A party of adventurers fighting a monster in Revenge of the Firstborn

Revenge of the Firstborn Is a New "Classics-Inspired" Isometric CRPG

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Published: February 3, 2025 9:50 AM

Developer and publisher Sawtooth Games has announced Revenge of the Firstborn, an isometric CRPG inspired by the classics of the genre and utilizing the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition ruleset.

Sawtooth describes its game as a "story-rich, turn-based RPG" in which you will travel through a "Fractured land where gods once waged war on their own creations". You'll discover the origin of the titular Firstborn, deciding whether to ally with them or "consign them to the judgement of the gods".

According to the developer, you'll be creating your own adventuring party of up to six characters, choosing race from a pool of seven and class from a pool of ten. From that, it doesn't sound like there will be any premade companions for you to meet.

An adventuring party confronting goblin-like monsters on a bridge in Revenge of the Firstborn
Revenge of the Firstborn harks back to the isometric CRPG classics.

As well as the "rich" story, Sawtooth is also promising "complex turn-based combat" that emphasizes tactics, so this won't be using the real-time-with-pause system favored by many older CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.

You'll also be able to encounter a "bestiary of over 120 classic monsters" from the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 systems reference document (SRD).

As a reminder, 3.5 operates under an OGL, or Open Game License, which essentially means anyone is free to utilize certain elements from the SRD in order to make their own game.

However, rather intriguingly, Revenge of the Firstborn's Steam page shows a screenshot of a Beholder, a monster that isn't covered under the 3.5 OGL; it's part of the original Dungeons & Dragons lineup, and so it's not freely usable by anyone like other elements of the edition are.

The party confronting what appears to be a Beholder in Revenge of the Firstborn
I'm not sure you're allowed to use that, Sawtooth.

That either means Sawtooth has managed to license the use of the Beholder from IP owner Wizards of the Coast, or that the monster has found its way into the game without a license. I can't imagine Wizards of the Coast would be particularly happy to see their IP being used without a license, so hopefully, it's the former.

In any case, Revenge of the Firstborn will arrive on PC via Steam sometime next year. Stay tuned for more on that.

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Joe has been writing for TechRaptor for several years, and in those years has learned a lot about the gaming industry and its foibles. He’s originally an… More about Joseph