Game Announcement: Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana
The sequel to the popular indie RPG, Laxius Force, is out. Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana is out and now available at Rampant Games.

Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana

I'm still not entirely sure how French indie game developer Indinera of Aldorlea Games manages to produce these massive games so quickly. I mean, sure - there's a lot of re-used content between them, as it's all the same world, time frame, and have a fairly common set of core characters. But yeesh. These games are pretty massive in scale, and they all mesh together like somebody's ginormous D&D campaign for multiple parties of players. At least the games are a lot cheaper than your share of the pizza bill would be if this was the case...

Because this game is a true sequel to Laxius Force, the developer kindly added a utility to import the saved game file from the previous game - so you can keep all of your character progression and items that you have collected in your previous 40-80 hours. However, you don't need to have completed the earlier game to enjoy this one - you can start a new game easily enough, and even dial down the difficulty to compensate. The plot threads are pretty simple to pick up and run with.

And like the latest games in the Aveyond series, Laxius Force II has mouse support. I've gotten pretty used to driving these games with only the keyboard, but I know this drives some gamers crazy. There's a mouse if you want it, and you can disable it if you grow weary of it.

The story starts with the half-goddess Luciana receiving a letter from her former adventuring companion Sarah (veterans of other games in this series will find this all familiar). As seems to be typical in the Laxius Force world, "retirement" for adventurers is more of an "extended vacation" which inevitably results in them leaving their peaceful existence and donning the mantle of world-saving hero yet again. And this is what happens.

It seems the nefarious Order is active once again in the city of Adretana, half a world away from Luciana's remote island paradise, but there's badness afoot and it's gonna turn into a lot of war and bloodshed and earth-shakingly ugly stuff if the Order and their boss - the stranglely-named Grand Commandanter - aren't taken care of. The king of Adretana needs help.

By the time all is said and done, you may find over twenty playable characters, and "countless" quests and encounters. Like I said - massive. A full-on exploration of the twisty subquests and everything promises up to 80 hours of gameplay. And no, I haven't gotten that far, so I can't verify that claim.

While sharing the RPG Maker engine used by many indie RPGs over the last three years, Aldorlea's games have a very distinctive style that sets them apart from its peers by other studios like Amaranth Games and Blossomsoft. For one thing, they tend to be larger, sprawling, and more open-ended. They also don't shy from the use of somewhat more adult language and situations, so they may not be appropriate for young children (in spite of having the cute characters) without supervision. Personally, I don't find the games quite as polished as, say, the Aveyond series --- but it makes up for it in sheer breadth.

Anyway - as usual, you can download the game for free and try it on for size through the first hour at no cost or risk. Enjoy!

Download Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana

And don't forget to check out the rest of the Adventure & Roleplaying section of Rampant Games for other games you may want to explore. Yes, I know, it's getting a bit unwieldy and in need of an overhaul soon. And with it's current lineup, it should be called the "Roleplaying and Fatal Hearts" section. Ah, well, I've got more work to do, but I'm still callin' that a good thing.

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

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