Blightbound, the proven
Index
You only have the Mist! Now comes the beauty Certainties and Doubts Adventurers friends pay attention because in these days the latest effort by Ronimo has arrived on Steam. Not that they are really fertile developers in pure quantitative terms but their two main productions have been able to leave their mark for simplicity and immediacy. Swords & Soldiers is a pleasant strategy and Awesomenauts was one of the very few MOBAs to really differentiate themselves from the competition, the only one to offer gameplay completely in two dimensions.For these simple reasons, when a few days ago the open beta of their latest effort jumped out of nowhere, we let ourselves be pleasantly dragged into the discovery of a new world completely unknown to us, given that with the previous productions this Blightbound really has nothing to do. It is not difficult to be enraptured by Blightbound, however: the dark colors at the Darkest Dungeon, the dark fantasy theme and above all the possibility of playing cooperatively with two other friends the whole adventure are features that hardly make the antennas stand up. So will it be worth keeping an eye on it from these very early Early Access stages?
You have only the Fog!
The entire game world in Blightbound has been enveloped by a thick fog, able to bring people to madness consumandole from the inside. A few valiant heroes decided to get together and venture out for short expeditions in what seems to be a hell gothic cast down to the earth in the vain hope of finding other survivors and trying to survive a little longer. The curious thing about this storyline is that it seems to leave hope to the player, giving it already a goner in the first few moments, but soon a glimmer of trust will turn on, forcing you to chase after the light in the end of the tunnel run after run. The narrator's voice will guide you so at the top of a mountain, where the fog, for now it seems to not be able to reach. Here, you will discover that the three heroes have found refuge, and that their powers united can, in some way, return extremely useful. Not that the fantasy of Ronimo has hit the mark in this case, since the three classes are the most classic with a barbarian warrior, a mage and an assassin, ready to lend their services. However, before you start your adventure you will discover that it will not be possible to choose a specific class, but this will be instead assigned randomly as soon as two other players, for real this time, will join you.that's Right, Blightbound is an online game and although the title provides a sort of AI for the companions in the adventure, it is not absolutely meant to be faced alone and, to be honest, in the beta it was not even possible. It is, however, a game to take into serious consideration if you have friends far away, or if you usually play online seen the fun that awaits remains very high. With your hero you have pre-assigned so you can decide which mission to tackle from a pool of predetermined objectives that will take you to explore via every corner in the most hidden of the region. It starts from instances simple, with only a few rooms and this basic, full of enemies but useful to find out the mechanical basics of combat. There are three main skills at your disposal, related only to the cooldown more of a special ability tied to a resource (which can be the mana for the mage, or the combo points to the murderer), and a Ultimate to vent in times more complex. It is a title designed for the pad, a dungeon crawler by the two-dimensional takes a full hands from the old scrolling brawler and hack 'n' slash's most iconic, with a formula that won us over.
Now comes the fun part
as things get more complex, the enemies will become more resistant and environmental puzzles will require via greater coordination. If at the beginning, in fact, you only need to activate some crystal at the same time or press the buttons in unison, after a handful of hours you'll have to open the gates while dodging deadly traps, or sacrifice a member of your team to reach a hidden treasure. Fortunately, to guide you in the exploration there will always be a minimap , not good, but clear enough to unravel your doubts most exasperating on the direction to take, to put finally face-to-face with a huge boss ready to let you in pieces.Although the graphic is of a simplicity that is extreme in terms of polygonal modeling of the dungeon, is the art style that will enchant you completely. Beautiful enemies, even the most beautiful of the heroes and it is a shame that collecting items for potenziarvi the only differences you will notice in the weapon. You finished your run and collected the loot, it will be time to return to the home where we will wait for the second big mechanics of the game. Completing the missions gives you the opportunity to strengthen the camp , adding a bestiary, a blacksmith, merchants, and who knows what other devilry wait for you in advanced stages of the game, all the tools to guarantee you hours of fun in the search of materials for crafting to improve weapons and trinket. And then let's not forget that even the heroes can earn points statistics, which are essential to improve features and make things a little more simple. Advancing with the level of the camp, you can also unlock the ability to choose which hero specific to bring into battle, but you can always take advantage of this option. Each time you descend into a dungeon, in fact, the corruption will weaken, forcing you to use other characters while exhausted, is resting in the safe. Despite this limitation, the idea allows you to vary the gameplay, and exponentially increases the longevity of the production that threatens to bend just because of the lack of proceduralità of the dungeon, anchored instead to only increase the difficulty. The last interesting point regards the possibility to find other heroes in the dungeon with and then possibly go do your replacement in your favorite training. As we have seen, however, the mechanical within of the roles, do not differ then so decisive as we expected and to find out if this feature can really be considered to be the selling point we will need to spend many more hours on the game. In the coming months, therefore, the verdict is complete!
Despite the open beta lasted only a couple of days we spent several hours of pure fun together with our heroes on Blightbound. Ronimo seems to be in short having found a new formula rather original to leave satisfied lovers of dungeon crawler and fantasy, leaning heavily on the co-op mode online. If so you have a couple of friends, our advice is to follow closely this title as the quality to do well there are really all.
