Windblown
| Windblown | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Motion Twin |
| Publisher(s) | Motion Twin |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Roguelike |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Windblown is an upcoming action roguelike video game developed and published by Motion Twin. It is scheduled for release on Windows in early access in October 2024.
Gameplay
[edit]In Windblown the player controls a Leaper, an anthropomorphic creature in a world made up of floating islands. The Leapers work with others from the Ark, a village of Leapers, to explore the nearby Vortex, fighting off Sentinal robotic creations that patrol the islands within it, while locating survivors, materials, and gear that they bring back to the Ark. The character can use up to two weapons with various combination attacks, along with other gear and powerups they gain while exploring the Vortex. Should the Leaper die, they are brought back to the Ark, losing their gear but keeping the materials so that they can unlock new gear and abilities they can find within the Vortex.[1]
Development
[edit]Motion Twin had achieved success with their roguelike Dead Cells, first released in 2018. As they transferred ongoing development of the game's expansions to Evil Empire, the group began to brainstorm on what their next game would be. While they initially wanted to move away from the roguelike genre, they started to come to the idea of continuing on building upon what they learned through Dead Cells to create a new roguelike.[2]
One goal with Windblown was to introduce cooperative multiplayer, compared to the single-player Dead Cells.[2] Another was to give the player the ability to quickly move about the game's levels, placing islands that they could reach in sight and providing routes to get their using a dash ability. Initially this was an ability with a cooldown but they found the game's pacing was improved by allowing the player to dash indefinitely without any cooldown.[2]
They wanted to maintain the same goal as Dead Cells, in which each run for the player would feel different, and tried a variety of metagame sytsems such as ideas borrowed from The Binding of Isaac and Hades, ultimately returning to a similar approach they had used in Dead Cells, which the player can unlock new weapons and gear that will randomly appear during a run by spending materials collected from previous runs.[2] Motion Twin also wanted to improve on the dual-weapon system from Dead Cells; while the player could switch between one of the two weapons they carried at any time within Dead Cells, there was no other benefit from this switch. Within Windblown, they added an "Alterattack" system that allowed extra boosts when the player switches between weapons. The team also looked to the Monster Hunter games to expand on what abilities they could incorporate into their weapons.[2]
Windblown was first announced in December 2023 as part of The Game Awards.[3] Motion Twin had started alpha testing with about 300 users since February 2024.[2] The game will have an early access release starting on October 24, 2024, citing the success of early access in refining Dead Cells before its release.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Blake, Vikki (September 20, 2024). "Here's 15 glorious minutes of Dead Cells creator's next game, Windblown". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Wood, Austin (October 12, 2024). ""How can we do better than Dead Cells?": Motion Twin follows a roguelike icon with a co-op game under huge but "good" pressure with "millions" waiting". GamesRadar+. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
- ^ McWhertor, Michael (December 7, 2023). "Dead Cells creators reveal their next game, Windblown". Polygon. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
- ^ Wood, Austin (October 10, 2024). "After 7 years of Dead Cells updates, devs share hopes for their new roguelike to get just as much support: "If we can, why not? If we are lucky enough"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved October 12, 2024.