Drakensang: The River of Time

Drakensang: The River of Time
Developer(s)	Radon Labs
Publisher(s)	dtp entertainment (DE) THQ (NA)
Director(s)	Bernd Beyreuther
Designer(s)	Fabian Rudzinski
Series	The Dark Eye
Engine	Nebula Device
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	^DEU February 19, 2010 ^NA January 11, 2011[1]
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Drakensang: The River of Time is a role-playing video game developed by Radon Labs. Drakensang TROT is the second video game in The Dark Eye-universe since Attic's Northlands Trilogy from the 1990s (Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, Realms of Arkania: Star Trail and Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva).

Story

Though released after Drakensang: The Dark Eye, in-story it serves as a prequel. The game takes place around the city of Nadoret. Nadoret lies south of the city of Ferdok, the main hub of the first installment. From Nadoret the player travels the Great River to reveal a series of pirate attacks. Over the course of the game he teams up with Ardo of Boarstock, the thief Cano and the dwarf Forgrimm, who also appeared in Drakensang: The Dark Eye.

Gameplay

Just like the original Drakensang, it has a traditional RPG party-based style, with a 'real-time with pause' round-based playmode as seen in games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights.^[2][3] Using a largely faithful version of the pen and paper rules, statistics, skills and talents are leveled up through universal experience points which can be applied to anything from skills which increase the amount of information found on the minimap to skills useful for combat or negotiation. The River of Time also addressed minor criticisms of the first game, such as the player's inability to return to most areas once completed.

It was released in Germany in February 2010, followed by an expansion pack called Phileasson's Secret in August 2010. It was released in English in January 2011,^[1] Phileasson's Secret in May 2011.^[4]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score GameRankings 75.00% (2 reviews)[5] Review score Publication Score PC Gamer (US) 80%[6]

Drakensang: The River of Time was received positively in the German press and generally praised as an improvement over the first title.^[7] It won the "Best RPG 2010" at the German Developer Awards in Essen, Germany.^[8]

However, this second game of the franchise did not fare well financially, and subsequently Radon Labs were declared bankrupt^[9] and acquired by Bigpoint Games.^[10] The Drakensang brand was then turned into an online browser game franchise, that no longer connects to The Dark Eye franchise.^[11]

References

1. Turner, Brian "Dhruin" (June 1, 2011). "Drakensang: TRoT - NA Digital Releases Next Week". RPGWatch. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
2. Mr. Nash (March 11, 2011). "Drakensang: The River of Time". The Armchair Empire. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
3. Beekers, Thomas "Brother None" (May 13, 2011). "Drakensang: The River of Time Review". GameBanshee. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
4. Beekers, Thomas "Brother None" (May 13, 2011). "Drakensang: Phileasson's Secret Released". GameBanshee. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
5. "Drakensang: The River of Time". GameRankings. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
6. "Drakensang: The River of Time". Metacritic. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
7. "Drakensang: Am Fluss der Zeit (PC)". Critify. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
8. Klaß, Christian (December 2, 2010). "Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2010: Ubisoft zum besten Publisher gekürt" (in German). Golem. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
9. Wolf, Andre "Gorath" (May 12, 2010). "Radon Labs - Files for Bankruptcy". RPGWatch. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
10. Caoili, Eric (October 25, 2010). "Bigpoint Buys Radon Labs, Opens Berlin Office". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
11. "Drakensang Online: Interview mit Bernd Beyreuther & Christian Godorr" (in German). Buffed. May 12, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-19. Nein, diesmal verzichten wir auf die DSA-Lizenz.