As noted in our initial coverage of The Mage’s Tale, the game’s developer inXile Entertainment has a track record for keeping old-school RPGs alive. The Mage’s Tale, which takes place in the same world as The Bard’s Tale, is a first-person dungeon crawler reminiscent of Elder Scrolls and Might and Magic. The marriage of VR’s immersion and interaction with a potential vintage RPG experience garners a lot of anticipation and we now have a release date for The Mage’s Tale.
We’ll find out if inXile executes in a big way again on June 20 when it launches for Oculus Rift.
The Mage’s Tale takes place between The Bard’s Tale III and IV and provides players with a 10+ hour return to the world. Players can craft spells, solve puzzles, and fight creatures while exploring the 11 dungeons below Skara Brae that range from tombs to sewers.
“Our goal was to use the old school tried and true methods of game design and integrate that with everything that Virtual Reality offers. We wanted to get away from the VR ‘experience’ and create the kind of meaty and full-scale game that gamers appreciate,” says Brian Fargo, dungeon crawler expert and CEO of inXile Entertainment, in a prepared statement. The inXile team has some award winning pedigree behind their old-school RPGs (Wasteland 2 won Game of the Year in 2014 and Torment: Tides of Numenara will likely be a part of the conversation) so the potential for The Mage’s Tale is high.
If all of this sounds interesting, The Mage’s Tale can be pre-ordered on the Oculus Home store for a 10% discount off the launch price. The regular pricing is $39.99 and the game has Oculus Touch functionality.
