BioWare's New, Mysterious Game Is Shadow Realms

Ah, not what I was hoping for at all :(

Well that's a shame. Not what I was expecting.

So its a Yu Gi Oh game, fucking yeah!

It's nice that they're still getting work, I guess? The Bioware brand sure is pretty diluted seeming now.

Is this what that nightmares teaser was for?

And like that . . . my interest is gone.

I had such hopes but now...

LIVE TRAILER ACTION!

You've been chosen to spend money on this video game! Congratulations!

Why would they make another MMO after star wars did so bad it had to go F2P less than a year after release?

so the online part of it is what's turning people off? or were they hoping it was a game in present day with supernatural stuff? it could still be something like that, or travel between dimensions. we don't even know enough about it yet; no gameplay even.

people can be so negative at a drop of a hat nowadays...

This look interesting I think but at least we got a name now.

I was hoping for a single player game, because that's what I've always enjoyed of what Bioware has made. And I rarely play online games anymore. This makes it sound like online is a huge part of the game, so that's my interest largely being gone. If it's your thing, that's cool, but it's not what I wanted.

Uhm ... uh ... how exactly are people so sure this is some kind of MMO? ... Did I miss something in the trailer?

[edit:] looking at their website:

From the storytelling experts at BioWare comes Shadow Realms™, a new 4v1 story-driven Online Action RPG with dynamic co-op missions in a constantly evolving BioWare world.

That sounds cool ... at least interesting.

looks like a western persona

The Secret World meets the original D&D cartoon?

biowares new game "young adult fantasy" puts you in the shoes of spooky strong teens tasked with pushing back the abomnggngghhghhhh fffhnnggn

looks like a trailer for a show on the CW

Because SWTOR is a success?

It's still thriving with about 10 million casual players (casual is PR for folks who maybe created an account and stopped playing long ago) and 1 million monthlies (with probably half of them subscribing). Their revenue doubled after they went F2P and it's clear that the change in their payment model was the plan all along. Unless you're WoW, the time has passed for huge money from subscribers.

They also update the game in pretty impactful new ways all the time. PvP space combat was added about 9 months ago, and a player housing system was added about 4 months ago.

I actually don't even play SWTOR anymore, but to consider it a failure just isn't reality.

Jesus you guys are such fuckin' downers.

Whatever man, I'll give Bioware a shot at making a cool 4 player coop game. Just so long as they agree to stop sending me emails about it.

So it's a left4dead/evolve/that new fable knockoff

The foundation of our new IP in Edmonton is complete, and the team is ready to move forward into pre-production on a title that I think will redefine interactive entertainment.

Credit: http://blog.bioware.com/2014/08/07/casey-hudsons-departure-from-biowareea/

So this still isn't the new IP from Bioware Edmonton, right?

The online experience isn't one I'm interested in another market is probably pretty stoked right now.

Yeah, I am one of the minority who thinks this looks pretty promising and interesting based upon what they said on the website.

It's not an MMO, like many are assuming. Some are comparing it to Evolve, but it seems closer to me to be like Crawl, only that four people always play the heroes and one person always plays the monsters. Online stuff really isn't my thing either, but this seems super rad to me.

Plus, I may be the only one with this opinion, but I prefer "crazy alternate fantasy realities" to "modern day supernatural stuff."

Well, several warning signs:

1. The website crows that "new cliff-hanger episodes are released regularly." Since this is an EA published game, what are the chances that we have to pay for every one of those new episodes? What are the chances that the game doesn't do well enough for any of the "cliff-hanger episodes" to actually get resolved? I'm guessing close to 100% for the first, and since it's a new IP, the odds of the second are probably around 50-50.

2. I submit that it is prohibitively difficult to create a satisfying story-driven game that involves mandatory multiplayer. First, everyone wants to play at a different pace; people who have seen the content before want to move on, while people who are playing through for the first time want to experience the story. No matter how it's structured, someone's frustrated by either moving too fast or too slow.

Second, MP necessitates the story needs to move in a consistent direction, since otherwise there'd be a million different versions of the story having to take place. This in turn means that the player can have virtually no meaningful choice on the outcome. Even if you do within an individual scenario, you will have no effect on the larger story. This is not likely to please longtime Bioware fans, who want more agency over what happens.

Third, a big part of RPGs is getting immersed within the story. However, in MP games, there will always be an asshole disrupting that by hitting the /dance emote or making sex jokes over chat. Always.

Maybe it isn't impossible to address these concerns, but based on their recent track record, I have zero confidence Bioware is capable of pulling it off.

Wow everyone relax and stop jumping to conclusions we don't even know what kind of game this is. It was a live action trailer with zero gameplay...zero.

4v1 is interesting as that is not done very much at all outside of Evolve. This could be a sweet Descent (the boardgame) style game which to me seems really cool actually.

Surprised this is not the Edmonton team's new project.

Hey, I'll play it. Probably.

geeze ... this game has probably been in production for at least 2 years. Nobody knew about evolve and fable by then. And if this is a left4dead knockoff then so is Borderlands.

People are sometimes terrible, we know next to nothing about this game besides it's 4vs1 and from what you read here you could think this game will require the mandatory sacrifice of a puppy to play.

Gross, D&D set in modern times. Thats like bad B movie. And not the good bad B movie. Those live action trailers are fucking awful.

@maitimo: Well, one of the main leads at Bioware Austin on this game has been there since Baldur's Gate. Bioware still has a lot of its talent there.

@john1912: "Those live action trailers are fucking awful."

Amen.

I still have no idea what this is.

I don't think Bioware has made a bad game yet, so I'm excited. Just need a gaming PC...

I....want....a....new....knights...of...old...republic...game.....for the love of god

Wow, I thought it was going to be a horror-based RPG, talk about disappointing.

Now we know why Casey Hudson left

So its secret world hé !

Heroes: The TV Show. Made into a video game... I get like an infamous or prototype vibe from this game. More than D&D.....................

@bigboss1911 said:

play SWTOR, the Jedi Knight class. It is, without a doubt, KOTOR 3.

As far as Shadow Realms is concerned, it sounds like Diablo meets Neverwinter Nights MP. That doesn't sound awful on paper, but then again I have no idea how close to either end of the scale it is. All I know is that, if it's anything like an MMO at all, I've already got one. I'm good, thanks.

However, I think people are forgetting (or just plain don't know) how utterly amazing NWN MP was. You had a DM and four heroes running a campaign together. There was a lot of great fun to be had then, and if this game is anything like that then it should be interesting to see more of, at the very least.

Is this a dark and gritty reboot of the D&D cartoon?

God I hate these live action "you are your character", look how cool you are, trailers so much.

Where are people getting the D&D from in this? It just looks like dark fantasy to me.

Jeez Bioware, seriously? Man have they gone downhill.

@lawgamer: yep. fuck this. bioware fell off a long time ago. yuck.

Except with grinding and a plot that sort of goes nowhere and it's sort of not fun to play.

This trailer told me nothing outside of it being an epic indie film. I'll need to see more though.

I'm actually having a great time with The Old Republic. Played it when it first went free-to-play and lost interest, but something about it's really clicked with me this past while. Ended up deleting most of the characters I was playing before and starting 8 from scratch.

Co-op in Mass Effect 3 was surprisingly fun, so a game focused on that with a 4v1 twist could be great.

Silly trailer though.