"So what is this big surprise?" I asked John as he led me through the HQ of Arcanum Games.
John grinned. "You'll see."
Everyone in the office was very busy. Some who saw me said their hellos but quickly got back to work, hunched over monitors or clustered in small groups around others filled with lines of code.
It was only a few months until Dark Souls 3 was going to be released, so I understood why everyone was on edge and so busy. As much as I tried and had succeeded in reducing any mandatory crunch that would be detrimental to the employees, the last few months before a game's release always looked like this.
Both Dark Souls games had been massive successes, with Arcanum now valued at over half a billion dollars. And it was only going to grow with the new titles planned.
John glanced at me as we walked. "Is DC going to show any teasers for Man of Tomorrow at Comic-Con?"
"No," I said. "Actually, I'm not that involved this time around. Most of the panel is going to be moderated by Patton Oswalt. I'm only coming on to announce some of the cast for Suicide Squad, and then later to show off the Justice League trailer."
John looked surprised. "Come on, really? Nothing else?"
"We are planning a DC-centric event each year, like Marvel does at the D23 Expo," I explained. "We're going to release the first trailer for Man of Tomorrow and the teasers for Wonder Woman 2 and Suicide Squad during that."
"When?"
"Later this year."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "So what is this big surprise?"
John led me into his office, where he had set up a gaming station on a large monitor. On the screen was a splash image labeled Project Ice and Fire.
I looked at him with wide eyes. "You said it wouldn't be playable for months."
John grinned. "Oh yeah, we kind of fast-tracked it and created, let's just say, something between a vertical slice and an advanced demo."
I quickly walked over and sat down on the couch. John followed, settling in beside me.
The game was the ASOIAF title that was going to be released after Dark Souls 3. John had put a small team on it about a year and a half ago, and they were planning to fully shift to it once Dark Souls 3 was released.
John explained, "After we did the big hiring spree at the beginning of the year, I increased the number of people working on the game. It's playable now."
He took the controller and pressed a button. The screen shifted to a character creator.
"The graphics are, well, early stage," John said. "But we have the gameplay down."
"The Nemesis system is fully implemented?" I asked, leaning forward.
John nodded. "Yep. Well, at least the prototype version we have for the game. There are some bugs, but what we have here is the core gameplay loop."
"Let's play it," I said.
John handed me the controller. "Go ahead. You're the boss."
==========
I created a character. It wasn't detailed, just a male model with no customization options. It was exactly as John had said, something between a vertical slice and an advanced demo.
But there were options for the character's origin:
Riverlands Peasant — You were the son of a farmer or fisherman near Ironman's Bay.
Bastard of the Riverlands — Born of a lord's indiscretion, you carry the name Rivers.
Hedge Knight's Squire — Your knight died in a raid.
Outlaw — You were once a soldier, maybe. Or a criminal. You've survived outside the law in the chaos of the Riverlands.
Ironborn Thrall — Escaped — This one is unique. You were taken in a raid, briefly enslaved, and managed to escape.
John said, "We haven't fleshed all of these out yet."
I picked Bastard of the Riverlands and continued.
Next, I selected traits.
I picked two at random:
Blood Fury — When low on health, you gain a burst of combat power.
Vendetta Memory — When a Nemesis enemy defeats you, you gain a passive tracking bonus against them. You remember them as vividly as they remember you.
The game dropped me straight into the world.
There was no quest marker. No objective prompt. Just the coast road stretching north toward the distant smudge of a fishing village.
The game, based on the lore and detailed notes I had written for John and the team years ago, was set many years before Aegon's Conquest. A few years after the last Justman king died, the Riverlands were in chaos. Raids from the North, raids from the Ironborn, and constant infighting. The Falcons, Lions, and Stags were planning their own invasions. It was a complete mess. In the series lore, I had written that a hundred kings had risen during this time, which made it the perfect setting for the game.
John explained, "This build has a decent amount of content. There are some side quests where the Nemesis system has been integrated, and also a small portion of the main quest where the player helps House Mallister fend off the Ironborn."
I nodded as I took control of the character and began running toward the village. The UI displayed a health bar and a stamina bar, and the controls felt solid. I knew they would only improve.
The village was named Saltwick.
Some houses were smoldering. NPCs who saw the player shied away, their faces turned down. A few people were crying. It reminded me of Velen in The Witcher 3.
I approached the only NPC with a prompt available to talk, an old woman.
The dialogue system opened seamlessly.
"You're not from here," she said. There was no voice acting, only subtitles.
Several response options appeared at the bottom of the screen, written in natural speech rather than labeled as AGGRESSIVE or DIPLOMATIC.
I selected: "Passing through. What happened?"
The woman's response appeared: The village was attacked by Ironborn. They took six people, young ones. One of them was her grandson.
The quest appeared quietly in the corner of the screen.
TAKEN — Find where the Ironborn have made camp and bring back the thralls before the ships return to sea.
"All right, let's do it," I said, heading toward the quest marker.
Following the marker, I arrived at a natural harbor sheltered by a rock outcropping. Two longships were still beached. A camp of roughly fifteen Ironborn warriors stood nearby. The thralls were bound near the waterline, guarded by three men.
John leaned over. "Have one of them kill you. Or better yet, let the leader kill your character so you can see the effects of the Nemesis system."
I nodded and guided my character into battle.
The combat, for now, was third person and heavily inspired by Dark Souls. There were dodge rolls, stamina management, and deliberate, weighty swings.
"We're planning to include a first person option too," John added.
It was challenging, but I managed to kill a few of them. Then the leader, whose name appeared as Godric Pyke, landed a solid hit on me. I tried to recover, but he struck the killing blow.
As I died, Godric mocked me. "Stupid greenlander. Run back to your mud and your sheep."
The screen faded to black.
YOU HAVE FALLEN
Then my character woke up in a camp, bandages wrapped around his head and hands.
John explained, "The player loses some reputation, some gold, parts of their inventory. Sometimes equipment as well."
He pointed at the screen. "Oh look, you lost your sword."
The losses appeared one by one.
A portion of his carried silver.
The sword I had been using.
My reputation in Saltwick, reduced.
And then, at the bottom of the screen, framed slightly differently from the rest:
GODRIC PYKE has taken your blade.
A brief portrait appeared. The reaver leader, Godric Pyke. His rank displayed beneath his name. Reaver Leader had changed to Reaver Commander.
"Motherfucker," I said. "That guy is going down."
I looked at John. "So if I go back there, he'll be there?"
John nodded. "He might be there, or he might have moved on and you'll run into him later. We're experimenting with a mystical element tied to the Old Gods to explain how you didn't actually die."
"I don't know about that."
John shrugged. "We're working on it."
I kept playing. I completed some side quests, leveled up, acquired better equipment, and even redid the Taken quest. I did not find Godric there, but I managed to rescue the thralls safely.
The combat was addictive, an improved version of Dark Souls style combat thanks to the upgraded engine. The dodges felt tighter, the weapon swings more responsive, and the stamina management less punishing while still meaningful.
As I played, I gained another Nemesis in a different way. During a quest, I tracked down a stolen horse for a minor lord's steward and was paid with a recommendation instead of silver. That opened the door to working as a guard in Malliston, the town near House Mallister's castle.
One of the quests there involved breaking up a protection racket operating out of a waystation along the coast road. It became complicated when the man running it turned out to have a brother in Lord Mallister's household guard, and he took it personally.
That brother became a low tier Nemesis. Not yet dangerous, but present. He showed up once, made a pointed remark about my character's parentage, and walked away. The game logged it quietly in the corner:
Ser Edwyn Pryor — Household Guard.
I finally encountered my first Nemesis again through a quest given by Lord Mallister's heir, Desmond Mallister.
The Ironborn had taken Cragraven, an old castle.
Lord Mallister wanted it cleared.
I accepted.
I would have ten men with me.
I guided my character through the fight inside the castle. Ironborn raiders poured out to meet us. The combat was brutal, full of parries, dodges, and careful stamina management as I cut through reavers one by one. My NPC allies helped, but they died quickly if I failed to manage aggro properly.
Godric was bigger than I remembered. Or maybe it was the context. He was wearing better armor now, with half a dozen well armed men at his back.
John leaned forward. "An event could trigger that makes things more difficult."
"What?" I asked, focused on the screen.
I pushed toward the main keep.
There he was.
Godric Pyke.
He looked directly at the camera.
"Wait. I remember you."
He grinned.
"So you're the bastard greenlander who's been causing trouble for us? And I remember killing you."
The fight began.
It was harder than last time. Godric had new moves: feints, shield bashes, and a spinning attack that caught me off guard. I barely managed to dodge as my stamina bar drained rapidly.
I was close to winning. Godric's health was low.
But the man escaped. He had a trait that allowed him to retreat when near death. I was about to chase him down when I was stabbed from behind.
YOU HAVE DIED
The camera shifted.
Ser Edwyn Pryor stood over my body.
"I told you," he said coldly. "You should have stayed out of it."
"What the hell?!" I shouted.
John was grinning. "You didn't notice that one of your lesser Nemeses was nearby? This can happen."
I stared at him, then back at the screen. "That's... great."
John nodded. "You have to pay attention to things like this. Sometimes you make even more powerful enemies, and they might send assassins after you. Or even turn some of your allies against you. There will be an option to start a warband, so..."
I shook my head, impressed. "John, we are going to make a lot of money from this. If we can release it after season three of the show comes out, which I'm sure will be the most popular show on Earth by then, the sales are going to be through the roof."
John nodded. "Give me two and a half years. I'll have it done for you."
I returned to the game.
First, I went after Edwyn Pryor.
It was a mistake. Killing him made me wanted, and I was branded an outlaw and a murderer. A bounty appeared on my head. Guards attacked me on sight in Malliston.
John told me, "We'll be adding more features to make the kills stealthier, or to let you arrange for the target to be alone. Accidents. Poison. That kind of thing."
"That sounds good," I said.
I kept playing. I wanted to continue until I found Godric Pyke again.
And I found him.
He had been promoted. Captain Godric now. I had to kill some of his reaver commanders first, since he was surrounded by bodyguards.
Finally, I cornered him at an Ironborn fortress on the beach.
He laughed when he saw me.
"You again? Persistent little shit, aren't you? I'm going to flay you alive and have you tied up on the mast of my ship."
The fight began.
The combat was even more intense this time. Godric had learned from our last encounter. He blocked more, dodged better, and punished my mistakes harder.
I parried his overhead strike, rolled past his shield bash, and landed three clean hits in a row using one of my traits. His health dropped to zero.
He fell to his knees.
The camera lingered on his face as he spat blood.
"Greenlander bastard," he muttered.
Then he collapsed.
The loot appeared.
Reclaimed: Bastard's Blade — Epic
It was the sword I had lost at the beginning.
I put the controller down.
I turned to John and shook his hand. "Do you need more money?"
John laughed. "It could help."
"As much as you want," I said. "This is going to be massive."