Gord Is Aiming to Cross The Witcher with Rimworld (and the Signs are Good)
Unsurprisingly, much of the talk about upcoming ‘adventure strategy’ game Gord focuses on the relationship between debut developer Covenant and The Witcher. It consisted of his AAA developers from various Poland, some of whom moved from his CD Projekt Red to set up the studio. Covenant has not strayed far from its roots. Like much of The Witcher, Gord takes place in a grim pastoral fantasy. A world inspired by Slavic folklore. But when I saw it at Gamescom, Covenant CEO Stan Just made another comparison, revealing Gord’s promise of his Rimworld.
Like Rimworld, Gord starts by giving spawned villagers little by little. Each villager has individual personality traits that can affect their work and personal lives. Like Rimworld, command your villagers to build a colony from scratch, build temples to the gods, construct fence walls to fend off various threats that lurk in the darkness, and gather necessary resources. And like Rimworld, Gord wants to help turn small moments into unexpected and personal stories that come naturally.
It’s a great setup that incorporates real-time strategy elements (at first glance, this looks like a classic top-down unit control game) and survival game elements. village. Success is measured by the townspeople’s sanity (happiness cannot be measured in a world this miserable) and how far they’ve progressed in creating a functioning settlement.
Your villagers are likely to be naturally talented at certain things (building, using certain weapons, etc.) and may have unique items that help them survive. and you have to be creative in how you assign the many roles in the village. A baby was born suddenly when I was in the hospital.And of course all this is done to make it happen For real It is devastating when they die.
Gord is not just a game of strategy, nor is it simply a game of defending settlements. It’s also a small scale strategy game where you can arm the strongest villagers and take them out into the wider world. There’s also a full story campaign mode that looks at the main objectives offered.
The pre-beta I’ve seen has some pretty basic animations and the combat isn’t what I’d call dynamic, but there’s a lot going on under the hood. You can assign them to different groups and even add some simple automation (for example, you could assign an ax-wielding warrior to move around to protect weaker bow users). Location is also important, as both you and your enemies can gain buffs or debuffs of the surrounding terrain.
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In addition to that, faith (a kind of currency generated by villagers worshiping in temples) can be used to call on the gods to provide protection or offensive spells. The damage-dealing spells are a highlight – these gods don’t seem all that benevolent, with one spell sending worms to invade their targets, and another sending bones twisting into unnatural positions in the air. Make it float on
The enemies themselves come in many forms, including natural beasts, twisted humanoids, and most excitingly, horrors. Horrors are underworld demons of various shapes and sizes placed throughout the world of Gords, representing the most threatening figures you can find. Not just bosses – Horrors can visit your village and ask for gifts. It could be your gold, your crops, or your children. There may be – refuse them and they’ll curse your village, infest it with insects, summon tornadoes, or worse.
But importantly, these more traditional adventure sections tie into a Rimworld-like setting. A death while on patrol can devastate a villager – especially if the corpse cannot be recovered and buried. If you avoid these things, the villagers will gain experience in their assigned professions over time.Perhaps, after enough training, the horrors that deprived the children of strength and accuracy. You will be able to send your best revenge.
Gord feels made to tell a never-ending story, and Covenant accounts for that by including a full custom scenario mode alongside the campaign. You can fine-tune the kind of world you’re in, including (or just aimless and see how long you can survive). These seeds can be shared between players to allow people to take on the exact same challenge.
Covenant’s aim is not low. The game the team is aiming for is loved by its fanbase, but at Gord, we’re trying to create something that can have its own set of followers on its own terms. I am intrigued.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News.follow him twitterAny tips? Want to talk about possible stories?please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
