When was the first time you agonized over decisions about characters you'd only known a few hours?
Some might say Baldur's Gate, maybe Dragon Age, Neverwinter Nights, Fallout, or even Mass Effect. Maybe it was at a table covered in dice and character sheets? For me, holding my head in my hands and moaning "oh gosh, what do I choose!?" is one of my favorite struggles in gaming.
Wait, wait! Hear me out.
Perhaps I ought to provide a little backstory, first?
Start at the beginning, as they say.
Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists was made by A Sharp, a tiny game studio that, like the makers of many of the above-mentioned games, has its roots in TTRPGs, and a game library starting in the 90s. You can feel the magic of these seasoned word-smiths, as every sentence builds the world around you, breathes life into characters and creatures alike from the moment you encounter them. Paired with these vocabulary-enriching entries are gorgeous landscapes, captivating scenes, and just-the-right-level-of-moody music.
Many times I've read reviews talking about being "swept up into the world of" X, Y, or Z, but rarely have I actually felt it. Jade Empire, on the original Xbox (and likely part of my bisexual awakening. Bioware players; I see you, I am you) was one game that delivered such an experience, and Thousand Hells has proven itself to be another.
That said, there is a stark difference between Bioware games of yore, and Thousand Hells. In the previously mentioned titles, you can drop a save and reload if you choose poorly; not so in the latter.
Decision-making, when you can't quick-save and reload, has a wholly different emotional weight. At first, I flailed about and even restarted a scenario several times over. Decisions that can't be undone are uncomfortable, but I think that makes games like this really important (heck, now more than ever).
In an age when every uncertainty can be soothed by a quick internet search, meals we weren't yet hungry for, and solutions we didn't know we had problems for, are offered to us without any seeking or effort on our parts, I think it's important that we practice making decisions that are (or at least feel) important to us.
TTRPGs are sometimes talked about as a safe space to make mistakes, where people can practice social interaction and decision-making, and I think that Thousand Hells carries that spirit within its bones.
For all these reasons, and more, I love me some PC RPGs (and tabletop ones), but did you ever wish you could just play an RPG that was all "companion quests" and exploring cool worlds, with zero fetch-quests, plot-armor, or random little mini-games? Like "Oops, all character development, lore, and exploration!": The Game.
Well, if you have, then I have good news.
'Cause you found it. We found it.
A Sharp made it. A blessing from the RPG gods.
It is Thousand Hells: The Underworld Heists
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a team to (hopefully) get the hell back outta Hell.
This blog is written entirely by one human being and their wordy ramblings: no AI was or will be used, ever. Art by artists: not by algorithms.
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