Who is Legion?
Legion is a small team of 12 developers who over 15 years ago, met through Xbox Live and became close friends. Over the past decade we’ve worked in the industry together on many beloved shooter franchises, attended one another’s weddings, and dreamt of a future where we venture off to create our own game - something greater than the sum of its parts. 1 year ago, amidst the most turbulent time in the games industry, we decided to differ no longer and take the leap. We left our stable(ish) AAA jobs, took significant pay cuts; and have gone all in.
We exist because we believe gamers deserve something better than what is being offered. The industry is weak - and not just financially - but by design. Games offer less and less, charge more and more, and are built to squeeze every last drop out of the consumer. That is not our aspiration.
We wish to provide more than what seems possible for the price. To treat gamers as intelligent and rational beings who are capable of great things. And to provide an experience that is not derivative or unremarkable. This is no simple task, but we are up for the challenge.
There has seldom been a day in the past decade where we haven’t been planning, designing, and building the IP you now see. And we consider this just our first step towards something greater.
What is Covenant?
Covenant is a first-person fighting game, spellcaster, and shooter in which you play as a messenger sent from above. Wield martial arts, secret magic, and ancient weapons to explore a vast interconnected world. Essentially, Covenant is an FPS Souls-like.
In greater specifics - expect gunplay to show more depth and creativity than what you’ve come to expect from a first person shooter. Melee combat is being heavily invested in as we strongly look towards fighting game mechanics (Tekken, Smash Bros), immersive sims (Dark Messiah, Dishonored), and action games (of course, Dark Souls) for inspiration. And magic will play another key role in our core combat as it exemplifies the build crafting, strategy, and creativity we want players to have.
Every skill, be it mechanical, mental, or precision, should all be honored and rewarded.
Will Covenant have co-op/multiplayer?
Yes - Covenant will have both campaign co-op, and a casual / competitive multiplayer. Very few games still offer this ‘complete’ package, and even fewer deliver on it in a meaningful way. Growing up with games in the 90’s and 2000’s we understand the immense value of delivering on both fronts.
Since the inception of development, all mechanics and abilities have been created with networking in mind. This is a staple. PVP and PVE are of equal import.
Are you going early-access?
Potentially. Our goal will ALWAYS be to release the game in a finished and polished state, but if it becomes necessary to keep the studio afloat, we may launch the game as an early access title. Currently we are seeking a financial partner to help us bring Covenant to market. If this is you - journey to our ‘Contact’ page and reach out.
What will Covenant's pricing model be?
Covenant will be sold as a one-time purchase premium title, and will never contain a single microtransaction. We hold no strong affections toward Live-Service either.
It is a video game, not a mortgage. Our desire is for you to love the product and not to milk you dry in the process.
Will Covenant have controller support?
Yes - We have put hundreds of hours into making controller support feel as good or better than any other first person game on the market.
Will Covenant be made available on consoles?
This solely depends on our funding and partners. We would love to launch on Playstation and Xbox, but as of now Covenant will be a PC only title. However, just like with early access, this may change depending on our budget and scope. The goal is to be on as many platforms as we can. After all, Legion wouldn't exist if it weren't for console games.
Do you have an Alpha for playtesting?
Not yet - but this is something we are considering for the future.
Why Unreal Engine?
There is much that can be said on this front that will likely be deferred to a later blog post. But shortly - Unreal Engine is an incredibly capable engine especially for small teams like our own (again, we are only 12 strong). You are likely all aware of the rhetoric spreading currently about the problems that surround Unreal Engine 5 and the effects it has on the game industry. What I will say is, while there is a seed of truth in some of those claims, I would not be too quick to believe everything you read regarding the engine. It is very capable in the right hands (look no further than the beautiful and optimized projects such as Valorant, Lies of P, or Witchfire), and the actions of a select few poorly optimized projects should not skew your view of the engine as a whole.
With all that in mind, you should all know that Legion currently has no environment, VFX, lighting, or material artists. We have one single character/weapon artist (a beautiful man named Petur), and everything else you have seen was accomplished by our talented designers. Set dressing, lighting, materials, effects, and even some of the animations were done by our core team, which are primarily designers by trade. If Covenant “looks like an unreal game” this is why. Please understand - we see the same things you do! Certain problems (like the artifacting that can be seen in the trailer) are already fixed in-house, but others will be addressed in time once we are able to expand and hire artists. Once that starts happening, you will see a big difference!
And while we’re on this topic - everything you’ve seen in that trailer, all the content, characters, animations, environments, weapons, and sounds… were made in the past year alone. While we have been working towards this goal and IP for many years, it was only last October that we formally received any investment and started this project from a fresh slate. A testament to the work ethic and talent of our very small team over the course of a very difficult year. We have a lot of content to show still, and even more in the pipeline.
To directly address the concerns of performance; we are putting an immense amount of time and energy into optimizations. Our currently targeted min-spec is quite low, and we intend on keeping it that way. We will not be reliant on upscaling, poor anti-aliasing solutions, and beefy hardware to do the lifting.
When will Covenant release?
We are still quite early in development all things considered. No release date yet.
Is there anything I can do to help?
Right now - Wishlisting on steam is the best thing you can do to help us. It drives the Steam algorithm and helps get us in front of more people, while also being a great signal towards investors and publishers that this is in fact, something people want.
We have heard from several publishers / investors now -
“A fantasy FPS can never be successful. People don’t want it, and it’s too risky.”
We don’t believe that. And if you don’t either, help us show them.
You can visit our website to see more.
https://www.legionstudio.dev/
Also join our Discord!
https://discord.gg/YY9abQ8E8N
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Greater Things Are Coming.
Legion Studios