Big new CRPG is a love letter to Ultima and Planescape, built on a custom engine

Nothing makes us feel quite as nostalgic as an old-school CRPG, and Adamant Studios' upcoming roguelike RPG Knights of Frontier Valley aims to capture that magic with a serious commitment to authenticity. If you blur your eyes, you could be looking at Planescape Torment, Ultima, or the original Baldur's Gate, and the entire game is made by one developer using an engine that has been built from scratch.

Heavily inspired by classic CRPGs from the '80s and '90s, Knights of Frontier Valley offers the deep RPG systems and customized experience that have allowed old games like Fallout and Daggerfall to stand the test of time. But developer Martin Menzel has gone one step further to ensure this retro adventure feels as authentic as possible.

"My role models were developers like Richard Garriott, Peter Molyneux, and Sid Meier," Menzel explains. "They didn't use third-party engines; they wrote their games from scratch." As such, Menzel has undertaken the mammoth task of creating his own custom RPG engine from the ground up.

The result is a roguelike RPG that looks and plays like a classic. You create your own customized adventurer, choosing the skills, profession, and class to best suit your playstyle, before exploring a dynamic, procedurally generated world with realistic day and night cycles, weather, moon phases, seasons, and townsfolk who each have their own daily schedules. With no map markers, you're truly left to carve your own path.

But this isn't a simple, frolicking adventure. You have to survive the dangers of the wilderness, partaking in turn-based combat where you can either fight manually or use an autobattling system. Aside from the obvious threats, you have to contend with faction politics, keeping your adventurer fed, watered, and well-rested.

The best part? This is a game designed for multiple replays, as its procedurally-generated nature means each playthrough spawns different maps, characters, relationships, items, and more.

Knights of Frontier Valley sounds like the perfect old-school adventure and we can't wait to check out its deep RPG systems (especially given DnD's Rob Kuntz has collaborated on the game's design). While there's currently no release date, you can already wishlist Knights of Frontier Valley right here.

In the meantime, check out our picks of the best fantasy games and the best roguelike games.

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