On February 27, 2004, after roughly two years of development, one of Germany’s most well-known video games was released: SACRED — an ARPG developed by Studio II Software and Ascaron Entertainment. It was a smash hit, leading to an expansion shortly after and eventually even a sequel.
The success and rapid development of SACRED, however, hides a little-known secret: SACRED was built on the engine and assets of a canceled video game—Armalion. This game was intended to be a tabletop adaptation of the same name, based on The Dark Eye universe, a popular German tabletop RPG at the time.
The company behind Armalion, Ikarion Software , was forced to file for bankruptcy and shut down in December 2001. Not long after, in early 2002, Ascaron Entertainment acquired the game’s assets from the insolvency estate and even hired some of the original developers. By February 2002, pre-production for SACRED had officially begun.
But how did this all come to be? What kind of game was Armalion? And is there anything left of it today? Let’s travel back to 1999, where it all began, and uncover—step by step—how things unfolded.
It was August 24, 1999. The cancellation of the highly anticipated The Dark Eye-licensed video game, LMK: The Lady, the Mage, and the Knight, had only recently been announced. However, not all hope was lost.
At the time, Fantasy Productions — the original rights holder of The Dark Eye until their closure in 2012 — released the following press statement, renewing the hopes of fans eager to see a video game adaptation of The Dark Eye universe:
Aachen/Erkrath/Hamburg – 24.08.1999
Fantasy Productions and Ikarion sign license agreement
ARMALION from the world of the DARK EYE as a strategy game on PC.
The Erkrath-based games publisher Fantasy Productions and the Aachen-based software company Ikarion have signed a license agreement for the implementation of the DSA tabletop ARMALION as a computer strategy game. Distribution will be handled by DTP Neue Medien, Hamburg.
ARMALION, the latest product from Germany’s most successful fantasy universe THE DARK EYE, will be realized as an elaborate real-time strategy game with rich role-playing and adventure elements. In ARMALION, the player takes command of a unit of mercenaries who are to liberate a province ruled by demons. In order to achieve this goal, a variety of skills must be learned, puzzles solved and unknown terrain discovered.
For the first time, a new graphics engine developed by Ikarion is being used in the development, which allows the player to experience the entire game world without reloading times or other interruptions and to move freely within it. ARMALION will be technically characterized by detailed, varied landscapes, elaborately animated characters and a simple point-and-click interface. A multiplayer mode via a local network will be implemented as well as a connection to the Ikarion game server, which will constantly provide the player with new scenarios and also enable multiplayer gaming.
THE DARK EYE – ARMALION will be released in the 1st quarter of 2001. The exclusive distribution rights have been secured by the Hamburg distributor DTP.
Voices:
Norbert Beckers, Ikarion: “Having already had very good experiences in the fantasy sector with the DEMONWORLD license, we want to give this game genre even more space in the future. THE DARK EYE – ARMALION is a tremendously exciting and challenging project for us. We will do our best to create a gaming experience for the huge fan base that rightly bears the name THE DARK EYE.
Dr.-Ing. Stefan Blanck, FanPro: For 15 years, THE DARK EYE has been Germany’s most popular fantasy world and has also been highly successful as a role-playing game on the PC. We see the strategy game ARMALION as an ideal product for our game universe and are therefore looking forward to working with Ikarion and DTP Neue Medien. ARMALION is being developed together with well-known DSA authors and has a direct current reference to the constantly updated world of the DARK EYE.
Thomas Baur, DTP: “We are particularly looking forward to being able to expand and consolidate our successful cooperation with Ikarion with the marketing of THE DARK EYE – ARMALION, after having already produced a very good title together with HATTRICK! WINS, a very good title. At the same time, it documents our desire to publish further A+ titles in the games segment, whereby we also want to act consistently as a publisher in the future.
And so, it was official — Ikarion Software was developing a real-time strategy video game with RPG and adventure elements, based on the Armalion tabletop game. Not only did they plan to include full multiplayer support, but they were also creating a new graphics engine to bring their ambitious vision to life. The game was slated for release in the first quarter of 2001.
After this announcement, the developer remained silent about the project until the following year’s European Computer Trade Show, which took place from October 3rd to 5th, 2000. At the exhibition stand of publisher Shoebox, Ikarion Software showcased their two upcoming video games: Demonworld II and Armalion.
For the first time, visitors were able to see a trailer revealing how Armalion would look and feel.
It’s important to note that this trailer did not contain actual in-engine footage. Instead, it was an animation created by Spellcraft Studio, the same studio contracted by Ikarion Software to produce nearly all of the game’s models, animations, and the intro sequence.
Project lead Holger Breitbach was also present at the booth, giving interviews — one of which can be seen here. This video would not resurface until 2022.
In the interview, he states that the game is a combination of RPG and strategy elements, allowing players to choose from 12 classes and create entire armies. When asked about the game’s biggest competitors, he names Baldur’s Gate and Diablo. This suggests that Armalion was no longer a full real-time strategy game as originally announced in 1999; instead, the RTS aspect had become just one part of the overall gameplay.
Alongside the trade show, Ikarion Entertainment also launched a first rudimentary German website for the game.
The website provided much more concrete information about the game, including screenshots of locations not seen in the trailer and even an image showcasing all the playable classes. At the very end of the website, it was also revealed that the game had been delayed to the fourth quarter of 2001 — a possible first sign of trouble?
In addition to highlighting key features, the website also shared the first details about the game’s story:
“The failure of an ancient summoning ritual brings fear and terror to Aventuria. Three powerful demons enter the world and their goal is to create a permanent dimensional gate through which the warriors of darkness will soon pass. The mission is difficult, the opponents are overpowering, but failure would mean the end of Aventuria.”
The features also go into more specifics unlike the original announcement:
After this, a few magazines and websites covered news about the game over the following months, primarily German ones. Some websites, such as Armalium.de (now defunct), even received exclusive images. This trend continued up until the game’s cancellation, with many websites obtaining exclusive images or higher-resolution versions of existing ones. Unfortunately, some of this content has been lost to time and could not be recovered — but I digress.
Notably, on January 22nd and February 11th, the now-defunct German gaming website Zocks published an interview with the project lead. In the interview, he provided a more detailed picture of the story than what was previously described on the website:
“A: Will you tell us something about the story? Just a very small snippet to get our attention?
B: As I said, a demon summoning somewhere in the Beilunker Mountains goes wrong and three demons enter Aventuria through Limbo. They now want to open a permanent gate with the help of various utensils in order to bring hordes of dark warriors to the world to put it down for good. The secret service in Perricum learns of these events and plans and sends an agent (the player) to the dark lands to prevent this. Once dropped off there, the player is not only faced with the task of destroying this threat, he also becomes entangled in a side story within the area that runs in parallel and must be solved in order to reach the goal.”
On March 16th, 2001, Ikarion Software finally launched a proper website for the game, featuring a wealth of new materials, a forum, a download section, and more. Right off the bat, we can see that the Realms of Arcania subtitle had been dropped. Over the following months, the site was continuously expanded with new information, interviews, images, downloads, and more. On the forum, developers also shared additional details that were not available on the main site. Unfortunately, most of the forum’s content has been lost to time.
Once again, the website gives a more detailed, yet brief, outlook on the story:
Since the destruction of the powerful mage Borbarad, Eastern Aventuria has been in turmoil. While hopelessly outnumbered troops and rebels loyal to the Emperor risk their lives to fight the power of the Heptarchs who rule the land with cruel might, Aventuria is threatened by a much greater danger that is growing in secret and will soon shake the entire world.
Triggered by the misadventure of a disciple of Borbarad who wants to follow his master into the dimension of spirit beings, a passageway to Limbo is created and three powerful demons find their way into the world of Aventuria. With the help of human traitors and their magical powers, the demons attempt to realise a single goal: The creation of a permanent gateway between the demonic realm and the sphere of humans. If this were to succeed, the armies of the Nether Hells would soon be marching across the soil of Aventuria.
Only an experienced hero, whose allies are the shadows of the night, can ward off this threat and thwart the plans of the dark creatures. If this mission fails, Aventuria is inevitably doomed. The fate of an entire continent lies in the hands of one individual and so begins a mighty adventure…
The games key features also once again have been expanded upon and they’re certainly very ambitious:
“Armalion is a fantasy RPG with a new twist. With a clear focus on entertainment value instead of character stats the game mixes the best of role-playing experience with strategy and action gameplay. In-depth character creation shows the attention to detail, while an easy-to-use interface takes all the pain of boring stats away. The real-time mode of the game can be interrupted at any time. During the game the player will even command small warbands of up to 40 warriors to fight for his goals.”
Unlike the feature list of the ECTS website, the list reveals that the developers also planned to add a skirmish mode to the game.
In the following month, April, the website received a FAQ based on questions from the forum, which was continuously expanded until the site’s closure. Let’s go over some of its contents, as they are particularly interesting and reveal much more about the systems the developers had in mind. However, I won’t cover everything, as there’s simply too much to go through. The key informations are as follows:
During the same month, one of the forum moderators posted on the board that a preview of the game would be featured in PC Games Magazine 6/2001. However, this never happened, and a preview of the game wouldn’t appear until issue 11/2001!
PC Games also published a (now deleted—since they purged all their old content… RIP) article on their website stating that a demo release was planned for June. The demo was supposed to be a whopping 500MB, with the full version expected in December.
Meanwhile, RPGDot published a new interview with the game’s project lead, in which he revealed that a November 2001 release was planned—contradicting what PC Games had reported!
Moving on to May—while Ikarion Software was present at E3 2001 (May 17–19) showcasing the game, press coverage seemed very sparse. On the now long-defunct version of the original RPGDot website, the site’s owner wrote the following:
“Spotting this game at E3 was a pleasant surprise for me, since I didn’t know it would be at E3 and I am a fan of the Realms of Arkania games from the mid 90’s which took place in the same game world. The 1024 max resolution gives the scenery lots of detail, and they have put a lot of work into making this a nice game to look at. There are 6 classes to choose from plus choosing male/female (there is a difference, so that makes 12 characters you can play). Each of the classes will play differently as the quests will vary depending on the class you choose. You can also have up to 40 followers to help you out when things get tough (you can control how aggressive/defensive they are with a simple slider). Tired of walking back and forth across kingdoms? No problem, this game has horses which allow you to cover ground quickly. Here is a feature I haven’t seen in any other game: If you play as a witch, you will be able to fly around on a broom! There are full day/night changes with shopkeepers going to bed and you may also want to keep an eye out for the creatures of the night.”
The German gaming magazine GameStar published an article on May 18, stating that they were able to play the game for the first time at the Shoebox publisher booth! Sadly, I was unable to locate any images or videos of Armalion at E3 2001. However, GameStar magazine (07/2001), which included their E3 coverage, appears to contain a picture of the elusive E3 demo.
In November, the long-overdue preview video was finally released in PC-Games Magazine 11/2001. While the video doesn’t showcase much, it marks the first time Ikarion officially released real gameplay footage of the game! However, when comparing all the available material from that time, it becomes evident that the footage was recorded from a build that was already several months out of date by the time of its release.
Nothing particularly notable happened over the next few months, aside from the release of new screenshots. However, on September 10th, new information about the project finally surfaced in an article published by RPGDot. An Armalion forum user alerted them to the fact that Ikarion was planning an in-house event where the game would also be showcased. The event was scheduled to take place on October 27-28. Interested users were asked to send an email to participate, but it remains unknown whether this event ever actually took place.
On September 26th, 2001, everything sadly began to fall apart for Ikarion. Egmont Interactive — the publisher that, in cooperation with DTP Neue Medien GmbH, was funding the publishing of PC video games in Germany — suddenly announced that they would cease all business activities starting on the 30th. This meant that, abruptly, Armalion had no funding anymore. To continue development, Ikarion would need to secure a new publisher and finance the project themselves in the meantime.
On the same day, the website LoadedInc published a new interview featuring a developer who stated that 40% of the game’s landscape had been completed, and that the engine was already running quite smoothly. It was also revealed that the game had a secondary storyline running alongside the main plot, with the potential to influence the main story in its later stages depending on the player’s choices.
On October 1st, 2001, Ikarion officially declared insolvency due to the reasons mentioned above. Other than that, nothing particularly notable happened that month, except for PC-Games publishing an article on their website, which revealed a small tidbit of new information about the story:
“After hungry demons have entered the land of Aventuria through the bungling of an apprentice mage and started a war, you travel undercover to the front as an agent. On the one hand, you are supposed to find out what the hell creatures are planning in detail and who is supporting them, on the other hand, you have a lot of responsibility in the defence campaign.”
In November, the at this point very overdue preview video finally ended up getting released in the PC-Games Magazine 11/2001. While not too much is shown in the preview video, this is the first time that Ikarion had released an actual real gameplay video of the game! It is worth noting that if all the material released around the time is taken into consideration, it is revealed that the video was recorded on a build which at this point was at least a couple of months out of date.
The as mentioned earlier planned release in November 2001, was of course missed.
On December 18, 2001, the devastating news finally broke—Ikarion had declared bankruptcy, and Armalion was officially canceled. The studio was unable to secure a publisher to continue the game’s development.
In the German developer forum USF, the project manager and chief programmer of the game elaborated on the situation. Unfortunately, none of the site’s content has been archived. However, PC-Games had luckily published articles on their website that included his statement:
“As of 12:00 noon today, it is certain that the hopeful and ambitious project Armalion will never be released!
Armalion is currently 75% finished. Every potential publisher or investor wanted it. But nobody wanted to spend money on it.
We, the team, would like to thank all publishers who gave us false hope for so long. We would like to thank you for opening our eyes to the solidarity and idealism of this industry.
Special thanks to Eidos Interactive for achieving the unrivalled high score in stalling … almost 9 months after all. Lara Croft would be proud of you.
Thanks also to JoWood. You have also done a great job.
Our thanks go to many more … I apologise if I have forgotten one or two others.”
PC-Games also reported that, according to him, the release of a beta version or the game’s code was being considered. However, as we know, this never happened.
And the rest is history! Ascaron ended up acquiring what remained of Ikarion, including parts of the Armalion team, under the new name Studio II, and went on to develop the legendary German video game SACRED. While it is unfortunate that Armalion was never fully realized, at the very least, not everything was lost. Some of the content created for it found new life in Ascaron’s ARPG.
