In the current video game space, it can be quite difficult to find new ideas from well-established genres. After all, it’s all too easy for players to turn to something more familiar in terms of system and gameplay considerations, even if the cry for more original content is ever louder. In Systemic Reaction’s Ravenbound, players find a good balance between what they know and love about roguelites, as well as adding something new in terms of deck-building and cards.
After an earlier preview of Ravenbound, we finally got the chance to take some time out for ourselves, as well as learn more about the game from creative director Emil Kraftling.
Taking its first tentative steps in Ravenbound, there is a sprinkling of inspiration that can be seen in such a short title. Movement is light and fast, combat is straightforward but challenging, and the visual style doesn’t reach for realism, which is akin to something like Immortals’ Phoenix Rising. The team is well aware that they are not trying to make an AAA title, exclusively with the deckbuilding elements involved, but instead a labor of love.
“We’re like this, little indy corner sitting in the garage and doing cool stuff. And the team that works on Ravenbound is a pretty small team, like 20, 25 people in our Stockholm office,” shares Kraftling, of the players. With heavy emphasis on building a community that can help chart the course of the game as it is a live experience that will change over time.
It also played a role in the inclusion of a deckbuilding mechanic, a concept that is not foreign to many players, and one that is also growing in popularity. The use of cards, and future additions to others, is exactly how Systemic Reaction wants the system to work in terms of progress in the game. This will hopefully create more permutations for deck synergy down the line.
During the two hours I spent with the game, it wasn’t hard to see what craftling meant. From your equipment, from active and passive bonuses to the variety of cards, the way things can change significantly depending on the RNG and really mean that no game will ever be the same. And once the community kicks into things, knowing what works and what doesn’t will allow developers to switch things up and add new cards, an interesting prospect, to say the least.
Many cards and your choices will affect Ravenbound’s main core, which is its combat. Simply put, the idea was not to make the players “feel weak and die against everything,” but to make you “feel like a warrior” and get stronger from there. Being able to go toe-to-toe with groups of bandits and skeletons initially makes for a solid argument, though it still pays to master the dodging and guarding techniques involved in Ravenbound.
And when it comes to tough enemies like bosses or large groups of enemies, the choices made matter even more, either aiding the way you fight or becoming less helpful enhancements that are worth more for another run. may be suitable. Being able to quickly stalk enemies is useful in most scenarios, but not against fast groups of ghost-like creatures that can quickly swarm and overwhelm you.
“We want you to feel smart that you can make interesting choices with the options we provide and use them in an interesting way. From my point of view, the best roguelites are the ones that achieve this,” Kraftling said. “It was a guiding light for combat. And then it’s like a journey towards finding the right response in battle, making sure that every hit feels good, and that every enemy you take down is Feels good. I think we’ve come a long way.”
While the various mechanics of combat made it interesting and fun, especially when trying to learn enemy patterns under the pressure of attacks on all fronts, the exploration of a larger world could still be further refined. The team is actively trying to ensure that players will have a reason to roam the world, but with a vast distance behind various gates to navigate towards the self-contained world and bosses, it remains a challenge. Even if you can take to the sky. Raven forms at selected locations.
As we mentioned earlier, Ravenbound is a roguelite who draws inspiration from folklore – specifically, from Scandinavian myths and tales. It was the freedom to take things in the direction the team wanted that made it important to color your own world by its source material.
“Fantasy basically lets us be creative, because we can create the rules that we need to follow. So everything we can come up with will be fun and cool gameplay, we’ll be able to delve into the lore because We created the fantasy ourselves,” Kraftling explained of the world and the creatures we would meet.
It was also helpful that the team could provide an accurate depiction of the folklore used, providing an authentic look at things, just as with Generation Zero, another systemic response was titled.
However, combined with the roguelite and deckbuilding nature of Ravenbound, there remains an inherent risk in taking the game in that direction. For Kraftling and the team, such risks are worth taking simply because, for them, “it’s the only fun way to make games,” and it’s hard to argue with that sentiment.
At this early stage, RavenBound is clearly still a work-in-progress, but it already has some intriguing features that could keep it in good stead as development continues. There’s enough challenge and variety in the fight, the use of RNGs and cards will spice things up more, and we’ve only scratched the surface, given that there are still more doors to be opened in the fight against the treacherous.
Hopefully, we’ll find out more about the differences found in Otherworlds, the bosses, and how Systemic Reaction will entice players to try this genre-blender for themselves. Ravenbound still doesn’t have a release date, with a closed beta test set to start soon.
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