Living In A Material World: Sui Generis

Sui Generis squeaked past the target of its £150,000 Kickstarter campaign and the latest pre-alpha video makes me extremely happy that it did. For those who don't remember, it's an open world fantasy RPG with ludicrously involved physical interactions and a new video shows impressive combat, weapons and shields clashing believably, attractively desolate landscapes and a player character tripping over a chair. Momentum causes her to tumble and after dusting herself down, she picks the offending furniture up and places it under the table. All is as it should be. I haven't been so entertained by a comedic interaction with a chair since my last Harold Lloyd binge, or that one scene in The Big Lebowski. Watch in high definition to see the wonderful collision detection at work during combat.

It reminds me of nothing more than Ultima VII, which similarly existed in a world constructed of interactive components rather than on top of a painted background. On this evidence, this is a world that I want to engage with, even if I fear that I'd spend most of my time picking fights with the locals just to die by their swords.