The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep, an upcoming dungeon crawler under development by inXile Entertainment, is now on over 300,000 Steam Wishlists according to a news post on the game's Steam Community page.
If you're unfamiliar with The Bard's Tale, it's a role-playing game franchise originally created by Interplay Entertainment in 1985. The franchise had been relatively dormant since 2004 save for a related 2017 VR game called The Mage's Tale. A 2015 Kickstarter campaign for a new sequel by inXile Entertainment was successful, raising 120% of its goal of $1.25 million. Since then, the game has been steadily in development and is set to be released tomorrow - September 18, 2018.
The game allows players to select from one of four mystical classes and battle through dungeons filled with deadly enemies and mysterious ancient artifacts that can enhance your power. Developed with Unreal Engine 4, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep brings classic dungeon crawling and role-playing game elements into the modern era. Have a look at the launch trailer to see what you can expect to find in the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8gBMbwFbS8
A news post on the game's Steam Community page announced that 300,000 people have put it on their Steam Wishlists. The developers are running a campaign where people wishlisting the game will result in a lower MSRP on launch day; the 300,000 milestone has lowered the price to $34.99. A 500,000 milestone will lower it further to $29.99 and add in the Dwarven Dungeon of Haernhold DLC.
inXile and Interplay founder Brian Fargo seems to have a penchant for offering a pretty hefty pot of gold at the end of a rainbow with a tweet he put out earlier today regarding his hopes for the game:
https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/1041668255528570882
Despite the release of several critically-acclaimed games in the late '90s and early 2000s, Interplay continued to suffer losses on a quarterly basis before succumbing to bankruptcy. It now more or less functions as a holding company for some of the legacy IPs, licensing them out to other developers.
It certainly would be interesting to see a company responsible for many gaming classics coming back to life. Whether or not The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep does well enough for Mr. Fargo's stretch goal, it looks like it's shaping up to be an entertaining old-school experience with modern frills. You'll be able to pick it up for yourself on Steam tomorrow. In the meantime, why not swing on over to the game's Steam Store page and add it to your wishlist? It can't hurt to chip in towards dropping the price another five bucks for everyone and stay tuned for our first impressions of the game tomorrow.
What do you think of The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep using a stretch goal system for the Steam Wishlist? Do you think the game will be able to sell 2 million copies in the first 18 months? Would you be happy to see Interplay return? Let us know in the comments below!
