We’re not trying to torture anyone with these sneak peeks.
For the past couple of weeks we’ve been playing with new builds of Demigod sent over from developer Gas Powered Games.
Now, since I work at Stardock, the publisher, I’m biased. I make no bones about it. But as the designer and one of the developers of Galactic Civilizations and the forthcoming Elemental, I do have some perspective on the work GPG is doing with these demigods.
As someone who is biased a bit towards quantity over quality, I have been somewhat skeptical about the effort involved in making these demigods. If I were the designer of Demigod, the players would simply create their demigods from scratch at the start of the game rather than “pick” one. That said, seeing GPG’s work has given me a real appreciation of the craftsmanship at Gas Powered Games.
The Demon Assassin will be an exciting addition. He plays very differently than any other demigod I’ve played and yet he also feels natural to the game play. He’s incredibly powerful but also very fragile.
I normally play as either Oak or Lord Erebus. In either case, I don’t tend to die often because I quickly amass a lot of HP. The Demon Assassin, by contrast, is (obviously) not a general which means no monks to start out with and he has much lower armor and HP than most of the demigods.
On the other hand, he’s lethal. By the second level, a fully mana’d DA can inflict 650HP of damage.
Here are the powers that I think people will find exciting:
- Warp Strike. You target at enemy and he will warp in and do 250 damage (it’s expensive at 500 mana so early on it’s not something that will happen much). The range isn’t huge but it’s enough to make him a real force early on if you’re running away.
- Spine Attack. Yes, he also has a ranged weapon. A rather nasty one. It’s short-range but it’s range nevertheless. For 550 mana you can do 400 damage. First level.
- Elusiveness. This is a passive ability but holy cow, it’s so cool. It’s a dodge ability.
- Demon Speed. Another passive ability but simply put, you can make him go faster and faster. By default, he’s actually pretty slow.
- Precision. This is a critical hit passive ability that you can crank up during the course of the game.
- Warp area. This is his area effect. It doesn’t show up until level 5 but it lets him do damage to nearby units for 250 damage each (eventually at level 10 he can do 500 damage to all nearby units).
- He also has a shadow ability. This is the one that will be controversial and we’ll be discussing with players. He can exchange places with a target demigod. The range is limited but it’s very powerful. You’ve just capped that portal flag, you’re running away. You’re going to make it. No. No you’re not. You’re going to die. Because the demon assassin has just exchanged places with you and now you’re back at that portal and he’s out in front of you.
He is incredibly dangerous – in the right hands. He’s also a massive feeder in the wrong hands. At level 4, with HP giving armor and such, I had 2275HP. With Erebus or Oak I’d be at over 4000 at that point.
What? Give him Blood of the Fallen? No problem? Except he’s fairly slow at the start. He is almost begging for Swift Ankle Bracelet.
Here’s a video of his skills.
