If the news of Call of Duty: Mobile doesn’t have you excited for mobile gaming, then maybe this will. Airship Syndicate’s Battle Chasers: Nightwar is coming to mobile devices, bringing its critically acclaimed brand of RPG combat and story-telling to iOS and Android. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Based on the comic book series by Joe Madureira, Battle Chasers: Nightwar first launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in October 2017 before heading to Nintendo Switch in 2018. With a mix of overworld exploration, dungeon crawling, and turn-based combat, the title garnered a fair amount of hype (despite complaints of excessive grinding). It also doesn’t hurt that the art-style still looks phenomenal.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar Mobile Edition doesn’t have a release date, but it’s billed as “coming soon”. It will be published by Handy Games, a division of THQ Nordic. Stay tuned for more details, especially with regards to the controls and any changes to the original release.

Airship Syndicate’s Battle Chasers: Nightwar was fairly underrated at launch despite its gorgeous art-style and homage to console RPG combat. Fortunately, it might get its time to shine on the Nintendo Switch as publisher THQ Nordic announced that it would be releasing for the hybrid platform on May 15th. It will be available digitally and physically for $39.99.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar on Switch was originally meant to launch with the PC, PS4 and Xbox One versions in October 2017. Unfortunately, porting problems lead to a fairly long delay. It’s nearly here though and should be a strong fit for RPG players on the go.

Based on Joe Madureira’s comic book series, Battle Chasers: Nightwar features a myriad of interesting mechanics. The world is full of different bosses, random enemies and allies, secret dungeons and much more. Dungeons can be randomly generated, thus adding different puzzles and loot to discover. With a strong crafting system and six available heroes from the comics, there’s quite the variety to be had in combat.

Nominees:

Nier: Automata

Platinum Games’ Nier: Automata was an unassuming enough announcement at E3. Of course, then the demo arrived, followed by the full release and we were blown away. Bullet hell meets hack and slash combat with a fairly strong degree of ability and weapon customization…and then there are the shoot ’em up segments which are their own brand of strange. Beyond the epic boss fights and perfect precision of the combat, Nier: Automata tells a wonderful tale of identity, humanity and existence that will simply tear you apart.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

It’s still surprising that Guerrilla Games, best known for the Killzone series, was able to produce such a compelling open world action RPG like Horizon: Zero Dawn. Plot has always been an issue in past Killzone titles but Horizon actually sports a good cast of characters, led by Ashly Burch’s performance of Aloy, and an interesting mystery. Everything else – from the lore and world design to the visuals, side quests and combat – is executed superbly. Even in a year with so many great role playing and open world games, Horizon: Zero Dawn more than held its own.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

Larian Studios earned a name for itself with the first game but Divinity: Original Sin 2 surpasses it in every single way. The utter scope of freedom and attention to detail, excellent script-writing and plot development, fantastic combat system and world building ensured one of the best role-playing adventures of the year. Plus any game that lets us drop hefty barrels on foes to kill them is an automatic win. Don’t let the strangeness of Rivellon scare you – there’s so much waiting to be discovered and each playthrough can compel you in ways that are fresh yet grim.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

While previous entries in the series always employed a faux-RPG approach, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild goes all in on elements like weapon damage, durability, armour stats, upgrading, cooking and whatnot. Though it prompted comparisons to Skyrim, especially with the more open world approach, Nintendo integrated all these elements seamlessly, living up the quality and sense of adventure that the Zelda series brings.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War

Though Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor had enough skill trees and loot, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War deepens this pursuit even further. There are Orc Followers, gems, gear sets, weapons and what have you to collect and customize. You can build entire armies, give them different bonuses and orders and spend hours just grinding levels. While the loot boxes are definitely a mark against it (especially when the highest tier of Orc Followers is tied to them), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War offers a nice action RPG experience with a fun core gameplay loop.

Nioh

Team Ninja’s Nioh is so much more than a Dark Souls clone. In fact, it combines Feudal Japan, Japanese mythology, a Diablo-like loot grind, heaps of customization and weapons, numerous side quests, a sprawling campaign, plenty of difficult encounters and memorable boss fight. The excellent combat is backed by so much customization and content that it’s insane. More than just resurrecting the studio from the waning Ninja Gaiden series, Nioh is proof that Team Ninja can create an excellent action RPG worthy of your time.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Monolith Soft has done it again and while the jury is out on whether it’s better than its predecessors, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is still amazing. The series’ tradition of gorgeous open world exploration continues along with the satisfying, responsive combat and a suite of customization options for abilities and party members. The English voice acting may vary in quality and there’s an abundance of fetch quests but Xenoblade Chronicles 2 offers a great story with memorable characters and more than enough exploration to keep you busy for hundreds of hours on end.

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Ubisoft didn’t just want to revamp the core story and open world exploration with Assassin’s Creed Origins – it tore away many of the stealth mechanics and crafted a huge action RPG with compelling combat. Wouldn’t you know it but this worked. Despite the same trappings like tailing missions and bugs, Assassin’s Creed Origins offers a deep world with some great side quests and activities to pursue. Combat feels a lot better than previous games and while it may come at the expense of innovations in stealth, Assassin’s Creed Origins is a satisfying experience overall.

Pyre

In a year dotted with so many action RPGs, Supergiant Games’ Pyre is something…different. It’s full of colourful characters, immersing you in its dialogue and character interaction that make the oncoming decisions all the more intriguing. “Combat” is a wholly different affair, pitting teams of three against each other in sports-like matches where abilities, cohesion and movement play a big role. Did we mention the spell-binding art design and music? Pyre is everything that one could possibly love from a Supergiant role-playing game and yet, so much more.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

We initially had our reservations about this. A mash-up between Mario and the Rabbids? Mario using guns or energy blasters or what have you? Upon actually viewing it, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a delightful romp full of excellent tactical strategy combat and RPG customization. The sheer range of tactics combined with the wackiness of both franchises provides for a fast-paced yet deeply thoughtful role-playing experience.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

In this day and age, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a treat. Inspired by classic console RPGs, it combines turn-based combat with an excellent aesthetic based off the comic books of the same name. The game itself is full of dungeons to explore, some of them randomly generated and thus offering a dungeon crawler to it all. Along with six heroes, some interesting combat mechanics and a unique old-school feel, Battle Chasers: Nightwar offered a fun experience in a year full of open world RPGs.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

Make no mistake – Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are most definitely retreads of last year’s Pokemon Sun and Moon. However, they add so much more to the games, expanding them enough that they’re worth a look. New activities like Ultra Wrap Ride and Mantine Surf add some much needed spice on the side but you’ll be busy with the new locations, the new Z-Moves and new Ultra Beasts. It’s basically more Pokemon for those who love the games but with enough content and fun gameplay to justify the purchase.

Persona 5

Persona 5 is the epitome of style and substance. The world leaps out at you in vibrant colours, animated menus and sleek combat sequences that can be devilishly tough at times. Heist mechanics, dungeon crawling and an amazing story (albeit one with a slow start) make this stand out from previousgames. But when you talk about a game with an excellent cast, addictive combat and a top-notch story, Persona 5 stands so far above many other games this year that it’s not even funny.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

While Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, it still provided a great narrative and stellar tactical combat befitting the Fire Emblem name. In fact, the game is so good at balancing plot development with actual gameplay that it’s astounding and the production values, scope and exploration are simply top-notch. This is not Fire Emblem Fates but Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is still a great tactical RPG in a franchise that’s full of them.

Skyrim Switch Edition

It’s Skyrim but in handheld form. Well, Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch can also be played in docked mode but this is the same Skyrim. It has all the DLC, no mod support and pretty much all the same glitches as its 2011 release. Sure, the sheer range of the open world is amazing, the quest system and exploration is fun, you can pursue many different kinds of gameplay loops and it will go down as one of the best open world RPGs ever. But in 2017, the flaws inherent in 2011’s Skyrim go a long way to make it pretty good but far from perfect. At least it’s on handheld though.

Winner: Persona 5

It’s the intro that catches you, that mix of groovy music and sleek animation. At the outset, the familiar school setting, managing one’s personal life, and anime-esque drama seemed typical for Atlus. Persona 5 immediately cast aside those doubts with emotionally effective stories filled with deep characters that you actually grow to care for over the course of the game. The various systems intertwine, making your social interactions enhance your overall effectiveness in combat. This makes the relationships formed with your Persona and comrades all the more personal.

Of course, the new hand-crafted Castles and intriguing combat hooks add even more stakes to the story as your rogue-ish band pushes forward. The fact that there’s so little Persona 5 gets wrong and so very much it gets right while having almost no bugs is simply astonishing. When you consider the amount of competition it’s had this year, that’s definitely no small achievement and we’re proud to crown Persona 5 as the Best RPG of 2017.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar

Based on the comic book series, Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a JRPG-style game funded by Kickstarter and developed by Airship Syndicate. Featuring a mix of turn-based combat and isometric dungeon exploration with animated cutscenes for the narrative, Battle Chasers: Nightwar comes across as one of the more unorthodox RPGs this year. There’s a ton to experience though like randomly generated dungeons, bosses, six heroes to create a party of three with, crafting and so much more. The fact that it looks cool doesn’t hurt either. Battle Chasers: Nightwar is out on October 3^rd for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.

THQ Nordic has announced its lineup for Gamescom this year- it sounds like the publisher will be making its presence at Europe’s largest games show and convention in a big way, as it will have several titles on show.

Games that THQ Nordic will bring to Gamescom include ELEX, the open world RPG from Piranha Bytes due out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in October; Battle Chasers: Nightwar, including the first time ever people get to go hands on with its Nintendo Switch version; Wreckfest, SpellForce 3, The Guild 3, Aquanox: Deep Descent, as well as the announcement of a brand new IP, an open world RPG set in a post apocalyptic universe, focusing on kung-fu. They will also be announcing a sequel to a ‘well known IP’ at the event.

All these games will be fully playable on the showfloor- stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we will keep you posted on everything that comes from the event.

"We had experimented with some rogue-lite elements, but aside from randomly generated dungeons, it’s a fairly traditional death system."

What inspired you to bring Battle Chasers into the video game realm as a JRPG? How difficult has it been translating the comic’s tone and style to gameplay?

When we decided it was time to bring Battle Chasers back, one of our first questions was… which character do you play? Is there a way to play all of them? Those of us who started Airship all love the RPG genre, the classic JRPGs in particular, so when the thought occurred to us to bring the two together, it seemed like a perfect fit. Translating Battle Chasers into an RPG has been pretty easy, especially since the series itself was directly inspired by JRPGs. So in a way, it’s like the whole thing coming around full circle.

What is the overarching plot for Battle Chasers: Nightwar and how does it tie into the comic book?

The powerful wizard Knolan discovered that a deep and ancient reserve of mana was hidden on a mysterious island far off the mainland. Mana is the main source of magic in the world, also powering technology, and has been disappearing rapidly, so finding more is a big deal. The Battle Chasers all fear that August, the most feared villain in the BC universe, may be heading to the island to claim the mana for himself.

As they approach the island via airship, they are abruptly shot down, but not by August… by a group of local bandits. Once trapped on the island, they discover the mana reserve is the least of their concerns. What happens next would get into spoilers… but the narrative is a side-story in the Battle Chasers universe. It takes place after issue 9, but not in line with any existing story.

There seems to be a rogue-lite element to the overall experience. What kinds of traps, puzzles and secrets can players look forward to experiencing?

We had experimented with some rogue-lite elements, but aside from randomly generated dungeons, it’s a fairly traditional death system. Players may lose some dungeon progress, but they retain all of their items, experience and gold. There are plenty of traps, from classics like floor spikes and spinning blade pillars to those based in tech and magic, like mortar cannons and tesla coils. The puzzles and secrets all tie heavily into the lore, often challenging the player with riddles as well as logic.

"The overworld is about exploration and discovery and isn’t the primary threat to the player."

What can you tell us about the combat and how each hero’s skills will work? Do heroes have different talent trees and level up through defeating enemies or are there other wrinkles like the lore points?

Combat is turn based, with an initiative bar depicting turn order. Each hero has abilities that unlock as they level up and perks broken up into two categories. Perk points can be acquired through leveling, but also by completing quests or finding secrets. Players can equip as many perks on a hero as that hero has points available, and perks cost from 2 to 20 points to equip. With a few dozen perks each, there is a wide variety of ways players can spec out each hero.

Heroes also have unique special attacks called Battle Bursts. The burst meter is shared between all heroes and can build up to three levels of Burst. The attacks take either 1, 2 or 3 levels to cast, so with a full Burst meter, players can choose to do three level-one attacks, or one whopping level-three attack for maximum effect.

What unique spin has been placed on the mana system? What kinds of buffs and debuffs will payers have to face?

The main wrinkle in the mana system is the Overcharge system. Basic attacks are free and instant, also generating a temporary energy called Overcharge. This can be used in place of mana to cast special abilities, but is lost at the end of a fight. So players can use it to either save mana by building it before casting abilities, or to continue using abilities once their core mana pool is at zero. It’s a fun way to encourage players to use special attacks all throughout the game – not just on boss fights.

The overworld seems fraught with plenty of danger featuring bosses and hidden dungeons along with different NPCs. How do you balance out these random elements to keep the game fun but not too punishing for players?

The overworld is about exploration and discovery and isn’t the primary threat to the player. When entering a dungeon, though, players are given the choice between three difficulty levels: normal, hard, and legendary. On normal, all the items that drop will be of uncommon quality. If players play on hard, they’ll get rare quality items, and on legendary, they’ll get epics! So here in the dungeons players are given the chance to really challenge themselves, with the potential rewards being great. This way, players who are more interested in seeing the world and experience they game can play at a more steady difficulty, but those who love a challenge can push themselves and reap the benefits!

"It is a constant struggle to optimize the game to reach a stable and fluid gameplay experience. Using Unity is both good and bad in that regard."

How will players go about earning weapons and armour? Will there be items that can be permanently unlocked for different playthroughs?

Weapons and armor can be purchased from vendors, crafted, or found as loot. Loot can be affected by dungeon difficulty, and crafting is interesting: each item has a base number of ingredients required to craft the item. If players put more than the required ingredients into the recipe, they can increase the chances that the item will be higher-quality when crafted.

The percentage chance they’ll get a rare or epic item is displayed before they craft. Players can also attempt to craft an item with less than the required ingredients, but with a risk of failure. So if a sword that requires, say, 5 Leather and 5 Iron, the player can attempt to craft the sword with 3 Leather and 4 Iron with a 60% chance for success. If they fail, they lose all the ingredients!

What was it like working with Powerhouse Animation Studios for the 2D animation?

We’ve worked with Powerhouse for years and they’re both total pros and good friends. Their work is awesome, they’re totally reliable, and they’re a ton of fun. We hope to keep working with them!

What challenges did you face in bringing the game to multiple platforms? How do you think it will be received on Xbox One and PS4?

It is a constant struggle to optimize the game to reach a stable and fluid gameplay experience. Using Unity is both good and bad in that regard. It helps a lot as you have a great head start and can get the game running on the console platforms after a short setup time. But then it’s about fixing edge cases and dealing with issues of Unity.

When exactly can we expect Battle Chasers: Nightwar to release?

We are not announcing a date right now other than Summer 2017.

"The difference is that the 4K rendered output will look very crisp and smooth while the checkerboard technique will not look as sharp when directly compared but this depends also on the quality and size of the screen/TV."

With the PS4 Pro, Sony have increased the memory bandwidth a little bit, but they have kept the overall memory pool the same as it is on standard PS4 systems. Is this a fair trade off? Or do you foresee RAM becoming a bottleneck for game development as we move further on with this generation?

With regards to Battle Chasers Nightwar we fortunately don’t have to deal with any hardware limitations.

The PS4 Pro has double the GPU power of the original. What kind of advantages this has bought in for developers?

Theoretically a bit more can be offered and also higher resolutions. However as the PS4 and the PS4 Pro are still one ecosystem PS4 Pro exclusive features had to be considered carefully so it’s mostly just a higher rendering resolution that can be offered.

With the PS4 Pro, we now know the machine’s specs. What do you foresee being the biggest bottleneck to game development on the improved console? Would it be the CPU, which was always hamstrung even on the original PS4, but is even more so now, relative to the rest of the machine?

It’s still both the CPU and the GPU. With the PS4 Pros GPU we can’t offer native 4K rendering which is easy to achieve on good desktop GPUs nowadays.

What is your take on Sony’s Checkerboard technique for 4K rendering versus native 4K rendering that Microsoft are espousing with the Scorpio? To the naked guy, what will the difference be? And what are the differences from a development and programming perspective?

The difference is that the 4K rendered output will look very crisp and smooth while the checkerboard technique will not look as sharp when directly compared but this depends also on the quality and size of the screen/TV. From a development perspective the checkerboard technique is a bit harder to implement as it is a custom implementation while a native 4k resolution is just a higher frame output resolution. In our situation Unity takes care about it anyways.

"The rest is just pure technical optimization and here it is meanwhile certain that from a pure power perspective the Switch is on a different level than the Xbox One and PS4."

What are your thoughts on the Nintendo Switch? What unique challenges will a system like that would pose for game development?

The challenge will be to tune the game experience in a way that it can be enjoyed both as a home console game and a mobile experience. Also finding the ideal control styles on the Switch is a bit more work than with traditional controllers. The rest is just pure technical optimization and here it is meanwhile certain that from a pure power perspective the Switch is on a different level than the Xbox One and PS4.

What is the target frame rate and resolution for PS4 and Xbox One?

We haven’t locked that in. From a resolution perspective it will be Full HD on both platforms. From a framerate perspective we don’t know what’s possible but at least 30 is the goal.

The PS4 Pro is currently the world’s most powerful console. But in spite of Sony marketing it as a 4K machine, it really is not one- for most games, it is incapable of rendering the image in 4K natively, and instead resorts to a technique known as checkerboard rendering, which is a pretty clever upscaling technique.

However, that lack of native 4K rendering is going to be the biggest ‘bottleneck’ on the PS4 Pro, according to Reinhard Pollice, Product Development Director at THQ Nordic, who is currently working on Battle Chasers: Nightwar. In an exclusive interview with GamingBolt, Reinhard was asked what the biggest bottleneck on the PS4 Pro might be. He said, “It’s still both, the CPU and the GPU. With the PS4 Pro’s GPU, we can’t offer native 4K rendering, which is easy to achieve on good desktop GPUs nowadays.”

This lack of native 4K rendering is something that, according to Pollice, will be noticeable even to the casual observer. “The difference is that the 4K rendered output will look very crisp and smooth while the checkerboard technique will not look as sharp when directly compared. This depends also on the quality and size of the screen/TV, however. From a development perspective the checkerboard technique is a bit harder to implement as it is a custom implementation, while a native 4k resolution is just a higher frame output resolution. In our situation Unity takes care about it anyways.”

I can imagine not being able to hit true, native 4K is a problem for a lot of developers who may want to do just that- however, on the other hand, from Sony’s perspective, it would also have been unfeasible and cost prohibitive to bring a true 4K machine to the market at a consumer friendly price, I imagine. The PS4 Pro was presumably the best compromise between these two contradicting necessities, and here we are.