Hey everybody this is Darren Evenson and Chris Mitchell from Hothead Games. We’re here to talk about combat in DeathSpank.
In case you don’t know already, DeathSpank is an action-RPG mixed with adventure gameplay. A lot of people are saying it is like Diablo meets Monkey Island which is appropriate because Ron Gilbert, the co-creator of Monkey Island, was the Creative Director for the game. The quick summary is that the game has a ton of action, a ton of loot and is as funny as hell.
An early design goal for combat was that it needed to be approachable but with surprising depth. Gamers had to be able to pick up the game and figure it out immediately but make little discoveries as they continued to play.
The first thing players use are mortal weapons. This large collection of blunt objects and sharp things do physical damage to enemies. They’re an effective and satisfying way to smash enemies or put holes in them.
Next up are what we call elemental weapons. These are imbued with mystic energies that are more effective on the right enemy, or far less on the wrong one. For example, you can use fire weapons on ice monsters, nature weapons on ghosts, you get the idea. It’s a simple thing but results in the player constantly making small tactical choices.
After that are Weapons Of Justice, crazy-powerful items that are most effective when DeathSpank’s Justice meter is full. How do you fill that meter you ask? Good question. Well the slow way is to button mash. The fast and totally more fun way is to create your own combos by using a variety of weapons, filling the meter quickly while doing bonus damage. Weapons of Justice can fling lightning, stun enemies or drive them into the ground!
And then there’s Runestones. These are looted from extremely hard to kill creatures but give DeathSpank some of his coolest abilities. To use a Runestone, DeathSpank uses a Weapon of Justice in one hand and an elemental weapon in the other in a two-handed strike for devastating results. Enemies are flung into the sky by geysers, have souls pulled out of them or are filled with dozens of flaming swords.
We’ll stop there but mention things like tactically divine airstrikes, poison-coated crossbow bolts, and portable black holes (no really). On top of all that there’s a whole defensive side to DeathSpank, with dozens of potions and over a hundred pieces of unique armour for the min-maxers out there.
Ok this is usually the part in the post where the developers mention something they ‘heard in the hallway’. We’ll let you in on an industry secret, those are totally contrived, they didn’t hear anything, there probably wasn’t even a hallway. Have fun storming the castle!
this looks good – demo please! :D
Day one purchase for me. whats the price guys?
Price?
yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah I’m going to for it around this time tomorrow.
IGN has it listed at MSRP: $14.99
It supports 2 Player Local Co-op from what I understand.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Will it be out in Europe on wednesday?
HOLY BAT DUNG! Much love to Sir RON GILBERT AND HOTHEAD for finally releasing DEATH and bringing it PSN! Looks amazing, just one question. Who voices the lead character?
Looks like junk.
Next.
ive been reading up on this for a while now……. so glad to see it finally arrive…..wish today was 7/13….lol. cant wait to see what new psn plus things they have in store
The voice over guy is Captain Quark!
Looks fun but I don’t know that I’ll get it. I like PSN titles and have several but I just got a slew of new PS3 games and won’t have time for this one.
FYI all posts about new PSN titles should include prices upon release. Thanks! I’ll keep this one on my radar for sure tho!!!
Hey guys, Darren and Chris here. Let’s answer some of these questions:
PRICE
$14.99 US Earth Dollars
DEMO
A US demo will be available July 13, the year of the Ratt \m/
CO-OP
Yes, we have 2 player local co-op, easy to drop in or out. Ambidextrous players may be able to play both characters by using TWO CONTROLLERS AT ONCE! Are you man enough? Because we aren’t.
VOICE
DeathSpank’s voice is none other than Michael Dobson, a man so into the role he showed up to work in a purple thong every day. He’s so into the role he insisted we call him “Fleshspank”. A man SO into the role he keeps his children in a homemade orphan bag.
JUNK
It’s so NOT! So yeah… there! Defeat that logic. Try the Junk demo.
More answers soon.
Online co-op? Or no?
Been looking forward to this game, need to fix ps3 first but def getting it soon.
DeathSpank’s voice is totally not Captain Quark.
@ Darren
Thanks for the answers! Question though…
What if you only have Moon Unit Dollars? Is it easy to convert?
*Gotta look up this “Michael Dobson” character*
Want a job?
Moon Unit dollars convert to Earth Dollars at a one to one ratio unless it’s arbor day.
Michael Dobson is an amazing voice actor that’s been in piles and piles of stuff. His imdb goes on forever and barely scratches the surface.