Angry Birds Epic Is a Turn-Based ... RPG?

[reaper]

For a minute there, it seemed like Rovio might go the Dark Souls route and add a super-gritty, medieval-esqe action/role-playing-game to its more conventional "throw a bird at a pig" Angry Birds franchise.

As it turns out, we were only half wrong. Rovio recently released a new teaser trailer (below) for its next Angry Birds title. However, the company revealed very little about what the game — dubbed Angry Birds Epic — actually entails. Armor-clad birds and pigs flying around castles? Game of Thrones-like intrigue where medieval birds attack pig kings? And why is Rovio's newest game launching first in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand? When might other Angry Birds fanatics in other countries get their turn?

A few new details have since been released regarding what Rovio has in store for Angry Birds Epic, and it's a pretty significant 180 from the core gameplay with which Angry Birds fans are familiar.

For starters, the game isn't going to be a bird-slinging lesson in physics. According to The Next Web, Rovio is going the turn-based, role-playing route for Angry Birds Epic — which makes us first wonder if the birds and pigs will be voiced? Subtitled? Silent?

There's apparently also going to be an actual narrative campaign throughout said RPG title, the blog said. That's not a big surprise for the genre, but it is a bit of a surprise for Angry Birds: there's not usually much of a plot when it comes to the mobile game beyond knocking down pigs.

There's also supposed to be some kind of "challenging endgame." But we'll have to wait and see if that means a survival mode-like challenge, a huge boss fight, or just some crazy, strategy-filled fracas against the (seemingly) evil pigs.

The game will also feature a number of resources that players can find throughout their adventures (or, presumably, purchase via a microtransaction-based model), and these will go hand-in-hand with a crafting system that Rovio is looking to pack into Angry Birds Epic, AngryBirdsNest noted. As the developer puts it: "craft amazing, battle-winning weapons like a wooden sword, frying pan or stick thingy with a sponge on top!"

You had us at "stick thingy."

A "knight" and "mage" class have been revealed as playable classes within one's epic adventures on "Piggy Island." We can only assume that there are a few more in the works, but we won't need that long to wait to find out. Gamers in the aforementioned "soft launch" countries will reportedly get their hands on Angry Birds Epic by the end of this week.

Those located elsewhere don't get a timeline, but Rovio has indicated that Angry Birds Epic will be available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8 when it finally launches worldwide.

Rovio also has another Angry Birds spinoff, starring a pink-feathered fowl named Stella, lined up for the fall.