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E3 2002: Black Isle Studios announces Lionheart

Developed by Reflexive Entertainment, this fantasy-themed role-playing game will be set in an alternate-reality Renaissance era.

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Today, Interplay officially announced Lionheart, a new role-playing game in development for its Black Isle Studios brand. The game is being developed by Reflexive Entertainment, whose previous credits include Star Trek Away Team. Lionheart will use Reflexive's own Velocity engine, rather than the Infinity engine seen in many of Black Isle's role-playing games. The game will be set in an alternate-reality 16th-century Europe, approximately 400 years after Richard the Lionhearted's regin and the Third Crusade. During these violent times, a magical catastrophe is unleashed upon the earth. Centuries later, civilization is still trapped in the Dark Ages and is merely on the verge of enlightenment--so the world is filled with dark magic and mysticism.

"Lionheart will offer complex character development in a world completely unlike your generic fantasy computer role-playing game," stated Chris Parker, senior producer for the project. "The player can focus his or her character on swordplay, archery, or the forbidden arts of magic--all options are laid before you in a classless and open-ended system."

The game will borrow the "SPECIAL" role-playing system seen in Interplay's Fallout and Fallout 2 games--an open-ended character generation system allowing players to specialize their characters in various types of combat, stealth, and social graces. Interplay promises that the game will feature complex tactical combat, high-quality isometric graphics, and a four-player multiplayer mode in addition to the core single-player game. Lionheart will be on display at E3 2002. We'll have more details on the game from the show floor.

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