Put on your fighting trousers, it’s time for another devlog!
Here at Drinkbox, we love making combat systems that push you out of your comfort zone, while also helping you build your own fighting style.
Blighted features our latest flavor of combat, and here to give you a taste is our Lead Designer, Ian Campbell!
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Some people see Blighted’s isometric camera, the vibrant art style, and they think “oh, it’s a hack-and-slash thing.” Other people, they see the Stamina meter, the dodge roll, and they think “ah, it’s a soulslike thing.” WRONG! Both wrong... or, both right. Blighted’s combat is a spicy blend that mixes high-stakes souls-inspired combat with faster arcade action.
On the “Action” side: Much of the player’s attack and defense is responsive and free-flowing. Fighting multiple enemies at once is not only possible but encouraged. Aggression is the key to decisive victory.
On the “Souls” side: Combat is impactful, mistakes are costly, and key high-commitment attacks are needed to achieve victory. You’ve gotta learn to read and punish the enemies, as well as manage your Stamina, to win.
Overall, it’s about fluid combat full of dodging, parrying, slashing and shooting -- punctuated by high-commitment, big-payoff counters and finishers -- where you have to master the enemies and make use of all of your moves to survive.
The Basics
Let’s cover the overall moveset first. If you’re the kind of person to read a devlog like this, you’re probably familiar with the basics. You’ve got things like a four-hit combo, charge attack, dodge, parry, gun, and powerful mana moves. Many of your actions use Stamina, which you’ve gotta keep an eye on unless you wanna get punished.
Parry especially is worth calling out. We know parries can be rewarding, but also really challenging, and we want ours to be as approachable as possible. Like many games, parrying an attack at just the right moment will ignore all damage -- but, even a very poorly timed parry ignores a lot of damage, and the health that is lost can be restored by hitting enemies.
Finishing
At a high level, the ultimate goal of combat is the Finisher, which does massive damage to the target, and staggers nearby enemies with an explosion.
To get a Finisher, first you have to lower the enemy’s Stance. Enemy Stance is lowered by a lot of things -- but mainly by hitting them and parrying their attacks. Once you’ve learned to read an enemy, you’ll be able to mix parries and attacks until their Stance is depleted.
When an enemy’s Stance is gone, you’re almost there! Now you just need to find an opening for a high-commitment charge attack to knock them to the floor, ready to be Finished. You’ve got lots of time, so pick the best moment for the Finisher -- becoming invincible during it and hurting everyone nearby.
Playstyles and Choices
So that’s the general goal of combat, and we want players to have their own playstyle and their own way of going about it. But we also want to encourage players to use all their different moves to excel, and we have ways of doing that, too.
For instance, maybe you REALLY like parrying… but should you ALWAYS parry? Maybe not, if you’re up against the Pickaxe enemy -- he does huge slams that knock you way back, even if you parry them. It might be smarter to dodge through the slam, keeping close to continue your attack (and better yet, not get knocked off edges or into hazards!)
Or, maybe you LOVE dodging. But sometimes, a dodge won’t cut it. For instance, enemies can use Power Attacks: big red glowy attacks that will hit you even during an otherwise-invincible dodge roll. You should consider parrying these -- the enemy will get countered and knocked flat on the ground if you do!
The game has a bunch of moments and mechanics like this. Electric attacks that can be uno-reversed with a well-timed dodge and counter. Airborne enemies who you can knock down with the gun. Armored enemies that take the most damage from heavy attacks. But, we’re not trying to tell you exactly how to play or what to do, either -- we’re providing interesting problems with many solutions.
Take the un-dodgeable Power Attack, for instance. If a vulture enemy is cooking up one of these, what are you going to do? You’ve got plenty of options:
Yes, you can parry if you’re that cool. It’s a great option.
You can reposition. The attack can’t hurt you if it doesn’t even connect with you -- and if you reposition well, you’ll be in range to attack the vulture when it’s finished.
You can use a Mana attack, which staggers almost any enemy. The Power Attack can’t hurt you if the vulture never even gets to do it.
You can use your gun. The gun counters airborne enemies like the vulture, so while it does use a bullet and isn’t as strong as parrying, it is a surefire way to knock the vulture to the ground and interrupt its attack.
You can do a Finisher. If you happen to have a knocked-down enemy nearby, you can do a Finisher on them, becoming invincible and avoiding the damage from the hit.
So, I hope that conveys that we’re trying to give players a lot of interesting options to think about for every encounter, every enemy, and every attack. It all comes down to your skill, preference, understanding of the game and ability to read combat situations.
As a final note. If this is all sounding much too difficult -- or alternatively, if it somehow sounds much too easy -- we’ve got a core mechanic for you: the Frenzy system…
…which we’re only gonna tease for now. But look forward to hearing all about it in a future post!
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Thanks, Ian, for highlighting all of the ingredients in this soup of combat options! And yes, Frenzy adds a whole other layer of spice to gameplay, but more on that later! And since the game is still in development, Frenzy, combat and other systems will continue to grow and affect each other.
The whole team has been super excited and focused on the latest improvements to the game. Everyone’s been cooking up a storm in their various departments and we can’t wait to share more with you soon.
Make sure to Follow and Wishlist us so you don’t miss any updates. Otherwise, we’ll see you at the next devlog! ːg2heartː