Published - 07/02/99

The hype of Final Fantasy VIII holds us in great anticipation, like any of the other game made by SquareSoft. However, on a completely different continent, an epic role-playing game is in the making. Cinematix has plans to take the throne of the role-playing by implementing great evolutionary features to Revenant. They have taken common role-playing elements and expanded on them by creating an inventive world while improving the visual effects a great deal compared to other role-playing games. The gameplay offers an entire new combat system, and the gamer will meet over forty personalities and have the ability to wield new spells. Cinematix has also promised an extensive story, great character development, and experience-based progression which will remind gamers of the SquareSoft's masterpieces. This dark fantasy role-playing game's future looks extremely bright .

Revenant takes a slight turn away from the common role-playing game story line. In fact, Cinematix has invented a new world full of all types of uniqye environments to suit Revenant and make it outstanding. In addition, a new line of playable characters of all different types will be offered to walk around the island of Ahkuilon.

Locke, a man pulled whole from the dark recesses of the land of shadow. He is a Revenant, a resurrected warrior from an earlier age called back to serve those who summoned him. His mind is an empty shell, remembering nothing of his earlier life, and recalling only slowly the skills and abilities that were once native to him.

He has been recalled from the nether world to the Isle of Ahkuilon by a powerful warlord to exact vengeance on his rivals, who he suspects of having abducted his daughter. He soon discovers that this simple abduction is the final chapter in tale of the forgotten civilization that once flourished on this island, and that it was no accident that it was he who was summoned as champion to this warlord's strange daughter, in who's hands rests the fate of the entire world.

Locke has a dark history behind him, and Revenant will exploit his background throughout the game. His memory will come back, and that will the motive for a developing story. As all role-playing games have focused on plots to attract the gamer, Revenant will do the exact same, but a new story with brand new places will make Revenant unique from the others. Rex Dickson commented about Locke's personality in Revenant:

Locke is resurrected from the demon realm of Anserak at the beginning of the game. Having his soul tormented for over ten thousand years has made him extremely bitter. When the game starts out you realize right away that Locke is an unwilling anti-hero. He cares nothing for those he is forced to help and is not above using threats and insults to gain his objectives. As he progresses in his quest he begins to discover clues about his past life, which eventually causes changes in his personality.

Most main characters in role-playing games are radiant and happy, however, Cinematix has taken a step away from that medium and created a dark fantasy role-playing game with a fierce and bitter character. Locke D'averum might not be the best character to suit this role, but it will be interesting to see how such a tormented soul progress through a long story.

Ahkuilon is an island within the large world of Ur. Its rich historical background with some interesting locations will provide the gamer with a great role-playing world. So far, several locations have been revealed such as the Catacomb and Misthaven which will bring much more variety to the story. Locke D'averum will have several quests in these luscious areas and could result in hours of gameplay. In addition, there will be a randomizer for map creation. Rex Dickson comments:

Ahkuilon is an island on the world of Ur. The game maps were built by the designers, Rex Dickson, Matt Green, and Vincent Baez. The multiplayer maps were built by Thuan Do and Robert Redden. One of the things about Revenant I am most proud of is that all the maps were hand built by designers. You won't find any randomly generated maps that all look the same in Revenant. It was very important to us that every location and every level in Revenant had it's own unique look and feel. The different areas of Revenant include: Tendrick's Keep, the town of Misthaven, the forests of Ahkuilon, arakna island, the ogrok camp, the caves, the ruined city, the dungeons, and a few more places we're still keeping secret for now.

Cinematix has attempted to make the island of Ahkuilon dark and gloomy, and has done a magnificent job of doing so. By making a fictitious world full of all types of places and adding the Cataclysm, Revenant is a disturbed world in a post-apocalyptic era. Cinematix has inserted a twist into the common role-playing game world by making a truly depressed world on all aspects. Ahkuilon will be a refreshing world which all gamers can enjoy in Revenant.

Locke D'averum is the main character of Revenant, however, this role-playing game will allow the gamer to only control Locke. Therefore, this game is not party-based. As most role-playing games have been party-based and offer many playable characters, lacking this feature could make gamers disinterested in Revenant. However, there is a positive standpoint. Gamers could enjoy the single-character development and the simplicity of having just one character to tend to.

In the single player game Locke is the only playable character. The story is very much centralized around his character and we decided it was better to leave the single player game focused on Locke. In multiplayer mode you can play as one of four different characters in either deathmatch or cooperative "party based" quest modes.

Usually the separate development of more than ten controllable characters will offer a great deal of variety, but Revenant will not have that. Instead, Cinematix has focused on Locke's personality solely, in which his memories of his previous life will be remembered throughout the gameplay. Having only one playable character is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it detracts from the variety and freedom a role-playing game can offer.

To offer total variety in a game, developers must package some editing tools for the gamer to fiddle around with. Revenant will come with a series of tools to create own maps by building tiles. Now, the map-making for games will be much easier through Cinematix's style of placing simple tiles where desired. Cinematix's Rex Gibson discussed this concept and the editing tools for this 3D-accelerated role-playing game.

Revenant will be shipping with it's editors and tools intact, much in the way that Myth, Quake, Duke Nukem, and others have done in the past. While shipping with editors is pretty common these days, it is rare if ever that an RPG has this feature. One of the greatest things about the editor is that all the maps are built with tiles. That means that to build levels you simply drag and drop tiles onto the map, no knowledge of 3D is required. The maps can then be lit by lights which support thousands of different colors and intensities. Once players have built and stocked their levels they can write scripts for dialog, traps, cut scenes, basically whatever their imagination can come up with. The Revenant scripting language is alot like basic, no knowledge of programming is required to write your own scripts. Players will also be able to make their own rules, setting health levels, damage levels, weapon and armor statistics, etc. You can even record your own voice acting for dialog in the modules you create. More advanced users will have the ability to create new characer models and maps, new tilesets, whatever. Our hope is that the Revenant editor/tools will be embraced by the gaming community and people will begin to craft their own RPG's with diverse characters and storylines. If this happens it will mean that Revenant will have virtually limitless replay value. Once you finish the main game, you go on the internet, download a new module, and you have a whole new game to play through. To conclude, if you have ever wanted to design your own RPG, Revenant gives you the opportunity to do so without knowing any programming or art. All you need is a killer imagination, a lot of free time, and the conviction to pull it off.

Rex is completely right that having editors for a role-playing is brand-new. As a result, Revenant will be extremely appealing to those dedicated gamers who love to make their own maps to play on. However, this is more than just a map-editor, it allows gamers to create their own quests, modifications, and their own fantasy land. A truly brilliant idea on behalf of Cinematix. They will attract a wide variety of gamers as well as keep them playing because of all the maps that will be created.

Type:
Role-Playing

Developer:
Cinematix

Publisher:
Eidos Interactive

Requirements:
To Be Announced
3D-Accelerated

Expected Release:
Quarter 4 of 1999

Multiplayer:
Yes