Black Book is an Incredible Looking New Dark RPG

Well, if that didn’t pique your interest even a little bit, then I don’t know what to tell you. Me? I’m a sucker for gorgeous RPGs with beautiful soundtracks.
So when this game was brought to my attention a couple days ago, I thought “well, that’s an interesting name.”

So, Black Book is a very deep, narrative-driven indie-developed dark RPG. They had a Kicksarter goal of $35,000 and are already well on the way to topping over $100,000 which goes quite a ways to show excitement for the title.
The game is based on Slavic mythology, taking inspiration from games like Slay the Spire and the Witcher. In Black Book, you’ll take on the role of Vasilisa, an apprentice sorcerer as she travels across a large, beautiful open world aiding NPCs, and combating otherworldly creatures of Slavic myth.
Sound exciting to you? ’cause that sounds pretty sick to me. The game is set in the 19th century and features a full-length chapter-based storyline with a plethora of side-quests to partake of.
There are companions you can come across – I’m assuming you’re capable of recruiting them to aid in your cause. I don’t think I read specifically whether or not they remain with you permanently though or how many companions you can have at any given time.
However you’re also capable of recruiting demonic forces to join you – in what capacity I’m uncertain.
Most interesting to me though is the combat system. As is visible within the trailer, Black Book utilizes a turn-based combat system, but it’s a little different to what you’d expect.
Where traditionally you level and learn new abilities, instead, battle consists of a unique card-based system, having the player compose a spell by putting together multiple cards you draw each time your turn comes around.
Each card has their own special effect, and the combination of cards provides opportunities to cast some pretty varied spells.
They haven’t delved too deep into how extensive the spell system will be or how many cards there will be, but it sounds like there’s definitely a modicum of strategy involved in every turn, especially considering different cards work differently with each other.
The cards themselves can be obtained through a variety of means: You can purchase them from the stores in-game or you can get them as a reward from questing – heck, there are even monsters that drop them so if the RNG gods bless you.. you might end up with a pretty sick deck. You know, without having to grind.

The game is going to feature a full English dub – with voice actors like Sarah Anne Williams who plays Jinx in League of Legends and Kyle Hebert who plays Gohan in Dragon Ball Z.
I’m not sure how extensive the voice acting will be – right now they mentioned that important scenes will be voice acted but my guess is that the more the Kickstarter ends up raising, the more voice acting will be available in-game.

Black Book is expected to launch onto PC and Steam in 2021 – yes, the game won’t be launching this year but there’s quite a bit that needs finishing.
While initially the game will be launching onto PC, the devs behind the game have confirmed their intention to release it onto not only Xbox consoles, but also Playstation 4, possibly Playstation 5 and the Switch.

Black Book is an incredible looking RPG. I sat through several of the trailers, I watched the dev diary videos, and this is the kind of game that’s right up my alley.
I’m hopeful that the development moves along quickly and they raise all the money they need to make this game every bit as epic as it could be.
And while it’s still a year or so off from being ready, I’m going to be adding it to my Wishlist of games I’m highly anticipating as let’s be honest – if you’re a fan of dark RPGs or RPGs in general, this is going to be something that is quite possibly too good to pass up.

There are a lot of amazing looking indie-RPGs announced this year. Sea of Stars, Kindred Fates.. and now Black Book. This year, along with the MMO announcements and releases, is truly shaping up to be something pretty damn epic.