”Over 200 years ago the flourishing kingdoms of elves, dwarves and mankind were consumed by chaos. Undead hordes lead by archwizards of the dark arts overran the land. Only few were able to escape. The survivors build their new homes on small, secluded islands off shore. A few years ago the Order of the Holy Flame sent its knights to lead an expedition to the mainland. Even though the old cities lie in ruins and orcs, goblins and other creatures of evil roam the land there seems to be hope for a return to the land of their ancestors.”

If that doesn’t sound like the beginning to a classic high fantasy RPG then I don’t know what is. Chaos Chronicles is a return to the old-school of RPGs; bringing us back to our roots of turn-based fighting, enormous world maps, references to D&D, a classic good vs. evil high fantasy story all wrapped up in a modern engine. Add in the bonus of five player cooperative multiplayer and Chaos Chronicles is looking to be the RPG that brings back the Pen & Paper to gaming. This awesome looking return to gaming roots is being designed by the Coreplay team, a group of developers who spent the majority of their lives playing RPGs like Ultima, The Bard’s Tale, D&D, and Baldur’s Gate; now they have decided to make a tribute to the games that taught them so much.

As you can see, the game is already looking pretty good. Coreplay has managed to capture the atmosphere of dungeon crawling RPGs of old and inject them with a shot of modern aesthetic. A playable build will be available later this year with full gameplay footage for us all to oogle and reminisce over. You can keep up to date on Chaos Chronicles over at Coreplay’s developer blog where you can look at all the pretty artwork as well as start looking up old RPGs you haven’t played in over a decade.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Break Out Your Pen & Paper For ‘Chaos Chronicles’

Old news? Perhaps, but these two projects are one of the better kept secrets of the modding world. The Ultima series are classics for a reason – a long-running franchise of very forward-thinking roleplaying games that ran all the way through the 80s up until the end of the 90s, sadly ending on a sour note due to extensive publisher meddling. The one key weakness of the games is their age. While the combat engines are solid and the settings and stories excellent, the technology lets them down, which is why these two full-length remakes are worthy of your attention.