Check out the classic CRPG inspired Passageway of the Ancients out now

Available now with Linux support from Passageway Games, a new retro-styled RPG is here for you to sink some hours into with Passageway of the Ancients.

With gameplay and a visual style clearly inspired by many of the great early CRPGs like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate, this might be quite the treat for fans of the genre. This is a game that very much feels like a blast from the past right down to spending an age customizing your character.

The character creator is a bit of an odd one. It has lots of customization for body parts size like upper arm mass, triceps tone, breast size, belly girth, the size and shape of your hips and so on. Lots of individual bits, but then it skimps on things like hair colour with only a couple of options. Either way, you're going to be there a while. Look at the options for just your nose:

I won't say how long I was there, but it was a while…

More about it: "Passageway of the Ancients takes you to the world of Aieryon – the galaxy’s sole remaining magical planet – where you explore the city of Ithgar to solve an unspeakable crime. Beset with grief, you’re tasked with surviving deadly creatures lurking behind every door while gathering clues, managing your party, and leveling up your characters. You also must pick locks and solve Runic puzzles to gather the best loot."

Certainly a peculiar mix this one. Giving you somewhat tactical real-time combat with pausing, along with a strange dual personas system. At the start you pick your public-facing race, but you also have a special "Dragonkindt" form that you develop simultaneously. There's also a few different necessary options to tweak for the combat. Like melee for example lets you pick your attack form, attack height, stroke type and so on. Then magic allows you to tweak a few different things too like your vocal energy put into it, complexity of the spell mechanic and more that all together change how fast you cast and how much damage you'll do — it can be a little confusing to get into. So many options.

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If you want an RPG that's clearly designed with love for the classics, but also tries to do its own thing this is definitely one for you. Passageway of the Ancients will have you ending up getting totally absorbed by it for a whole lot of hours as you explore the world, especially while hunting for some good loot. I'm certainly looking forward to more from Passageway Games!

“Releasing a game like Passageway of the Ancients in 2024 feels like going back in time – back to the days of 40+ hour campaigns with no microtransactions ... just a straightforward, polished experience you can enjoy free of interruptions. We sincerely hope gamers give our little CRPG a chance. It’s packed full of everything we love about the classics: a feeling of adventure, plenty of danger, interesting characters, and challenging scenarios. It’s the game I’ve been dreaming about making for decades.” – Jon Grierson (Creative & Technical Director, Passageway Games)

Features:

• Engage in Turn-Based & Real-Time Combat: Use both turn-based and real-time elements – drawing on real medieval weapons and tactics.
• Unleash Your Dragonkindt Nature: Develop your character’s two personas simultaneously – a hidden “Dragonkindt,” and a public-facing race of your choosing.
• Sharpen Your Wits & Make Strategic Choices: Manage battle spoils, solve puzzles, adjust the frequency of special activities, choose interactions, and gather clues.
• Wield Powerful Magical Items: Carefully equip items affecting intelligence, will, and other character attributes.
• Customize Your Character: Choose your character’s alternate persona, appearance, and gender as Dwarf, Elf or Human.

It has Native Linux support which as far as I could tell works really nicely.