Out-Compete Those Other Heroes
At first glance, Depths of Peril is a Diablo-esque RPG. You control a single character of the usual range of classes (warrior, mage, cleric, rogue); you go out on quests to surrounding areas, slaying lots of monsters, earning XP and money that you can use to improve stats and equipment. Combat is fast, Diablo rather than Final Fantasy, and there's the same huge range of variety in equipment and magic items.
But -- layered atop this are AI opponents that remind us of the opponents in Railroad Tycoon. You control a "covenant," which consists of you and up to 5 other characters you recruit (and incidentally, you can take one along with you when you go adventuring, which is extremely useful). Each of the other covenants -- up to 5 of them -- is busy adventuring and building up their own heroes' stats and equipment while you are.
Essentially, you are a sort of "fantasy hero corporation," competing against other fantasy hero corporations. Instead of laying track and carrying cargo, you're out their slaying evil monsters and stealing their treasure for the greater good of mankind, but so are your competitors, and in the end, the town isn't big for the two (or six) of you.
The real enemy isn't the orcs or whatnot, but those nasty bastards on the other side of town; and you win by eventually becoming powerful enough that you can go on a raid, and wipe them out. Or, for that matter, build an alliance with other covenants, and earn an alliance win by taking out your mutual competitors.
Now this is all rather--odd, in its own way; but it has some real strengths as a gameplay dynamic. For one thing, when you complete a linear RPG like Diablo, you're done; you could replay it, but it'll basically be the same game all over game. In Depths of Peril, you may well find that after five hours of gameplay, having explored only a small fraction of the world, you've succeeded in obliterating the opposing covenants. And by cranking up the difficulty level (which is measured on several independently choosable scales, by the way, including opposing AI aggressiveness, starting levels, and so on) you can wind up playing a much different game. In short, while it may not have the infinite replayability of a Civilization, it has vastly more replayability than a typical RPG.
Depths of Peril has enough connection to familiar game styles that it's not hard to pick up and play, but also enough difference, in its need for diplomacy and conflict with competing AIs, that it provides, in all, an innovative and different experience from any other game. And that's something that, at least in my opinion, is worthy of admiration.
The developer says:
Depths of Peril is a single-player action roleplaying game (RPG) with strong strategy elements. You play as a faction leader protecting the barbarian city, Jorvik, by destroying threatening monsters and completing quests. At the same time, you compete with rival factions to see who will rule the city. Barbarians choose their leaders by fighting to the death!
As a faction leader, you must deal with rival factions through diplomacy, trade, and in time, war. Between battles and raids against other barbarian factions, you build the most powerful faction possible, to withstand your enemies. Building the power of a faction involves exploring a fantasy world, slaying dangerous monsters, solving quests for the city, avoiding deadly traps, and plundering loot to share within your faction.
But in this world, actions actually have consequences, so take care. Annoying the powerful and aggressive Legion of Fear faction will cause them to declare war and destroy you. Ignoredo orc uprisings in the Black Forest will cause even more trouble. Protect ally covenants that are being raided, because friends are hard to come by.
Features
- Unique blend of action RPG with strategy elements
- Leader of one warring faction fighting for supremacy
- Must navigate relationships with enemy factions using diplomacy, trade, war, and raids
- Real and hard consequences from a living world
- Breathing, evolving world
- A deep wellspring of history (40+ short stories, 60,000+ words)
- Random, seamless world
Purchasing the full game allows you to:
- Play through the rest of the storyline
- Explore the full world
- Combat many more monsters types
- Find and collect thousands more item types
- Gain access to higher difficulties (champion, elite, and legendary)
- Meet and destroy new covenants
- Improve your characters up to level 100
- Experience new random quests and world events
Reviews
"Depths of Peril is a very dynamic game that requires you to pay attention to pretty much everything, from identifying loot drops to managing covenant member's equipment, diplomatic relations and timed quests. It's a pretty busy game with lots to do, and one that I am really enjoying."
- GrrlGamer
"I really liked Depths of Peril. There were some obvious flaws, but they didn't take away from what is a very singularly enjoyable experience. Working with the computer-controlled guilds while also trying to beat them was a unique type of computer competition that really caught my fancy.
To get people to join your party you often are assigned a quest to prove your worth, which the computer players also try to undertake, creating the common state of racing against other computer players to complete a goal. There are bugs and shortcomings in the graphics that should hamper the experience, but I found myself oblivious to them due to how entranced I was with the game. Great game!"
- Game Tunnel
"Depths of Peril makes itself much more than a simple Diablo clone with its unique implementation of diplomatic goals. The 4X-like portion of the game, where you must balance relationships with rival faction and eliminate the weak competition, makes for some very interesting gameplay. Not only are you battling the NPC monsters, but you are also battling rivals who are battling the NPC monsters. The game switches seamlessly from traditional RPG combat to diplomacy and back again, and the end product is very entertaining. You never spend enough time in either part of the game to get tired of it, and alternating between grand strategy and action role-playing varies the overall experience in a good way. You might be a high-level monster-killing machine, but if all the other factions gang up on you, it will not matter. You have to master both aspects of the game, and this dichotomy is where Depths of Peril shines. There are some missing features and it’s not the easiest game in the world to get in to thanks to the sub-par tutorial, but it sure is fun once it gets going. Depths of Peril is a highly recommended title that seamlessly blends two genres into a unique and compelling gaming experience."
- 7/8, Out of Eight PC Game Reviews
"This game does very well all around. Plus it's addictive as all hell. I mean the reason this review has taken me so long is I would simply just get wrapped up in the game, a game which I have now been playing for several weeks and told Mr. Peeler I would have reviewed in a week. I think he secretly knew I wouldn't get it done in a week because I would just get lost in the world. I found myself sneaking into the game when I wasn't even looking trying to dominate the other clans just because they had the audacity to say something rude to me. As I said the game looks good, sounds good and plays very well. Nothing is perfect but it is all very, very close. I will be loathe to delete this game and at a mere 92 megabytes, I probably won't for awhile though it will keep me from getting other things done in a timely fashion. This makes me look forward to the next offering from Soldak. So go buy this one and help them out so we can get another great game from them soon."
- 89%, Generation: Gamerz