Favour fortune, not glory in PS4’s Might and Magic-inspired Heroes of the Monkey Tavern

Hello there, Playstation blog, my name is Cédric and I am the developer of RPG Heroes of the Monkey Tavern, which releases on PlayStation 4 tomorrow.

I’m a lifelong fan of such genre classics as Might & Magic, Eye of the Beholder or Lands of Lore, spending many an hour spellbound on them. Games that shaped my youth, as amazing developers worked their wizardry on the emerging household computer market, keeping us hooked in front of our screens.

So when 2012’s brilliant Legend of Grimrock resurrected the genre, I realised I also wanted to make my own contribution, with the additional goal of offering such an engrossing experience on Playstation 4.

But while most games sent you out to save the world, I favoured a lighter, more humorous approach.

So in Heroes of Monkey Tavern, you’re introduced to a group of adventurers who are also big party animals. As a result, they’ve ran out of money. So when a stranger appears and promises them – you – the way to the greatest treasure ever, you waste no time and head out on on your newest quest, influenced by fortune rather than glory.

I remember seeing a documentary about Martin Scorsese in which his writing method is discussed; he uses music to influence his story’s scenes as he writes. I used a similar process, first spending hundreds of hours listening to and choosing music tracks that evoked a strong emotional reaction in me. Then, I started to work out what scenes would best highlight them. I liked the result so much that it became obvious that a music player had to be integrated into the game’s menu so that players could listen to them whenever they liked.

The complexity to the controls in games such as these mean they’re best suited for computers. However, I worked hard from the start to make sure Heroes of Monkey Tavern would be as enjoyable with a controller rather than a mouse. Genre aficionados may first be skeptical, but once you have tried it out, you realise that the fights are even faster with the controller. And with the shortcuts, managing your inventory is a breeze.

Don’t believe me? Check out the video below that offers a quick runthrough of the controls, and acts as an introduction to the game world.

Rather than boring you to death with more details, I’d prefer you try the game out yourself through the demo that’ll release alongside the game proper tomorrow!