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Indie Spotlight: Random Potion / Ignis Universia: Awakening of the Erudite Empress

10 February, 2022 - 7:37 pm by
About 5 mins to read

We’re excited to bring you the first in a new series of features aimed at highlighting the impressive work of indie developers and the amazing games that are being crafted by small teams all around the world – welcome to VGamingNews’ Indie Spotlight!

In our maiden feature we want to shine a deserving light on Random Potion, a small but talented team from Finland who are currently working to get funding for their stunning JRPG/visual novel, Ignis Universia: Awakening of the Erudite Empress! 

Actually the second game in the series, Ignis Universia was born at the Ludum Dare game jam in 2019 where the theme was “Start from nothing”. After some fantastic feedback the developers decided to expand their game jam product into Ignis Universia: Eternal Sisters Saga DX, and released it as a full game on Steam in late 2020. (Give it a go – it’s free!) Preempting the very positive response from their fanbase, Random Potion immediately began work on a sequel and are diligently working on Ignis Universia: Awakening of the Erudite Empress as we speak. 

The five-person team at Random Potion have been together for five years now but have years of collective experience under their belts, with writer, designer and programmer Arto having spent 15 years in the games industry alone. Their other programmer, Jaakko, has enjoyed programming since he was young and began to look more specifically at games creation as a student. Along with two talented artists and CEO/producer, Kirsi, heading up the outfit – there’s a lot of quality work being done by just a few folks!

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The series focuses on the four heroine characters, known as ‘The Chosen Sisters’, and their quest to save the world from the Dread Wizardress Galgatax. A playful story with some tongue-in-cheek nods to (J)RPG tropes, Erudite Empress looks to stay true to the first instalment while building the series into something more. The most notable, and certainly brave decision is to transition the gameplay from 2D pixel art into 3D graphics whilst keeping some beautiful character placards familiar in the visual novel genre. Artist Sofia is handling the 3D duties while Elli works on the more traditional 2D pieces, and between them they’re creating a style that I’m sure you’ll agree looks fantastic!

Inspired by genre classics like Final Fantasy, Tales of Phantasia and Chrono Trigger, there are dungeons to explore, puzzles to solve, and monsters to overcome in classic turn-based battles. You can even use the power of friendship to call on adorable summon creatures and powerful elemental combos to help battle your enemies! 

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While there’s no hard release date for the game just yet, the team are hard at work getting things ready… If you’re feeling inpatient and want to try it now, why not head over to Steam and check out the demo to whet your appetite? We’ll be keeping up-to-date with the game as the build goes on, of course, and you’ll see more of Random Potion here as things progress.

If you’re a fan of RPGs then we’d implore you to look at their kickstarter and show them your support – there are some wonderful backer rewards available to people willing to help fund the project, including the chance to appear in the game as an NPC! You can also give them a hand by wishlisting the game on Steam and interacting with their posts on social media – spreading the word to like-minded players can make all the difference!

You can keep up to date with the project and the Random Potion team via the links below – check them out and show them your support for the awesome job that they’re doing:

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If you’re an indie developer who would like to be featured in our Indie Spotlight, head over to our submission form and tell us about your project! We’d love to check out what you’re working on!

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