Pendragon Campfire Tales
Pendragon contains several tales, told around the campfire. Gather round to hear some of our favourites!
Pendragon contains several tales, told around the campfire. Gather round to hear some of our favourites!
Pendragon: Narrative Tactics
- Released
- Sep 22, 2020
- Platforms
- Last updated
Updates & announcements
- Developer postOriginal post
- Developer post
Pendragon Design Talk
Pendragon is a game of chess, where the pieces argue with each other, and tell stories from the moves you make. Wait, what? How does that work?
Original postPendragon is a game of chess, where the pieces argue with each other, and tell stories from the moves you make. Wait, what? How does that work?
- Developer post
Pendragon Livestream
Come play Pendragon with the developers!
Original postCome play Pendragon with the developers!
- Developer post
Pendragon Campfire Stories
Pendragon contains several tales, told around the campfire. Gather round to hear some of our favourites.
Original postPendragon contains several tales, told around the campfire. Gather round to hear some of our favourites.
Developer postNew update: hints pane!
Our latest update is now live! Along with the usual bugs and fixes, this one comes with a new feature: the hints pane. If you're still getting to grips with the details of stances, charging and hummocks, you can hit the Cog button, where you'll a quick primer on core rules and st
Original postOur latest update is now live! Along with the usual bugs and fixes, this one comes with a new feature: the hints pane.
If you're still getting to grips with the details of stances, charging and hummocks, you can hit the Cog button, where you'll a quick primer on core rules and strategies for the game, each with a handy animation to show how they work.
If you find it useful - or if you think there are any we're missing! - let us know in the comments, and we'll see if we can add a few more!
- Developer post
Game Update!
Pendragon has only been out for a day, but already we've seen a big split in players - between those who get the strategy, and those who can't seem to land a win. Pendragon is a bit different from other strategy games and the usual tactics won't work. So to help people learn the
Original postPendragon has only been out for a day, but already we've seen a big split in players - between those who get the strategy, and those who can't seem to land a win. Pendragon is a bit different from other strategy games and the usual tactics won't work.
So to help people learn the ropes, we've decided to dial back the AI in the game's starting modes. With this update, the Anecdotal mode AI should offer a lot more exploits for you to take advantage of. Think of it as our "story mode"!
Difficulties of Melodramatic and above are unaffected, so if you like a challenge you should be quickly able to find one.
One other thing we've heard is people not wanting to lose abilities they've been enjoying using, so we've changed the way upgrades work - you can now choose between one new ability, or keeping the existing one. (This was a great idea we just didn't think, so thank you to everyone who suggested it!)
This update also collates a load of minor story fixes, and other bits of polish. Enjoy!
(By the way, if you want to learn a few tactical tricks, this stream from Luckless Lovelocks has a few good discoveries!)
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Pendragon review
Pendragon review Inkle’s marriage of Arthurian storytelling and turn-based strategy is elegant and replayable – if, perhaps, a little opaque at times. Developer: Inkle Publisher: Inkle Release: September 22nd 2020 On: Windows, Mac OS X From: Steam , GOG Price: £13.50/$17/€14 It’s
Original postPendragon review
Inkle’s marriage of Arthurian storytelling and turn-based strategy is elegant and replayable – if, perhaps, a little opaque at times.- Developer: Inkle
- Publisher: Inkle
- Release: September 22nd 2020
- On: Windows, Mac OS X
- From: Steam, GOG
- Price: £13.50/$17/€14
It’s a relief to know that some life-or-death battles where the fate of the nation is in the balance can be attempted a near infinite number of times. A complete cycle of Inkle’s turn-based strategy meets Arthurian storytelling, Pendragon, can be wrapped up pretty sharpish if you’re on the lowest difficulty and aren’t getting too lost on the map. From the south coast of Wales to the final battle between King Arthur and Mordred at Camlann in about 45 minutes. Then, lunch.
But this is a feature, not a bug. Pendragon is designed to be replayed many times, as many different Arthurian heroes. Indeed, I would have thrown myself back into it a lot less if it took much longer to complete my noble quest. Not that I complete it often, in the strictest sense of the word. Like, yes, I may get to Camlann, but Mordred usually beasts me because Pendragon is pretty hard.
- Developer post
EGX/PAX Talk: Designing Pendragon
PENDRAGON is a board-based tactics game. But it's also a narrative game, where a story gets told move by move, based on the actions you take, the risks you run, the discoveries you find - and the people you lose. In Pendragon, no one is safe and every turn can change the story. S
Original postPENDRAGON is a board-based tactics game. But it's also a narrative game, where a story gets told move by move, based on the actions you take, the risks you run, the discoveries you find - and the people you lose. In Pendragon, no one is safe and every turn can change the story.
So, how does that work? And how did we come up with it?
Find out in this 20-minute design talk, hosted as part of this year's EGX/PAX event!
Watch on YouTube And if you're looking for more Pendragon content, why not check out the interview we did with Rock Paper Shotgun that made Eurogamer say:
"One of the holy grails of game design is the infinitely replayable story - a narrative game, but one that genuinely adapts to every action you take, not just certain crunch decisions. Well, Inkle Studios... might finally have managed it."
Watch on YouTube PENDRAGON launches next week, on the 22nd September! Add it to your wish-list to be notified the moment it releases.
- Eurogamer
RPS talks to Inkle Studios about the very special Pendragon
One of the holy grails of game design is the infinitely replayable story - a narrative game, but one that genuinely adapts to every action you take, not just certain crunch decisions. Well, Inkle Studios - who made the wonderful 80 Days and Heaven's Vault - might finally have man
Original postOne of the holy grails of game design is the infinitely replayable story - a narrative game, but one that genuinely adapts to every action you take, not just certain crunch decisions.
Well, Inkle Studios - who made the wonderful 80 Days and Heaven's Vault - might finally have managed it with Pendragon, an adaptation of Arthurian legend as an interactive tale that remembers every move you make in combat and out of it to create your own unique story.
Pendragon's out on Steam next week, on 22nd September, and we'll have more on the site for you then. In the meantime, here's a lovely and very informative chat our friends at RPS had with the Inkle team about it, which just streamed as part of PAX Online x EGX Digital and which you can watch on demand in the embed below.
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Inkle on Pendragon: how being evil was the key to making its replayable story click
Turn-based Arthurian legend game Pendragon is the next game from Inkle Studios of Heaven’s Vault and 80 Days . RPS chatted with narrative director Jon Ingold at PAX X EGX about its replayable story that—spoiler alert—always ends with a deadly battle between King Arthur and Sir Mo
Original postTurn-based Arthurian legend game Pendragon is the next game from Inkle Studios of Heaven’s Vault and 80 Days. RPS chatted with narrative director Jon Ingold at PAX X EGX about its replayable story that—spoiler alert—always ends with a deadly battle between King Arthur and Sir Mordred, and how playing as a villain helped keep the story from going stale over the course of multiple re-tellings.
- Eurogamer
80 Days dev's King-Arthur-inspired narrative strategy adventure Pendragon out this month
Pendragon, the Arthurian-legend-inspired narrative strategy game from 80 Days and Heaven's Vault developer Inkle Studios, is coming to PC on 22nd September. Inkle's latest endeavour transports player back to the year AD 673, with Camelot on the brink of destruction. Sir Modred's
Original postPendragon, the Arthurian-legend-inspired narrative strategy game from 80 Days and Heaven's Vault developer Inkle Studios, is coming to PC on 22nd September.
Inkle's latest endeavour transports player back to the year AD 673, with Camelot on the brink of destruction. Sir Modred's deceit has left the fellowship of the Round Table in disarray, leaving players with the task of traversing the treacherous Britain of the Dark Ages in order to assemble a ragtag band of knights, heroes, and peasants to aid King Arthur in battle.
Pendragon is something of a departure for the ever-reliable Inkle, whose previous output has largely remained laser-focussed on whipping up a wondrously compelling yarn. While the studio's latest does promise a story-rich adventure, full of "love, suspicion, revenge, sacrifice and murder", its narrative elements are this time intertwined with a "deeply strategic" turn-based combat system, pitting players against the likes of bandits, brutish knights, and deadly creatures as their adventure unfolds.
- Developer post
Launch Date and Gameplay Trailer
We're thrilled to say that the long wait is nearly over, and PENDRAGON will be launching on Sep 22nd. Check out our launch date trailer here, for a taste of how the positional-based strategy works, how the narrative is driven by the gameplay, and how the gameplay drives the story
Original postWe're thrilled to say that the long wait is nearly over, and PENDRAGON will be launching on Sep 22nd.
Check out our launch date trailer here, for a taste of how the positional-based strategy works, how the narrative is driven by the gameplay, and how the gameplay drives the story...
Watch on YouTube This is our most complex game yet and we've had scores of testers playing and replaying, trying to iron out every bug, every inconsistency and find every hidden bit of content.
We can't wait for you to join them, when Dark Age Britain opens in just a few weeks!
- Developer post
Onwards to Release!
The summer festival is over - the demo has come and gone. We've got some awesome feedback, some great responses, and an amazing review over at The Escapist that starts, well, like this: I played through 10 beginnings, 10 journeys, and 10 endings, yet that feels like just the tip
Original postThe summer festival is over - the demo has come and gone. We've got some awesome feedback, some great responses, and an amazing review over at The Escapist that starts, well, like this:
I played through 10 beginnings, 10 journeys, and 10 endings, yet that feels like just the tip of the Pendragon iceberg. Once, the demo ended with a healthy Sir Lancelot. Another time, with Queen Guinevere grievously injured by a bear. One of my characters fell to a wolf, another to a knight. My heroes attacked peaceful villagers and spoke to unfriendly hounds. They gained and lost companions.
I feel like I could keep playing the Pendragon demo for days or weeks — hell, maybe even until the full game launches — before seeing every scenario. I know I won’t get bored if I do.
Updates
If you had a chance to play, we hope you enjoyed what you saw! There's lots more adventures to be had in the full game - including a lot more challenge (the demo level difficulty is capped at 30%, in case you were wondering) - as well as secrets, magic, traps, betrayals and more.
We've made one big change based on player feedback; altering how moves are confirmed. You can head over to the forums to read about it and let us know what you think.
Otherwise, thanks for stopping by - please hit that Wishlist button! - and we'll see you again nearer to release!
- Developer post
Pendragon Playthrough
Pendragon is our upcoming narrative strategy game, that blends turn-based gameplay with a story that writes itself around your choices and your actions, in real-time. Characters talk and interact as they play, reacting to events on the board as well as to each other, and no two g
Original postPendragon is our upcoming narrative strategy game, that blends turn-based gameplay with a story that writes itself around your choices and your actions, in real-time. Characters talk and interact as they play, reacting to events on the board as well as to each other, and no two games are the same...
We'll be playing the demo, so come see what happens to us, and then download it and try for yourself!