The Obituary: Volume 1
Posted by Hengst June 08, 2005
One of the things I have noticed in all of my years of gaming, is how even the greatest of game publishers eventually falls. From Westwood to Interplay, we have seen a consistent trend of gaming houses going under. In most cases these talented developers merely move off and form their own groups. While I realize that this phenomenon is a perfectly natural occurrence, I cannot help but feel saddened to see the death of so many great game markers, people who helped get me interested in gaming to begin with. This was the case with the first installment of PC Gaming Obituaries; Troika Games.
It was in 1998 that Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Jason Anderson would leave Interplay to form Troika games. These three are of course almost universally loved for their work on the very famous Fallout series. Many still regard Fallout as perhaps the pinnacle of American Role playing Games, particularly for the PC platform.
In 2001, Troika would release their first game, entitled Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. This game was released to a certain amount of critical acclaim and featured a very deep game playing experience offering almost a new generation of character creation, something they made famous in Fallout. This blend of Magick and Steampunk gameplay made for a very rich and ultimately rewarding experience. Were I to review the game today it would still receive an 8.2 out of 10. Arcanum can still be found in stores today, typically for as low as $10 and it is worth every penny to play through, especially if you are into engrossing RPG experiences.
In 2003, Troika would release it's second title, the Temple of Elemental Evil. This was of course a PC RPG version of the classic Dungeons and Dragons adventure set in the popular Greyhawk campaign setting, making use of the D&D 3.5 rules. Due to numerous bugs, followed by the delayed release of necessary patches, this game was deemed to many a failure. This was also due, no doubt, to the extremely high expectations that the pen and paper folks had for this game. Having played through the patched version of this game, I found it to be very entertaining and worth of a 7.7 out of 10 were I to review it. This game can also still be found and is going for $10 if you look in the right places.
Finally in November of 2004, Troika released Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. easily one of my favorite games of last year. Vampire suffered from numerous problems, not the least of which was a buggy release. This game had been in production since 2001 and featured the source engine, made famous of course by the folks at Valve with Half-life 2. While this was a good looking game with decent physics and graphics, they were not near as polished as those in HL-2. This coupled with very poor exposure from Activision as well as just poor overall interest with the folks at Activision was to be the beginning of the end. While Vampire would receive critical acclaim and garner a very large online community, ultimately the game wasn't given the proper support or time to truly be the smash hit it deserved to be. This game is still available at most major retailers and should be priced anywhere from $30-$40.
In early 2005, due to financial problems, to include the inability to get sufficient funding for future projects, Troika games would close it's doors. While I hesitate to say they are closed for good, by now most of the talented folks that worked there have been picked up by various other developers.
Troika games suffered with some of the worse promotion one can imagine. For people who helped create the classic Fallout, more attention should have been spent on promoting the games that Troika made. I bought every game that these folks made and have completed them as well. I only wish that they had been able to stay in business. Troika games, you will be missed.
Troika games 1998-2005
