Topware Interactive’s swashbuckling RPG Raven’s Cry has faced another delay. The PC, Mac, Linux and SteamOS version will be out on January 26th 2015 while the retail PC, Mac, PS3 and PS4 versions will be out on January 28th 2015. There’s no news on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One releases.

Why was it delayed again? The developer stated that, “We had hoped our dark pirate epic would be ready in time for the Holidays, so those of you who buy it could put it under the Christmas tree. But we’re not willing to rush things make any compromises with this project, so we decided to give this complex RPG adventure a little bit more time to make sure all the blades are nice and sharp, so to speak.

“We owe it to our fans, who have been waiting a long time for a such an exciting pirate experience.”

Raven’s Cry was supposed to arrive in 2014, having been delayed multiple times and arriving in late November. We’ll see how it works out when it eventually releases but as of now, its troubles only seem to be mounting.

Pirate revenge adventure Raven’s Cry finally has a release date – it will be out on October 14th for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. The TopWare Interactive-developed title, which will be published by Reality Pump, also has a new website out today which showcases more information about the game.

Raven’s Cry will follow Christopher Raven as he seeks to hunt down the pirates who killed his family and took his left hand. The game boasts of a 25 hour play length in an open world setting that has side quests and the odd skirmish or three. You’ll also be able to take advantage of an economic system to trade goods and also take control of pirate ships for naval combat.

You can find out more about Raven’s Cry from our exclusive interview with developer Topware. Are you planning to pick the game up this October? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The title is currently set to be released on May 7th of 2014 on Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Despite a Microsoft Windows planned release of Raven’s Cry, there’s no official statement referencing a digital download option yet, meaning until confirmed otherwise the title will only be available at retail. Despite the claims that the game will feature a combination of fictional Pirates as well as their real life counterparts, it will retain a historically accurate portrayal of the ruthless seafaring rogues.

• 1. Story
• 2. Gameplay

Story

Christopher Raven is a young Scottish citizen who boards a ship alongside his family in hopes of travelling to the new world (most often American shores) to escape the famine of the later stages of the 17th century. Somewhere near Jamaica their ship came under attack and Christopher (now missing his left hand) is left behind as the only survivor of the attack. This is this basis of his journey across the high seas in pursuit of those who killed his family and left him for dead. Thus begins the vengeful tale of Christopher Raven.

Gameplay

The main story component of Raven’s Cry is divided into individual chapters. The player (Christopher Raven) will be hacking and slashing his way through enemies with blades, engage foes at long range through the use of period accurate flintlock weaponry and make use of a Raven Familiar whilst travelling  through a variety of environments ranging from the stereotypical  port towns of the Caribbean all the way up to the richly antiquated lands of the Aztec people.

Christopher, (who lost his left hand after being left for dead in the aftermath of a Pirate attack somewhere in mainland Jamaica) has had his missing hand replaced with a hook and makes use of the Raven Familiar to scout the area for enemies. The game also makes use of a number or role playing game mechanics, these include a morality system, numerous and a variety of side quests. The world you’re travelling through will change how they act towards you in accordance with the nature of your crimes and/or conquests.

When Christopher kills enemies he will accumulate a combat resource known as “fear”, this can be used to intimidate enemies and scare them away, or saved up to use a super attack, an apparent downside is that if you don’t scare off everyone in the vicinity, they will all become hostile towards you. Notoriety is a system and gameplay mechanic that works identically to that found in Assassins Creed. Notorious crimes (murder, senseless violence etc) will result in your notoriety going up, this will in turn impact how the natives and locals of the areas you visit will treat you and react to your presence.

Players can expect to encounter Navy Battles when upon the seas and even participate in one on one duels with certain characters in a battle to the death. Originally (before the game was further refined), players would have made use of various weapons that spanned the 17th century including the Axe-rifle (effectively a 17th century Gears of Wars Lancer) and a Sword-pistol (not to be confused with the ballistic knife), it’s actually a knife with a revolver like weapon attached to it. Christopher could also make use of a number of Pirate charms that would have conveyed special abilities, like invincibility, summon ravens to attack the enemy (similar to the rats in Dishonored), boost your speed and the strength of your attacks and even cast some magical abilities. Sadly however this has been changed, magic has been cut from the game to help the game keep a more historically accurate theme. These cuts also include the axe rifle amongst other “fancy stuff” that was part of the original concept. With that being said, historically accurate weapons will still allow the player to engage in swash buckling fights with their opponents.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Publishing the game is the German company TopWare Interactive (Two Worlds II and Two Worlds 2: Pirates of the Flying Fortress). Scivelation is being developed for next generation consoles, it will release on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. There is currently no solid release date in place, but the game is slated to release at some time in Q4 of 2014 at retail.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Scivelation was initially in development for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox 360 only, and during this time it was only running on, and developed with the Source Engine (The Source Engine [often associated with Half Life 2] is a spin off from the GoldSrc Engine [Goldsource] which is a heavily modified and customized version of the Quake Engine [which powered the 1996 game Quake] that powered the ground breaking Valve Software first person shooter Half Life).

During this development period the game received only a teaser trailer which was released in 2008. It was at some time in October in 2009 that the developers (Black Wing Foundation) finally found a publisher for the title. When TopWare Interactive came on board the game was reintroduced as Scivelation. Now running on Unreal Engine 3 (Gears of War 1,2 & 3 and Mass Effect 1,2 & 3) it was announced that the game would now be developed for the PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox One and PlayStation 4 with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game being scrapped.

Story

Details surrounding the story of Scivelation are vague at best. When the inevitable and long foreseen apocalypse arrives, it does so in the form of a war between the forces of Good and Evil. Rather than having a clear and decisive victor between the two unnamed Good and Evil forces, both sides are left in ruin and destroyed by the war they raged against each other.

From this catastrophe rises the “Regime” which fills in the power void left behind by the aforementioned conflict.  This new power, simply known at the minute as the Regime uses its militaristic might to supress the common man and spread its ideologies whilst demanding unflinching obedience from its subjects. Those that refuse to pay heed to this new leading power are members of a freedom fighter cell by the name of “the resistance”. The resistance actively seeks a means to topple the regime and its globetrotting unquestioned rule, how they mean to do this and what the regime is actually doing that paints them as the bad guy is unknown.

Gameplay

There are currently not many known details regarding the gameplay, what we do know has been provided by TopWare Interactive and that the game is played from a third person perspective and is a shooter. Given that the game is running Unreal Engine 3, it’s likely that there will be a cover based mechanic to go along with the shooting gameplay, similar to the Gears of War franchise.

The gameplay features the following:

• Dual play – The game features both single player and cooperative gameplay modes.
• Augmentation and genetics are a big part of the game. The characters will have access to Zionetric implants, which the player will be able to upgrade.
• Characters will have special abilities with which they can project holograms, go berserk, slow time, activate overshield, deploy turrets and more.
• The game features several locations like London’s mile-high SkyCity to the Moscow Ruin. It also features the Free City of Prague and lost-in-time antebellum Vienna, secret underground Archives of Bethlehem and more.
• The game will feature in-depth story telling mechanics, compared to ones seen in role playing games.
• Sounds of the future – The game features score from American heavy metal legend John Moyer of renowned rock band “Disturbed”.
• Cinematic expereience – The game features over one hour of cinematic cutscenes which explain the ongoing plot of the game.

Characters

There are two main characters in Scivelation; they go by the names Mikhael Ivanov and Elisha Amano:

Mikhael Ivanov – Mikhael was a captain of the GRN. He’s a celebrated and decorated veteran of the War of Tribulation, in which he suffered various injuries to his body. This has resulted in him having a multitude of Zionetric implants which enhance his already significant combat prowess allowing him to far out perform any other regular soldier.

Elisha Amano – Elisha was formerly a geneticist who worked for the regime. She defected and joined the resistance to try and justify her personal guilt that came as a consequence of working on “The Ascension Programs Omega Sequence”, this program was an effort to find a genetic panacea (a cure-all for disease and sickness, known more commonly as a philosophers substance), but the research she conducted has been used for a much more sinister purpose on the part of the regime. When she defected, she didn’t only bring her powerful mind to the resistance, she also brought her research with her to try and support their cause.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Developed alongside the movie, Invasion is now available in Europe via Steam for PC and Mac OS. The demo packs in a tutorial along with thirty minutes of gameplay.

You’ll be fighting against Admiral Willhelm Kreutz, and in classic C&C style, there will be actors hamming it up in the game. Considering these are the same actors from the film, it makes for quite the (hilarious, embarrassing) sight.

Along with the demo, a new update has been released for mixing minor issues with the game.

Source: ElectronicTheatre

CEO of TopWare Interactive Alexandra Constandache stated: “After thoroughly testing the game within the community, we’ve listened to the feedback and have decided to implement some positive changes that will allow us to retain our high quality standards. We all here at TopWare Interactive and Reality Pump are huge fans of space combat simulations and want to combine the humor and bizarre world from the movie ‘Iron Sky’ with great game features.”

Iron Sky: Invasion is developed by Reality Pump and will release for PC. For more information on the game, head to their site.

Remember that super crazy film which was shown at a film festival in Berlin and had a trailer on YouTube which exploded over the internet due to its truly crazy story line about Nazi’s living on the moon, waging war on Earth? It’s about to get a game adaptation.

TopWare Interactive, the chaps behind the Two Worlds series has decided to take it upon themselves with assistance from the studio behind the movie to turn it into a suprisingly interesting sounding game which will be hitting retailers around the world on November 30th for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

When I first heard Iron Sky: Invasion, I instantly assumed it’d be another shooter being chucked into the already overcrowded market however it’s actually quite the opposite. Instead, you’ll be defending Earth with its range of super-secret space ships against the evil Nazi onslaught however you better get working on your politics as you’ll want to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes or suffer the consequences.

Space combat, Nazi’s, politics, humour? Can’t help but be curious.