The Great Whale Road, an indie turn-based strategy and RPG game set in the early medieval era, will emerge from the chrysalis of Steam Early Access on Mar. 30.
Made by Sunburned Games, a small independent studio in Valencia, Spain, the team cites “King of Dragon Pass, The Banner Saga and Darkest Dungeon with the historical setting of Mount & Blade Brytenwalda ” as inspiration.
As for creating The Great Whale Road ’s artwork, Sunburned Games used historical art and references to create their “semi-realistic, hand-painted European comic-book look,” drawing from sources like the original Prince Valiant comic and other hand-drawn video games.
Via the game’s Steam page :
“Travel through an ancient world, sailing along the North Sea and battling foes in turn-based combat. Interactive historical fiction comes to life through its digitally hand-drawn art, colourful characters, atmospheric soundtrack, and deeply researched lore. Fight, trade and discover the story of your village and its heroes. Are you worthy to lead them to renown and riches?”
The Great Whale Road splits gameplay between winter, for management and planning, and summer, where you sail the whale road and visit other settlements. You and your warband have a quest to fulfill each year but must ensure sufficient supplies to feed everyone throughout winter. The locations are digitally hand-drawn and connected via a side-scrolling sailing mode, while combat is turn-based on a grid.
The Great Whale Road will launch with a complete Danish story as well as improvements to combat and resource management that add new mechanics for deeper gameplay. Sunburned Games will also be releasing two storylines based on the historical Franks and Frisians. The additional narrative content will arrive in two free updates before summer.
In addition to Steam, The Great Whale Road will also be available on the Windows Store. More information on The Great Whale Road is available on the game’s website here.
Are you interested in traversing The Great Whale Road? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.
