We're going to do a series of articles focusing on specific parts of the game's development, explaining a bit how they work and their changes compared to the previous game.
Today's the last day before we'll finally push the button and release the game for everyone to try! Our last article covers weapons and amulets.
Weapons
In Ziggurat 2, an unarmed wizard is a dead wizard. Magic weapons are the best way to deal with all that nasty creatures dwelling the deepest dungeons, and there's plenty of variety!
Weapons are split in 4 big categories:
Magic wands are a special category, as you'll always have one and their energy quickly refills over time. However, they're weak compared to the other ones, and it's meant as a backup weapon when you run out of mana for the other categories.
Spells usually feature short ranged, slow firing attacks, that can either pack a punch or inflict nasty elemental effects on enemies.
Staves tend to have a high fire rate and good accuracy, but a slightly lower damage throughput.
Alchemic weapons are a bit more exotic and range from an assault rifle to hand grenades.
All weapons have an alternate fire that can help in specific situations. For example the Freezing Hail will fire a mist that will freeze most enemies in front of you.
On top of that, after some use, you can level up a weapon's Mastery level, and then upgrade it to increase their damage and unlock some passive effects that will be applied just for having the weapon in your inventory.
Amulets
Amulets are trinkets that will grant you additional powers and skills, similar to wizard skills, but they can be equipped by anyone.
As a change from Ziggurat 1, now you'll always start with an Amulet, and they have a fixed cooldown with a limited number of uses. We think that this way you'll find it easier to use them at the proper time.
Amulets can also be upgraded to make their effect more powerful, as well as unlocking new passive buffs.