Blackguards will let players build custom characters from scratch

Due to feedback collected during the game's Steam Early Access release, fantasy role-playing game Blackguards will allow players to create their own characters from scratch at the start of the game, Daedalic Entertainment announced today.

The recent Early Access release had players choose a character from one of three pre-made archetypes, which according to Blackguards senior producer Kai Fiebig was meant to allow players unfamiliar with Blackguards' source material — The Dark Eye pen and paper RPG series — to more easily jump into the game. Daedalic will implement a new custom character builder for the game's release.

"The community, after the first Early Access chapter, expressed the wish to build their character from scratch right away —and we gladly fulfill this request by implementing an option for a fully customizable character," Fiebig said in a press statement. "This option will be implemented via patch upon the game's release."

The first chapters of Blackguards are still available to play through Steam Early Access. The full game is expected to launch in January 2014. Daedalic will continue to collect feedback and make appropriate changes to the game based on it throughout the Early Access period.

"We have a close eye on the wishes and the feedback of our community," Fiebig added. "We also take constructive criticism very seriously. Thus we will do our best to implement any additional features. Of course, we have to see and check which ideas are actually portable and we can't just give them all a pass. However, we do hope that our players keep the feedback coming and help us develop exactly the Blackguards they'd love to play."