SureAI

ES1 starting my gaming experience, all those years ago. I have been a fan and gotten every game since. Just fired this mod up and thought back to Skyrim I go. I applaud everyone on the team. Undying gratitude. I hope some who wish apply to Bethesda to work on the next Elder Scrolls game out-2022? Your talent would be appreciated.

I have to agree. Everything from the beauty of the world to top notch voice acting. I'm like the entire thing so far in the 3 hours I have put into it!

After binge playing since release, I just finished the main storyline, and... wow. Seriously, nothing has ever been such an emotional rollercoaster to me, I'm not even exaggerating... SureAI certainly succeeded in making a story that was terrifying, traumatising, sweet and nice in some places, and utterly depressing in others... these are all good things, of course, if something can invoke that much emotion it's well done. This is a work of art. Now to the side quests that I've slightly neglected!

Also, can we just talk about the bread woman? Is it just me or is the bread woman definitely a highlight?

Haha, everyone loves the bread woman! And I always thought people would talk about the gossip women and Prince Mith.

Thanks for your compliment! I needed that. After reading the rather sobering review on PCGamer (Which didn't discuss Enderal's themes at all, though they are one of the things which are, in my opinion, what stand out about the project) I was beginning to think that maybe our approach to writing wouldn't click with the English-speaking community.

Just read it. It somehow escaped my google alert. But they don't like the mechanics and say nothing about the way the story is written. Thinking the story didn't klick with them is a bit reading between the lines what isn't there.

What I got from some comment sections is that there is a memetic critic about how Enderal ripped of Mass Effects story - repeated over and over by people who haven't experienced the story yet but want to seem sophisticated.

PC Gamer review is a joke. It is written by the person who thinks that collecting 1000 potions, visiting 1000 dungeons, and killing 1000 dragurs is what game should be?

@Sarah

Yeah, it's true, but it's the only explanation I have. When he critizes the quest-design, it sounds so matter-of-factly, more like a hardware review, particularly given the quest he's talking about (If you haven't played it yet, bear with me. In my opinion, it's one of the most emotional parts of the game and had some people crying). Obviously there are flaws in our game, but most of them are due to the fact that we simply didn't have the means to do otherwise. This is also something that irritated me - all he said is that we were a "hobbyist studio", but the fact, that Enderal is a one-of-a-kind project (Not counting those that haven't been released yet) and that we managed to find 88 professional voice actors (Some of them Hollywood talent) to participate for free, is never mentioned. To me, it sounds as if this is something any 15-year old with a little spare time could do. In a way, I get the feeling that the writer doesn't know too much about game development - not games, game development! - in general. Even Bethesda said that they found the scope of our projects impressive, and I'm guessing that has to mean something. But then again, maybe I'm just very biased, knowing how much time we sunk into this (30 000 hours at least).

And yeah, the Mass Effect comparison bothers me a lot. I get it why, after the trailer, the story pattern sounds similar, but I thought the first five minutes of the game (the dream) would make it obvious that not everything is as clear-cut as it first seems. I loved Mass Effect, but, without giving a way too much for those of you who haven't played it, it's essentially a deconstruction of a "Save the world"-plot.

@Starac

It did have that feel, yeah. It's obviously very subjective. I've read some more reviews of that writer, and it seems that he's not overly into deep stories. What can you do. :-/

It's a bit ironic. On the one hand, many modern "gaming journalists" will endlessly circlejerk about "story-rich" games like Gone Home or whatnot, but god forbid you actually give them an actual, well-written story that isn't (and excuse my wording) pretentious hipster garbage.

Of course, the fact that many of the indie developers who get endless praise for their games by these journos for some reason tend to also be very good friends with said journos or have a not-so-indie publisher with a bit of spare money they happily donate to said journos is another story.


That all being said, Enderal definitely has one of the best stories I've ever seen in an RPG, particularly so because it's actually bold enough to tell the player that his or her character is not, in fact, the inevitably victorious savior of the entire world. I kind of expect that many people will be unhappy with the lack of a proper "happy ending" (still remember the backlash Deponia 3 got), but imho that one plot twist regarding the beacons very nicely tied in to a story where nothing is quite as it initially seems.

That this all comes in the form of a free fan project with professional voice acting and a degree of polish you'd usually find in an AAA title just puts the icing on the cake for me.

I can assure you, that quest that they criticised did indeed get to me, and I wonder if that reviewer even bothered to get that far.
Though, to be fair, I was wary and sort of expected the way it ended from the start because everything else had already BEEN SO CRUEL! WHY DO YOU TORMENT US?!
Joking aside, I'm impressed by the ability that's been shown to invoke all sorts of emotions, and for once in a game I actually bonded with the characters. It's a tragic story, but an extremely beautiful and well done one that I hope to see continued one day. No matter what salty reviewers said, you've done something amazing, and you should be very proud, as we are very grateful.

Bah, his opinion is irrelevant.
Duty of every reviewer should be to address important elements. And many of them hide some unfinished or broken elements, like horrible/broken quests in Skyrim for example. Some of them didn't mention this problem at all.
Reviewers like this dude will tell you his opinion about specific game, which is ok. But don't hide things just because you are TES fan?
And the funny thing is that they will address the same problems in some other game. I have seen this many times, and when i ask them about this, they ignore me.
You can't act like a fan if you are reviewer.

Well, I am the guy who is always interested in the story and plot more than graphic and gameplay. I can say that the story of Enderal is really appealing to me, although I have only spent 4-5 hours and still at the first village. It's some kind of mystic and dark, especially that quest from the mayor's wife. Seriously this is the first time after so many years I can feel attached to a game because of its story. To me, the original Skyrim is not a great game, it's good for its exploration, but the lack of choices and the weak of story makes it unplayable for me. I have spent 4 years trying to play it but I can never continue the main quest after the first dragon at Whiterun. Also, the voice acting of Enderal is one of the best in the industry. The German voice extremely blend well with the world of Enderal and it is so lively, it makes me feel pity that I haven't spent much time on German lessions lol. But the English voice is great also, very well done. I recognize some repetitive lines for example everyone in the town identifies me belong to some kind of Order, it's quite annoying but I understand it will surely happen in every game. Thank you for all of your time and effort spent on making this great game

p/s: I know this is not the place, but can I craft weapons or armors at the first village ? I bought a blueprint for an iron claymore but I can't find any forge around.

Thanks for your kind words, Mtx300! There's a forge in Riverville, it's a little bit remote, though. South-West of the marketplace, if I'm not mistaken. The shop is called "Sura's Sharp Steel", I think

I haven't finished the game yet but I feel like that PC Gamer review was just a bad draw in regards to the reviewer. Another person probably would have had a very different take on it. I hope some other big PC gaming magazines review it because I think the game is so much better than the PC Gamer review made it sound.

I am about 10 hours into the game and its been fantastic so far.

Honestly, the reviewer at PC Gamer who reviewed this obviously has a huge bias on indie game companies and doesn't know a good story when it hits him and "LINEAR!". Liner quests; come on, give me a break. Those quests made the game! They are emotional like you're actually in the game than just one hearing a story. It has the emotion, the voice actors, everything a AAA game should have but yet, he complains because of the "linear quests" which to be straightforward with you, I couldn't care less if they were linear or not. But that's not the case. Not all of them are because in Riverview, I decided to give that boy nothing cause I could.

There are options but yet, I guess the reviewer never even really played the game or cared too much about it because he had a hatred for indie game companies. Like really? Just because SureAI is a indie game company doesn't make it bad. If anything, this game deserves a 80 - 90%, not the pathetic percentage he gave you. Not to mention, this game was made entirely on a budget of ... wait for it ... wait for it ... $0.00! FREE! Nothing! And you attracted Hollywood actors which is only saying one thing and one thing only. Your game must've been so appealing that famous actors even wanted to work on it and that alone means that PC Gamer review is irrelevant. Be proud of Enderal; it's a great game from Munich, Germany.

One last thing. Does the guy even realize that SureAI is from Germany, a country not well known for video games! Germany! And you translated the game into English which is phenomenal. You deserve to make your own game. With your passion and desire to attract Hollywood celebs and professional actors, you definitely have the capabilities of becoming the next "Bethesda". So follow your dreams, and make that dream game; not a mod, an actual game and I will tell you this. If it has the same quality or better than Enderal, I will spend $60 for it, no doubt. Congratulations SureAI, and I wish you well in the future.

~ From an American Gamer

Are you referring to the review by Jody Macgregor from August 15th (I think)? Actually, I think it was a fairly good review. If I had not played Arktwend & Nehrim and had not been following the development of Enderal for 5 years and had known nothing about Enderal previously until I read the review, I would most certainly want to play it. Isn't that what you want, for people who know nothing about Enderal to be encouraged to play it? I think his review contains much praise and slight criticism. It doesn't matter what the devs and long-time SureAI fans think about the review as we are already enjoying Enderal and our opinions are quite subjective. I think every review of every game can be picked apart by those who know a game inside and out, but I think you all are being a bit harsh on his review by focusing on the areas of criticism (whether deserved or not) rather than focusing on the many areas of his praise.

Yeah, I wasn't super fond of the PCGamer review. When reading it, I came to the conclusion that the writer simply isn't the target market for the mod. She basically disliked all of the elements of the game that are being praised by players. That's fine, reviewers are more than welcome to their tastes and preferences when it comes to games. It is a shame, though, since PCGamer's staff back in 2010 was very enthusiastic about SureAI's style of game (they loved Nehrim). PCGamer had an early copy, so more reviews should come out in time. PCGamer was just one review. I'm eagerly awaiting Rock, Paper, Shotgun's review personally. Plus, if you read forums and social media sites like Nexus, Reddit, and ModDB, the response is overwhelmingly positive. People love it Nic!

As for the Mass Effect comparison. For me, there is one element that really stands out as being Bioware-esque, and that's the characters. I've always thought Bioware were the kings of characters and conversational dialogue, no one else comes close IMO, and the Mass Effect series may be their best series in that respect. And in many respects, Enderal feels like it has that level of care put into the characters. The backstory, the revelations, and the moment to moment dialogue is excellent, and I find myself drawn into the world through the characters far more often than in other games.

I simply can't fault Enderal; even now after completing the main questline, I'm in shock from the way things turned out in the story, there were so many amazing, shocking and emotional twists and turns, terrifying moments, beautiful moments (which were usually torn away from my grasp by more twists that left me utterly distraught, which is a good thing because I love it when something can affect me like that) and of course amazing characters. Congratulations on creating a storyline that's literally had me questioning every single thing that happened incase it was a dream or an illusion. I learned from this game not to trust anything, especially if it seems positive. Loved the total underlying darkness, contrasted brilliantly with the beautiful world and cities. It's one of those games that just leaves me genuinely feeling lost after completion due to how involved I felt, despite the side quests that I've yet to do.

Huge Spoilers: Details about the ending.

[+]

I chose the ending where I returned back to the Star City, with Calia, (let's not even talk about my surprise when she turned out to still be alive) and It was just so bittersweet; everyone died, but even after that I had someone with me. I was so upset when I found out that I couldn't prevent so many people from dying, in a good way of course, it's all been amazing, including the revelation that for the entire game I've been dead after all. It's left me with so many questions though; what will happen when the next civilisation arises? Will Calia still age normally and eventually die before me? Is there even food at the Star City? WHY ARE YOU SO CRUEL TO MY EMOTIONS?!
Anyway, I've been left really curious by that ending, and I hope one day to see some exposition as to what happened afterwards, be it in another project, writings such as the butcher of ark, or any fan made material. I'm just so curious!

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I just had to take the time to stress how much I loved Enderal, and how appreciative I am of your hard work. I remember originally hearing about the project back in 2013, and after all of that time and all of that hype, it even exceeded my expectations. No matter what some individual reviewers say, you definitely got to me, and I don't think any other game will ever invoke that kind of reaction from me... a true masterpiece.

Agreed Daxim.

My only lament is running through the MQ so fast that I didnt really get a chance to appreicate the world around me.

Yeah, I regret that a bit too
I'll undoubtedly play through it again though, and take it slower.

The story, my god, the story. From the riveting intro to tragic (yet hopeful) ending, it kept me glued to my seat. I can't remember the last time a game made me this emotional. I finished the quest the PCgamer reviewer mentioned, and though I did find it slightly tedious in the beginning, I was in tears by the end. I will never read the load screen, "I led them to the light. I alone," the same way again. TA's voice actor killed it and SureAI did such a great job molding his character. I didn't know whether to feel contempt or pity for him at the end. WHY DO YOU PLAY WITH MY EMOTIONS LIKE THAT?

Tl;dr SureAI knocked it out of the ballpark with the story.