Loki Preview

Cyanide Studios achieved some recognition with Chaos League (2004), a sports game set in a high fantasy world, profoundly inspired by the traditional Games Workshop board game Bloodbowl. Mind you, it wasn't a licensed adaptation of the classic tabletop game, but it did manage to encapsulate the general idea into a unique and engaging video game, which represented an innovative blend of sports, RPG and strategy. In the past few years Cyanide has been working on a new PC action RPG, which draws inspiration from many different mythologies including Greek, Aztec, Egyptian and, most naturally, Norse.

Could you direct me to Odin's chambers, please?

Who's the shepherd of this flock?

So, Loki's setting is a mix of the aforementioned mythologies, even though the title of the game suggests a strict tie in with Loki, the malevolent mythical being from the Norse mythology.
Players will kick off by selecting one of the four characters on offer: Greek warrior, Egyptian magician, Aztec Shaman or Norse fighter. Your main purpose is to put a stop to Seth, the Egyptian god of evil and darkness, who has been spreading chaos throughout the land. Seth has returned and now yearns to take vengeance upon the other Egyptian gods. In his vile quest for retribution, Seth sought an alliance with the evil deities from 3 other mythologies - Greek, Nordic and Aztec.

The ultimate goal will be the same for each of the four available characters. However, due to their dissimilar backgrounds and cultures, every character is also governed by a unique set of goals, in addition to the main quest of confronting Seth.

Loki is an action RPG and a really promising one at that. Contrary to what most of you might think, there's more to the plot than meets the eye. Even though it does sound a bit tacky, the developers worked hard to establish a well-structured storyline that involves a lot more than completing generic quests or dealing with hordes of monsters. The whole story features multiple endings, depending on how you play it and which characters you've chosen. And, just so you know, Loki offers more than 50 quests for you to go through.

Each character embodies unique folklore, fighting styles and abilities. The Norse fighter, for instance, represents a near equivalent of a warrior class in standard fantasy lore. Relying on pure strength and his versatility in close combat, he's quite a resilient and capable combatant. He's certainly the right choice if you prefer muscle over brainpower. Going for the Greek character means you've chosen a skilled female archer, adept at setting deadly traps for unwary foes. She was also instructed by the warrior Achilles, who sends her on quests to help the Greek Pantheon. We were told that the Egyptian character is closely tied to the main plot - a lot more than other characters. His chief abilities are spells and magic. Finally, the Aztec shaman (another female character) strives to save her own people from extinction and mostly relies on skills linked to nature.

No matter which one of these characters you choose, they can all worship and follow the ways of one of the three existing gods. Skills and abilities are upgraded depending on which god they decide to worship. It is possible to worship more than one of course, though this might delay your advancement towards more powerful skills. Ultimately, when they become available, it will cost a great deal of mana to utilize them in battle and most of them have a longer cooldown.

Loki also features a solid variety of foes such as skeletons, giant spiders, centaurs, mummies, harpies, wild animals, different types of soldiers, etc. In time, however, players must face up to likes of huge bosses, which are a lot deadlier than the random opponents you meet along the way. (The revolution in action RPG gaming is at hand! -Capt. Sarcasm) According to the development team, bosses were bestowed with an enhanced AI, to further increase the challenge. As you progress, you'll eventually get to fight against legendary creatures such as Medusa, the Minotaur, Fenrir the wolf, Fafnir the dragon and more. Although they are smarter and harder to kill than ordinary opponents, each of these bosses has a weak spot and it's up to you to discover what they are.

The weapons in Loki range from the standard stuff, such as swords, to more exotic ones, like discs and so on. Normally, heroes have the ability to wield specific weapons, each of which has a unique set of advantages and disadvantages depending on three available weapon parameters: speed, range and damage. Customizing weapons is also an option. Iron weapons, for instance, can be reforged and improved with materials found throughout the surroundings, such as bronze. Over 15 additional materials will be available as well. But what's a decent weapon without some magical properties? Well, that can be arranged too. Weapons and armor can be upgraded or enhanced magically with various runes. As far as character development goes, players will be able to advance their avatars by distributing earned experience points to 5 chief attributes: strength, dexterity, intelligence, vitality (health) and energy (mana).

I can't move a bloody muscle in this armor!

Apparently, nobody ever told this poor sap not to fly low over volcanoes.

The crew at Cyanide was keen on using a familiar Diablo-esque element, which denotes a random level generator. As you should know, this particular level-designing technique refers to generating each section in the game via complex algorithms. As a result, each time you start over, places look different, enemies and other characters appear in different spots, randomly placed chests and exits will also change from the last time you played the game. It's a well-known technique already used in the Diablo series, as well as in the upcoming action-oriented RPG, Hellgate: London.

The really good news is that Loki is on track for a mid-April 2007 release, which is exactly one month away. Approximately 40-50 hours of gameplay was promised and we feel there should be considerable replay value given the game's random level generator. For multiplayer fans, the developers have incorporated a 6-player co-op, in addition to a 4 vs. 4 arena.

(On paper, this game sounds so incredibly generic, it's not even funny. Maybe Vader was unable to identify the game's real strong points. On the other hand, maybe it's all about the execution, and what sounds mediocre in theory might play very well. We won't know until we've played it obviously. - 2Lions)