BattleCry revealed: Bethesda's stylish World War I game without gunpowder


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BattleCry revealed: Bethesda's stylish World War I game without gunpowder

What if war was civilized? What if it was structured, ritualized and ? though still brutally violent ? maybe even a bit romantic?

 

Bethesda Softworks and developer BattleCry Studios attempt to answer that thought exercise with BattleCry, a stylish multiplayer combat game that's less your typical online shooter and more of a melee-focused brawler.

 

BattleCry is an online multiplayer action game for PC in which up to 32 players battle in team-based combat. It's heavily stylized, class-based and full of colorful characters. For shorthand, think Team Fortress 2, but instead of rifles, rocket launchers and miniguns, players battle each other with swords, crossbows and beefy metal fists.

 

BattleCry is also a free-to-play game ? Bethesda's first ? but "very different from what a lot of other people are doing in this space," the developer promises.

 

'We've created a strong, distinct multiplayer experience, a new type of action game with fast frenetic multiplayer set in a beautiful world," said Lucas Davis, design director at BattleCry Studios, at the game's unveiling. The developer is aiming for a balance between ranged and melee combat, drawing influence from third-person action games and brawlers ? genres not often exploited in the online multiplayer space.

 

BattleCry is the eponymous debut game from developer BattleCry Studios, which Bethesda established in 2012. The Austin, Texas-based studio is led by industry veteran Rich Vogel, who previously led development on Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars: Galaxies at BioWare Austin and Sony Online Entertainment, respectively. The game's creative director is Viktor Antonov, who previously helped define the art direction for Valve's Half-Life 2 and Arkane's Dishonored.

 

The set up for BattleCry is that in the early 20th century the world's superpowers have come to an agreement about how they kill one another. Gunpowder is banned in war as a condition of The Black Powder Treaty. That means no guns, at least in the traditional sense. It also means no chemical weapons and no bombs; soldiers fight each other in up close and personal battles using the technology of the time.

 

Instead of fighting chaotic wars that wreak havoc upon civilization as each side trades bullets and bombs, conflict is settled in designated WarZones. They're the compartmentalized spaces in which highly trained, specialized soldiers fight for power and glory for the faction of their choosing.

 

Continues

 

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well they wouldent be doing it if the buisness model was not popular I suppose its easier to get there inital hooks in somone when the game is free

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Appreciate that there's a desire to honor the 100th anniversary of the Great War and all, and while this sounds interesting, it's not really the same war if there's no gunpowder, and free to play is also somewhat of a turn off. Should give it a chance, though. There's always Valliant Hearts if that doesn't get delayed, and Verdun, which may be out of early access by the 100th anniversary of the armistice.

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so.... steampunk war?

 

is F2P really that popular?

It's a different sort of steampunk war - it's closer to Rise of Legends (which was a steampunk/magical/war-with-rules RTS from Big Huge Games) except that it's set post-Apocalypse - not pre-historical.

 

If anything, it's closer to steampunk fought under the old IBF (International Boxing Federation) rulebook taken online.

This normally would be an offline RTS (again, closer to Rise of Legends, or even Rise of Nations) - except that multiplayer - not single-player - is the core of the gameplay; therefore, it's F2P.

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I like the style and will give it a shot. It is odd to me, though that those using swords wouldn't be wearing more armor than merely a helmet, haha. Steel at that point was pretty readily available so plate probably wouldn't have been difficult to own if gunpowder had never been invented.

 

But anyways, I like the style and the concept.

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Yes, it also borrows a lot from Dune looks like, the whole concept of conveniently banning most projectile weapons enables the universe. Just like in Dune they have space-warp engines but have stopped using assault rifles and "lasguns" due to shields etc. It's a neat if odd contrivance.

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