Albatroz is a “backpack adventure RPG” set in the Forbidden Lands, a photogenic wilderness “where two worlds converge.” You are bored city worker Isla and you have come here to search for your missing brother, who himself was searching for the mystical mountain Albatroz – locally called “the walking mountain” for reasons you will never guess. There’s no combat or enemies that I can see – instead, you’ll get busy managing your equipment, repairing your little car, and honing your hiking skills, using points you earn by doing favors for villagers along the way.
It really is a combination of elements precisely machined to appeal to long-distance open-world fans burned out on Elden Ring. It’s a game of green valleys and huge skies, whose otherworldly elements are controlled by the practicality of travel and survival. It will be on display at Gamescom Latam 2024 at the São Paulo Expo Center – the first edition of Gamescom in Latin America – and a fresh trailer has been published below.
Speaking as someone who can’t finish the workday without wanting to rush Bilbo Baggins-style out the door and straight to the nearest mid-sized national park, I’m very interested in a “backpacking RPG” set. I much less like presenting the game as a huge, living metaphor for struggling with loss and the process of self-discovery.
The dialogue in the trailer is so gripping it makes my nose bleed as we head out into the wilderness NO some variation of the act of letting go to find yourself? I’m probably being very condescending and mean to the creators of Among Giants here. I’m sure these feelings are true. However, I fervently hope that the full version requires much less poignant self-reflection and philosophizing, and much more serene wandering and observation.
Writing is not all monuments of mortality. There are villages, each with its own history and personality distribution. Provided these city trips are spread out appropriately, I can imagine they’ll be a nice change from the isolation of hiking – it depends on how “sprawling” the environments are in practice. As for the survival elements, you might pass out if you run out of supplies, but it doesn’t look like you’ll be limping back to town with broken ankles and a case of dysentery. It reminds me more of Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons than Revenant.
Albatroz will be released this year. Demo is in progress Couple, which I’ll try later, unless I give in to the call of the open road, in which case I’ll probably make it all the way to the local Dominos before heading home to watch House Of The Dragon. If you like long walks but prefer a little more friction, why not take a stroll through Sons Of The Forest? Alice O (RPS in peace) says it’s pretty there and she hasn’t lied to my face yet.
