A time-honoured role-playing system once ruled over the Europe lands and brought joy and happiness to the hearts of Europe fans of the cultivated role-playing game with some glorious PC games. The Black Eye produced classics like Drakensang, The Northland Trilogy or Satinav’s Chains. But that time seems to be over.
Where there was light there is now shadow. Because for many years there hasn’t been a game in Aventuria that could tie in with these weddings. With Book of Heroes, the sad low point appeared recently.
Part of why DSA is struggling these days has to do with how the PC market has evolved. Because while games are getting more and more expensive, the world of Das Schwarze Auge remained a Europe niche market.
But all hope is not lost yet. The Black Eye is supposed to be back, just not anytime soon. In the podcast, Jan Wagner, Head of Digital Games at DSA-Verlag Ulisses, gave us exclusive insights into the master plan for good PC games around The Black Eye.
more on the subject
Jan Wagner from Ulisses Digital Games in conversation
From the visual novel to the next Drakensang?
In the podcast, Jan Wagner talks about his plan to be successful again with DSA games. Simply giving the license to external developers who have no love or interest in the world, as happened with Book of Heroes, should definitely no longer be the way to go.
6:51
For many fans, the two Drakensang role-playing games are among the best RPGs in the DSA universe
Instead, Wagner came up with a new plan, which included empowering Ulisses-Verlag to develop the games themselves. This is the only way to guarantee that the necessary love and care flows into the product, which the publisher and the fan base want.
It’s just that Ulisses simply can’t develop any games at the moment. That should change in the next few years. That’s why there is one Masterplan
- Die Visual Novel: It will start in May 2022, then it will be released Wolves of the Westwind a new DSA
Spiel
on Steam. Only this is a visual novel, with very little RPG content. It is a story to read and with beautiful pictures. Things that Ulisses is already good at without too much financial risk. - An action game: The next project will be a standard action game for the studio to try their hand at. However, without a DSA license. Because with this brand loved by fans, according to Wagner, you only have
few shots free
and they should sit. - A first role play: What you have learned should then be implemented in another game, which this time will actually be a role-playing game. But again without a DSA license, another Pen&Paper work is to be used instead: Hexxen 1733.
- The new DSA RPG: And when all these points are ticked off, the staff has been increased and trained and hopefully the funding and the international reputation of the studio are in a good place, then a new DSA role-playing game should be created, with a reasonable production effort.
The goal is to have a game that is internationally competitive even without the brand’s appeal and that satisfies DSA fans in Europey.
But one thing is certain: no new DSA role-playing game will be released any time soon. The plan is long-term and all these games want to be developed first. Incidentally, Wagner almost rules out a Drakensang 3 anyway, since Drakensang is still its own brand name, the rights to which do not lie with Ulisses. If you want to hear the whole conversation with Jan Wagner, click here for the podcast.
What would you wish for in a new DSA game? Write it to us in the comments!
