After
THQ was declared bankrupt, developers of
Darksiders and
Darksiders II from
Vigil Games have formed
Airship Syndicate. Their creative director and CEO
Joe Madureira (
Astonishing X-Men,
Ultimates 3) happen to be a veteran comic-book artist for
Marvel Comics and needless to say that his run on the industry was quite legendary as he played a key-role in revolution of the long-running
Uncanny X-Men series.
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| Battle Chasers: Nightwar Artwork Released |
In his time as an artist for
Image Comics, he left a series;
Battle Chasers unfinished and when his team of
Airship Syndicate selected the title to be made into their first turn-based
RPG project, both Joe and his die-hard fans were jumping with joy in excitement. The game,
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is going to see its release on October, 2017 and lead artist
Joe Mad has released a couple pieces of concept arts ahead of the release.
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| Gully |
Most of the chat in this game takes place via 'dialogue portraits' as it used to be in the old days RPGs. Some of the characters were done before they came up with the concept for it. For example, the major role of the series is of a little girl named Gully. In the comic-book arc, she is younger but here in the game, she is more grown up now. The hood of her cloak is over her head now and she doesn't wear shorts anymore.
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| Garrison |
The second in line is the sword-wielding, lone-warrior Garrison. Though, he is not the character that the plot revolves around, yet he is the primary male protagonist here. Considering all other facts in hand, his design layouts probably remained the closest to the original he had.
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| Red Monika |
The game certainly is bringing back the gun-toting, beautifully voluptuous bounty hunter Red Monika. They had to bring her for her link with both Gully and Garrison. Here, her design gets under some changes as ‘proportions’ of her frame is slightly changed. While playing, she will have to jump around, fire those guns in her disposal and all that. So, Joe maintained a balance of keeping her agile and sexy at the same time, even though the changes have upset a lot of fans.
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| Knolan |
A wizard, who is fighting the good fight for centuries, Knolan is the same old' grumpy gandolf as ever. A mentor to Gully, his final designs also remained as closed to the original as was in the books.
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| Calibretto |
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| Calibretto Concept Art |
Another fan-favorite character from the series was the war golem Calibretto, who joined the heroes in their noble quest. This gentle giant returns as the fabled story has started adapting into a modern RPG and by the looks of it, the color scheme of his armor got brighter. Otherwise, every other aspect is almost the same as they were when we saw them on printed pages.
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| Alumon |
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| Alumon Concept Art |
Battle Chasers: Nightwar has introduced a brand-new character for the game, who never debuted on the pages of comic before. A demon hunter in nature, Alumon was added to the Battle Chasers roster of heroes after fans have stretched a goal on the
Kickstarter campaign for the game. Alumon uses dark magic and he is a mysterious persona whom you might mistake as a villainous figure at first. The mask on his face is partially responsible for that vibe though.
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| Battle Chasers: Nightwar Splash Art |
Joe did the first piece of splash art for
Battle Chasers: Nightwar, that colorist Christian Lichtner has later touched up. Now, this was the first time he drew the characters for the first time in many years and given the fact that the original colorist from the series also collaborated on this piece, made it even special.
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| Battle Chasers: Nightwar Alternate Splash Art |
The first piece of splash art is amazing and there are no doubts about it. Then, Madureira created another alternate version of the original. This one featured his line art and Grace Liu poured life in it with his exceptional coloring skills. This took quite a long time to finish as the artist constantly ran out of space on paper he was drawing on and had to attach more and more every time he did. The scan process was also tiring and the whole experience brought the sweet result in the end.
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| Junkers and Bandits |
The junkers and bandits you will come across during your exploring in the game have a little place in the concept board as well. The heroes will be meeting them on places all over the island they embark their adventurous journey on. Often, they might seem like the different variation of the same model if you notice closely.
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| Wargolem Gunhulk Concept Art |
The saga of
Battle Chasers takes place in a steampunk reality setup where technology is blended into the mix of sword and sorcery very well. So, you shouldn't be surprised when you encounter a giant who wields a big-ass machine-gun and points it at your face as you plan to make your next move. The name Wargolem Gunhulk clearly announces the source of inspiration for creating such creature.
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| First Combat Background |
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| The Second Dungeon |
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| Vibrant World Visual |
While creating the concept for the surrounding environment, the artist made a couple of experiments with the already existing lore of fantasy setting that he created years ago. Sometime, he just took a few pieces of his previous work and meshed it with something entirely new. The final visual of the concepts are quite spectacular to be accurate.
Upon witnessing such a parade of masterful artwork for the game, it is safe to say that
Airship Syndicate was totally aware of what they were designing and why fans were so hyped out for the project from its Kickstarter days. Needless to say that while the designs and drawings are a prime asset for the game, it doesn't lack in gameplay either.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar will be available to play on
Mac,
PC,
PlayStation 4 and
Xbox One from October 3, 2017. Owners of
Nintendo Switch will have their hands on the game on December 31.
