Troika Games was a computer game developer focused on computer role-playing games. It was founded in 1998 by three key members of the team behind the popular RPG Fallout: Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Jason Anderson, after they left Interplay.
The company released three games: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (set in a steampunk/fantasy world), The Temple of Elemental Evil (based on a classic 1985 Dungeons & Dragons adventure) and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (based on White Wolf Game Studio's Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game). Bloodlines was the first game to license Valve Software's Source engine, released on the same day as Half-Life 2.
While Troika was lauded by critics and gamers alike for their high quality storytelling and open game design, allowing players a great deal of freedom in how to approach quests and obstacles in their games, the company has also been criticised for the large number of bugs which plagued both Temple and Bloodlines, perhaps due to insufficient playtesting. Nonetheless, the company enjoyed an excellent reputation among RPG gamers.
In early 2005, Troika ran into financial trouble, and was eventually forced to lay off all its staff and begin selling assets. While the company still exists as a legal entity, it is no longer a functioning game development studio. Troika's founders have stated, however, that it is possible that the company will eventually "regroup".
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