In this blogpost we'd like to share some news about weapons and combat system of both HWR: Reforged and HWR: Downfall.
In our opinion, the original Heads Will Roll both had a pretty respectable arsenal of weapons and did a decent job highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of different weapon types. In Reforged and Downfall we decided to expand the overall arsenal while, at the same time, increasing and preserving the uniqueness of each weapon.
At this point in development there're 56 different melee weapons in the game including several ones that fall into completely new categories like 'curved swords' and 'throwing spears' that were not present in the original game. Both of these are an interesting addition mainly because they allow us to introduce new attacks and mechanics that, in turn, enable the player to create more unique playstyles. So, for example, curved swords have a new attack that increases the damage dealt to target by a portion of attacker's agility, but only if the blow lands clean (i.e. not fully or partially blocked by armor). What this means is that now there's a weapon, damage output of which scales with agility rather than only weapons skill or strength. Coupled with the addition of all kinds of new trinkets this allows for completely new playstyles that do not rely on brute force or heavy weapons for high damage output but rather on agility and precision.
The introduction of throwing spears and javelins too aims at diversifying the approaches to combat that are available to the player. The 'Spear Throw' attack makes use of both agility (to hit the target) and strength (for damage modifier) for an absolutely devastating effect. Even at the start of the game, with a relatively weak character, this attack is capable of doing damage in the realm of high 20s and one-shotting shields. And since all throwing spears have at least one melee attack, your options with them are never limited to just throwing so you can hold your own in melee combat. Thus you can both throw your spear at the beginning of the battle and then instantly switch to the second weapon. Or wait until there's an opportune moment or a proper target and then throw it.
Another thing we did was buffing the one-handed longswords. In the original game they were widely considered to be one of the worst weapon types. And this, by itself, is not a very bad thing as, contrary to the popular belief, in the real medieval combat the longswords were never considered to be that amazing of a weapon. Depending on the situation, a poleaxe, a spear, a mace, a flail or an axe would pretty much always be a better option that a sword, while circumstances where a longsword would be better than any of the above were very rare.
But, at the same time, longswords were indeed used very widely and were by all means an iconic weapon of that era. Thus, searching for a way to buff them in the game, we came up with an idea of another attack — a fencing move. Dubbed 'Counter Strike' this attack increases the hit chance if the target has missed their previous attack or has a 'feinted' debuff applied to them. The idea should be pretty obvious: deceive your enemy with feints, make them miss — make them pay. Obviously, this playstyle too can hugely benefit from a variety of new trinkets that can improve your feinting skills, dmage output, chance to inflict a bleeding or an injury or break enemy's armor.
On top of that a lot of weapons (both old and new) received unique attack effects: rusty swords and axes can inflict a small poisoning; messers, gross-messers and curved swords have a higher chance to inflict bleedings etc.
And even that's not entirely it as there're actually two more new attacks - Helmbreaker (for Horseman's axe) and Coup de Grace (for several swords). But in the interest of time we'll leave them for another occasion.
If you liked the news then rejoice as Downfall is just a couple of months away. And, hopefully, it will not disappoint you.
As was promised, today I'm bringing you another blogpost with more information about new features that will be introduced in Reforged and Downfall. This time we will discuss armor.
First of all, let's talk numbers. The overall amount of available armor items has been increased dramatically. At this point the work-in-progress build of the game has 21 body armors, 21 helmets, 20 gorgets\bracers\greaves and several helmet attachments. This is a considerable improvement over the original game and this number is very likely to increase even more as the work is not yet done. Having this many types of defensive equipment will allow the player to deeply customize his character's loadout in order to suit the chosen playstyle or address any particular issue.
New slots
This is also helped by the fact that there will be 3 new equipment slots for gorgets (neck armor), bracers and greaves (limbs armor). Thus, even at the earlier stages of the game, the player can obtain a very respectable level of protection. But most of the armor, obviously, comes with various debuffs so it will always be a trade-off between better protection or better combat stats.
Prestige
New equipment slots and new armor pieces are also going to have more significance due to the introduction of the Prestige mechanic. The better equipment you've got on - the higher is your Prestige. This, in turn, means better chance to impress people and command their respect. So, if you find yourself doing some diplomatic mission or seeking to make an impression on a noble lady — it may be wise to put aside your trusty but worn chainmail and suit up with something fancier (even if you're not intending to use it on a battlefield).
Combat mechanics
When it comes to combat mechanics there's news too. Limbs armor is now a fully separate value; all armor items can now receive separate damage to diffetent armor zones (so, for example, a body armor with limbs protection after absorbing blows to the limbs can lose several points of 'limbs armor' value while 'torso armor' value will remain as it was). The same applies to allies and enemies whose equipment too can take damage to a particular zone.
Manual armor repair
During repair the item can lose some stats as well. For example, armor, cover and prestige values will lower when the player attempts to manually repair the item while not being that skilled at craftsmanship. Obviously, the more you level the skill - the fewer stat losses your items will take. Same thing will happen if the player does cheap partial repair through blacksmith. Full repair, on the other hand, might cost a lot higher — but will return your item back with pristine stats.
Armor crafting
And now for the most interesting part — armor crafting and custom armor. Yes, both Downfall and Reforged will have armor crafting: player will be able to combine different armor items in order to get an item with higher stats. Unlike consumable crafting system, armor crafting WILL NOT be giving you a predetermined item with a prethough list of parameters but rather will produce you a completely new item with dynamic stats. This means that combining two damaged or two pristine items will not give you the same result. The outcome will also be influenced by your craftsmanship skill. The higher it is — the more bonuses the item will receive (i.e. more armor, more cover, higher sell price, more prestige, fewer debuffs etc.).
Same goes for the head armor items. Some of helmets too will be able to be combined with each other (bascinet + mail coif, for example) or will take on attachments, like visor or face protection chops.
The player won't, of course, be able to combine ANY items — heavy armor (plate mails, full helmets etc.) is not going to be usable in crafting. The crafting system will remain more reasonable and revolve around combining things like a padded jacket and a chainmail or a chainmail and a cuirass or a demi-cuirass and a plackart etc.
So these are the main points when it comes to the new armor system. It took a lot of work to implement and I really hope that it will be a lot of fun for you to use. In the next blogposts I'm going to do similar overviews for weapons, trinkets, ally-related mechanics and other stuff — so stay tuned for more news.
