Return to Nangrim: Skyrim meets lightblade in Middle earth

Developer: Sycoforge Genre: Adventure, RPG, Survival Platform: Xbox Series X / S, PS5, PC Release: TBA 2022

Return to Nangrim is an ambitious project of the Swiss developer Sycoforge, which combines survival and role-playing elements in a singleplayer fantasy-adventure. In the dwarf city of Nangrim, located in the Fantasy Universe Arafinn, awaits you a dark and abandoned world. In addition to riddles and classic role-playing elements, you would also have to take care of enough food and repeatedly raced on a campfire.

What makes Return to Nangrim so special?

Since 2009 CEO and Chief-Storyteller Michela Rimensberger and CTO and Creative Director Ismael Wittwer on the Fantasywelt Arafinn. This is home to the dwarfs, which take over the main role in Return to Nangrim.

Over the years, a tremendous fund has grown on stories about hundreds of dwarf clans and family branches. Around them, a living world came with three more breeds, each of their own languages ​​(Hilduir, the language of the dwarves, was developed together with a linguist and is actually speakable), gods and thousands of villages.

It was clear early that a game alone is not enough to meet the Gigantic Content Mountain. So the idea for the Arafinn Experience, where our journey does not end, when we played the game. Part of this Arafinn universe is an interactive map and storybooks who tell the prehistory to Return to Nangrim, and a romance cycle that makes us deeper into the history of the dwarfs, elves, people and Uturi.

Info: This article appears as part of our 'Road to Gamescom 2021', in which we introduce you to the start of the game fair on August 25 games from the Indie Arena Booth. So far:

• Golf Club: Wasteland combines sports and capitalism criticism
• The early 90s as a modern Brawler - Rising bright celebrates the arcade era
• Harmony's Odyssey: First overflowing, then sweet puzzle fun
• Death Trash is an Indie-Fallout from Berlin with really nice horror
• Inked: A Tale of Love - Hand-drawn puzzle adventure with a lot of feeling

For whom is Return to Nangrim interesting?

In other words, Arafinn is a paradise for fantasy nerds that can not get enough of Lore (s).

Anyone who likes to go to exploration in pixel worlds is likely to get their money's worth in Return to Nangrim. Distributed over the game, there are many puzzles to solve and discover secrets, collect materials and forge new items.

RPG Meets Survival: The game principle of the fantasy adventure with realtime combat system should convince survival and RPG players alike. In addition to typical role-playing elements such as the uplich of your character, quests and loot, you will also meet some survival elements.

Anyone who does not rest, eat too little, stay too long away from heat sources or too much stirring with him, must count on restrictions such as a blurred view and a slower movement speed. This can have fatal consequences, for example in the fight against the dwarf tombies lurking in the dark. After all, you do not have to face the opponents alone, because you accompany an animal companion, the side of the side with you struggling or doing tasks for you.

The origin of the Zombie Plage and what role your family has played in the lost war with the Uturi, it is important to explore Nangrim's ruins. Overall, the game offers material for 30 hours of fun.

Sycoforge assessment

Jonathan Harsch

Zombies vs. Zwergen? I'm there! I like survival games and I like RPGs. Sysoforge has definitely aroused my interest. Without a doubt, the project is very ambitious and I can imagine that it is precisely the claim to provide the community away from the game with content, come well under fantasy fans.

Also in World Building is a strength of Return to Nangrim: mountains of books that are waiting to be read, secrets that want to be decrypted, their own language and writing that we can learn properly and even have their own song culture. Hats off! Even if I personally is not the type that loses completely in earthly worlds, I have to confess that I am impressed what an indie study from Switzerland here puts on the legs.