Twelve Sins of Herakles - Dev diary 02: True open world
The world was murdered, and the blame lies with Herakles. His wrath, rage and recklessness have left the lands wasted, nations sundered, laws broken and twelve monsters unleashed.
The death toll was unimaginable. The sins… unforgivable. And hereditary.
Having come of age, Herakles’s children set out to find their would-be Father. They will follow the bloody path he carved, from the sunbaked savannahs of Nemea, to the shattered spine of the Erymanthian mountains, to the blood-stained sands of the distant shores of Anatolia, to the ends of the earth if they have to.
They will get answers.
They will have justice.
Or, if neither is available, they will settle for revenge!
The next chapter of Aeon Trespass begins now! Complete new game. New open-world campaigns (plural!) with new regions to explore, and a new way to play. New heroes, new villains, a new approach to Voyage, new adventures and a new character progression system, new Titans and Primordials, new Gear, of course, so much new Gear, new crafting mechanics, ICP 3.0. New everything. The same richness of gameplay, story and worldbuilding, the same passion. Fully compatible with ATO. A new epic saga of Love and Revenge.
One game. Four Seasons. Twelve Sins.
That’s the pitch. So, what will it actually be like? Let me pull back the curtain just a bit…
City at the End of the World
True Open World
As in, total freedom of movement and action, of exploration and discovery. In Twelve Sins of Herakles, you will traverse a true open world in a completely non-linear fashion. You will engage with the world, its secrets and story at your own pace and in your chosen order – or not at all. You may simply free roam!
You will be able to connect every Twelve Sins of Herakles region and map together and travel back and forth between them. No timeline will hold you back. You think a Cycle is big? Wait till you see the connected world of TSOH!
It’s hard to put in words what we’re building here, because there is nothing like it outside of video games.
Let me break it down.
Diverse Regions
The ancient world of Aeon Trespass is wildly diverse. In the core game of ATO, you’ve visited 3 regions: Crete, Sparta and Delphi. The Illuminated Cycles will introduce two more: Persia and the Cyclades.
Twelve Sins of Herakles feature, you guessed it, twelve. TWELVE REGIONS! (Or more…?) Each region will introduce its own intricacies, new traversal types, new terrain, new exploration, new flora and fauna, new peoples and histories, new conflicts, contemporary and ancient, and new secrets. So many secrets.
These regions will provide varying degrees of difficulty and challenge (no level scaling, for you savvy with video game lingo!), and will be interconnected from the get-go. You will start your adventure in one place, but from there, you will be able to travel anywhere, battle any of the new Primordials, craft any of the new gear and engage in any story thread.
No Timelines, But Annals
No more running out of time. You will advance through the game at your own pace, noting your progress on the new Annals Sheets. Think of them as a calendar of sorts. Time still passes, it just does not have a definite endpoint. This does not mean narrative urgency will be gone, on the contrary, we’ve found new ways to raise the tension. Story cards, Doom cards, Exploration cards, all can add urgent events to the Annals, which will happen whether you’re ready or not, present or not!
However, you will be able to take a breather to explore the world, take a break from the ceaseless encroachment of darkness… though the Primordials will keep evolving!
Perils of Travel
The Herakleides, though powerful, don’t have a giant iron ship to call home. They are few, travel light and are constantly pursued by agents of Eurystheus. To them, travel and exploration pose a completely different level of challenge.
This will be reflected with new travel and exploration rules. You’ll still have an Exploration Deck (one for each region!), but it will work in a completely different manner. Gone are Mortal resources, replaced with dangers, terrain types, modes of transportation and road events.
Will you brave the treacherous mountain passes or would rather go out of your way and take the safer road around? Will you travel slowly, but in secret, or cover more ground, drawing much more attention?
Remember, you’re on the run, from mortal enemies, as well as new deadly Adversaries!
Nemea, ???, ???
Fringes of Civilization
The Argo is more than a ship, it’s a city, by depriving the Herakleides of one, we’ve deprived them of the other. This will have a very real impact on game mechanics, as you won’t always have access to all the options and amenities: you will have to survive in the wild! And no, this does not mean you’ll be forced to grind for survival resources, TSoH is not that kind of game.
Knots of the World and other types of Transportation
The connected Map of TSoH will be absolutely massive and traveling from one end to the other will be an unforgettable experience. Traveling it several times across because you forgot something, that might be a pain… worry not, we’ve thought of it. As you progress through the campaigns, you will unlock many types of transportation, ones that will allow you to cover more ground quickly. These will be thematic and region appropriate, like a ship sailing along the Anatolian coast or [redacted] across the Nemean savannah. Also, thanks to the [redacted] you will be able to travel through the very [redacted], between places we’re calling Knots of the World!
Quests, Adventures, Interactions
All of the above should be a pretty big hint that the world of Sins of Herakles will be filled to the brim with content, and the new ‘Voyage paradigm’ will allow for more side quests, Map interactions and endless adventures, both during and after the story campaigns.
Beastmaster Titan. Do you now see how we've deceived you?
Living, Breathing World
Into the Unknown’s mission statement has never changed: to tackle ambitious, unique projects, to explore strange beautiful worlds and share those wonders with you. Aeon Trespass: Twelve Sins of Herakles is the next, bold step in that direction. To not only create a game, but a living, breathing world that can one day transcend the various media.
I invite you to take this step with us during the upcoming Aeon Trespass crowdfunding campaign!
In the next weeks we’ll be revealing more and more about TSOH and the new ATO content we’re working on, here, on FB and our website, so stay tuned!