Guns + Steel Survival: RAN: Lost Islands 乱：失落之岛

Who would win? A fully kitted samurai at the head of his loyal clansmen, a veteran landsknecht with years of professional experience fighting along with his merry band of musketeers, or a Ming dynasty general with his well drilled regiment of veteran guards? Fortunately, in the new game RAN Lost Islands, that question is now more than a remote supposition but a real playground at your disposal. 

RAN, Lost Islands- by TiGames is an upcoming medieval combat survival game that seeks to pit these warriors of the 16th century in a battle royale against each other. But unlike games such as For Honor, which largely revolves around melee PVPing and individual combat, RAN plays much more similar to titles such as Mount and Blade, where you also lead your own band of soldiers as well.

The game is set on an unknown Asian island where three groups of shipwrecked warriors: the Ming Chinese expedition, a Japanese clan, and a band of European mercenaries must survive against each other and ultimately find a way to escape from this hellish trap. The premise probably already sound familiar, but according to the game's developers they aim to do more than creating a reskinned PUBG/ Fortnite. In RAN more emphasis is placed on survival than player elimination, and they would focus not only on a player's sole experience as a warrior but also as a leader. 

THE WESTERNERS

With respect to 15th and 17th century warfare, landsknechts and musketeers are included in this game. Their weapons and armor looked to be well researched and conforms to the styles of early- modern northern European armies. Thus far they are the only two type of western units shown. Much of the team who are working on this title had worked on the popular Tiger Knight series in the past so an in depth, upgradeable unit roster is highly probable. 

THE JAPANESE

As of April, two types of Japanese units have been shown in the game's concept art as well as the game's alpha trailer: the samurai and the ashigaru. Units will be able to carry the arms of the rival factions so it will be interesting to see samurais sporting zweihanders and landsknechts weilding katanas. Grenades and bombs are also available for the factions. 

THE MING CHINESE

So far, only one type of Chinese soldier have been shown in the game's promotional concept art, that of the Ming frontier cavalry. However, unlike the western soldiers and the Japanese, their concept art frequently depict them with both a hefty gouliandao 鈎鐮刀(polesword,) but also bows and the distinctively Ming three eyed guns. 

EARLY ALPHA FOOTAGE

You can find the early alpha footage of the game here, the game was recently announced in the spring and the creators have set up an official Twitter page for questions and feedback from the populace. The game will be released for PS4.

Early Alpha footage

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I will say this, the premise looks and sounds super interesting, but there are a lot of areas that should still be polished in the coming days. I like the premise, I think PUBG + Mount and Blade is well suited for cold steel + blackpowder combat. The era is perfect because gun fire and traditional melee are at just a precarious tipping point where one could win over the other but it's not guaranteed, so skill and timing still win out at the end of the day. The idea of a game that's sets in the habitual "trapped island" locale of most PUBG clones- should draw attention to the very island they are all stranded on, make it a core part of the narrative. The fact that the game focuses on survival and escape rather than player elimination also adds a nice variety to the usual phases of most PUBG games. 

SHOOTING MECHANICS: POLISH NEEDED

However with that said, the graphics- and especially the animations looks rather lacking. I will overlook the graphics but the animation will be a strong point of contention for me. Whenever a character fires a pistol all of it looks very weightless, what's more tragic, it looks lifeless. There is no anticipation, no complex reload animation, no recoil, no cue when an enemy is shot, and not even a good pay off buff or sound effect to make it a worthwhile experience: no drama. And fundamentally it shouldn't be this...unemotional. Taking down an enemy with a well placed shot should be a point of extreme pride, but right now it's so devoid of character that it feels like a chore, you character simply points, then floats around in a zigzag manner like a Windows 98 game ragdoll while he reloads. And even if these primitive weapons have to fire fast for sake of the 3rd person action experience, right now the rate of fire feels like a WW1 rifle and it's a little too fast, in fact, a lot of games depicting the combat of this era have a similar issue. 

The Assassin's Creed series actually does this better, most of the firearm mechanics set during the 15th-18th century felt stylish but there is weight behind each shot. And although I understand TiGames is going for a more Dark Souls type of directional combat ala Tiger Knight and the original Mount and Blade series (compared to the more pre-recorded animation cycles of AC series) The recent AC entries like Origins and Odyssey showed that the Dark Souls system could be implemented and both ranged and melee combat could still feel visceral and engaging. Ultimately, one could be stylish with their attacks but still be historically authentic and rewarding.

2 recent games and 2 examples. Assassin's Creed Unity used fast and stylish system of shooting, but each shot feels weighty and could take down even an extremely powerful enemy in a deadly puff of sound and smoke. Where as the shooter War of Rights uses very slow and deliberate fire, shots takes very long to reload, however the same rules apply to all- including your enemies, it takes true skills to take down an enemy with a well placed shot and teams could only survive when packed together to maximize a concentrated volley. Both are legitimate: ACU represents the stylish and the fast paced, WOR represent the deliberate and well coordinated, but in both the action of the player feels impactful, the shooting feels atmospheric, and rewards feels very well earned. 

I might be fixated on this, but if this is going to be the underlying foundation of all the ranged mechanics for this game, then what is currently shown takes me out of the experience. A loaded gun should be a game changer, but a discharged gun that missed should cause great fear and alarm for the shooter. With a primed and loaded musket a musketeer is potentially more dangerous than a samurai, but when he missed the shot he will be dead meat. Historically during this period the musket was a game changing weapon, and knowing how and when to use it changed whole battles entirely, a well timed and well positioned salvo of bullets from farm boys could- in game terms, act as a "shotgun blast" that eviscerates whole rows of veteran knights. If kingdom- changing battles like Nagashino and Breitenfeld are won through well timed musketry then I will say that the game should honor these facets in order to feel historically authentic. If TiGames is reading this: please improve this as it would make the experience that more addictive, I am sure I am not alone in feeling this way. 

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I must say when the premise of this game was first made known to me I had stars in my eyes. I am a huge sucker for this era and I have always felt that the 15th-and 17th century history have been long ignored by the cinematic and gaming media. The huge injustices done to some of the biggest wars in human history ranging from the 30 Years War to the Ming/ Qing wars, to the very age of the Polish Hussar is frankly sickening. 

What is more tragic is that this period IS interesting, but Hollywood and the triple A game makers have not yet found a good way to tell those stories. For years, my only outlet has been Shogun II, however, you can only make the samurais fight the modded Tercos in custom battles for so long before you want something that is more involved. The closest that I have got to this experience in the gaming world was Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword, + Pike and Shot by Slitherine. However, I must say both games still fell under the usual pitfalls of games that covers this period, low production values and emotionless presentation. The graphics usually look very subpar, little more than a 3D MAX stock model sandbox and the audio was not immersive at all- usually the same smattering of elevator Baroque music and roughly recorded musket firing sounds and campy grunts. This is precisely why I don't want this game to fall in the same pitfalls. 

Right now, RAN had piqued my interest more than any other game that's set during this period, more so than any games in a decade. If RAN: Lost Island goes deep into this period, if RAN: Lost Island commit to translate a great experience using the amazing material its concept art had drawn, I will be very interested to buy it when it comes out. However, before its release, it would be great to see a lot of changes made to better this game. The premise is very solid, the concept art pieces alone are jaw- droppingly gorgeous. In so many ways, it's already like the game that I have always wanted. 

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