Spiritfarer studio's 33-player roguelike gives us a closer look at its MMO-style raids
A closed beta arrives next month
We first learned of Spiritfarer studio Thunder Lotus' latest endeavour 33 Immortals at last year's Summer Geoff Fest. They showed off some brief snippets of its 33-player cooperative roguelike-ing, where you'd beat up hellish monsters in a miniature take on MMO raids. If you were intrigued by it back then, I have good news. The Triple-i Initiative gave us more of a glimpse at how the game would look in the hands, with precious UI markers and the promise we'll uncover new "Torture Chambers". Lovely. No seriously, it does look quite lovely, if a touch predictable.
The start of the trailer gives us a glimpse at how outfitting and matchmaking 33 players might work. Essentially, it looks like you're dropped into a hub space where you select a weapon of choice, then jump headlong into a gold portal. Of course, it remains a mystery as to how it determines what layer of hell you'll get plopped in, whether it matchmakes you with folks of your level (if there even are levels), and how it might deal with warriors suffering from the most frightening of afflictions: internet drop outs. Still, I'm sure these will be answered in time.
Combat looks fine! The usual numbers bopping out of heads, as you hit skeletal harpies and giant locusts with big swords and bows. Those classic Hades-style visual cues, as your sword arcs, enemies self-destruct, and you clock them with status effects. Fireballs to dodge and items to consume. Not that I have a problem with this, I am more than happy with familiar roguelike battling.
And it looks like you'll venture into these dungeons more often as groups of four to six, rather than it being a colossal 33 on screen at all times. Clips show a few pals healing up at a "Bone Shrine", hopping into a portal whose number ticks up from "2/6" to "6/6", then being transported into a "Torture Chamber" home to glistening chests and beefy guardians. Of course, these chests are cracked open to reveal relics of varying rarity that'll modify your moves. The "Eagle Talon" shown causes an explosion upon dashing, which pleases me. Eight slots for these goodies are shown, too, which bodes well for the buildcrafters.
Perish and it seems you're able to bang open a map, which shows everyone in real time clearing out various bits of the level. The level here being "Inferno", home to 12 objectives, presumably scattered across cheery places like "Forest Of Sorrows" and "Graveyard Of Heresy". What's neat is that your revived crew can zip back into the action by selecting a teleport spot at one of these locations, although the cost of doing so isn't clear. Maybe there's a pool of lives that ticks down as folks die?
Finally, I'm into the team special moves. We see one arrow barrage initiated by one player who summons three glyphs. Their buds stand on them at the same time, unleashing a powerful stream of arrows that knocks out a horde of baddies. For the most part, co-op seems to mean bashing baddies with little communication, but it's nice to see ways you can usher pals into easy wins.
If any of that tickled your fancy, there's a closed beta that begins on May 24th, and you can sign up at the game's official website if you'd like a chance to get stuck in.