"Our games are like 'Dark Souls' having a baby with 'God of War,'" the marketer insists to you. It's like The Sims having sex with Neverwinter Nights," he exclaims, and digs his fingers into your arms. Our game is reminiscent of the theoretical scenario in which Twisted Metal was the courtly adulterer of Barbie Horse Adventures, who bore the royal bastard child that so upended the fragile politics of this kingdom."

I've heard this crap before, but it is more plausible if the person saying it actually helped produce those two games. Chad Moore, project director of Clockwork Revolution at inXile, says, "Deep worldbuilding, compelling story, a crunchy RPG system, engaging gameplay, and enormous responsiveness: in another life, Moore was a developer at Troika Games. In another life, Moore was the developer of Troika Games, creator of the cult hit RPGs Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The legendary (and legendarily chaotic) developer of "Bloodlines: The Masquerade - Bloodlines". For someone who has done so much for both Arcanum and Vampire to say that Clockwork Revolution is the "love child" and "giant reactivity" of both is a Manchurian Candidate-initiated phrase for a certain kind of RPG freak like myself.

Troika Games is different anyway. The studio was founded by "Fallout 1" creators Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson, and their first game, Arcanum, almost felt like an alternative to Fallout 2. Arcanum is an isometric RPG, where technological developments jostle with magic like hippies and elves, and characters range from chatty gunmen to dim-witted half-oggies to necromancers leading zombie hordes on deep, multifaceted quests.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines converted its esprit de corps to a first-person perspective using Valve's Source engine. It's still a great-looking game today, with a moody, early-era charm and gothic atmosphere.

It is also the most accessible game in Troika's catalog, and modder Wesp5's unofficial patch (be sure to get the plus version!) Vampire" is occasionally compared to "Deus Ex," and I can see why, given the hub design and the amount of vent crawling, but I'm most reminded of "Fallout: New Vegas" - both are Interplay/ Black Isle's RPG promise perfectly translated into first-person, full 3D.

It's not just Moore's good intentions that support his claim. Inzile has proven itself to be a hardcore RPG developer with the new Wasteland and Torment: Tides of Numenera). Furthering the Troika connection is Jason Anderson, co-founder of the company and developer of Fallout 1, who has been hired by inXile to work on Clockwork Revolution.

With a flair for classic RPGs, I am excited to see inXile's first attempt at a more immersive first-person RPG. clockwork Revolution currently has no release date, but will be released "in time." Meanwhile, Troika's other two founders, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, are hard at work on The Outer Worlds 2.