Monsters' Den: Godfall

We all remember this guy: the Cult Guardian. A devotee of the Cult of the Outward Path, this armoured warrior acts as the first line of defense against threats both internal and external.

Click below to see how he’ll be returning in Godfall.

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The College of Mages is an old and venerated institution, and the battle mages they train have helped to turn the tide of battle and safeguard civilization for hundreds of years. But when the gods fell, so too did the College. It was initially thought that none had survived.. until the Lord Savant made his triumphant re-appearance.

In the years since, he has rebuilt the institution, and taken a personal hand in the instruction of a new generation of mages. Many end up in the Companies, where their rare skills can best be used. As ruler of the rebuilt city of Savantine, the Lord Savant is a mysterious and influential figure. Though the Clerics distrust him, he is a powerful ally in the fight for survival.

In the wake of the skills post, I thought I would shed a little light on some of the combat mechanics changes in Godfall. This is only a sample, there are other large (and potentially controversial) changes I’m not ready to talk about yet.

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The Cult is an old organization, with a history reaching back hundreds of years before the Godfall. Since then, however, their numbers have swelled. They believe that better worlds exist, if one can only master the knowledge and self-discipline needed to reach them. In a shattered world strewn with the corpses of gods, this idea has found growing support.

The Cult also provides a rare opportunity to escape the oppression of the clerics. It is one of the very few sects able to provide genuine protection from the demonic to its followers: the powerful Cult Magis, in their study of Planar magic, have discovered a way to seal a person’s soul.

Utilizing the lumbering constructs known as Nexus Engines, the Magis constantly poke and prod at the boundaries of reality. This sometimes ends badly, as most realities are not nearly as hospitable as the Cult implies to potential members. Many Magis have learnt to call forth creatures from these nightmare planes, to serve them on the battlefield.

The elite of the Cult are the Enlightened: humans who have crossed the veil and returned, changed. They are seldom seen, and almost nothing is known about their true nature or motivations.

There are many changes and new concepts in the Godfall item model. One of these is the relic bonus. Several different types of item can have relic bonuses, including equipment.

The Company Keep has a certain number of slots for holding items in the Reliquary. These can be rare items or trophies you feel deserve pride of place. For more tangible benefit, you can place items with relic bonuses to passively confer the bonus to the active party or even the whole company, depending on the bonus type.

When you create your new mercenary Company in Monsters’ Den: Godfall, you’ll be asked to create a Company Emblem to represent them. Here’s your first look at the emblem design screen.

The emblem you create will appear in various places in (and outside) the game. Combined with the ability to enter a custom name, no two Companies need be exactly alike.

This is the first actual screenshot from the game. Please bear in mind that it’s early days, and almost everything you see here will change before release.

Up until now I’ve mostly been posting background material that hints at the new game’s mechanics, but it seems like some people are getting a bit worried so it’s probably best to clarify what Godfall is and is not.

In Monsters’ Den: Godfall, you take control of a fledgling Company. You build a roster of (created, customized) heroes, from which you assemble parties to tackle missions provided by the Order or private interests. The game no longer takes place in a single, continuous dungeon, but it is still very definitely a dungeon crawler.

It’s not a linear, narrative-focused RPG. It still relies heavily on procedural generation, and still allows for unlimited play.