Hell is literally at the door: monstrous beastmen are attacking towns, hellhounds are roaming the heath and corrupted creatures are gathering their followers around them – and all of this in medieval France. This is the setting of Band of Crusaders, the first work by the Polish indie studio Virtual Alchemy. In the strategy role-playing game, we fight the dark demons that are plaguing the land with a group of soldiers. Similar to the role-playing game Wartales, we put together a powerful troop and steadily expand our camp. Unlike in the role-playing game from Shiro Games, however, the intense battles in Band of Crusaders take place in real time. In addition to Wartales, The Witcher serves as inspiration for the Polish development team: “We wanted to see what the world of The Witcher would look like if you removed all the witchers,” says Art Director Kamil Mickiewicz. This makes sense, since some team members say they have already gained experience developing other games – such as the Witcher series. The focus is on the player’s ability to act. Because before our group consists of battle-hardened warriors and hardened swashbucklers, we start with simple farmers who first have to gain experience. To do this, we have a variety of weapons and skills from knights, spearmen or archers at our disposal. The game is currently still in development. There is no specific release date for Band of Crusaders yet.
