I haven’t had the chance to play Encased yet, but a new gameplay trailer certainly makes me want to. The trailer showcases some of the stranger ways to play this isometric RPG, such as having low intelligence, never talking to anyone, killing everyone, or being a complete pacifist.
It seems this trailer exists because developer Dark Crystal Games noticed almost all of the previews played as a rather normal build rather than trying wacky combinations. They put in the work to make these builds viable, and they don’t want that work to go to waste.
According to them, a pure stealth build never talking to anyone or deciding to kill everyone in sight is a completely viable way to beat the game.
Viacheslav Kozikhin, Creative Director at Dark Crystal Games, had this to say on all the different play styles:
“We created Encased to not only be an entertaining game, but one that would provoke some thoughts in players too. From moral choices to problem-solving, we wanted the player to use their imagination to play out their avatar in whichever way they wanted. These are some of the reasons why we created all these extra possibilities. We’re aware not everyone will see them, but that’s part of the magic of RPG’s. It’s all about discovery and allowing players to explore a world in whatever way they want rather than having a storyline-on-rails.”
I personally always play these types of games as a charismatic gunslinger and then I go through a second playthrough as the wildest combination I can think of so I appreciate a variety of viable options. I’m also just glad to see another isometric RPG that looks quite similar to Wasteland 3 which is one of my favorite modern RPGs. I just want more true, isometric RPGs like Encased.
Source: Press Release