At a Glance: Raven's Cry

Into the Briny Deep
A lone ship plies through the deepening blue. Sails tattered by storm and gale, the wood creaks gently under foot as it cuts through the darkening waters. The moon shines pale and full, the twilight silver reflected upon the roil. The ship runs silent, runs deep, like a predator stalking prey. Sleek, quiet, dangerous. Through churning mists and phantom vapor it hunts. And it is not long before it finds its first victim; oblivious, alone, ripe with promised plunder.

With a flash of powder and ironed death, the ship punches and splinters weathered wood. Men cry out into the dark one last time before the seas give them their watery grave. Blackened blade, by blood and pitch, strike out to claim those foolish to fight back. And in the end, when pirate hands lay claim to golden treasure, not a man who opposed them is left standing.

They say that the sea runs cold and blue across the world. But, for one brief moment, it runs hot and black with the blood of murderous vengeance.

Drink up me hearties yo ho.


Vengeance and No Virtue
This is a game that oddly managed to fly under the radar at E3 despite some promising visuals and the rumors of its more mature take on the often romanticized (but hardly accurate) life of piracy. From what's been leaked, TopWare Interactive (Two Worlds, Two Worlds II, and upcoming Scivelation) plan on keeping the game grounded in reality. TopWare is promising us that you can forget the fantasy that novels like Treasure Island, or movies like Pirates of the Caribbean often portray them as. Instead of the often bloodthirsty, merciless, virtue-less sycophants they were in real life.

Here, you don't have to worry about doing the noble thing. As Christopher Raven, a man born from vengeance and ruin, you only have to worry about doing what's bad, or doing what's worst. For example, after pulling into the pirate's nest of Port Royal following a tip that a man might know the whereabouts of the gang of cutthroats that murdered his parents when he was a boy, you travel down the seedy alleys of an even seedier port, disease riddled men stare up at you, begging for coin, a bit of mercy, a word of kindness.

You can almost smell the putrid humanity. That oily, rancid stench mixed with too much rum and tobacco smoke. And maybe even a little of that coppery twang of spilled blood. Stepping lightly through the muck and mire, you slip into the port's tavern. There in the back, obscured by shadow and smoke, lies your target. The man sees you, knows who you are, refuses to answer any of your questions. Now you have two options. Neither one noble. You can either stab the man in his hand and force him to talk, or shoot him (and waste a good flintlock) and force him into telling you what you want to know. As you can see, there are no noble heroes here. No paragons or men of august company.

Only pirates.


Sailing the Seven Seas
Not a lot is known past that. For example, just how mature is this mature rated game going to be? Will there be sea battles? Ship to ship skirmishes? Blood and Bullets? Or, well, more like blood and musket shot? I suppose we'll have to wait a little longer to know a little more. But, if the demo and the early visuals carry itself with an equally decent and satisfying story, I can wait until TopWare is ready to let us in on more. Until then, I'll be sharpening my cutlass, making sure my powder stays dry.

And keeping a weathered eye on the horizon.....