2K invited us to hear the presentation of Gearbox Software about Battleborn. The makers of Borderlands wanted to do something new for their career and they started thinking. What inspired us? They all agreed that 1st person shooting was definitely one of their favourites but it came clear that a first person game has to get big by adding other interesting elements.
What kind of elements do the gamers like? Looking back to the popular franchise of Borderlands, they noticed some interesting elements that kept the player going: leveling, looting and co-op. These 3 components and a touch of crazyness will result in Battleborn, a fast paced first person shooter that’s very enjoyable.
When i went to the presentation, i didn’t know a lot about Battleborn but after this i really saw a fun game to play with my friends. The story is set in the distant future and it all resolves around t the only star left in the whole universe named Solus. Now of course, everyone wants to get a piece of this last light in the dark and they all want it with different purposes. The first one just wants to explore it in any way possible, the other one wants to experiment and figure some stuff out and the other one wants to destroy it. These people will get into conflict and fight it out!
The game is a first person shooter with different RPG- elements and a comical tone. Battleborn will have 25 unique heroes that have different abilities and fighting styles. You’ll have melee fighters, gun shooting heroes, death from above kind of heroes and there’s plenty more to come. All these heroes have their own standard fighting set. The game offers story missions with up to 5 other heroes ( it can be played solo) and your goal is to complete mission objectives on the map. The multiplayer offers the classical team deathmatch called Devastation, a League of Legends based mode called Incursion and Meltdown. Meltdown wants you to escort your minions to a big incinerator in the middle of a map, the team with the most incinerated minions win.
The RPG elements in this game are very common but well developed. Each hero can level up to 10 during battle. Each level offers the player a skill point in the Helix. Helix allows the player to choose between two traits. If you’re the solo gamer, you can choose the trait that gives you more strength or offensive abilities but if you’re a team player, you can also choose traits that benefit the team. Each character has its own weapon or fighting style, these can’t be changed however you can still customize it a bit by using the loot that’s been dropped at the end of a match or by an enemy. You can compare it with the perks of Call of Duty, for example: there’s a perk called “goodbye grenade”, if you die you’ll drop a grenade that does an amount of damage. You also have improved versions of these perks that do better damage or add an extra bonus if you equip this perk. Loot will be a big part of the game.
After the presentation, i had my hands- on the game and i must say, it was really fun to play! The game runs smoothly with the usual pop-up textures but it will probably be fixed since the game is still in development. The style of the game looks a lot like the Borderlands franchise but with a lot more colors and crazy designs of characters. I played as Rath, a vampiric sword fighter with 2 blades that has very fast attacks. One of his abilities was the crossblade , shooting energy blades in front of him. This ability can have bonuses like better range, damage or going through different enemies before it dissapears. The second ability was a shockwave attack that damage enemies and lift them up in the sky for a brief moment. The ultimate ability was dreadwind, Rath changes into a whirlwind attack that damages enemies around him. The passive ability was kind of a leech, recieve 10 percent of your damaga as healing. Your primary melee attack is a quick attack with your blade and your secondary attack skill conjures a lightning bolt.
We played a story mission with two members of the developing team. We had to go from objective 1 to objective 2 while killing enemies along the way. We had to get a big mechanic robot to punch through a steel gate. After that we had to defeat a big boss who was spawning a lot of minions. Between objectives, you get more information about the story. We didn’t see a lot of loot during our battles, so maybe the loot will be received at the end of the story mission. On the battlefield you’ll see different kind of orbs, these orbs can be used to get health, shield power, experience points of other bonuses. Each character can also be revived by its team members. It really was a lot of fun to play!
4 new characters were also revealed: First of all, we have Ambra which is a high priestess who uses melee and special powers. Second character is Mellka, a powerful assassin. Mellka uses a machine pistol and bio- glave melee attacks. Third character is Reyna who loves to shoot with her laser pistol and uses a powerful glove to support her team members. Last but not least is the “Aviant” Benedict. It’s a bird like creature with a rocket launcher!
The MOBA- like game will be released on the 9th of February in 2016 for PC, Xbox One and PS4.
