Brian Fargo and inXile Entertainment had a great 2014 with the release of Wasteland 2. Now they are returning to the property that inspired their first game a decade ago, as they have announced officially that they are working on The Bard’s Tale IV. The last official entry in the series was all the way back in 1988!
On Twitter, Interplay and inXile founder Brian Fargo said:
It’s official.. And I’m very personally excited to be working on this. More details to follow.
Fargo also talked to Game Informer about the new project, saying:
Brian Fargo and InXile Entertainment announced a new chapter to the classic RPG dungeon-crawler series at PAX South today. This single player PC-centric installment won’t be a complete throwback-style game like Wasteland 2, and instead The Bard’s Tale 4 will attempt to modernize and revitalize the genre – sort of like how Hearthstone approached the card game.
“This is a special game for me,” says Fargo. “It was the first game that really put Interplay on the map, and it just happens that this will fall on the 30th anniversary.”
The game will feature modern day approaches to graphics, sound, and design while revisiting all the locales and classes that players love from the early installments in the series like the town of Skara Brae. The game will be a dungeon crawler through and through, but don’t expect to have to bust out the old-school tools. HUD elements will be kept to a minimum, there will be plenty of puzzles, and immersion will be the focus.
“I don’t think in this day and age we can make you break out the graph paper,” says Fargo. “We might have a hardcore mode for that.”
There will be a crowdfunding push for The Bard’s Tale 4, as well as funding coming from InXile.
You can track more information about the Bard’s Tale IV as it becomes available by checking out their home page. No mention yet, but by the time they launch the Kickstarter I’m sure it will be features!