April 05, 2005 - The world of the Heretic Kingdoms is one where an outsider might easily think God is dead. Faith is no longer accepted or even tolerated. The agents of the Inquisition are zealously seeking out and eliminating any remaining vestiges that might remind anyone of their beliefs. One of these is an artifact, a relic somehow seen as a serious threat. You have been assigned to destroy it, an undertaking that will pull you into a conflict between two warring secret societies, one a conspiratorial group of mages whose ambition is true power, the other a shadowy cult that wishes to renew its convictions. Within this ambiguous situation, you must examine your principles. Will you be an altruistic heroine, a self-serving egotist or just a woman trying to get her job done? Will you eradicate religion forever, or become its salvation?

This tale of conflicting moralities plays out in Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition, a fantasy RPG resulting from the joint efforts of developer 3D People and game design and dialogue scripting consultancy International Hobo. Initiated by the former company with the title Cult, the game underwent an extensive makeover between the time we initially spotted it in the second half of 2002 and its well received release in Europe last year as Kult: Heretic Kingdoms. A few of the notable features are a vast environment made up of some 50 locations to explore, dozens of quests, scores of diverse monsters, and an uncomplicated but rewarding combat system that's said to keep the action flowing. With the release date for the North American version rapidly approaching, we had the chance to ask various team members about some of their creation's important elements.

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Jonric: What are a couple of your favorite items in Heretic Kingdoms, and why does each of them have a special appeal for you?

Chris Bateman
Head of the Design Team
Managing Director, International Hobo
I love most of the battle gear used by the Sura. The Sura Warblade is one of my favorite weapons - not only is it one of the best with which to score big criticals, but it just looks like a warrior's weapon - it's somewhere between a polearm and a battleaxe.

I also love the different Sura Animal Helms - the Sura field plate comes with different helms modeled after beasts, which I think is some of the nicest armor I've seen in any game.

there are some weapon designs you will never see in any other game. When you play the game a bit and find some heavy weapons you will understand what I mean...

Richard Boon
Head of Script, International Hobo
One of the most pleasant visual features of the game is that all armour and weapons, and some equipment, is visually represented upon the player avatar. So, item selection has an element of dress-up, which won't appeal to our entire core audience, but appeals to me anyway. : ) Equipping a sword and seeing the character start to swing a three-foot blade of death through the poor enemies is always fun. I especially like the cloaks, which look great.

In terms of functionality, the primary function of every object in the game is to supply attunements. It's always vastly disappointing to discover a new item with an attunement that has already been discovered - but this is more than balanced by the feeling of finding a new item with an undiscovered attunement - the desire to find potent new abilities drives item acquisition to an obsessive degree. Once the attunement is unlocked, of course, the player is free to choose whichever equipment they prefer. I like the faster weapons, specifically the rapiers, because I like to optimize towards the maximum number of attacks. Of course, later on, the Katana becomes available - Japanese swords are always hard to resist.

Peter Nagy
Team Leader, 3D People
This is quite difficult to say. Seeing it as the developer, I like the Rings the most, as they are the most beautiful pieces of artwork. Rings can also hold some powerful attunements, especially later, so definitely worth checking out. I especially like the Eye Ring, which reminds me of the all-seeing eye...

Jan Turan
Lead Programmer, 3D People
For sure it is the Godslayer sword, the most powerful weapon in the game. You will chase it the whole game, and will be able to put your fingers on it near the end.

Michal Macak
Lead Designer, 3D People
Based on what I have seen in how the game is being played, the bows seem to be quite reliable weapons. But I really enjoy a very specific weapon design, so coming from my heart, they are my favorites. Because we wanted to have unique weaponry for Heretic Kingdoms, there are some weapon designs you will never see in any other game. When you play the game a bit and find some heavy weapons you will understand what I mean...

Dusan Kerekes
Supervising 3D Artist, 3D People
Again, according to my previously mentioned inexperience in the genre, I didn't experience a lot of weapons. Because crushing and slashing with axes was sometimes the best I could do, these are my favourite items.

The Large Sura Axe was very effective and deadly, with very stunning design. Also, I like the Katana; it has that Oriental feeling, and is perhaps the most deadly weapon in the game.