Prometheus Wept Preview

 I got the chance to check out the Early Access of Prometheus Wept. Developed and published by Timeslip Software, this “party and action point turn-based RPG” has battles taking place both in cyberspace and the post-apocalyptic real world. Despite not looking the best graphically, the gameplay and story premise intrigued me enough to see what’s going on.

The setting is that the Earth of the near future is not doing great. Technology had become an integral part of daily life (well, even more so) before a virus turned everything against its creators. From a smart toaster to government systems, technology has reduced humans into isolated communities, bandits, and wanderers. However, that does not mean there’s no one left to fight. As a Classical Technologist, you’re on a quest to find and restore relics of humanity’s golden age. In a world where the real and virtual worlds are only a click away, you’ll need a team by your side, a plan of attack, and a lot of equipment if you want to make it to the end. 

This is an RPG that heavily reminds me of the modern XCOM franchise. That means managing your limited actions, taking cover, and brutal accuracy percentages. You can take multiple actions on one turn, but it's limited by the amount of Action Points (AP) a character has before their turn ends. Your enemies are dangerous and are more than capable of wiping out your party if you’re underprepared, at least on Normal difficulty. Not only that, battles can take place simultaneously in reality and in cyberspace, where you might be sending your consciousness into the virtual world to hack systems while your teammates are defending your unconscious body. Oh, and dying will require you to reload your last save. I hope you save frequently.

 

While there are level-ups and perks, you also have various skills that may become useful throughout your journey, such as Lockpicking, Engineering, Medicine, and knowledge of Pre-Virus Society. They get better the more you use those aspects, so bashing heads will increase your Melee, while taking hits will increase your Resilience. There are 17 of these skills, and each one will be put to the test constantly, even outside of your input. It can lead to gaining more information that you can take advantage of or save lives if it comes down to it.

For RPGs, I tend to go for straightforward sword-and-board characters, but I decided, for once, to forgo my melee-focused builds and make my character a gunslinger, popping heads and staying as far away as I can. However, when your starting pistol can only hold two bullets before reloading, you begin to regret your (in-game) life choices, as enemies start to swarm to your position and beat you with baseball bats.

Of course, there’s more to think about than just what your next move will be in a fight. You’ll be faced with choices that might help or hinder you, and more often than not, it may result in an outcome you will not see coming. Trying to peacefully talk down angry enemies? It works… until one of your party members takes it upon themselves to stab one of them in the back. Really, dude?

Although I’m a little sick of crafting mechanics in games, it's done in an interesting manner here that made me recall a similar system in Dragon Age Inquisition, where some materials used to craft the gear will change its appearance and stats. With tons of blueprints to discover, you can tweak your equipment to best suit your party. Plus, you can change your equipment mid-fight, although it isn’t without its costs.

Although I was a little iffy because of its filtered promotion images and unremarkable graphics, I do see potential in Prometheus Wept. The Early Access only contained the first chapter, but it was enough to convince me that, given enough time, there might be a deeply engaging game here with real weight to your decisions. I look forward to further developments if only to see an improved UI and better controls.