Gato Salvaje Studio is composed of former BioWare staff, some of whom have worked on classic party-based RPGs such as Jade Empire on the OG Xbox and the Mass Effect Trilogy. They’re currently working on a new party-based RPG called The Waylanders, and it’s scheduled to release in 2020 next year.

The game will feature more than 800 different skills for players to acquire across six different playable classes, and 30 advanced sub-classes.

At this year’s GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, there was a brand new cinematic trailer rolled out to help give a little bit of backstory and context on the game’s lore and atmosphere. You can check it out below, courtesy of IGN.

It’s hard to parse what’s going on since we don’t have much context and can only go by the cryptic sayings of an old sorcerer.

But based on the trailer it looks like the guardians of the realm have turned into the enemy of the realm; spiteful magic users unleashing their fury on insolent villagers.

The only thing that was revealed in the description is that The Waylanders is inspired by the original Dragon Age: Origins, and not the diversity-plagued sequels.

We actually do, however, get to see some of the gameplay in action courtesy of a seven minute demonstration captured by Vulkan. You can check out the video below.

The video is quite informative, running viewers through the basic gist of the chronological duality that will be at stake during the main story, as well as being able to build your character skill-by-skill throughout the play experience.

The combat is similar to the old CRPGs from the late 1990s and early aughts, such as Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. You’ll need to strategically setup your team tactics, including melee and magic attacks, as well as being able to use some neat combat strategies against enemies, such as the testudo formation to weaken an enemies attacks and set them up for a counter attack.

The setting and the gameplay look solid, and the fact that what you do in one timeline can affect the other sounds kind of cool, but I’ll reserve judgment on The Waylanders until we can see some more gameplay and find out a bit more about the overall story.