Since Breath of Death VII, most probably the best selling XBLIG RPG, the guys from Zeboyd Games gathered quite the fan audience. These days you don´t often get the chance to play a game in the JRPG style that was so popular on the 16 bit consoles. So when I finally got my hands on the first playtest version of “Cthulhu Saves The World” I had high hopes and expectations. Now after having spent over an hour with Cthulhu I got a pretty good impression of the new title – it´s gorgeous!

read more after the break (and have a look at some screenshots)

First things first – the playtest version included only a small portion of the final game and when I had to stop, since there was no more to discover on the worldmap, I wished I had waited for the full version so I could have kept playing. At least the trial did not end with a cliffhanger.

The story this time around is just as serious as in the last game. You take on the role of Cthulhu, a really evil deity, who awakens one day and sets about his job destroying the world. On his way to work, Cthulhu gets mugged by a stranger who steals his powers. Through lucky circumstances though you learn how to get your powers back – you need to become a true hero. Save the world to destroy the world.

So as Cthulhu you strive through the lands and help those in need. Even though it certainly is a job one monstrous deity could do alone, you get additions to your team on your journey. The first one being a maiden you rescue from evil slimes and that joins you as a groupie/healer. Not minding the green slobber tentacles she falls for you right away. The next one being even weirder gives the game quite some potential for funny dialogues and just as before you can hit the chat button anytime to see what your team has to say.

The battles remain pretty much the same as in BoDVII – they are still nice but sometimes end in a short button smashing that requires little attention. The harder battles though need you to carefully plan your next move or your group might end up needing a 1Up that allows rewinding and reentering the same battle again. Those are limited and rarely found in chests. Since this is still just a playtest version, that is used to balance things like this, it however is no final indicator to what the battles in the final version will be.

The graphics improved a lot since you no longer have just a boring black background but one fitting the scene. The new backgrounds are a nice addition that give the overall game quality a nice boost, as do the other improvements to the graphics. It feels more grown up and shows the same kind of development the JRPGs made back then.

But just as it was back then with an iteration of 1 – it´s basically more of the same. You will feel right at home if you played BoDVII and that´s a good thing. Zeboyd Games takes us back to the blossom of JRPG and they don´t seem to plan to leave that era soon.

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Each time I see another Space Shooter coming to the XBLIG channel I get excited about it. Or at least I do if it is looking as good as Solar Struggle or Spatial Rift (which I both mentioned last week in the Indie Invasion #1). But the game from Jason Deacon that he is producing for the Xbox Live Indie Games looks like it might become my favorite. Why? Because it adds a lot of rpg elements into the mix and rpgs are my favorite genre.

Here is one screenshot to get you interested, the rest comes after the break.

The game is still in development and the title “Galactic Ranger” is only a working title, so it´s not decided what the name will be.

Little is known of what the story might be, but it seems to be save that there will be a story mode that is linear with lots of side missions getting available as you progress in the game. Also there will be different factions you can join and each faction gives boost to certain abilities you gather. So for a space shooter the game seems to focus quite a bit on the story. One can only hope for something cool like Wing Commander. Who knows, maybe there will be even Kilrathi.

The leveling system adds to the rpg feeling. Each ship you destroy adds XP points to the pilot and he will level up, making more and more upgrade points available you can spend to customize your ship. There will be three different upgrade trees.

• ‘Destruction’ – Improve the damage-dealing capabilities of your ship by increasing weapon capacity, fire rate and increasing damage. Also unlocks higher-end weapons.
• ‘Mitigation’ – Survival by mitigating a lot of damage through hull strength and regeneration, also reduces chances that enemy EMP missiles will have an effect.
• ‘Evasion’ – Survivability through the evading of enemies all together. Gives scanner jamming, missile decoys, better flares, faster ship etc.

Since you won´t be able to fill up all three trees, you have to choose wisely to match your playstyle. And you can replay the game trying different approaches.

The graphics already look quite sweet and will come in Full HD (1080p).  Word is there will be really big space battles in it and large battle cruisers. So I can´t wait to get my hands on that game.

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Definately worth a “First Look”.

Visit the website to find out even more: www.deadshift.com

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