Iron Danger Previews

We recently learned that Action Squad Studios and Daedalic Entertainment plan to release their time-bending RPG Iron Danger on March 25, 2020. And with that date more or less a month away, you might be wondering what to expect from this title. If that’s the case, you should check out the previews below.

First, there’s this PC Gamer article that combines a preview with an interview:

"I love turn-based games. They give you lots of time to think about what you want to do and explore your surroundings and tactics," says Antti Kemppainen. "But there’s also a lot of waiting around. We wanted to take turn-based gameplay and provide more active situations so you’re in the middle of this cool battle. We came up with this idea of being able to rewind time whenever you want. You need to use it to outsmart enemies, bait them into traps, and use the environment."

Limited time travel during real-time tactical combat is a difficult concept to wrap my head around, but the video-editing UI is fun and easy to grasp. "The core loop is heavily inspired by the animation tools I used while working on various TV series," says Jussi Kemppainen, game director. "So the game is totally influenced by our background in animation. In a way, Iron Danger has flavors of an animation tool at its core, but gamified and made accessible and fun."

Every skill or attack I select in Trance Mode, like blocking with a weapon or shooting off a fireball, is added to the timeline, displaying exactly how long they take to execute. By swapping between my two characters I can easily combine abilities and attacks, like enchanting my blacksmith Topi’s warhammer with fire before he unleashes a powerful blow.

Then, there’s also a preview from God is a Geek:

I’ve only played a beta build so far, and much of what I’ve seen looks like placeholder, from UI icons and dialogue to cutscenes and animations. If these are not placeholder I apologise, but there’s certainly work needed in these areas in particular.

You play Kipuna, a young girl whose village is attacked by dark forces in the opening half hour, and alongside the burly quartermaster Topi, escapes the onslaught and heads for the woods across the channel. But it’s how this action takes place that makes all the difference. After falling into a chasm and apparently dying, Kipuna is granted a gift by an apparently benevolent spirit which allows her to rewind time by 14 heartbeats. The downside is the whacking great glowing shard embedded in her chest, but what are you gonna do?

And one from GameGrin:

The main characters are Kipuna, a young village girl who survived an attack on her village and Topi, the quartermaster of the village and now protector of Kipuna. Kipuna is able to use magic such as shooting fireballs and through her, I am able to rewind time or move time slowly. Topi is a fighter who is quite powerful and has abilities such as charging at the enemies or provoking them.

At the end of each level or mission, I am able to select an upgrade for each character to either increase damage or get a new ability. Kipuna gets more magical upgrades whereas Topi is able to receive more physical upgrades. In the beginning, only Topi has the chance to upgrade his abilities since Kipuna has to learn magic from a mentor later on.