Hello again, Survivors!
Last week, we talked about the big changes coming to the Stage System and all the tweaks we’re making to support it. Since it’s a major overhaul, all the Dev Team is hard at work rebuilding the system from the ground up!
Even though we’re focusing on this, as we mentioned before, the heart of Remore is still all about "Combat." We haven’t lost sight of that and are constantly brainstorming ways to make battles more fun and tactical—pushing players to get creative in every fight.
In the Early Access version, the key combat systems we introduced were the "Ambush" and "Surrounded" systems. Both of these required sharp attention to enemy sightlines and tactical thinking around positioning your team and the enemy.
Thoughts on the Current Combat System
As we’ve been tweaking the stage system and running internal tests, we've gotten a lot of different feedback on Ambush and Surrounded. The main goal was to create combat that’s “challenging but rewarding,” and overall, people seemed to like that direction.
When we talk about “rewards,” there are two types: in-game rewards and the emotional payoff for the player. The in-game reward is pretty straightforward—it’s about whether the extra damage you deal matches the challenge of pulling off an Ambush or Surrounded attack. We've been working to balance that extra damage and think we’ve found a good middle ground where the difficulty feels fair.
As for the emotional side, it's about whether these combat mechanics actually feel satisfying to use. To hit that mark, we focused on making sure Ambush and Surrounded attacks look and feel right, with the right effects and atmosphere.
With Ambushes, we think we’ve nailed it. The system lets you attack enemies from outside their field of view, which fits perfectly with the “Ambush” concept. The gameplay works really well with stealthy characters like the Shadow Sister, allowing them to take out enemies without leaving any witnesses—a true ambush in every sense.
When it comes to Surrounded attacks, some players felt that the emotional payoff wasn’t strong enough. The idea is that you need to surround an enemy with your team before attacking, but it’s harder to pull off than it sounds. Whether or not you can set up a Surrounded attack depends a lot on how the enemies are positioned, or what skills and resources your team has, so it’s not something you can easily do all the time. You really have to take advantage of the right moment to make it work.
It makes sense that an enemy would be more “vulnerable” when surrounded, but since individual characters still do the attacking, the feeling of “everyone teaming up” to strike doesn’t really come through. That sense of a coordinated group effort felt a bit lacking.
So, we needed to add an emotional reward for creating a Surrounded situation, something that would be tangible and fun - something that would raise awareness of the situation and give it more emotional appeal. So, we'd like to introduce you to our new combat system, Pincer Attack.
Survivors' New Ultimate: Pincer Attack
Pincer Attack is a new skill that can be used when three characters are all adjacent to an enemy, under the same conditions as a Surrounding (flanking) situation. It acts as a new gameplay reward, offering a bonus attack opportunity during a Surrounded situation, and thus, it doesn’t require any additional WP or TP to activate. However, unlike other skills, it is limited to once per turn.
When Pincer Attack is triggered, all members of the expedition team attack the targeted enemy. Not only does the game display the attack in simple pixel graphic animations, but it also shows cut-in illustrations of the characters participating in the attack. Through this visual effect, we wanted to convey the message that a surrounding situation is an overwhelmingly advantageous moment for the team and drives home the impact of all characters jumping in on the attack, delivering a satisfying and visceral reward for pulling it off!
The most basic use case is to quickly eliminate enemies with high health that are difficult to take down in one hit. By using a Pincer Attack in a Surrounded situation, you can defeat a fairly strong enemy in a single strike. Additionally, since the Pincer Attack doesn’t consume WP or TP, you’ll be able to save resources to deal with other enemies after taking down a powerful foe.
This increases the necessity of creating Surrounded situations, significantly boosting the value of battlefield control. You can move enemies to desired positions using abilities like pushing and pulling, then more efficiently surround them with less cost.
This means the value of movement skills has increased greatly. You'll be able to utilize the Jester's various movement skills, the Royal Guard's position swap, and more to get your characters deeper into the battlefield, create an opportunity, and create a Pincer Attack situation.
To sum it up, Pincer Attack is like an “Ultimate Move” that can be used once per turn when you’ve surrounded an enemy. Thanks to this clearer effect, surrounding enemies has become a much more exciting and essential combat mechanic, giving players both a gameplay and emotional reward.
What's Next?!
The internal feedback has been really positive. Many felt that controlling enemy formations to set up Pincer Attacks made the game more fun and rewarding. Plus, there was a lot of love for the satisfaction and impact of the move’s visuals.
Next, we’re looking at expanding this reward system with Pincer Attacks for wide-area Surrounded situations, where you trap multiple enemies at once. Pulling off a wide-area Pincer attack takes clever battlefield control and resource management, making it one of the more challenging puzzles in the game. So far, the only reward for a wide-area surround has been extra damage, but we're aiming to make it even more exciting!
We’re also planning to introduce “AOE Coordinated Attacks,” where you can use large weapons like greatswords or two-handed axes to hit multiple enemies at once. While setting up an AOE Coordinated Attack will be tricky, mastering it will help you fend off the darkness in Remore even more effectively.
Wrapping Up: Shifting Focus from “Penalties” to “Rewards”
Up until now, Remore’s combat system has been all about harsh, intense battles that fit the “medieval apocalypse” setting—focusing on difficulty and overwhelming enemy forces.
While overcoming tough situations is the essence of a tactical game (and we’re not about to turn this into an easy, casual experience), we realized that giving players opportunities to create their own “advantages” would make the game more fun. Our recent playtests have backed this up, with players responding positively to this approach.
Our goal is to build a game that’s still “challenging and tense” but also “fun and rewarding.” And with that, the development journey of Remore continues.
Stay tuned for more updates next week.
Thanks for sticking with us, Survivors!
REMORE