Rauberer

Rauberer
Studio	Cut & Pasta
Erstveröffent- lichung	Probably Never
Plattform	PC, PS4/5, XBox One/Series X/Series S, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Genre	Stealth
Spielmodus	Singleplayer

The Apprentice

In a small fantasy town, home to a band of wizards, an arcane accident occurs, ripping the town from its reality and transporting it into a futuristic world ruled by a cruel Regime. The Regime is not happy about the arrival of the floating island that the town has become and they are particularly angered by the wizards and magical artefacts inside the town. So they attack, taking townsfolk prisoners, burning down houses and stealing the wizards' artefacts. You, an Apprentice of the arcane, is left behind with nothing. Nothing but your magical abilities in the making. So you decide to put everything at your disposal to use, infiltrating the facilities of the Regime, avoiding their security systems and getting your people and the artefacts back.

Spells & Stealth

In Rauberer you have to break into secret facilities, make your way to your target, be it an imprisoned companion or an artefact of your masters, and exfiltrate safely. You have neither strength nor dexterity, your only way to get past the Regimes cameras, guards and turrets is to use magical spells, that you prepare before each quest. After a briefing about the goal of your next quest you get to pick and choose the spells that you want to use to achieve it. Maybe you want to bring along a short range teleportation spell to move past a camera unseen, or you could use a shapeshifting spell to disguise yourself as a guard for a short time, or maybe you need a backup fireball in case things go awry?

But be careful! You can use a spell only as often as you have prepared it, so cast them wisely. At least you have a set of Cantrips, spells that you can use all the time as often as you want.

The Spell Book

Spells

Spells have Levels, the higher the level the more powerful a spell usually is. Since the Apprentice is still young and learning, they will begin their journey with only low-level spells in their spell book.

Spell Slots

There is also spell slots. Spell slots have levels too and represent the number of spells of each level that the Apprentice can prepare before a quest.

So the apprentice might have three spells of Level 2 in their spell book but only one spell slot of Level 2, meaning they can only equip one of those three spells on a quest.

Cantrips

Cantrips on the other hand, once in the Apprentices spell book can be cast at will without preparation beforehand.

Artefacts

One artefact can be equipped for a quest. Artefacts are gained by stealing them back from the Regime in quests. These artefacts can grant all kinds of abilities. Some might give passive features that make your spells quieter or they might give access to an additional powerful spell.

Min to the Max

Starting a quest for the first time its map will be blank. But no matter if the Apprentice fails or succeeds, the newly discovered parts of the map will be sketched down in their book, so planning the route for another go will be easier. Completing quests and using spells will yield XP which can lead to the Apprentice gaining levels. With new levels you can unlock new spells and cantrips as well as more spell slots. Bringing home artefacts unlocks them and you can equip up to one artefact for a quest. If you have already unlocked an artefact and complete its quest again the artefact grows stronger, increasing its power, duration or other stats. Going back to an old quest can open up new possibilities for completing it. Maybe you want to find the perfect build to complete the quest even faster or even quieter. Or maybe you have just unlocked Magic Missile and just want to shoot some guys. Keep in mind though, that using powerful spells on easier quests will yield less XP.

Hush

But you will not be able to just cast spells all willy nilly while sneaking through futuristic corridors. Your stealth has the number one priority and there's some things that make that tricky.

Arcane Aura

Spells leave a magical trace when cast, called their Aura. It is undetectable to most people but there are some who are able to detect Auras and, by extension, maybe the Apprentice. More powerful spells will leave stronger Auras, that are bigger and stay longer. Fortunately the Apprentice also possesses the power to detect Auras, which is helpful when trying to find an artefact or a captured wizard.

The Verbal Component

Some spells have a Verbal Component, meaning the apprentice has to speak in order to cast it. As one might guess, this means that others might hear the Apprentice when they are casting a verbal spell.

Alarm

Once the Apprentice has drawn too much attention to themselves the facility will sound the alarms, prompting guards and other stronger forces to be called to the facility or turrets to be activated. The Alarm can not be stopped, from here on out it's either loose, get out and try again or rush to get the job done.