, getting sequels. I'm talking games without the investors, backing or funding to guarantee record sales, but merely a dang good premise that people want to see more of, getting a chance to delight their fans. For me, Earthlock isn't exactly the kind of game that I'd write home to my parents about, but there are those who really loved the first game and are likely buzzing for a sequel, you might even call the popularity 'cult' in this light. On another stage, archetypal rougelite 'Rouge Legacy' is getting a sequel. A game with a modest pedigree and a genre positively despised by mainstream publishers, is getting a sequel. Isn't that wild? It hints at a time where indie developers are getting the sort of financial and creative freedom to strike their own niches, and that's got to be the ultimate dream for any creator.
There's a certain level of ballooned ambition behind Earthlock 2 that I find deeply inspiring. To think that an openworld RPG could grow from a linear one is encouraging and impressive to behold. When I think about the amount of work that would have to go in to make this sort of an idea work, I find it hard to get my head around. There's so many more jobs to assign, more dimensions to consider, more world building both literally and narrative-ly, to do. This is a whole different ball-park of game creation that Snowcastle Games have stepped into, and I just hope they know what they're doing because if this goes wrong, it'll go really wrong. (I'm sure they do. Right?) They've already spoken about how they've got their hands on next-gen development tools and a new engine, so they have the tools at their disposal to kick off the next gen of indie games. (How exciting.)
The way I look at things, there aren't enough RPGs in the world today. Now okay, there's a million JRPGs, sure, but as for unique western RPGs, we could really stand for a few more fresh ideas to stir around the pot. What else are we supposed to do, wait for the next Bioware game and hope it isn't complete trash again? And when it is; then what? These guys and Spiders are really standing out in the RPG landscape as independents who keep this genre alive when nobody else is there to. (Yes, Spiders aren't exactly Indie, but you know what I'm getting at. It's how these games shape up.) I hope to see a bit more of this Earthlock 2 in the months to come, see if it's as solid a title as the first game. (I can spare the odd 40 hours if it is.)
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