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Gord Is A New Dark Fantasy Survival RPG With City-Sim Gameplay

This new dark-fantasy RPG inspired by Slavic folklore blends survival gameplay with city-builder mechanics, and it's coming to PC in 2022.

30 Comments

Coming from new developer Covenant, Gord is a dark fantasy RPG that centers around a growing village and the many threats they face while trying to survive. First teased on April 8 via the game's official Twitter page, we now have the first gameplay elements and plot for the upcoming survival-sim and city-builder, which is coming from Stan Just, a former developer from CD Projekt Red and 11-Bit Studios.

The main story of Gord follows The Tribe of the Dawn's struggles and growth while surviving a fantasy world inspired by Slavic folklore. Throughout the game, you will decide how you want your village to evolve, how best to defend your community from threats, and how to use your limited resources to keep your town prosperous for the future.

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Now Playing: Gord - Gameplay Reveal Trailer

In addition to city-builder gameplay, allowing you to customize and outfit your village as you see fit, the game also includes survival RPG mechanics, where you take a member of your community out into the wild to forage for supplies and food. While exploring, they may encounter monsters, some minor and others rare and mysterious, to hunt--allowing them to collect more materials to bring back to the village.

However, given the grim circumstances the town faces, there's the risk of residual trauma to the community. Even explorers who have a successful trip out into the world can cause trauma to a mental state. Along with managing your community's health and morale, you'll also need to ensure their psychological state is in a stable position. Issues like hunger, depression, and living with constant illnesses can slowly chip away at your community, making your village even more vulnerable.

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According to developer Covenant in a press release, Gord also features procedurally generated content in quests and randomized events to ensure that different runs won't be similar to others. As you explore more of the world and build up your community, you will also expand your understanding of the land around the village, giving you more lore and information about the land's history.

Gord looks to be an exciting approach to the dark fantasy RPG. Instead of focusing on the growth of one singular hero in a hostile world, Gord puts its sights on developing a larger community struggling to survive. This conceit could make for a potentially exciting game to invest in and see how long you can keep your community afloat. Gord will launch on PC sometime in 2022.

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gregh16

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I really got excited when I saw the title. I had a flashback to the original Gord the Rogue books by Gary Gygax... I loved them as a kid!!

Sadly this is not it...

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bat725

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Sounds great. I love the concept. Too bad it’s still a year away. I hope it’s good.

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Frostblind

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Love it! Looks fun to play

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Sven_Viking

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Edited By Sven_Viking

Great — I’ve been looking forward to a game about Gord ever since reading http://actsofgord.com

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USDevilDog

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Sounds like an isometric version of Dark Cloud. I'm in.

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jenovaschilld

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Moats, it is always moats that make the difference. Castles are nice, walls are great, but you got to start with a good moat. Yeah sharks with lasers is your ultimate goal, but get that moat made first.

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Pyrosa

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@jenovaschilld: The key is to keep the burning piles of bodies well-stocked, so you can charge those laser packs' batteries.

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bbq_R0ADK1LL

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So like Frostpunk, but even more RPG?

I will be watching.

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deth420

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@bbq_R0ADK1LL: I didnt care for that game. one of a few I refunded.

Its the end of human kind. the only way to survive is to work hard, work together. but this game you have to essentially beat these people to do their jobs. I thought, to hell with you all, just die then...and refund ;)

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bbq_R0ADK1LL

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@deth420: Yeah, you're getting a little history lesson in there about Russian communism or something. It's pretty bleak.

I like that it asks you to make some really hard decisions & decide what lengths you are willing to go to for survival. If you like games with a more hopeful outlook, it's probably not for you.

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mrbojangles25

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Edited By mrbojangles25

Hell ya! Bring on the Frostpunk clones. Survival + city-builder = win

* +fantasy + grim setting = super win

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JamesHetfield89

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Edited By JamesHetfield89

This made me think of that early to mid 00s fantasy MMORPG that tried to do more of an EVE kind of thing with player constructed and administered settlements/fortifications. Had some kind of grimdark theming going on and some association with Minotaurs if I remember right. Heavy pvp bent rather than pve.

Anyone remember the name of that game? It didn't survive long I don't think but there weren't too many competitors at the time so it had at least some juice for a little while before WoW came out and all but killed that generation of MMOs off (obviously but for the dedicated and loyal few that still keep some of them alive to this day - EQ, DAoC, AO... is Asheron's Call service still up? I know they eventually killed SWG but that might honestly still be going if TOR never came to be [which ended up being worse :(]).

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OperatorZero

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@JamesHetfield89: Sounds like "Shadowbane."

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JamesHetfield89

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@operatorzero: that's the one!

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OperatorZero

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@JamesHetfield89: There's a fan made emulator if you want to check it out: https://shadowbaneemulator.com

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naomha1

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Sounds like a new Spellforce game! Def down with this!

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Kyrylo

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...isn't it slavic folklore?

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Pyrosa

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All over this!

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lonewolf1044

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@Pyrosa: Yeah seen the trailer and it was not bad and I like the concept.

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esqueejy

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Sounds interesting but oddly depressing.

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mrbojangles25

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@esqueejy: It's not depressing, it's grimdark :D

...which is depressing.

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esqueejy

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Edited By esqueejy

@mrbojangles25: I mean, the tone and grimdark thing are fine, but "your character now has PTSD from that encounter with the bog trolls, so now he drinks to self-medicate" might be a bit much haha

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Lamesy

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"Gord also features procedurally generated content in quests and randomized events"

oof, excitement levels dropping. this so rarely works out how devs want - i don't want fresh elements every replay, i want good elements the first time.

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tohle01

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@Lamesy: Yeah, so this is a good thing to clarify (I work with the dev team on marketing stuff)... the quest system is one area that isn't really procedurally generated. The levels and such are (at least in the Custom Scenarios mode), but the quests are all handcrafted by the developers. The AI system then chooses which quests to throw at you, based on what's happening/happened in your game. So you're kinda getting the best of both worlds: procedurally generated levels make for variety/replayability, but the quests you get have been developed from start to finish.

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EmmanuelGuerrero

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Edited By EmmanuelGuerrero

@tohle01: Sounds fantastic, thanks for sharing. I wish the developer and your team the best. I will look forward to Gord.

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Pyrosa

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@Lamesy: Sounds like this is primarily a city-builder and these "quests" are the tacked-on part, like some recent post-apocalypse games.

I'm still in for it.

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