Nosgoth: Interview with a Game Dev
Ted: So how do you come up with the human classes? Human lore hasn’t really been there in previous games.
Bill: The human lore in Legacy of Kain is mostly a blank canvas, giving us some freedom to operate. So what we did was take traditional battlefield roles and give them a Nosgoth twist. Instead of a medic, you have the Prophets, an insane cult of baby stealers that poison themselves close to death. Those that survive gain grotesque otherworldly powers. It’s a bloody and macabre twist on what might otherwise just be a cleric or paladin. The world of Nosgoth is violent and brutal, so our heroes need to bloodthirsty mercenaries, merciless hunters, and sometimes deranged lunatics.
Jacob: While designing the classes, gameplay comes first. We start off by looking at something like the Scout as a sniper or the Beastmaster as a typical druid. Once the character is finished, the lore team takes over to develop the audio and visuals. We try to reinforce those decisions then in gameplay, but the character’s playability always is the main focus.
Better be one hell of a backstory to explain how this guy came to be facing Vampire Vin Diesel with nothing but an axe.
Ted: So what do you have to say to players that are upset about the change to multiplayer? Some must feel cheated that they don’t get a traditional story.
Bill: When we approached Psyonix about developing Nosgoth a number of years ago, it was because of their exceptional multiplayer pedigree. Even from the start, the multiplayer and single player were developed completely separately. They used different characters, different settings, and even took place in different time periods. When the single player campaign unfortunately didn’t work out, we had already been discussing selling the multiplayer as a standalone project. This isn’t us boiling down Dead Sun into a free-to-play multiplayer package, but something we’ve been developing as its own from the start.
Ted: Just another lore nerd point, are we going to see any Soul Reaver stuff in the game? Any Wraiths on the horizon?
Bill: No plans for that at the moment. Raziel is special, so it’s hard to fit him into Nosgoth. Early on we discussed the idea of a spectral realm, but decided it wouldn’t work in our multiplayer vision. A world where the normal laws of time and space don’t apply doesn’t really work into a fast paced PVP action game.
Ted: But a lot of that weirdness like time travel, the wheel of fate, and the Elder God is what fans love about the franchise.
Bill: Without ruling anything out, there are things in there for the hardcore fans to find if they look hard enough.
Ted: So we’re not going to find out that this was all the machinations of the Elder God to keep the Wheel of Fate spinning to feed his insatiable hunger?
Bill: I couldn’t possibly confirm or deny that.
Whatever, Elder God. I know your tricks.
Ted: Alright, keep your secrets! As a final point, tell me why you think that Nosgoth is worth everyone checking out. Why should people be excited about playing?
Jacob: Personally, I love the core combat and the gameplay. The asymmetry between the vampires and humans makes this really unique. Vampires need to get in close, so the way they move, trap, and play mind games with their opponents is really fun counterplay. Humans offer a different style of play that’s equally fun, splitting into two phases. The first is where they plan their defense, setting up and preparing for the vampire attacks. The second is where they break, and it becomes about much more micro-intensive dodges, attacks, and abilities to in the moment outplay your more agile opponents to just try to get out in one piece.
Bill: I totally agree. The power of a vampire versus the coordination and determination of the humans is just unrivaled. It’s a totally unique experience, and we love it.
I came out of the interview pleasantly surprised by their candid honesty. Bill was a genuine lore nerd, and couldn’t help but geek out over a lot of the more minute elements. Jacob is a real, hardcore game designer, and that showed in his brass tacks approach to answering my questions. Together, they gave me a sense of the soul behind Nosgoth: hardcore gamers designing how it plays, and total nerds ruling over how it looks and feels. It’ a combination that I have faith in, and genuinely enjoyed.
Not all of my concerns are assuaged. The new content looks great, but I’m just not sure it’ll be enough to bring in more players. If matchmaking stays inconsistent, it’ll be too hard for new players to get into the game. Without new players, only the hardcore will stick around, making it impossible to expand. It would be a sad fate for such a unique title.
Still, they’re the experts, not me. Maybe their advertising surge will open the floodgate of players and I’ll stop getting stomped by pros. I will say that my concerns over their care for the game are certainly gone. If at this point you think this is a hollow cash-in that disregards the lore, you clearly haven’t given it a shot. If you were holding out because you didn’t like the switch to multiplayer, don’t let your bitterness get the best of you.
If you are hearing about the game for the first time or just haven’t given it a shot, I’d say do so. It’s in a near finished state, and is more polished than many final products. For the asking price of free, fans of action games and shooters have no real reason not to give it a shot. Like me, they might just find it worth all the rough bits. No word on an official release date yet, but you can look forward to my full review when it drops.
Categorized:Editorials Horror Gaming News
