Kalypso Strategy Triple Bill: Space, Pirates, and Vampires

Recently, we were invited along to a selection of virtual presentations hosted by the team over at Kalypso Media. During the presentations, we were treated to a look at three new exciting games that are in the works. Each developer had around half an hour to showcase the most exciting features within their game and we had a chance to ask any questions along the way. Here's what we got to see:

Spacebase Startopia

The first game we got to watch through was Spacebase Startopia, a city builder set onboard a gigantic space station. You play as the station commander, and it is your mission to ensure all of your extraterrestrial guests are happy, healthy and having a good time. Whilst on the station, passengers will have three main areas to explore; the sub-deck, fun-deck and the bio-deck. Each one has a purpose on the station and they each come with unique opportunities for your passengers.

The sub-deck is the main hub for all interactions. Here you will find guests arriving, and this is where they will work, sleep and go about there daily lives. Moving up to the fun-deck, this is where find all the recreational activities, and you can customise this with more freedom and add all the fun activities you see fit to entertain your guests with. The top of the station is where you will find the bio-deck, almost like a nature reserve; this location is filled with all sorts of exotic plants and landscapes, and it can also be terraformed so that different races can find a biome that suits them best. However, be careful on the bio deck as eggs can sprout and hatch evil entities, so take them out quickly to keep your passengers happy.

Maintaining the station will not be easy; you will have to ensure passengers' anger meters stay below 100% otherwise they will refuse to pay for services and eventually leave. Ensuring all of the daily operations run smoothly will require the hiring of staff, helper bots, and your own observations. Also, similar to other city builders, you will have to make sure structures are supplied with electricity and air pollution isn't tainted.

Overall this is a very promising looking city builder with some new exciting features that look sure to keep you busy for quite some time.

Port Royale 4

Next, we travelled back in time to the 17th century with Port Royale 4, a business simulation based around trade routes, pirates, and building up your town from nothing and trying to become the most powerful and most profitable around. You play as the governor repping for one of four nations: England, France, Spain or the Netherlands. Each having their own mini-campaign, with all four lasting around 20 hours total (or you drop into the Free mode where you have a bit more freedom and get to experience all the fun in your own time).

Once you have chosen a nation, the next step is choosing your character: Adventurer, Merchant, Buccaneer, and Pirates are the four available choices. Each one has individual traits unique to them and, as well as that, they each have three stats, two positive and one negative. This choice should be based on what style of play you want as they will all work differently.

Dropping into the world you will be able to see all towns, the trade routes that are being simulated in real-time, and the sorts of production going on in each town. Your own town will randomly be assigned some resources and you are limited to seven production slots, so regardless of your play style you will always have to rely on trade. You can choose to leave the AI traders in charge of the markets or you can intervene and take control. As well as all the economics within the game you will also be in charge of building up your island, making sure it has everything it needs to function and keeping on top of the construction.

Arguably the most exciting feature within this game (apart from the 'risk of plague' stat) is the danger offered by pirates and the opportunity to conquer the seas. Ship battles can be instigated as long as you have a battleship with a captain at the helm and you then have the chance to destroy enemy ships.

Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars

Finally, we take ourselves to the land of the Vampires in Immortal Realms, a turn-based strategy game where you trade in blood. Three unique clans of Vampires rule these lands and all have a very unique style. The Dracul is the first clan you meet; these are the brute fighters who get up close and personal. Next up is the Nosfernus, the undead Vampires who want to bring everyone to their side. Finally is the Moroia, the Nobel highborn clan who favour ranged spellcasting or the assassin style of sneaking in and out undetected.

One large interconnected campaign will take you through the stories of the three clans in order. The main narrative-based content will come in the form of cutscenes; one long cutscene to introduce each clan and then smaller ones at the start and end of missions.

As well as the campaign you have two other game modes, a skirmish mode where you set up battles and get to experience combat, trying out different units and get to know the mechanics. Then there is the sandbox mode, where you will get to play out the full experience of a turn-based strategy game by building up your resources, leveling up your lords, fighting other armies, and recruiting humans to your cause and by recruiting them (and by that, we mean forcefully turn them into vampires and make them fight for you).

Along the way you will have small side quests; these have a completion timer and if you fail to achieve the quest it will be lost and you will have to assign new ones. When levelling up as opposed to the game-deciding for you, you will be given three options so that you can upgrade what you feel is best for you and adjust it to fit your play-style.

Overall this looks to be a fun new addition to the genre, with some new unique features that will help it stand out. In fact, this is one you can take a look at as it's currently out on PC and Xbox One via the Game Preview Program.

So there you have it, those were the three new and upcoming games that we got to look at during our virtual presentation. Each one brings something new to their respective genre and each game looks to bring with it hours and hours of fun. Be sure to keep an eye out for these when more details become available.