Copper Dreams is a gritty, isometric combat RPG set in the distant future where the value of human life has been reduced to zero, and where the dregs of society are shipped off-world to Caliatana, a city that can only be described with "hellhole".
I was intrigued when I first heard of it back in February, but now that the Kickstarter campaign has launched and all of the cards have been put on the table I can only say that my interest has been amplified even further. What oldschool RPG fan can resist augmenting their virtual bodies with chainsaws and grappling hooks after all?
Before we go anywhere else, I'd recommend you first check out the short gameplay trailer:
The best part about Copper Dreams is the idea of a completely open world that you can explore on numerous levels, and I don't just mean the video game kind. Given that your character has been wise enough to bring a grappling hook you'll be able to leap from building to building, crash through windows, and if things truly get dire, pretend you're Batman and use your grappling hook to run away tactically retreat from combat. All of this will be possible without the need to load new scenes(aka levels), so if you want to make a plan that somehow involve your team moving across multiple building complexes you have the ability to do so.
In true Cyberpunk fashion you will be able to cut off those useless fleshy bits off and replace them with more... practical tools such as chainsaw arms, or perhaps a built-in harpoon launcher for those situations where you might encounter overly aggressive land-whales. Naturally, there will be plenty of less-intrusive enhancements that can help you control recoil, aim more accurately, run quicker, be stealthier, and so forth. Did I mention the chainsaw hands?
Practical? Hell no! Completely awesome? Hell yes!
The final thing I wanted to highlight is the way HP works in Copper Dreams. Instead of having a flat number that decreases as you get shot Copper Dreams will feature a system of ailments that will not only inch you closer to death, but also negatively impact your stats depending on what sort of injury you suffered. In other words, a minor concussion might result in your aim being shaky until you take the time and rest, a broken leg might make you painfully slow, a bullet to the face might make you flop around the floor in pain until someone can rescue you and send you to the nearby chop-shop, and other such lovely things. Its certainly a unique system, and it makes a lot of sense from both a gameplay and realism standpoint, so I'm actually surprised that this is the first time I'm seeing something like this.
You can read more about Copper Dreams over at the Kickstarter page, but if you're interested specifically in the combat I'd recommend you head over to the most recent update, the developers have made a 10 minute long video going over it in fine detail.
