Blackguards 2 – New Gameplay features, Battles and Enemies in Feature Video
Press Release
Hamburg, November 6th, 2014
Blackguards 2 – New Gameplay features, Battles and Enemies in Feature Video
Blackguards 2 will be the S-RPG players always longed for – as one of the main inspirations for the developers from Daedalic Entertainment, was the communitiy’s feedback on the first installment. The results are new features, new enemies and improved gameplay; battles will be even more challenging, yet their handling has been significantly tweaked. A series of feature videos will provide more insight to the changes and will demonstrate a couple of useful strategies for battles in Blackguards 2.
The introduces the new heroes rallying around the game’s protagonist Cassia andgives a first impression of the turn-based battles and the new useful combat tools.
At the core of Blackguards 2 is the conflict between Cassia who starts a military campaign against the tyrant Marwan. He rules the country with an iron fist from his throne in the city of Mengbilla. The ultimate goal of the many turn-based battles is to conquer as much territory as possible and free it from Marwans influence, so that Cassia can claim the Shark Throne of Mengbilla herself.
Blackguards 2 focuses, just like its predecessor, on TBS battles as its core gameplay, based on the Dark Eye Pen&Paper rule set. Right at the start of a battle, you will notice a new feature: You can now freely place your characters in a starting area as a first strategic decision. Additional starting areas can be unlocked by acquiring strategic intel from prisoners through torture and interrogation between battles. These additional starting areas offer the advantage of splitting your troops, so they can navigate a map from different paths or even layers. For instance, one squad may have to pull a lever to deactivate traps in another squads way or open doors or shortcuts for them.
Battles, no matter if fought by one or more squads, range over multiple screens through dungeons, ruins, or bridges spiked with traps and inhabited by dangerous creatures. The fiercest among them are the chimeras; magical beasts created by Marwan’s chimerologists. Their unique abilities make the chimeras formidable opponents: Sandghosts, for example can turn into a whirling sandstorm, passing through obstacles with ease, leaving devastation in their wake. Jesperwoods are hulking constructs made of vines, flesh and steel, always surrounded by swarms of bees, making them almost impossible to engage in close combat. But even ranged opponents can be incapacitated by their tangling roots breaking through the ground.
These are only two of the many chimeras featured for the first time in Blackguards 2 and also in the world of the Dark Eye, to which they were thoughtfully introduced in close co-operation with the writers of the Pen&Paper game. The chimeras are constructs without will, only fused together by magic and controlled by circles of arcane power and so-called blood organs, instruments that are interactive objects on almost every map. Both, Marwan’s and Cassia’s troops can make use of those instruments. In side quests, she can even acquire the corresponding melodies and summonings from Marwan’s chimerologists. This way, the beasts will fight for her and can turn the tide of battle.
Cassia does not only recruit the heroes of the first Blackguards, but also rallies a band of mercenaries around her. Their leader is a bloodthirsty and ruthless man named Faramud. Up to ten sellswords can join Cassia and her champions in battle. They have their very own classes and contribute unique abilities to the fray. From the classic sword-wielding front line grunt and the nimble archer, to the stealthy assassin, unrivaled in speed and deadliness: each mercenary can be directly deployed and controlled. But the support of Faramud and his men is a double edged blade, not only figuratively: blood and violence are their fuel. And the common people of conquered territory are most likely the ones who suffer under the sellswords’ lust for pillage. It’s on the player to decide if Cassia lets Faramud have his will, giving him permission to pillage, raze and murder. Or if she keeps the leash on him, jeopardizing her alliance with the mercenaries, but earning the support of the southern people. Whatever the player decides, it will have an impact on the events to come, what side quests are available and how characters will react in camp and the conquered areas. In later battles that will mean that the people of the south will either stand up against Cassia’s murderous troops, supporting Marwan, or stand with Cassia against the tyrant.
However Marwan won’t just sit on his thumbs while Cassia marches towards Mengbilla. If she seems to advance successfully, Marwan will reclaim lost territory. If the player wants to hold conquered areas because of their strategic significance, like a bonus for all troops, those territories have to be defended. And even though players can cleverly place traps and reinforce their position with own soldiers, Marwan now knows what he’s in for and will send own troops accordingly. As you can imagine, defending a position is much tougher than taking it. Another increase in challenge shows, when the player is in the unfortunate position of re-conquering lost territory. Now Cassia and her men face traps and a well-prepared enemy who make you pay for every inch you want to reclaim.
Whatever path she takes on her campaign to Mengbilla, whatever positions she takes and holds for her troops, but also, what parts of the story unfold for Cassia is completely in the players’ hands. The world map between battles offers important information about possible obstacles, advantages and resources of the different areas. And again, torture and interrogation are a good way to improve this information.
All these new features, valuable hints for winning the challenging battles of Blackguards 2 and more details will be shown in the upcoming feature videos. These will be released regularly until the game’s release in early 2015.
About The Dark Eye: The Dark Eye has been Europe’s most best-known fantasy RPG universe since 1984. In addition to the popular pen&paper adventures, The Dark Eye is the basis for a successful series of videogame adaptations. The Dark Eye is licensed under Chromatrix GmbH.The Dark Eye is a trademark of Significant Fantasy Media Rights GbR.
About Daedalic Entertainment: Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Daedalic Entertainment is a developer of multiplatform narrative-driven games.
The company employs a staff of approximately 100 people, and its famed Writer’s Room, with its cadre of authors, is a unique feature in Germany’s media industry.
Since May 2014, Daedalic Entertainment has been part of the Bastei Lübbe group of companies, and in August 2014, Daedalic opened another development studio in Düsseldorf — dubbed Daedalic Entertainment Studio West.
Over the last few years, Daedalic has earned 21 German Game Developer Awards (incl. “Studio of the Year 2009, 2013”), five German Computer Game Awards (incl. “Best Game 2011”), and more.
