Don’t worry, arachnids have not tossed their tiny water-droplet hats into the video game development ring. Spiders, the development team behind Bound By Flame, has just announced their next project, the sci-fi fantasy RPG Technomancer.

Technomancer is set to be a spin-off of Spiders’ other sci-fi RPG Mars: War Logs. Technomancer will feature the same blends of gameplay that Mars did. Whether your play style is stealthy, action combat or spell-slinging, your methods of death-dealing will be supported.

Though Technomancer is indeed following in Mars’ footsteps, it seems that Spiders plans to change things up for their next title. Technomancer will not only feature a branching storyline like the original (though not identical), but Spiders also plans to clean up some of the more rough elements that marred Mars’ release.

Speaking of the story, there wasn’t much information revealed at the Focus Interactive event where Technomancer was revealed. However, there were a few key points to take in:

• You play as a Rookie in the Technomancer faction.
• Your job is to build alliances with other factions, seeking and reclaiming artifacts from Earth (which has been lost).
• Dealing with finding out that Technomancers are mutants.
• Spoilers: mutants aren’t too popular on Mars.

In Technomancer, quests will be far more extensive and pose much more depth (we can assume this is compared to Mars). On top of that, handling missions in different manners will bring the faction system to the forefront. You might become friends with one while making enemies out of the others. At the moment, we know that there are six factions in total and know (roughly) of two. There are the Americans, who have become a society focused on junk trading and collecting, and the underhanded and sneaky Thieves.

Spiders’ hopes of changing things for the better doesn’t end there. Along the the enhanced story and mission structures, they’ll be introducing some new mechanics to further change up the player experience. There will be a day and night cycle, which can act as a time limit for a mission. An example given was that deserters who are not caught could return later in your play through to wreak some havoc.

Other changes include the inclusion of a pseudo-relationship system with your five companions, who will be able to leave you if they don’t think well of you, as well as a charisma system, for those whose strongest weapon is their tongue. There will be newer, bigger and more detailed environments to explore, more varying enemy types to kill and more to look forward to.

Last but most definitely not least, Spiders is expanding the skill trees for in and out of combat perks. The combat trees include staff combat, shielded tank (MMO tanks, not big mechanical things on treads), Technomancer abilities and stealth. Examples of the out of combat trees include the aforementioned conversation skills and something that sounds like a medic, where application of first aid items heals you for more.

The news of this fresh IP came to us by way of Game Watcher, however a release date was not mentioned. Mars: War Logs was released on PC, Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network in the middle of 2013. That doesn’t tell us anything really but what platforms to possibly expect to see Technomancer on.

My Opinion:

Mars: War Logs: I had never heard of it before writing this article, but the lore does sound interesting. Sadly, it released and received rather mediocre reviews. However, Bound By Flame released later in Spiders’ development history and did do fairly well here at MONG. Hopefully Spiders will take what they learned from Bound By Flame and Mars and apply it to Technomancer. From what I’ve read, the title definitely sounds like something I could dive headlong into. Magic? Love it. Technology? Love it. Branching quests and storyline with real “meat” on them to keep you interested? Love it. If Technomancer is half as exciting as it sounds, Spiders will have a hit on all eight of their hands.

Myles K Farrington is one of the MONG Senior Editors and is legitimately wondering where he’s going from here. Keep up with him over on IGN and Twitter as well!