Venetica Message Board

Steam accepted a mini batch of games and software on Greenlight today, picking up four new, community-voted titles to eventually launch on Steam. The three games are Edge of Space, Venetica and Papers, Please, and the software title is Substance Designer 3, a texturing toolset.

Edge of Space is a 2D terraforming experiment set on a distant, rogue planet; Venetica is an adventure set in historical Venice and starring Scarlett, the daughter of Death; and Papers, Please is an intense immigration checkpoint simulator.

Steam will likely continue Greenlighting games in smaller batches so the entire process can move more quickly, this round's announcement reads.

"These titles were selected on the same criteria we have been using in the past: Votes in Greenlight give us a hugely valuable point of data in gauging community interest along with external factors such as press reviews, crowd-funding successes, performance on other platforms, and awards and contests to help form a more complete picture of community interest in each title," the announcement says.

You might expect the sudden revelation of being Death's daughter -- as befalls the protagonist of Venetica -- to conjure some deep, introspective questions. What secrets from the beyond should you reveal to others? Is killing someone such a terrible option now that you know there is another plane of existence? Was having someone die at every dance recital really bad luck, or was daddy just doing his best to balance work and family?

Perhaps that last question isn't so poignant, but Venetica, while possessing such an intriguing concept, seems unwilling to run very far with it. Instead, the afterlife flavors a rather straightforward and unpolished action-RPG.

Is a busty heroine, a world in peril, and a magic blade a deadly combination?

Journey through 16th century Venice as the daughter of Death to put an end to the conquest of the evil necromancer.

Venetica didn't really win critics over back when it was released in Germany -- while the story is supposed to be pretty good, the gameplay was called bland and repetitive. Nevertheless, Atari is bringing the game to North America, and will release it on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on January 11 of next year.

Venetica takes place in 16th century Venice, and casts the player in the role of a girl named Scarlett, who just so happens to be Death's daughter. She has to save the world and her father from a powerful necromancer. Sounds like fun -- just be careful around Death, otherwise he might end up making you do his job for him.

More RPG action on the way.

Explore a cinematic adventure set in the beautiful city of Venice during the 16th Century.

Beauty. Charm. Sharp things repeatedly shoved through enemies. She has it all, including screens of her doing all that.

This is the third in the making-of video series.

The Venetica team goes on location once again to capture the essence of trading markets.