Palladium Books, the publisher behind the popular and long-running tabletop roleplaying game Rifts, has initiated a crowdfunding campaign to resurrect a largely forgotten computer game adaptation of its flagship franchise. The project, titled Rifts: Promise of Power Reforged, aims to bring an updated version of the originally Nokia N-Gage exclusive title to PC and potentially other modern gaming platforms.
Rifts: Promise of Power was released in 2005 for the N-Gage, Nokia’s handheld game console. Despite garnering some positive reception at the time for its faithful adaptation of the Rifts universe, the game’s reach was significantly limited by the commercial performance of the N-Gage platform itself. Support for the N-Gage was discontinued by Nokia not long after the game’s release, leading to Rifts: Promise of Power becoming a rare and relatively inaccessible title for many fans of the TTRPG, effectively rendering it a “lost” piece of the franchise’s history for a wider audience.
The new crowdfunding effort, hosted on BackerKit, seeks to fund what Palladium Books calls a “reforged” edition of the game. According to the campaign information, this initiative is a significant and expensive undertaking. The publisher is collaborating with TransPerfect Gaming to modernise the game.
Plans for Rifts: Promise of Power Reforged include a significantly expanded aspect ratio suitable for modern screens, a departure from the original N-Gage’s smaller display. The project also aims to restore iconic character portraits, such as the Glitter Boy and Coalition Grunt, to their well-known likenesses from the tabletop RPG. The reforged edition is slated to feature over 30 hours of main storyline gameplay, seventeen playable classes drawn directly from the TTRPG (including popular choices like the Burster, Ley Line Walker, and Cyber-Knight), tactical turn-based combat, over 100 weapons, spells, and psionics, and travel to various locations familiar to Rifts lore.
The crowdfunding campaign will offer backers exclusive in-game content and new physical rewards. Stretch goals outlined for the project include a high-definition update to the original in-game art and combat graphics, an entirely new modern soundtrack, and support for additional platforms, such as consoles and mobile devices, contingent on funding levels.
The Rifts tabletop RPG, created by Kevin Siembieda and first published in 1990, is known for its expansive, genre-bending post-apocalyptic setting where dimensional rifts have torn open across Earth, leading to a chaotic landscape of high technology, magic, psionics, diverse alien races, and powerful entities. The crowdfunding campaign for Rifts: Promise of Power Reforged represents an effort to reintroduce a digital chapter of this universe to both veteran fans and a new generation of gamers.
Palladium Books was voted into Geek Native’s RPG Publisher Spotlight in 2020, which resulted in an interview with Alex Marciniszyn.
Quick Links
- Backerkit: Rifts computer game.
