Players begin their adventure by filling the cel-shaded shoes of young adventurer Vanilla Beans, who awakes on a beach with no memory of where he is or how he got there. Vanilla is befriended by Connie, a singer who had lost her band mates, and the pair soon set off together on an unforgettable quest.

The world of Steambot Chronicles presents the player with a uniquely open-ended role-playing experience. It's up to the player to explore the world and talk to the locals to piece together their own story. By playing mini-games and completing missions and subquests players can choose to become a fighter or an explorer, a chef or a bandit – or a mixture of all these and more besides. In every interaction with the game's colourful inhabitants, players also have multiple options to respond and communicate. These include kindly, meanly or even with a joke. Every decision has an impact in the world of Steambot Chronicles.

Lovers of combat are also well catered for. The game feature enormous steam-powered craft called Trotmobiles, or Trots, for short. These can be used in organised battles, to pummel rivals and assimilate their parts, or they can be used for the greater good, by ferrying stranded locals from place to place for instance. Steambot Chronicles is the ultimate in "sandbox"-style gaming and is bursting with activities, quests and mini-games.

Steambot Chronicles, developed by IREM and published in the UK by 505 Gamestreet, launches in September for PlayStation 2, priced £29.99.

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