Larian Studios Forums Dragon Commander Dragon Commander - Latest News Dragon Commander: First press coverage!

The press is flocking to our beautiful, beer-filled booth, and 2 French websites have already posted their - very positive - impressions online.

First Impressions at Barre de Vie

First, Barre de vie had this to say:

"La bonne surprise de la journée. [...] Dragon Commander est un jeu en plusieurs étapes : une étape scénarisée façon RPG dans la base aérienne du héros ; une étape stratégique, où l’on joue à un simili-Risk auquel on aurait ajouté des cartes Magic ; et enfin la vue des combats, où on joue un dragon avec un jetpack. [...] Ca marche fort bien : les batailles aériennes sont pleines d’unités, ça tire dans tous les sens mais l’action reste lisible et les unités faciles à contrôler."


Translated in English:

"The great surprise of the day. [...] Dragon Commander plays out in successive stages: first, a role-playing phase during which the story develops inside the aerial base of the player; then a strategic phase, which plays like a Risk-like board game enhanced with Magic The Gathering cards; and finally, a real-time combat phase where the player controls a dragon equipped with a jetpack. [...] It works really well: aerial battles feature tons of units, shots are fired all around you, yet the action remains clear and your units easily manageable."


First Impressions at Mondespersistants

Then it was Mondes Persistants who shared their enthusiasm for our upcoming game:

"Nous découvrons des développeurs passionnés par leur jeu, et quel jeu ! Un petit bijou d'idées ! [...] Les graphismes et les effets visuels sont magnifiques. [...] Vous pouvez contrôler vos unités depuis "le dragon" et ainsi déclencher des attaques de face ou vous la jouer plus sournois en prennant vos ennemis à revers. [...] Ajoutez à cela un humour bien dosé, une jolie princesse squelette et une adaptation Multiplayer avant la sortie, un tout qui nous donne très envie de connaître la suite."


Translated in English:

"We met developers really passionate about their game, and what a game! A true gem, full of ideas! [...] The graphics and visual effects are beautiful. [...] As a dragon, you can give orders to your units, choosing to lead frontal attacks or sneakily attack your enemies from behind. [...] Add to all this an expertly crafted sense of humour, a hot skeleton princess and a 4-player multiplayer mode, and you get a game to really look forward to."

First Impressions at 4Players.de

Original (German) quote:

Was das Komplettpaket bieten wird, lässt sich derzeit noch schlecht sagen, da das Spiel noch reichlich Produktionszeit vor sich hat und viele Elemente noch ihrer Umsetzung harren. Der Release soll irgendwann im kommenden Jahr stattfinden; einen Publishingpartner hat Larian momentan allerdings noch nicht - das Spiel, von dem man schon lange geträumt hatte, wird selbst finanziert. Das Gezeigte macht aber definitiv Lust auf mehr, auch der Steampunkt-Stil weiß zu gefallen. Der Detailgrad der Landschaften in der frühen Demo befand sich laut Angaben der Entwickler noch deutlich unter dem, was eigentlich möglich sei, wirkte aber insgesamt schon recht ansprechend. Durchaus spektakulär wirkte das Kampfgeschehen, wenn zwei Flotten aufeinandertrafen und sämtliche Einheiten und Abwehrbatterien aus allen Rohren feuerten.


Translated in English:

What the completed game will look and feel like is as yet hard to picture because it still has to go through a lot of development and a great many things still have to be implemented. The release is scheduled for some time next year; Larian doesn't have a publishing partner yet – the game, that they have long dreamed to make, is self financed. What has been shown definitely makes you eager for more and the steam-punk style works very well. The level of detail of the landscapes in the early demo was still far below what the developers say will be possible, but already the scenery looked quite beautiful. Most spectacular was the battle that ensued when two fleets clashed and both units and anti-aircraft batteries started firing on cylinders.

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And I congratulate myself with post nr 3000

GamePro says: "Gamescom: Dragon + Jetpack + Turn Based Strategy = Awesome!"

Yesterday, we showed DRAGON COMMANDER to GamePro at Gamescom and they just LOVE IT!

"Gamescom: Dragon + Jetpack + Turn Based Strategy = Awesome!"

"The already impressive looking demo showed at Gamescom today was built in just 4-5 weeks, though, so given a year or so to develop and refine the game further, the Belgian developer could well have a sleeper strategy hit on its hands."

Press Article at GamePro

GameInformer: "Of Course You Should Strap A Jetpack To Your Dragon!"

Plus: FIVE STARS + NEW SCREENSHOTS !!

"Dragon Commander, the new title from Divinity franchise creators Larian Studios, is less about being an epic RPG like Divinity II or a loot-grinding action/RPG like Divine Divinity, and more about flying around as a dragon with a jetpack strapped to your back and forcibly convincing everyone that you’re the only real choice for the open position of global dictator. Yeah, it’s as awesome as it sounds."

"The battles are awesome, though, and the sense of power is undeniable. I have extremely high hopes for this game."

Press Article at GameInformer AND NEW SCREENSHOTS !!

Dragon Beer at the Larian Studios Booth!

Hmmmmmm........ *burps*



Thank you to 4Gamers.be for the picture.

RPGWatch: Dragon Commander: First Looks

RPGWatch had the opportunity to see our new game Dragon Commander at GamesCom 2011 to see how it looked and if there was something of an RPG in it.

Well, read for yourself ;-)

“The concept of the game is very interesting and if they can manage to get everything integrated in the right way this will be one very fun dragon game to play.”

And also:

“Larian Studios is cool!”

Hooray!

Read the full article at RPGWatch

Note that the screenshots in this article are actually shots made of a screen.

Dragon Commander preview at BitGamer

"What strikes me though isn't that the game has the potential to be awesome when it's done, but that it looks fantastic already. The graphics, while not stellar, are certainly on the better side of good and the scale of battles is astonishing; dragons surrounded by hundreds of smaller units that sling lasers, crossbow bolts and bullets with startling abandon. We were given a glimpse of a night mission and the sky is lit up like a decade of bonfire nights – a jetpacking dragon in the centre, using his rockets to dodge attacks and charge after gunships."

and

"As I stand to leave (again) the designer - who says he doesn't have a business card to give me, as he never leaves the office - asks me what I think. 'I'm not a PR, so give me your real thoughts and suggestions,' he says. With no release date yet nailed down, he's hopeful he can still improve the game greatly. I shake his hand and, just before I'm ushered back to the GamesCom business centre, tell him to change as little as possible, because it's already fantastic."


Read the full article here.

Dragon Commander: Interview with Swen Vincke at RPGWatch

After the presentation of Dragon Commander at GamesCom, RPGWatch had some time to ask Swen Vincke a few questions to learn more about the game.
And will you finally find out what Project E is about?

Read the full article here.

Strategy Informer - "Best game of the show!"

"Visually, it's looking great, the gameplay itself seems really engaging and, well... jetpack dragons. That's all you need to know really."



Strategy Informer

Gamescom preview overview

We’re still recovering from showing the game to tons of people at Gamescom 2011, but it looks like Dragon Commander made an impression upon journalists all over the world. Here’s an overview of all the new stories we’ve seen pop up online.

Destructoid - “Seeing flying armies fight out their battles as you swoop around as a dragon with a jetpack is simply amazing.”

***

IGN - IGN did a top 11 of excellent PC stories from GamesCom, and included Dragon Commander, saying “Hey, remember that thing I said about dragons being awesome earlier? Well, what do you think of jetpacks? Awesome too, right? Then it's about time that someone started putting jetpacks on dragons. They put a jetpack on your dragon so you can fly while you fly.”

***

BitGamer - “What strikes me though isn't that the game has the potential to be awesome when it's done, but that it looks fantastic already.”

***

RPGWatch went all the way – they not only did an extensive preview and interview , but also managed to sneakily take some handycam shots from the presentation. Quotes we liked – “Larian Studios is cool” and “The concept of the game is very interesting and if they can manage to get everything integrated in the right way this will be one very fun dragon game to play.”

***

Machinima - “The game is still early, but it’s genre-blending in a way that is very interesting. The team even designed a prototype board game version of the game to play test the systems and rules they had in place. And, as I mentioned, it’s very pretty.”

***

GamersGlobal - “From what we have seen, we were not only impressed by the graphics but also the gameplay really pleased us.”

***

Gamesinfusion - “The concept alone is already completely over the top, but it is done in an awesome way. Still Dragon Commander has a lot more to offer: namely, a consistently well-designed game concept that promises quite a bit of fun Friends of both strategy and role-playing games should keep their eyes on this game.”

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Gamecity - “I was quite excited by what the developers presented us.”

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Gamestrend - “Dragon Commander was for us the surprise of the show. It was presented behind closed doors but keep an eye on this one! We are enthusiastic about the crazy mix with its impressive technology. It became one of our secret favorites. The game catapulted itself into our hearts.”

Rock, Paper, Shotgun

“It’s a focused, ambitious and visually gorgeous brew of roleplaying, strategy and aerial combat, ….I liked Dragon Commander here an awful lot, and not purely because of rocket-boosted dragons and icky skeletal romance. Can’t wait to see more of this one.”

Full press article

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Spazio Games
[our translation]

“We were 'contaminated' by the developers' enthusiasm and will continue to follow up on the project's progress as they continue their work and give definitive shape to the game. After all, it's difficult to ignore a game whose protagonist is a dragon! “

Full press article

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Dievorezimas.Lt
[our translation]

“It was hard to hide my open admiration.”

Full press article

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Gamepro

"The already impressive looking demo showed at Gamescom today was built in just 4-5 weeks, though, so given a year or so to develop and refine the game further, the Belgian developer could well have a sleeper strategy hit on its hands."

Dragon Commander also received first mention in the “The GamePro Alternative Gamescom Awards”

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N4G

"It's still early days yet, but this is looking like a really fun game."

Full press article

Dragon Commander in the Japanese press "This was the best new title in the show!"

Although we don’t understand much of the language, the journalist told us “I honestly think that it was the best new title in the show.”

So we are convinced this is a pretty good article!

Full Japanese article

If you want to read it in English, please try the following