Dark Deity is an ambitious strategy-RPG from a rookie team that’s out now

Chip Moore and Dylan Takeyama and came up with a concept for a turn-based strategy-RPG while in college. But Moore was an economics major; he wasn’t in programming or anything like that. So they turned to GameMaker and formed a team, Sword & Axe. They launched a successful Kickstarter and found a publisher, Freedom Games.

Today, that work culminates in the surprise launch of Dark Deity on Steam. It has an evocative, illustrated anime look, with a mix of 2D retro styles. Its Advantage system, which factors in armor, damage, and weapon types, riffs off the likes of Fire Emblem and Pokémon. Leather armor may offer you more protection form blunt damage, but plate mail may not. You assemble a group of wizards and warriors (OK, clerics and rogues, too) from a military academy. Their graduations are a bit rushed, but the that’s how things work in the world of Eltan, which is in the grips of war.