Black Legend is an XCOM-like tactical RPG game that’s about grim tidings, and even grimmer science. Set in a decaying 17th Century town inspired by the cultures of Belgium and the Netherlands, the strategy game features fantasy-fuelled notions such as alchemy, cults and the the outdated medical ‘science’ known as Humorism.
This turn-based strategy game features a compact narrative led campaign where you can navigate the world in real-time, switching to a turn-based tactical mode for encounters. It features 15 playable classes, and you can combine your core team in a number of different ways as the campaign progresses. Class unlocks are achieved when you collect all of the equipment for that class as you explore the town of Grant.
There is a main story, as well as side quests, and replayability is found in the small choices you make. Even your character’s gender will affect what options are available to you. The game is due out at the end of March and is being developed by Warcarve, the same studio that worked on the classically-inspired RTS WarParty.
Here is the official trailer to set the scene:
Fun fact: The Humorism medical theory derives from the ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates, and the most famous form is known as the ‘four humors’, where it was believed humans were composed of four fundamental elements: yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood. One had to have a balance of all four to be healthy, and it was thought that a disease would essentially corrupt one of these four components.
We recently spoke to the developers at Warcave regarding their game, and we’ll have a more in-depth feature for you in the coming weeks. One of the questions we asked them was to explain their game, but badly:
“A bunch of Belgium-based developers wish to commemorate the Golden Age of a neighbouring country they seceded from in 1830, as well as the folklore written by people who barely even knew how to bathe properly and killed time by inventing stories to scare children when they weren’t too busy killing each other. They do so by making video game about a team of four complete idiots going on a suicide mission to a cursed city covered in a toxic fart created by a high school chemistry teacher reject, and fight fanatics by playing a game of ‘match the colours’ with bodily fluids based on medicine invented by utter quacks whose sole purpose in life was the acquisition of ‘medieval bitcoin’.”
Black Legend will be released for PC via Steam on March 25.