Paradox Interactive has announced that they’ll be handling publishing duties for XperimentalZ Games’ Escape the Mad Empire under their Paradox Arc (alternative game publishing) label. It’s set to launch into early access sometime this year.
Escape the Mad Empire has been quietly in development for quite a number of years now. However, with that sweet, sweet PR budget, there’s now a nice new trailer for us to watch and a demo to play. Both of these outline the unique action/strategy mix that is put to use.
I played a bit of the demo since I wasn’t able to fully grok the gameplay based on the trailer. While Escape the Mad Empire is a loot-heavy roguelite, you control a party of adventurers. However, this isn’t a turn-based affair. The action plays out in real time. However, to enable you to control multiple peeps, you can use tactical pause to stop time, and issue commands that instantly get carried out when you unpause.
It’s a neat little system that keeps things moving while also giving you the ability to pull off big attacks against hordes of enemies. There’s also a cover system that encourages movement, so your spellcasters don’t have to stand out in the open like dumbasses. I haven’t played past the tutorial in the demo, but it leaves a good first impression.
Escape the Mad Empire is planned to launch into Early Access sometime in 2024. The demo is available now.
