By Nathan Grayson on June 15th, 2012 at 3:00 pm.
Adam first spotted The Real Texas last year, but – to be perfectly honest – I hadn’t heard of it until very, very recently. Conveniently, however, it’s now officially buyable, playable, and possibly edible, so take that, Past Adam. Current Adam is way cooler than you anyway. At any rate, this is exciting news! For those in need of a refresher, The Real Texas looks like the silliest thing, stuffing Zelda-esque dungeon-crawling, Ultima-style progression, and heaping ten-gallon-hat-loads of whimsy into a vision of Texas that’s described as “a Kafka-esque parody stuck halfway between modern-day America and olden-days, RPG England.” Given that I grew up in Texas and learned all my childhood life lessons from RPGs set in olden-days RPG England, uh, sold. Sold forever.
In addition to all the dungeon-crawling and stuff-collecting, there’s gunfight combat that seems a bit Robotron-esque – only you can’t aim while moving. Unsurprisingly, Kitty Lambda notes that it ends up “pretty challenging in places,” with smart use of a varied arsenal turning the tide just as much as quick-drawing and any related McGrawing. Also, this bit sounds potentially brilliant to me:
“There is also a keyword system, which is used for trying out secret actions you might have thought of, or mentioning certain key phrases to NPCs. It’s definitely not a text adventure game where you have to type very often, but it’s super fun to figure out a secret topic to mention to somebody, and hear what they have to say.”
I absolutely love games that go the extra mile in terms of personality with tiny, possibly even superfluous mechanics like that, so I can’t wait to go spew random gibberish at NPCs. On paper, The Real Texas sounds wonderful, and I’ve just finished downloading it. You will find words about it – perhaps even on this very site - soon.
15/06/2012 at 15:11 SMiD says:
This just looks fun. I’m getting an almost Earthboundian feel from that trailer, and it makes my nuts tingle. I wonder how it plays; is there a demo of this?
15/06/2012 at 15:21 ThTa says:
I was wondering the same thing, but the site makes no mention of it. (It is, apparantly, on sale until sunday, though.)
Then again, his mum calls it “A triumph” and who are we to go against her word?
(Seriously though, cute as though this may look, I’d like some sort of demo prior to purchasing it.)
15/06/2012 at 15:28 adonf says:
Same here. I’d especially like to know if it works on Intel integrated graphics chips. The website only mentions Nvidia and ATI but it’s the kind of games I’ll only find the time to play on a laptop (stupid family wants me to spend time with them and not locked in my study!)
15/06/2012 at 16:17 Lucas Says says:
I’ve had nary a trouble playing it on my year old laptop with an Intel chip. Doesn’t seem to be too demanding.
15/06/2012 at 17:01 adonf says:
Awesome, thank you.
15/06/2012 at 15:18 marcusfell says:
Having grown up in Texas, I can assure you this needs 140% more Ford F150s. (Its a truck)
15/06/2012 at 17:17 roguewombat says:
Sorry, pardner, but it’s a game.
16/06/2012 at 04:55 jrodman says:
Series.
Of.
Tubes.
15/06/2012 at 17:50 RakeShark says:
And the grass needs to be brown, from drought.
15/06/2012 at 19:23 Phantoon says:
Needs more Lightning.
Edit: YEAH THAT’S RIGHT, TRUCK PUNS. BEST FETCHERSELF A DICTIONBOOK SOS YOU CITY BOYS CAN KEEP UP.
16/06/2012 at 06:06 Matt says:
*blows on a jug*
15/06/2012 at 15:21 Deadly Habit says:
This game is awesome, played it all last night.
15/06/2012 at 15:23 lhzr says:
Hah, been waiting for this since RPS first posted about it. Insta-buy !
15/06/2012 at 15:25 Screwie says:
Greatest walking animation ever.
15/06/2012 at 16:21 Wizardry says:
What does “Ultima-style progression” mean?
15/06/2012 at 17:00 adonf says:
name / job / bye
15/06/2012 at 17:07 Torgen says:
bank buy guards i will take thee.
15/06/2012 at 17:16 adonf says:
you know you only need to type the first four letters, right?
15/06/2012 at 17:43 somini says:
That would be not progressing past level 9, unless you change spin-off.
15/06/2012 at 19:01 Phantoon says:
Texas, we don’t have dem “liberries” heah, shotgun.
15/06/2012 at 20:56 JackDandy says:
I took the plunge and got this game since the Ultima-Zelda crossover fascinated me.
So far it’s really nice, the sense of humor is great and it has good design in general. The graphics are very basic (almost too much), but it’s nothing too bad.
16/06/2012 at 04:38 Miltrivd says:
OK, I was a bit doubtful, but the quotes from the top of their site just won me over. If that type of humor is in the game, well, I want that.