Aether & Iron is coming soon to Steam, a role-playing game set in an alternate timeline with crazy ideas. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus has fallen in love with the style and wishes he had heard about it earlier. Then again, maybe it’s better this way, because there’s no annoying long wait…
I love noir films and the whole genre as a setting for… everything. Some of my seminar papers in college even focused on this topic. This classic style of the USA in the 1930s, where everyone wears hats and coats and drives fancy cars – it all creates such a unique atmosphere.
Accordingly, my hidden favorite games include gems like L.A. Noire (even though I must admit: I’ve never finished it). Unfortunately, aside from the Mafia series, there are only a few video games set in this genre. At least one more is coming soon.
What’s this new game about? Aether & Iron is a tactical role-playing game that will be released on Steam on March 31. The premise here is quite wild:
- In an alternate timeline, the “Aether” technology was discovered in the 1930s, which changed everything – a bit like the reverse idea of Fallout.
- Gravity hardly plays a role anymore: cities float, cars drive with anti-gravity on streets of blue light.
- All of this takes place in old New York and tells a classic gangster story with shady employers, cynical nihilistic smugglers, and an “innocent” girl who is “accidentally” being pursued by a professional killer. Ah, delightful!
All of this sounds like exactly the game I’ve wanted for a long time and about which I heard too late. Fortunately, Aether & Iron is coming out soon and currently offers a free demo that I, of course, checked out immediately.
Small note: The game is fully voiced in English and captures that noir tone perfectly, which sounds wonderfully dark and edgy. There is a written translation available in German.
Aether & Iron plays like a mix of Point & Click and RPG
I haven’t seen much of Aether & Iron yet, simply because I only became aware of it just before writing this article. But since I’m already a fan of RPGs and find the atmosphere exciting, I took a little peek.
The ideas of the setting are merged into a gameplay somewhere between Point & Click and RPG. Exploration takes place in clickable images and via a navigated map, not by actively walking around.
Fights, on the other hand, are turn-based and… happen on the streets. Yes, you can ram enemies with the fancy luxury cars, shoot with a shotgun out of the passenger window, or just quickly whip out the trunk Gatling.
Of course, there are dice rolls based on various talents that can be increased through level-ups. You also learn new talents that are useful for fights and find companions who support you – and who can also be leveled up.
Many things remind me of Shadowrun and thus one of the best pen & paper games ever
Just the combat UI already made me think of Shadowrun right away in the preview, specifically the video games based on the tabletop. Shadowrun takes place in a not-so-distant, dystopian future, where corporations have seized power. So… more than today, anyway.
But the story also comes into play: In Shadowrun, you usually play these runners who operate outside the law and spy on or sabotage corporations in mercenary jobs. In Aether & Iron, I am… “freelancing” for some Johnson, who has jobs for me.
Shadowrun is one of my favorite RPGs because it doesn’t tell hero stories, but emphasizes the difficulties of survival in an unfair world full of inequalities. For that reason, it is among the games that are at least as good as D&D.
Aether & Iron strikes the same chord but takes on a setting that is at least as exciting, albeit much less explored – much to my delight. The reviews on Steam, even though there are only 52 so far, are already very positive
. So there might be material for a hidden gem, and luckily I will soon be on vacation and already have an idea of what I will be playing.
The RPG also reminded me a lot of New Arc Line, which I thought was great when I first played it, but it is still not finished. Here too I hope that something will happen soon, as the steampunk RPG looks promising: New RPG like Baldur’s Gate 3 appears in early access, mixing fantasy with steampunk
