The Lady, The Mage, and The Knight - A European action/RPG being developed by Larian Studios for Attic Entertainment Software, LMK is set in the same world as Attic's Realms of Arkania games (Shadows Over Riva). It promises a truly interactive world and isometric graphics reminiscent of recent Ultima games, but with the action-based gameplay of Diablo.

Mordor II: Darkness Awakening - This 3D action/RPG hybrid shareware game is being developed by VB Designs with hardware support for 3D accelerator cards.

Quest for Glory V: Dragonfire - This is Sierra Studios' latest game in its adventure/RPG hybrid series. In addition to having the best graphics seen yet in the series, Quest for Glory V will include multiplayer features as well. It is scheduled to be released in September.
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Rage of Mages - Created by a Russian development team and originally released under the name Allods: Sealed Mystery, this title was recently acquired by Monolith for North American distribution. Featuring a combination of RPG and real-time strategy elements, Rage of Mages features well-done 3D graphics displayed from an isometric perspective.

Revenant - Another big action/RPG release for 1998, Revenant is being developed by Cinematix for Eidos Interactive. Featuring multiplayer support and some incredible isometric graphics, Revenant is set to challenge Diablo 2 for king of the RPG hybrids.

Underlight - Another massively multiplayer online RPG set in a persistent gaming world, Underlight was recently released by Lyra Studios and is available at Mplayer (for $14.95 per month). Unlike other online RPGs, Underlight strongly encourages you to role-play a character seriously and will even kick out players who are out of character. There are no NPCs in Underlight, so you'll know that every character you meet is controlled by another human player.

1999 and Beyond
Of course some of the games covered in this feature won't end up being released until 1999, notwithstanding their current 1998 target release dates. In addition to those tardy games, a number of 1999 blockbuster RPGs have already been announced, including The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind from Bethesda Softworks; Elysium and Good and Evil from those annihilators, Cavedog; Activision's Legend of the Five Rings and Vampire: the Masquerade; Nox, from Virgin Interactive; and Planescape and Stonekeep II from Interplay Productions.

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