Five swords are better than one. Rediscovering best, lost hack'n'slash mechanics
Table of Contents
We can talk about not only the combat, but the whole gameplay idea in the case of Dungeon Siege , which returns like a boomerang in my considerations. Well, something, perhaps indecision whether it should be a classic cRPG or a modern hack'n'slash, or perhaps a flash of genius, made the creators of this cult game implement not a single protagonist, but the entire team, which in scale of a genre that already had its history was an innovative procedure . The closest cousin of this idea, and therefore a potential imitator, seems to be... SpellForce and missions dissociating themselves from the RTS component of the game, which is nevertheless a strategy.
If I had to point to another hack'n'slash game that comes close to similar solutions, it would be Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms . First of all - Games Farm's work also stands astride between a classic cRPG and a typical hack'n'slash - it strongly focuses on the story and slightly more intimate clashes. As for the team... Well. While the main character of the movie Split can be called a team, yes, in this game we control the team. A team of souls residing in one body, specifically a demon that can freely change form within the collection of souls in its possession. At any given moment, our "team" may consist of three souls and a demon in its original form. We develop each character separately, we equip them separately... That's a team, alright.
In addition, what was supposed to diversify the game in terms of gameplay and achieved its goal was the ability to jump between the worlds: the real one and the spiritual one. This solution actually diversified the gameplay, although it did not resonate with the hack'n'slash vibe as similar mechanics did a bit later in The Medium or Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart .
