I was in the early beta and helped Vic with a few bugs, so I can't wait to check out this new release version. For those wondering how much of a rl this is, let me tell you that it is more of a board game inspired game with rl elements. What I like about it is that the type of board games that it is inspired by (Arkham Horror, Mansions of Madness, Betrayal at House on the Hill) are usually either really hard (or impossible) to play unless you have alot of people, or are soooo time consuming to set up and play that there really is no point if you want to play by yourself. But now you can play that type of game by yourself and the program handles all the setup, encounters, and stat tracking for you! You just create your character, choose your scenario, and off you go!
Also, the tarot card system that Vic made to resolve encounters is really quite ingenious. If you've played his wild west game Six Gun Saga (check that out for a great old western themed card game), you know a little of what to expect, as that had a system where combat was resolved by a hand of poker. But he has kicked it up a notch in this game, as his tarot system is used to resolve not only combat, but tests of intelligence, strength, dexterity, and anything else the game throws at you, and the difficulty of the contest, along with your skill level in the related stat, all affect how hard it is to win the card game hand for that encounter. You also have other abilities and items that can tip the odds in your favor as well.
As you play the game, an interesting narrative unfolds as you meet, fight, or otherwise interact with the denizens that, for different reasons, are trapped in the house or dwell below it. There are all manner of ghosts, haunted objects, monsters, and other creepy things that you will encounter, and many of them are linked to other creatures or encounters in a myriad of ways, so that you never know when you are going to encounter something that is the key to resolving another card. But depending on your skills, you might be able to help them, or it might just be easier for you to kill or dispel them. But what will be more beneficial to your quest? That is for you to figure out and that is part of the fun of the game.
There are also devious traps that you can encounter, and many of them have multi-stage encounters that test more than one of your abilities in order for you to succeed, so a well rounded character is helpful, but it also pays to specialize, so that is another thing you will just need to decide on for yourself as you play. Along with all the normal traps and encounters you will face in the game, there are some that are specific to the scenario that you chose at the beginning of the game, so each adventure will be flavored by those encounters giving you more and more of the story of that scenario. There are also clues you can find, also specific to that scenario, and each clue you find makes it a little easier to defeat the boss encounter of that scenario, which is located beneath the mansion and is final encounter of the game, win or lose. There is also a Story Token track that is a "doom track" for the game. After so many turns, there is an increasing chance that each turn will trigger drawing a story token, and based on an invisible "luck" stat and a die roll, either a positive or negative event will happen based on the scenario, that will have an effect that will last until the next story token is drawn. After the 12th token is drawn, you lose the game.
So with all the elements of the game, is it's depth and complexity for you? You can now find out for yourself with the playable demo, that lets you play 75 turns of the game, and you can even continue your demo game if you decide to buy it. You can find the demo, as well as more info about the game at their website
http://www.crypticcomet.com/games/OC/Occult_Chronicles.html.
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