 |
| Artwork by Eren Arık (Metis Creative), originally shared via ASTRA ARCANUM Developer Logs. All Rights Reserved. |
After my first look at ASTRA ARCANUM, I went back and spent more time with the project’s Developer Logs. Not trailer but the actual dev logs from Kickstarter: the messy, in-progress stuff where systems are still being argued over, broken, rebuilt, and occasionally thrown out.
That context matters, because everything below is very much in the works. These aren’t promises etched in stone.
They’re design intentions, openly shared while the game is still being shaped.
What follows is a breakdown of the key ideas emerging from the developer logs — all very much still in progress.
Stress isn’t a status effect
One of the clearest through-lines in the developer logs is how central Stress is to the game’s design.
This isn’t a bolt-on sanity meter. Stress replaces the idea of “minor wounds” entirely and represents cumulative physical and psychological pressure: near misses, mental intrusion, fatigue, the grind of staying alive.
When Stress maxes out, you don’t simply drop unconscious. What happens next depends on your Psychological Profile — something you choose during character creation. You might hold it together. You might spiral. Either way, it’s tied directly to who your character is supposed to be, not a random panic roll.
It’s a small mechanical shift, but it reframes combat as endurance, not just damage.
Combat starts before the dice
Another design choice that stood out in the dev logs is the initiative system — or rather, the lack of a traditional one. Instead of rolling to see who goes first, players choose how they want to enter the fight: fast and aggressive, balanced, or slow and deliberate. Each stance trades speed for action economy.
What I like here isn’t just the mechanic. It’s what it forces at the table: a conversation. Players have to agree on intent before the shooting starts. Combat becomes something you consciously step into, not something that just triggers.
That kind of friction is intentional, and it's usually the sign of good game design.
Classes built around risk, not comfort
The Armiger classes, as described across multiple dev logs, lean heavily into strong identities and built-in tradeoffs. Bastions absorb punishment. Vitalists flirt with ethically questionable biology. Synths treat the battlefield like a network to be exploited. None of these feel designed to be “safe” picks.
I also appreciate how openly the team discusses cutting or reworking ideas that don’t land. The Combat Medic archetype being removed and folded into a broader class because it wasn’t fun enough is the kind of decision you usually don’t see until after release — if ever.
Seeing it happen during development builds trust.
 |
| Artwork by Eren Arık (Metis Creative), originally shared via ASTRA ARCANUM Developer Logs. All Rights Reserved. |
Cybernetics with social weight
Cybernetics are another recurring topic in the developer logs, and they’re handled in a way that feels more thoughtful than most sci-fi RPGs. Augments aren’t just mechanical upgrades. They’re social signals. Heavy, visible chrome marks you as working-class or expendable. Clean, discreet enhancements signal wealth and status. Limb loss is expected, and the quality of your replacement says something about where you sit in the Solar Reach.
That’s worldbuilding that shows up naturally in play, not just in lore chapters.
A quick word on the artwork
It’s also worth calling out the artwork being shared alongside these developer logs, because it’s doing a lot of quiet heavy lifting.
In the artist spotlight update, Eren Arık (LinkedIn), the project’s (lead?) artist, describes his inspiration for the ASTRA ARCANUM trailer as a mix of Dune, Prometheus, and Warhammer 40K. That tracks. You can feel it in the scale, the emptiness, and the sense that technology and belief have outpaced humanity’s ability to control either.
Personally, it's evocative of the (darker) work of Craig Mullins’ (check out his cover for George Alec Effinger "When Gravity Fails"). The kind that feels less like concept art and more like a moment caught just before something goes very wrong. Desolate environments. Small figures swallowed by vast spaces. Beauty, but with an edge of menace.
The art in ASTA ARCANUM doesn’t try to sell heroism. It reinforces the same idea the mechanics are pushing: this universe is indifferent, survival is costly, and style exists to serve tone, not spectacle.
Where this leaves us
All of this comes straight from the developer logs, meaning it’s subject to change, revision, and the realities of playtesting. The team is very open about that, and that openness is part of the appeal. Public playtests are out. Core systems are being stress-tested. The game is still finding its final shape. But the intent is already clear.
Final take
ASTRA ARCANUM isn’t trying to make you feel powerful. It’s trying to make your choices matter — especially when things are going wrong. That’s harder to design than another damage model or gear list. If the final version delivers on what the dev logs suggest, this could be the kind of game people keep thinking about after the session ends.
Next step for me: diving into the playtest and seeing how all this theory holds up once the dice start rolling. Hopefully I can find a playtest group to join.
Resources
- DEVELOPER LOG #1: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night…
- DEVELOPER LOG #2: Bastion - The Keep, The Breach & The Battering Ram
- DEVELOPER LOG #3: Vitalist - Guns, Germs, and Steel
- Developer’s Log #4: Where is my Mind?
- ASTRA ARCANUM Artist Spotlight
- Developers' Log #5: I Sing the Body Electric
- Developers' Log #6: The Synth Class - Deus ex Machina
- Devlog Update #7: Battles in the Creative Trenches
- The First Playtest Pack is now LIVE & Brand New ASTRA art!
- Eren Arik - Digital Artist
No comments:
Post a Comment