We are back once again in the World That Was by previewing the Beta of Warhammer: Chaosbane, the first action-rpg set in the universe of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, conceived as always by prolifica Games Workshop of Nottingham.
The game, developed by EKO Software and distributed by Bigben Interactive, is entering the very last stages of construction, as the launch date is set for next June 4th.
The Beta that we had the opportunity to try has repeated roughly the same levels already seen during the test carried out at Gamescom last year, the initial ones of the game, however, showing us new mechanics and details that, of course, would have been impossible to test during a short gameplay at the fair. As already mentioned, Warhammer: Chaosbane presents itself as an action-rpg, a dungeon crawler to be exact. We will have the chance to play as four different types of heroes with different characteristics and abilities and a custom growth tree based on skills that are learned, and improved, as you progress through the game. And precisely the growth of the character, the inventory and the related equipment, were the elements that we were able to discover for good during this Beta.
The gameplay remained identical in all respects to that seen during our first test, with up to six different types of attack / abilities, the use of healing ampoules and a peculiar special ability, on PlayStation 4 that can be activated via the right stick , closely linked to the type of our character, which we remember can be chosen from: Imperial Soldier, Wizard of the High Elves, Explorer of the Wood Elves and Dwarf Devastator. By killing enemies and completing missions, our character levels up, thus earning skill points that can then be invested to learn or improve combat or defense skills, both active and passive, structured in distinct progression trees by type. From the management screen of our character we can also assign the activation keys of the various abilities at will, thus customizing the commands according to the scheme that we will deem most suitable for our style of play.
From the character management screen we will also be able to check the diary, where information is collected on the world around us and on the missions we are called to carry out and, obviously, the inventory. Weapons, items and equipment, which can be purchased from the appropriate merchants or earned by killing enemies during missions, will each have a certain level of rarity and specific characteristics, which we must always keep in mind if we want to develop an optimal build with our character.
The levels we explored represented the imperial city of Nuln, its surroundings and, most importantly, its labyrinthine sewer system. In our opinion, the representation of the dark fantasy world that is the setting for the game is almost perfect, both in terms of graphics and as a background atmosphere, certainly thanks to a truly masterful light / shadow management. The game system is immediately immediate and easy to understand, just as the general difficulty seems very well calibrated. In practice we will never be too OP but not totally defenseless, however, we will always have to show some caution, especially towards certain types of adversary, because a premature and violent end could always be around the corner.
Once dead, however, we will be able to decide whether, after a reasonable payment of gold coins, to respawn immediately in the same point of our departure or to restart the level from the beginning. The choice is ours. In this Beta we were able to face only some main missions, without secondary or free expeditions, which instead seems to be possible in the final version and which, in all probability, will help us not a little in leveling the character. Warhammer: Chaosbane also allows multiplayer cooperative play, but unfortunately we weren't able to try the mode during this Beta, as matchmaking to find matches lasted almost indefinitely. There will certainly be some more work to be done on the game servers.
Overall Warhammer: Chaosbane presented itself really well, both on the technical side and on that of playability. Too bad we were not able to try the online, which we are sure will be fixed already starting from the further Beta session that will take place from 7 March until 13 March.
► Warhammer: Chaosbane is an Action-RPG type game developed by EKO Software and published by Bigben Interactive for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 04/06/2019
Warhammer: Chaosbane is a nice game that we recommend: we decided to rate it with a 69%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Warhammer: Chaosbane review
