Hello there to all the stone pushers! Last time, you heard us discussing the various characters and items that will be making their appearance in Little Medusa’s Battle Royale mode. And if you thought that that was the end of it, well, you’re in for a surprise. Not only will you be fighting off against other players and their clever usage of their character’s skills and the various items that are available in the new multiplayer mode, but you’ll also be doing so while fending off the various enemies that will be spawning within the match!
Of course, some people might just be turned off with this added layer of complexity. After all, some people prefer playing their competitive games without any sort of randomness. Don’t worry about it, though. If your playgroup doesn’t like specific things about the multiplayer aspect of the game, you can fiddle with how a match plays out, so you can always turn off items, enemies, stock count, and various other customization options!
With those out of the way, let’s finally introduce the various enemies that you may encounter in a multiplayer match! First up is the Cyclops. These are your bog-standard enemies, simply walking around at their own leisurely pace. They’re not much of a threat until a player goes near them. When that happens, they will start walking towards that player. The Cyclops’ speed won’t change, though, making for a predictable enemy. However, other players have to be careful because they will shift their attention towards another player if they start going near the Cyclops. The most dangerous thing about them is the false sense of security that they won’t ever reach you due to their speed, so to prevent that from even happening, players should make quick work of them, lest they be quickly overwhelmed by too many low-level threats.
The next step in terms of danger levels is the Snakes. They travel as slowly as the Cyclops, but the moment a player crosses their line of sight, they will quickly dash towards that player! They won’t change their direction mid-dash, though, so they’re still relatively easy to dodge. Once they end their dash, they’ll return to traveling slowly until a new target is acquired, so they can actually be manipulated to dash towards you, dodge out of the way, and hope that they hit another enemy behind you.
Centaurs can’t be as fast as Snakes despite them having more legs, but they sure are more dangerous. Whenever a player comes within range of the Centaur, they will stop moving, aim at the player, and fire an arrow at them. The arrow travels quicker than most of the other enemies and also hurts a lot more, so be sure to make quick work of the Centaur before it gets a chance to hit you with any of their pointy projectiles.
All three of these previous enemies have one thing in common, though: they have some degree of predictability, Zeus Heads, on the other hand, do whatever they want whenever they wish. They just usually roam around the level aimlessly while also randomly deciding to shoot out a lightning bolt at a group of tiles. It doesn’t care if there’s anything in that area, it just does so if it wants to. This also means that Zeus Heads, while fragile, are absolutely dangerous when left unchecked.
Thankfully, Minotaurs aren’t as unpredictable as Zeus Heads. They simply walk along the perimeter of whatever wall or object is nearest to them when they spawn, making them the easiest enemies to predict in the entire game. Unfortunately, they also walk a bit faster than the other enemies and will also hurt a bit more if you come in contact with any of them, so steer clear of the walls where the Minotaurs roam.
If you thought that the Cyclops is a bit aimless, well, at least they walk towards players. Mirrorknights just don’t care, and they don’t even attack like the Zeus Heads. However, what they lack in aggression, they make up for their shields. Players have to be careful if they try to destroy Mirrorknights with projectiles because their shields will reflect these projectiles right back at them. Try not to hit them head-on.
Our last enemy on the list is Cerberus Heads. Calling them enemies is a bit of a misnomer, though. They’re more akin to hazards. Cerberus Heads don’t move at all, and they can’t even be destroyed. They constantly spew out a stream of fire in front of them, and this will deal a ton of damage if players are not careful in navigating them. The direction that they are facing can be manipulated, making them a potent way to bamboozle your enemies with suddenly low health bars.
And that’s all of the enemies we have in the pipeline so far! Don’t forget that if any of the enemies are becoming too problematic for your group, aside from turning off all enemies, you can also individually disable specific enemies from ever spawning. We all have our own individual tastes, after all, so customize the matches to your heart’s content! And while this is the last deep dive into Little Medusa’s new multiplayer mode that you’ll be hearing from us for now, remember to stay tuned to our social media channels - Discord, Twitter and Facebook for further updates! You can also head on over to Mega Cat Studios’ blog section for those who crave more retro gaming knowledge.
Little Medusa's Multiplayer Roster
Hello there to all the stone pushers! We know you’ve been waiting for an update on Little Medusa’s multiplayer mode, and today, we’re finally allowed to spill some details on how our take on the battle royale formula is shaping up!
So how would the game play out? We’re happy to report that we feel like we’ve successfully translated Little Medusa’s core gameplay mechanics and transformed it into a multiplayer experience that would be easy to learn for all kinds of players (while still providing enough wiggle room to show off a skilled player’s mastery over the game’s unique mechanics). Each player will still be trying to utilize the pushing mechanics of the single player mode to eliminate the other players and be the one to come out on top.
There are also quite a number of settings that you can adjust to fully customize your playing experience. You can toy with the number of lives that each player starts with, the amount of time that you have to duke it out, one-hit kills, item spawns, and even enemy spawns. No matter how you adjust your options, the end goal remains the same: be the last one standing!
As for the specifics, we’ll slowly be rolling out details for the twelve maps and the myriad of items and enemies. For now, let’s give you some specifics on the five playable characters, with each character having two different attacks! Of course, we can’t have a character roster for Little Medusa without the titular character herself: Medusa plays pretty much the same way she does in the main game. She can petrify enemies with her Petrification Gaze. Petrified enemies can be pushed into walls for damage or pushed off of the level. Her other attack, Boulder, creates a boulder that blocks movement and also acts as a wall. These two attacks can be combined in clever ways, allowing Medusa players to create a boulder to smash petrified enemies.
Our next two characters are Poseidonna and Heliemis. Poseidonna can create waves that push everything in their path off of the level with her Tidal Wave attack. She can also create a small bubble in one adjacent space to push enemies with her Bubble Shield. Both of her attacks don’t do any damage, but her insane pushing power makes her a force to be reckoned with. On the other hand, Heliemis’ Mighty Wind attack creates a gust that travels up to three spaces away and deals damage. The Tornado Pull attack creates a tornado that lasts for five seconds, pulling enemies in if they go near it. This allows for some wicked setups to trap an enemy in a tornado while blasting them with Mighty Wind.
Our last two characters, Ermolai and Averna, round up the elemental quartet. Ermolai is the earth dude, and he’s all about creating holes in the ground. Pitfall doesn’t do damage but instead creates a hole in the ground. While this may seem underwhelming at first, if you manage to put a hole underneath your opponents, they instantly lose a life! His other ability, Earthquake, creates four holes around a 2x2 area, but it does resolve slower, so it’s trickier to make enemies fall off of it. It’s a good thing that it does damage! We’re only missing the fiery member of our group, and that’s Averna. She’s probably the simplest character in the game, but also the most damage-heavy. Both of her abilities will deal damage, with Fireball being a simple projectile that will deal damage upon contact and will deal additional AOE damage around it. Flame Pillar also does damage, but travels slower and has a lower overall distance, but utilizing both of her abilities can allow Averna players to take control of the battlefield.
For now, we’re still at the balancing stages of the game, so we’re still checking out the numbers on these characters, but for the most part, these attacks are pretty much ready to roll. We want all five of them to be playable in some amount instead of any single one of them to dominate the playing field. We’ll definitely be telling you more about the other aspects of the game in the future, though, so stay tuned to our social media channels Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for further updates! You can also head on over to Mega Cat Studios for more retro gaming goodness.
