Hi everyone!
First things first: especially as many players have mentioned the difficulty of the The Pale City's normal mode, I’ve decided to post a guide on the website. The current version includes a list of sidequests and missable items, as well as a (very brief) walkthrough to keep players from getting lost. Eventually, I also plan to add a list of tips, as well as strategies for a few of the game’s more difficult battles.
The walkthrough is available here. It’s been a busy few weeks since I’m also teaching courses for my university online, but I’m hoping to fill in the missing sections by the end of April.
In other news, there’s also been a new review of the game at The Indian Noob. The writer (justifiably) wasn’t totally impressed by the game’s visuals or combat, but seemed to really enjoy the writing as well as the experience as a whole. It’s especially exciting to see the game maybe reach new players in India. And, in particular, the writer did an amazing job picking text-based screenshots that show the game’s writing and themes–so good, in fact, that I think I’m going to steal a few of them for the Steam page!
This was, I’ll admit, definitely me trying to do a Planescape moment. I don’t do them nearly as well as Chris Avellone, but I’ll always love those moments (in both Torment games) when you walk into a random house, and find something that just blows your mind, which is an effect I tried to implement on and off throughout The Pale City.
Or, of course, those moments where The Pale City is written more like a book than a game. I’ll admit I sort of hid paragraphs like this for a long time, as I worried they would scare players away from the game. There have been (equally justified) criticisms that, by focusing on such a text-heavy approach, I’ve sort of forgotten The Pale City is a game rather than a book–which definitely limits its appeal. However, for a few rare players out there, I hope they enjoy the approach I’ve taken here.
Thanks a lot to anyone who has played the game and cared enough to hunt down this post! As always, I’d be very eager to hear from you with any comments, questions, or suggestions—especially anything you’d like to see covered in the walkthrough.