Larian Studios’ smash hit CRPG Baldur’s Gate 3 uses the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, allowing veteran TTRPG players to utilize their knowledge of the game’s mechanics to get creative while also providing an easy gateway for video gamers to get comfortable with different character classes before joining a D&D game. Paizo is hoping Epictellers Entertainment’s upcoming CRPG Starfinder: Afterlight will serve the same purpose for the new second edition of their science fantasy TTRPG Starfinder.
“I want that experience for our longtime players, but I also want new people to be able to get on board,” Starfinder creative manager Jenny Jarzabski told Polygon in a Zoom call. “Baldur’s Gate fans, come on for a different type of ride into space, especially if you liked things like Guardians of the Galaxy.”
Like Guardians of the Galaxy, Starfinder: Afterlight focuses on a misfit crew traveling the stars to save the world. Epictellers offered Polygon the chance to reveal two of the companions on that journey, who were teased in the game’s announcement trailer.
Tycho is a Ysoki Operative with a mechanical arm and a punk aesthetic, who will be voiced by Inel Tomlinson. Tycho was once a great inventor but he’s fallen on some hard times. Epictellers co-founder Ricard Pillosu told Polygon that he’s the character who will tell the rest of the group to “stop hugging each other, come on, let’s get serious here.”
The Vesk Soldier Kole, voiced by Fred Tatasciore (Hit-Monkey, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes) doing his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, is decidedly unserious. In Starfinder 2E, the Veskarium have just gone to war with the Azlanti Star Empire. Kole’s family pressured him to join the front, but what he really wants is to become an action movie hero. The character’s look and dialogue are inspired by ‘80s action movies. His outfit combines John McClane’s tank top from Die Hard with Indiana Jones’ pants. Kole loves to suck on lollipops, a visual tribute to the 1986 film Cobra where Sylvester Stallone walked around with an unlit match in his mouth.
“He has a big heart,” Pillosu says. “He’s really like a small kid in the end, with big guns, a bit suicidal sometimes.”
Beyond controlling your companions in combat, you’ll be able to interact with and even start romantic relationships with them on your spaceship. The ship serves the purpose of a basecamp as players travel the solar system known as the Pact Worlds. Epictellers co-founder Albert Jane Goset told Polygon he had to rethink exploration for a technologically advanced setting. You can call a taxi to take you somewhere you’ve never been before, but you’ll still need to investigate to discover points of interest on the game’s map.
The first thing players will do is create a character based on the rules of Starfinder, choosing between the game’s eight classes and seven of its ancestries. Epictellers wants to offer all 10 of the ancestries in the Starfinder Player Core and add more voice acting, which is why they’re launching a Kickstarter campaign in October.
It will take about 40 hours to complete the main plot of Starfinder: Afterlight, which is focused on a threat from the undead dwelling on the planet Eox, but players who want to complete every sidequest can spend about twice that time with the game. You’ll start at level 1 and finish at level 7 or 8. Epictellers plans to launch Starfinder: Afterlight in 2027, and as Paizo keeps providing them with more material, the co-founders say they have “endless” potential for DLC and expansions.
Epictellers is taking inspiration from Baldur’s Gate 3 when it comes to translating the TTRPG’s complex mechanics into a CRPG. For instance, more casual players can opt to have the game automatically take reactions like an attack of opportunity. Character skills and spells will be important to exploring and solving puzzles, and dice will be effectively constantly rolled in the background to see if characters notice things while walking around.
Paizo has made two adaptations of its flagship fantasy TTRPG Pathfinder – Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – with Owlcat Games, but with the studio currently working on projects based on Warhammer 40,000 and The Expanse, Paizo turned to first-time developers Epictellers Entertainment. Pillosu acknowledges the pressure for his small team to live up to 2023’s Game of the Year.
“That game is impossible to reach in terms of scope and in terms of how masterfully it’s done.” he says. “We feel that you do not need to do Baldur’s Gate 3 in order to do a valuable CRPG and find an audience for it. We are aiming for a quality that is more like the Divinity games that Larian did before, which is a super high bar. … We are inspired by Larian at every point.”
