Richard Garriott, the creator of the hugely successful Ultima series that helped him gain a legendary status in fantasy role playing games today announced Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, a return to his fantasy RPG roots, in development by Portalarium, Garriott’s Austin-based game studio.
“Shroud of the Avatar will include what I think are the keys to an ultimate role-playing experience,” says Garriott. “These important tenets include things like a fully interactive virtual world, deep original fiction with ethical parables such that players’ choices are relevant, cultural histories and fully developed alternative languages and text. Also we want our players to have physical game components like cloth maps, fictional manuals and trinkets. These are all things that people came to expect in my earlier works and we plan on bringing them all back to create Shroud of the Avatar.”
Shroud of the Avatar will be a PC product available via digital download with episodic content available later for a charge. The game is being built to be enjoyed as a solo experience but it will also contain a persistent world where you can meet and share your experiences with friends. “This will not be a Facebook or casual game,” said Garriott. “We think it will appeal to a multitude of audiences, but we are planning on making a game that will harken back to the same design principles that you can find in my earlier games.
Those interested in backing Shroud of the Avatar on Kickstarter, can visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0. For more information on the game you can also visit the website at http://www.ShroudOfTheAvatar.com.
