Project Nomads

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Project Nomads is an adventure game taking place on a ruined steampunk planet. The world itself has fractured into smaller pieces. The laws of physics are in a strange place, as the remaining world is comprised of floating chunks of the planet, with the "the sea of flames" at the very lowest level. The player takes control of 1 of three Nomads, searching for treasure. The game begins with the player character left for dead after their plane crashes on a remote island in enemy territory. However, the crash frees a "Master Builder" from his prison, who rewards the PC by turning the island into a makeshift warship. And the game goes from there.

The gameplay mainly consists of search new areas for artifacts, which can be used to further strengthen the island, and fighting off aggressors with said ship. The three choosable characters differ mainly in the type of weapons they use. John has gatling towers which fire a stream of weak bullets, Goliath has massive cannons firing oversized shells, Suzie falls somewhere in between.

Tropes used in Project Nomads include:
  • Action Bomb: Skrits are this on the ground.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Happens a few times, actually. You get to turn it around a couple times as well!
  • Arbitrary Gun Power: Honestly, gatlings guns should be more effective than they're portrayed here. However, it's the only thing keeping them from being overpowered.
  • Dummied Out: A surprising amount of spells are in the game's code, but never given to the player. A few planes are hidden in here as well.
  • Escort Mission: Only one, but it's quite frustrating. You have to protect a moving target much larger than your island, and it's impossible for you to be protecting all sides at once. Also, your escort target, not you, dictates the speed of the transit. So it will forge ahead into areas you haven't cleared out yet. It does have its own defenses, but it doesn't help.
  • Gatling Good: All John's turrets and fighters pack gatling guns. The Sentinels have their own version.
  • Hold the Line: A couple instances in the late-game.
  • Mighty Glacier: Bombers and heavy cannons. Both are impervious to many types of attacks, and can cripple or destroy a hostile in a single attack themselves. Goliath's weapons are also made with this philosophy, as his cannons are exceptionally powerful but fire very slowly.
  • More Dakka: Most of the guns in this game are the "fire many weak bullets" variety.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Good lord, where do we begin? That master builder you freed? He was imprisoned for a very good reason!
  • Self-Imposed Challenge: The game explains choosing Goliath to be this, because he's using slow-but-powerful weapons in a game dominated by speedy aircraft. That said, he demolishes enemy defenses with ease, which the other characters struggle with until they obtain heavier weapons.
  • Shattered World