More than a month after calling it the “most complex” game he’s ever worked on, inXile head Brian Fargo is back to assert that Clockwork Revolution is the studio’s “most ambitious title, probably by a factor of 10.”
Speaking to GamesRadar+, he noted that the goal was to bring “the level of reactivity from our isometric titles into something first-person.” And while some have noticed similarities to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (RIP the remake) and Dishonored, Fargo and his team actually just wanted to make a steampunk role-playing game.
“I can see why people make those connections. Any time you’re playing with time mechanics, Sands of Time is going to come up. And we did hire one of the key artists from Dishonored, so that aesthetic influence is real. We seem to be striking a lot of different chords, which I’ll take as a compliment because they are wonderful games. But the actual genesis of Clockwork Revolution was far simpler: we wanted to make a steampunk RPG.”
Considering several other Interplay developers went on to make Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, it warms my heart to see inXile and Fargo taking their own swing at the concept. And if you needed any further proof of their commitment to the genre, which he believes “hasn’t been well-represented in role-playing games,” the studio actually hired “several key people” involved in Troika’s cult classic, namely game director Chad Moore and principal designer Jason Anderson.
“Steampunk is in their DNA,” said Fargo “If players are picking up vibes from Dishonored or Prince of Persia along the way, we’re in good company, but we’re aiming for Clockwork Revolution to be its own definition for time travel and reactivity.”
Clockwork Revolution doesn’t have a release date, but rumors claim it could launch sometime this year for Xbox Series X/S and PC. Players venture through the clockwork city of Avalon, with time-travel employed by Lady Ironwood to ensure the upper class stays on top. As Morgan Vanette, you’ll get to make your own decision that influences the present in various ways, whether good, bad or somewhere in between.