While I’m a die-hard adventure fan at heart, I have to admit to having the occasional moment of RPG-envy. The graphics are often hyper-realistic, there’s a level of freedom you won’t find in the typical point-and-click, and the potential for battling evil can’t be beat.

Originally created with Czech dialogue, RA Images’s Daemonica is soon to be released to the North American market, and promises to fulfill those action-oriented fantasies for adventure lovers such as myself. The demo version I played certainly delivered. The unusual top-down 3D view is reminiscent of the classic RPG series, Baldur’s Gate, and provides stunning views of swaying trees, changing weather patterns, and beautifully textured background elements. The music was absolutely captivating; gloomy and moving at once in true movie score style..

The story line is well fleshed-out as well: Beast hunter Nicholas Farepoynt is summoned to a Cavorn, a small Medieval town in England, to investigate a series of murders. But he’s no ordinary crime solver. No, he’s Haresh al-Dorem, one who speaks with the dead. This is no John Edwards type feat, mind you. He gathers plants to make a potion, which he uses to enter a gateway and retrieve the souls of the victims. Creepy stuff. To make matters worse, the entire town is slowly slipping into madness.

Daemonica promises to be an intriguing hybrid that combines the mystery-solving and story depth associated with the adventure genre with elements of its action-oriented cousins. It doesn’t look as though the fighting will be too in-depth, so adventure fans will feel right at home, but it may be just enough to provide a nice bridge for the action crowd as well.

You may want to bookmark the official site for updates: http://www.daemonica.com. I think it’s definitely going to be worth the wait.