Black Sigil Released

By Shamus Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009

Filed under: Video Games 27 comments

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled has been released. I intended to write about this sooner but got caught up in the city project. This is the indie game I worked on for several months last year. It’s a very old-school jRPG style game for the Nintendo DS. I’ll have a later post talking about the game and my experience working on it, but I wanted to let you know the game was available now.

EDIT: Delayed. Alas. I’ll write about the game when it actually hits the shelves.

 


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27 thoughts on “Black Sigil Released

  1. Magnus says:

    Looks good, graphically reminds me of Chrono Trigger. The story reminds me of something else, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

    Might even make me dust off my DS, if I can get it in the UK.

  2. Tesh says:

    Mmm… might just have to pick this one up. My FFTA2 binge is wearing off, and I don’t remember where my Golden Sun cart is.

  3. Cybron says:

    I thought of Chrono Trigger as well. Also kind of reminds me of Lunar. Both were games I enjoyed immensely. Suppose I’ll have to check it out.

  4. ArcoJedi says:

    Congratulations Shamus, it looks good. Of course, now that the other comments have said so, I can’t NOT see Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy. But it looks original too.

    I notice the one city in the screen shots is named “Xanadu”. Wasn’t that already a Nintendo game? Do I detect an homage? Nice job all around.

  5. PDClone says:

    I don’t know if you’re allowed, but could you maybe elaborate some more about this? Like maybe you could post some concrete examples of the work you have been responsible for in this game.

  6. Um – it was *supposed* to have been released this week, but even checking the site will tell you “Release Date: May 12th, 2009”.

    1. Shamus says:

      Blast. I got an email last month letting me know the game was being released on the 14th, and I made a note to post about it when the time came.

      Ah well. At least this means I didn’t miss the release date.

  7. So it isn’t actually released yet? Well, I might give it a try whenever it does make it to shelves!

  8. Vincent Dehaut says:

    Sorry Shamus, forgot to keep you updated – that one is my fault :(

  9. Blake Goutier says:

    Could you review the game, break it down for us?

  10. Jeff says:

    Aye, I’d kinda like a bit of information as well. jRPG as in turn based FF-style combat? Zelda-like combat? Leveling system?

    You don’t have to claim to write an unbiased preview, this is your blog after all. ;)

  11. Bret says:

    Bit of a conflict of interest there, though.

    “It is the best game ever. Buy it or your loved ones will die of cancer.”

    And as accurate as the first statement may well be…

  12. Eldiran says:

    I’d also enjoy a ‘review’; specifically, a breakdown of gameplay and such. Details are pretty scarce about this game, but it looks pretty good. I just need to know how the gameplay is before I get it.

  13. AGrey says:

    As much as i’d love to support small-company games, I neither own a DS nor play JRPG’s.

    best of luck to you, though

  14. wildweasel says:

    I look forward to this – I was actually wondering how soon it was supposed to come out, considering I hadn’t heard about it in a while.

  15. neriana says:

    “old-school jRPG style game for the Nintendo DS”

    That alone makes me want it, badly. The screenshots just make me want it more. I’m glad it’s not out yet, I have other things I need to get done next week.

  16. Kajen says:

    I don’t own a DS, but I remember countless hours of JRPG sessions on my Game Boy (yup, I’m that old).

    There’s no chance of a port to something like, let’s say… emulator on PC, is there? I’m definitely willing to pay, but I just don’t need a DS (well, except for playing Black Sigil, obviously).

  17. Varil says:

    Awww. I don’t have a DS, but this game looks neat.

  18. K says:

    I actually have two DSs. Does “old school” include tediousness, lack of savepoints, horrible difficulty and mindnumbingly stupid controls? If no, I might just buy it, I am searching for a decent DS game right now and I like JRPGs.

  19. Vincent Dehaut says:

    I don’t want to engage in shameless self-promotion here, nor do I want to steal Shamus’ thunder, but I figure I can answer the technical questions, so…

    Tediousness is a bit vague. However, you don’t have to grind levels to progress.

    Lack of savepoints shouldn’t be too much of an issue. You can save anywhere on the World Map, at savepoints, and there’s also a Quicksave function if you need to stop playing *right now*.

    Horrible difficulty? That’s a matter of taste, obviously, so I won’t comment except to refer to my comment about grinding, and the lack thereof. :)

    As for controls, I find them fairly intuitive. That said, since you can play the game with only the keypad, only the stylus, or both combined, I’m fairly certain that you’ll at least be able to choose which mindnumbingly stupid controls you want to use :)

  20. mockware says:

    I bought a DS a while back because I had to have PuzzleQuest and it was only on the DS or PSP at first. I then found out that there was a plethora of turn-based RPG and strategy titles out there and I’ve been in gaming nirvana. Before this, I was lamenting how the PC platform abandoned me for RTS and FPS games. This does look interesting but is it turn-based?

  21. Mari says:

    I am officially sad. My lack of any particular desire to own a DS is keeping me from A) playing what looks to be a pretty awesome game B) supporting an indie developer and C) enjoying the fruits of Shamus’ labor. I guess I could get the kids a DS and then steal it to play Black Sigil.

  22. freykin says:

    I plan on getting it once it comes out. I tried to pre-order it a while back at my FLGS, and it wasn’t in their system yet, but I’m sure I’ll be in before that release date hits.

  23. pwiggi says:

    Visually, it reminds me of Secret of Mana (and the Seiken Densetsu series in general). This is a very good thing! Some of my fondest gaming memories are of me, my brother, and a friend of mine (with our SNES multitap thingy) playing through SoM in 3-player mode. Good times.

  24. Telas says:

    Impending congratulations. I was wondering what your super-secret project was.

    But I’m calling shenanigans on either the title or the category. The title makes far too much sense to be a JRPG. It should be called something like “Synonymous Llama: Exit of the Found” or something equally puzzling.

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