After successfully launching Wasteland 2 last year, InXile Entertainment has now set their sights on rebooting another famed property. At PAX South earlier today, InXile Entertainment CEO Brian Foster announced that the studio will be developing a new entry in The Bard’s Tale franchise.
Tentatively titled The Bard’s Tale IV, this release will serve as a sequel to The Bard’s Tale III, which was released all the way back in 1988. Of course, modern gamers may be more familiar with the other reboot of the series, 2004’s The Bard’s Tale. That title, which was also developed by InXile Entertainment, was met with decent ratings but failed to spark another entry in the franchise.
While not much is known about The Bard’s Tale IV at this time, we do know that it will introduce modern trappings to the classic setting of the franchise. For example, rather than feature the classic dungeon crawler gameplay of the series, the reboot will instead play similar to more modern releases, such as the massively popular Hearthstone.
Similar to the strategy they have taken for their last few titles, InXile Entertainment will look to Kickstarter in order to fund the game. The studio has seen major success in the world of crowd-funding, as the aforementioned Wasteland 2 and their next release, Torment: Tides of Numenera, were both funded through the service.
Although I am familiar with the series, my only experience with The Bard’s Tale came from the 2004 release in the franchise. I thought that release was perfectly adequate, but in the 10 years since, it is apparent that InXile Entertainment has become a much more polished developer. Hopefully their second crack at the series can introduce the classic to a whole new audience.
We will continue to bring you coverage of The Bard’s Tale IV over the coming months, so stay tuned!
