MOONRING...

... is a free (via "another platform"), retro-inspired ("heir to Ultima"), open-world, turn-based RPG developed by a single dev with experience on Fable (Xbox). Hope in time it might release on GOG? This should definitely be here! ;)

"Moonring is a retro-inspired open-world, turn-based, tile RPG in the style of the classic Ultima games, but created from the ground up with modern design sensibilities.

The world's geography is hand-designed, but the deadly dungeons beneath the surface reconfigure each time you leave... or die.

Travel, trade, sneak, fight and sail the world of Caldera. Speak with the townsfolk, learn Caldera's secrets, and challenge the Archon for his throne... or even overthrow the Gods themselves!

Features:
- Large, hand-designed open world
- An infinite supply of dungeons generated using your character name
- Over 100 varied enemy types, from fodder to bosses
- 35 unique Gifts from the Gods, their usage changing with the moon phases
- Sailing, ship-to-ship combat and boarding
- A Dungeon Synth OST with over 50 tracks, all made using retro Mod Trackers!
- A hidden magic system and many other mysteries

A note from the creator:

Hi folks. I've loved RPGs since the early 1980s, and grew up playing games like Lord British's 'Ultima' series and early Roguelikes. This is my love-letter to a style of gaming that has largely fallen out of fashion: with its vivid, bright sprites overlaid on stark black backgrounds, true open-world gameplay, and lack of handholding. The days I spent playing these games were spent in joyful exploration and discovery, venturing into the dark unknown, a co-author of the experience, filling in the gaps left by the primitive art with my imagination. For those of you who did the same, I hope Moonring recaptures some of the spirit of those days for you. For those who did not, I hope that the more modern conveniences you find in this game allow you to catch a glimpse of what we did 40 years ago.

My heartfelt thanks to all who spared even a moment to play this. Please be kind to my mistakes. I will fix them. :-)

- Dene"

trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBakwSgyroU

Splattercatgaming gameplay (with links): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krs1Kr38og4&t=1671s

Since this seems to be the more detailed thread, I'll mention here too that it's also available on itch. It seemed to have been left behind on updates, with the dev initially saying to go to Discord for the updates, but then immediately bringing it up to date on itch as well. So may need some more reminders in the future, but is willing to keep it updated at least.

Discord: where things go to be buried away and die. I really don't get so many people putting tings there (and especially only there). In the tabletop RPG space, so many great fan updates and rulesets have been permanently lost (or only old versions kept) because "they're on Discord".

And so much undiscovered because Discord is unindexed, unsearchable even if you're there. And its UX if you try it is abyssmal anyway. Put things on the open web, people!

OP, thanks for sharing about this. I'll investigate Moonring.

Not a fan of Discord, we all know who the CEO is in bed with.

I'll look at Moonring too. Is English the only option?

Indeed.
But then again, when did people generally make sense?

I have absolutely no idea.

Great game. Overall better or at least at the level of a lot of other similar purchasable games

But what I have experienced for some hours is that the game is pretty unstable right now. It use to crash a lot when talking to NPCs. Your manual save is ignored and you restart in the game checkpoint, losing progress. A bit annoying.

When it is ready itl will be a modern classic. Interesting as a roguelike (I mean Rogue heritage) and as an Ultima game style. The aesthetics are very charming too. Good retro art direction changing the palette depending the place and hour of the day and using some kind of neon meets CGA colours visuals.

The company who owns League and are such hacks they can't make an original game for themselves.

I stll have no idea who owns League and what is "League". I was expecting a direct answer regarding Discord CEO and bed, but don't bother - it's off-topic anyway.

I can't read that without dropping the r, for some reason.

As to the game, the description (other than the word "Ultima") is appealing to me. Ultima was a major reason I hated RPGs in the 80s (and, after years of RPGs being my favorite genre, and giving Ultima games many more chances, I still can't tolerate any Ultima except Underworld and Ascension, in spite of my preference for turn-based games). Given that the only freely downloadable version is Windows-only (in spite of being written using a cross-platform engine), I won't even put the effort into getting this to run. Oh well. At least I didn't have to waste money to find this out.

Looks interesting for old school.

Also concur about discord. I truly hate how everything is being gated and walled on the internet. Where a user can have their entire account blocked from them, because they ask a question in one channel that annoyed the channel moderator.