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Divinity: Fallen Heroes
Larianisalsomakingnobonesabout
thefactthatFallenHeroeswillbe,by
design,achallenginggame.Likethe
InfinityEngineRPGsthatinspiredthe
OriginalSinseries,you’llneedtomake
intelligentuseofyourabilitiesand
second-guesstheAItosurviveafight.
“Frankly,thegamehasbeendesignedto
bequitedifficult,”saysVincke.“You’ll
oftenbeleftinsituationswithlittleHPand
onlyafewunitsleft,soit’squiteintense.
EvenIsufferwhenIplayit,andthat’son
thenormaldifficultysetting.Youcanlower
it,ofcourse.Ishouldsaythat.”
ForfansofOriginalSin 2 ,thechanceto
hangoutwiththeRedPrince,Ifan,
Beast,andtherestofthegangwillbe
hardtoresist,evenifit’snotintheform
ofatypicalRPG.“Narratively,itfeels
reallygoodtoseetheseheroesback,”
saysVincke.“Butthisisn’tamassive
worldyou’regoingtogooutandexplore.
Therearesetmissions,andeachhasits
ownobjectives.Butwehavetriedto
maintainthediversityyoufindinour
RPGs.Weneverwantyoutodothe
samethingtwice.”
FallenHeroeslikelywon’tbeaslongas
thegargantuanOriginalSin 2 ,butLarianis
aimingforalotofreplayvalue.Thepath
eachplayertakesthroughthegamewill
bedifferentdependingonchoicesmade,
theordermissionsarecompletedin,and
soon.“Thecriticalpaththroughthegame
is 22 outof 60 missions,whichgivesyou
anideaofhowmanypermutationsthere
are,”saysVincke.“Butitismore
contained,withaclearerstructureof
acts.Ithinkwe’reofferingahigherlevelof
freedomherethanyou’llfindinother
tacticsgames.”Dramaticentrance
Larian is also aiming for a feeling of drama
in its battles. “It’s a lot more cinematic
than Original Sin 2 was,” says Vincke.
“When you start a mission the camera will
move around and show you the action.
One of the decisions you have to make is
when you find a city under attack by a
group called the Bloodless.
“You decide whether you’re going to
relieve Lucian, which you should be, or
save a bunch of people stuck on the
harbour trying to escape. If you helpLucian, the camera will show you the city
under siege. People falling off buildings,
explosions everywhere, characters yelling
at each other. It sets the mood.”
Surfaces also play a big part in Fallen
Heroes’ combat – areas of the battlefield
with different elemental properties you
can exploit. “We added a new type called
sulphurium,” explains Vincke.
“It’s triggered by kinetic energy, and it
causes an explosion with a shockwave. So
if you shoot a crossbow at it while you’re
on top of it, you can rocket jump. And if
you time it right you can jump across
multiple surfaces. If an enemy is nearby
they’ll be thrown back by the impact as
you jump. It’s a really cool systemic
addition to the combat.”
Giving an example of how this new
surface can also work against you Vinke
says, “Last night when I was playing I used
Phoenix Dive to get on a roof where an
enemy with a blunderbuss was positioned.
I had the intention of killing him with one
shot. But it was his turn and he shot me
off the roof. I landed on some sulphurium
that had spilled out of a barrel, was thrown
away, and took double damage. That was
the intention of the AI and it felt awesome.
It also sucked because I lost my unit. But
those are the kinds of combinations you
can pull off. And all the surface types from
Divinity 2 are in the game too.
“Combat-wise, we’re giving you a much
better toolbox. When you start on a
mission, your most important decision is
who comes with you.
“This decides which tools you can use
on the battlefield. Then you have to decide
which consumables and artefacts to take.
These starting parameters can make
every fight feel different, and can actually
decide whether you’ll make it through the
mission or not. This, plus AI which is
capable of adapting to how you play and
the surface experimentation, makes it
very unpredictable.”
Fallen Heroes is not what I expected
the next thing from Larian to be, especially
after the enormous popularity of the
Original Sin games. But it’s nice to see the
studio attempting something different,
and a chance for Original Sin 2 fans to
continue the story – albeit in a very
different form. The idea of bringing RPG
storytelling and choices to a tactics game
is an intriguing one, and I can’t wait to see
if Larian pulls it off. The combat from the
Divinity games is a deep well to pull from,
and should be a powerful starting point for
a squad-based tactics game.
Andy Kelly“narratively, it feels
really good to see
these heroes back”
Familiar enemies
will return.