Islands of the Caliph
Islands of the Caliph imagines an ancient, seafaring Middle Eastern empire, spanning several islands to which the player may venture and explore.
Set in a fictional Island civilization, Islands of the Caliph is a unique mash-up of the old school RPGs the developer played in the 1980s, and Middle Eastern folklore and religion.
Numerous mythical and dangerous beasts lurk in waiting as you explore and discover new lands. From giant spiders and scorpions, to more supernatural beings like ghouls and jinn, Islands of the Caliph will introduce players to some of the creatures of folklore of Arab, Persian and African cultures among others.
Weapons are an important tool you will need to overcome adversaries. Find new weapons while adventuring or buy them from a merchant. Each weapon has different stats, so paying careful attention will help you to equip the best items.
As you explore, your map with be updated automatically. Use it to keep track of your location and to discover new routes of exploration. A small mini map appears in the corner of the screen while exploring, but you can open it to view the whole area when needed.
Many hidden treasures are waiting to be discovered by a brave adventurer. Some chests have coins, while others may have items to take. You may also use treasure chests to store items you don’t need, but are not quite ready to sell.
The player must explore this open world and discover the game’s primary quest for themselves. The game seeks to capture some of the open-endedness of classic RPGs like Might & Magic, Ultima and Bards Tale, with some modern conveniences. The player will be offered quests by some of the game’s NPCs. Some of these quests will be required to make progress in the game’s main story, while others will be optional. It is up to the player to figure out which is which, though often it will be obvious in the context given.
Game Discussion
Steam User 16
I did not complete the game yet, but I am enjoying it very much.
This game puts you in the setting of a low fantasy medieval middle-east where the region, or world, seems to be in a post-cataclysmic flooding event, as the only lands left are the peaks of the former land masses that were flooded hundreds of years ago. Throughout these hundreds of years, the people of these regions lost touch with not only each other, but their faith and culture. Some of the leaders look to other sources of power, such as the dark arts of magic, whilst others still hold onto their faith. It is up to you to help reuinite the Islands through your righteous deeds.
Fans of Oriental classics will thoroughly enjoy the in-depth Islamic "mythology" of Djinn and other spiritual concepts.
Playing through the game, it very much reminded me of TES:Morrowind. You start out with nothing, no guide, and you choose your own path. You start on your Homeland of Salam Island, and from there you can make your way to the surrounding 8 other islands. There is a Main Quest (from what I know so far), but this is not all there is, not by a long shot. There are other side quests that are very interesting in their own right (The Five Pillars).
I don't want to be biased when making this review, as I am a Muslim myself, and that is what intrigued me to this product, so I will also say the main thing that I disliked about the game is that you technically only have a single save slot per "character" or "game". You can have 3 different games, but each can only be saved onto 1 save slot, and there is only 3 save slots in total. This makes the game a bit more hardcore as you can't just save scum. When you are defeated in combat, or die to illness, you are given the choice of loading your last save, or continuing on with less money and a couple of items lost (nothing you cant bounce back from).
Overall, the thing that made me love the game the most was the way the developer created it in such an amazing educational manner. As I said before, I am a Muslim American, however there are somethings about my religion that I did not know about, such as the Islamic Months, which can be found in a book in-game. You can really learn alot about Islam from just playing this neat little RPG. The story is intriguing enough to make you want to keep finding more information. The game is excellent in it's level design, clearly taking influence from amazing classic CRPGs, you got dungeons, you got outdoor areas, and you have different enemies.
You really can't go wrong with this game for $10. Not only will you have fun, but you will also learn about what Muslims truly believe, and who knows? Maybe this could be the bridge to your own spiritual journey of finding the meaning to life, or finding your own truth. I'd recommend it to anyone nonetheless.
P.S. This is a great game to play while fasting in real life LOL
Steam User 10
TL;DR: Recommended for fans of the genre, but with a few caveats that players should know going in.
The Good:
- Beautiful look and feel. Very immersive and evocative
- Emphasizes the most palatable and devotional aspects of Islam for very unique worldbuilding
- A reasonably believable "low fantasy" setting with lots of travel back and forth between islands
- An important, but not too challenging survival system (food, medicine to treat injuries, etc.)
- The world really feels open despite the confines of a "blobber". You can go many places before you're necessarily ready to progress, and the game will send you back to familiar locales later in the plotline
- Auto-mapping is old school friendly in that there is no note-taking. Many players (myself included...next time I play) would benefit from a notebook alongside the keyboard
The not-so-good:
- After about 6 hours, I realized that I'd made a couple of glaring mistakes that are making the game EXTREMELY tedious, requiring a lot of money grinding and sailing back and forth in order to proceed.
- Standard keyboard controls are not good. The combination of buttons necessary to interact with menus and objects is quite clumsy and results in a lot of mis-types
- The amount of description and flavor text for quests is problematically minimal. The journal is basically unhelpful beyond stating "look for this thing"
- The leveling up and character development system is not very important. I never found an area where combat was so challenging as to require spending any points on attributes
Things to know before purchasing:
- There is absolutely NO tutorial, and a fair number of large-impact decisions in the game. These have an impact not only on story, but on quality of life and convenience within the game world (LIKE FAST TRAVEL, OR LACK THEREOF) This is exciting and encouraging, but not for the casual gamer. If you make rash decisions, you may pay dearly!
- NO mouse whatsoever
- There is a lot of exploration required. One must either be EXTREMELY thorough or do some guesswork in order to find necessary keys
- A notebook is probably recommended for those serious dungeon crawlers out there
- There is very little available online for walkthrough/hint assistance. I have read and can understand people getting stuck and abandoning the game
Speaking of abandoning, that is what I have done after my handful of hours. However, this is good enough that I will come back to it...after re-reading my own notes above!
Steam User 6
I would recommend this with the caveat that you go in knowing:
- Keyboard only controls
- Cryptic quest objectives
- You have to thorougly explore
- Note taking really helps
Unfortunately I got motion sickness when playing this game so I was unable to complete it.
Steam User 10
This is open world RPG/immersive sim done right, using a first-person discrete dungeon crawler interface, beautifully rendered.
It delivers on something I'd been wishing for since playing Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (not to completion), and Eye of the Beholder 2 (to completion) - a sense of space and freedom, within the confines of an interface that makes it all manageable and clear. No pixel hunting. No obtuse dungeon puzzles (which might disappoint some EotB fans). Just a world that feels big, but is full of stuff and people to talk to. A larger goal and then some small ones that sometimes tie back into that goal. Choices that have consequences, some reversible, others not.
Having gotten all the achievements, and finished the game, I still feel there's more to do. It always felt like there was a lot to do and find out. I got to the end in a somewhat roundabout way, and the systems were robust enough to let that happen. A few times I felt like I was stuck - but some additional exploration and revisiting some NPCs were enough to point me in the right direction. Sometimes the need for rest or food pushed me in weird directions - usually to my ultimate benefit.
I found the Islamic elements refreshing - supposedly you don't have to engage with them too closely to win, but you kind of do for the achievements, they undergird the lore, and they do motivate the themes of the various quests of the game. If you are strongly tied to another religion, or irreligious, it might put you off, but I hope it doesn't. I come from a Jewish background, so the strictly scheduled praying and other duties tied to time of day and year felt familiar. Additionally, I've lived where I could hear the call to prayer from the nearest mosque, so this was a bit nostalgic for me.
In short - give this an hour, and I'm sure you'll be spending many more.
Steam User 6
This is a really great game! It stuck in my mind after playing the demo, but it wasn't until I learned the mechanics related to the pillars of faith that I trurly fell in love.
In this game you can learn a lot about Islam and that's wonderful because as a white woman from Europe I could never do this in my entire life so that's really interesting for me.
The game has also beautiful retro design.
I have a little request tho. Could you upload OST on youtube or spotify? Because music is really great and I wanted to share it with friends which I already told about the game.
I keep my fingers crossed for your future projects!
Steam User 3
I really enjoyed Schmidt Workshops' other exploration game, Star Explorers, so I gave this one a try, also. I love the artwork and the setting, and the old keyboard-only control scheme is surprisingly intuitive.
Combat is not really difficult if you haven't run ahead of your area too far and you take your time. The game is heavy on exploration and finding out how to get from point-to-point, so in a way it is more of an extended maze, with the setting being based on Arabian mythology. I have not finished the game yet, but it seems that your goal is more or less to reconnect the trade routes between the islands and learn how to be a good Muslim. It's a unique experience and I've enjoyed it so far, especially since you can run it on a toaster.
Steam User 2
never before has a game filled my niche needs in such a perfect way. the absolute respect that the developer shows to Islam and it's ingenious integration into the game play makes up for any of the few shortcomings, if you like exploring and reading lore you'll love this