Of all the Total War: Warhammer 3 mods in existence, ‘Simply Fun Overhaul,’ also known as ‘SFO,’ is perhaps the most beloved. Designed for the ultra devout and the lore faithful, it’s a complete overhaul of the Creative Assembly strategy game that aligns the world and all the units more closely to the established story of the Warhammer universe. Now, its creator, ‘Venris,’ as part of new studio Evil Gingerbread, is branching out. Following a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign, the mod-maker is launching a fully fledged, standalone, brand-new turn-based RPG, inspired by some of the best in the genre including Loop Hero and Darkest Dungeon. A mix of base building, combat, management, and psychology, this is Whispers of the Eyeless.
Put simply, in Whispers of the Eyeless, you’re the villain. The fantasy city of Aranthor is relatively peaceful, a prospering medieval-esque metropolis where citizens comfortably and happily worship the New Gods. It’s a decent enough place – but you want to take it over. See, you still believe in the Old Gods. Their religion may be banned and their followers long deceased, but you remain, faithful to the end, and determined to reinstate your archaic deities to their rightful place. So begins a turn-based RPG with a hand-drawn art style, base mechanics, and a seriously dark twist.
First up, you need to infiltrate the city and defeat its extensive variety of enemies (the finished game will feature 30) to gather resources, upgrade your abilities, and find fellow Old God faithfuls. Battles are turn-based and viewed from the same side-on perspective as Darkest Dungeon. Psychological pressures and emotion-based status effects will influence the outcome, and you can choose between various paths, areas, and boroughs as you navigate Aranthor’s depths.
As you amass your cult, you also need to provide for and manage them. Your followers can be assigned different roles and then sent on missions to help spread your influence. The more people you recruit and the more ‘callings’ they are dispatched to complete, the greater your power will become. In turn, you can use your newly gotten resources to expand and improve your cult’s base.
This is where Whispers of the Eyeless gets especially interesting. Depending on which of the Old Gods you choose to follow, the appearance of your base will vary. Your chosen deity will also influence the kinds of rituals you can perform.
Do you want to conduct sacrifices to earn more power for your cult, or be a little more benevolent with simple sermons and benedictions? Either way, you need to maintain good defenses and try to keep a low profile – the New Gods and their followers may be blasphemous, but they’re no pushovers, so the goal is to slowly undermine and overthrow Aranthor from the shadows.
After earning more than 500% of its funding goal on Kickstarter, Whispers of the Eyeless is now available to wishlist on Steam. We’re still waiting on a release date, but this is definitely one to watch.
In the meantime, take a look at some of the other best RPGs, or maybe get the best strategy games available on PC.
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