Savage 2: A Tortured Soul First Look

You know how us PC gamers always complain about the lack of more original titles? But then, ironically, when a very original title comes along and kicks us in the ass, we turn around and treat it with a blank stare. Not the kind of look that says, "I'll kick your ass in return," no, but the kind that is followed by two blinks in absolute silence. Of course, not all of us PC gamers are like that. Sometimes when an original title kicks us in the ass we love it and become fans of the said title (like certain British MPs are fond of a good beating by a leather-clad mistress). Such was the case with S2 Games' multiplayer RTS/FPS hybrid, Savage.

"Talk to the log, buddy!"

As swift and deadly as a watery fart.

Savage had a very original premise - most of the people would fight in a multiplayer match as soldiers from a first-person or third-person perspective (depending on if they used melee weapons or not), while one player on each side would play as the commander and manage the building of structures, gathering of resources, and indeed the issuing of orders to the units via an RTS-like interface. The units in this case would be actual players, so, as you can imagine, sometimes things wouldn't go according to plan. Savage was in many ways an overly ambitious project with a fairly complicated interface that didn't offer novice players enough information on how to become successful at playing the game. So a little rough around the edges, inaccessible and not looking like a million bucks, Savage was doomed to wander the blasted lands of mediocrity for all eternity. Luckily for the developers, however, the most dedicated gamers, ones who didn't mind the steep learning curve, were treated to some very exciting matches, and the legacy of what was good about Savage lived on. "Savage was really our baby, the game that we as an independent game developer cut our teeth on," said Jesse Hayes, co-founder and lead designer at S2 Games. "We learned a great deal with Savage and that experience, combined with great advice and constructive criticism from our audience means that A Tortured Soul is going to completely blow gamers away!"

The biggest proof of this, of course, is the recent announcement of Savage 2: A Tortured Soul. Not a lot is known about the gameplay at this point, but we do know that the game will look gorgeous, thanks to the game media that was released and is now available for your viewing pleasure all with this article. If you remember the original game, you'll... Well, the comparison is entirely unfair if you ask me. The Savage 2 engine, also known as the K2 Engine, looks absolutely gorgeous - immediately evident is the vast improvement in character animation (not to mention the poly count) over the old Silverback Engine. In the original, players would often fight in third person with melee weapons and the problem with this was that the animation looked jerky and woefully simplistic. Entirely not so in the sequel. As it is evident in the teaser trailer, the warrior and rogue-like characters move naturally and fluidly and so is the case with the worker and the log-wielding troll-like creature. The fairly barren world of Newearth has been rebuilt and refurnished with an abundance of lush vegetation, bump map-covered rock formations and sparkling rivers bathing in sunshine. As it was revealed in the press release, the new K2 Engine supports such fancy features as: fully dynamic self shadows, point lighting, and enhanced spell effect system. But really, the animation seems to be the key here as far as the graphics are concerned, and that is evident in the footage of the real-time action.

On the gameplay front, one of the things that the developers vow to improve is the melee combat system. In fact, it's pretty clear how S2 Games is attempting to improve the core gameplay in the sequel. Priority number one: make the core fighting segment, the melee combat, more interesting by allowing more control for action players. More key combos, some stances or something else perhaps? The melee combat will be restructured in such a way that it doesn't simply boil down to pressing the left mouse button and praying to God that the other guy falls. Of course, this issue has plagued many developers for a long time now, so it remains to be seen how S2 tackles the issue.

I wanna word with that log guy.

I am a horse and you are a horse; let's make out.

Priority two and three seem to be closely related, as they have to do with the variety of player classes and the game's overall accessibility. It has been revealed that Savage 2 will use a 20 unit class-based system. Some of these will be more suited for FPS fast, action-paced gameplay and others for third person RPG accessible gameplay. In relation to this, Savage 2 will include more uber RPG loot that will improve players' stats as well as cool looking spells to counter the melee fighters. What this will do most likely is create a system where your skill will be modified to a certain extent by the level and the equipment of your character.

Staying with the idea of making the sequel more accessible to a wider audience, the game should include a much more comprehensive tutorial as well as an enhanced role of Battlegroup Officers, which should make the Commander's job a lot easier. One of the big problems with the first game was that no one really wanted to take responsibility for leading their team, as not a lot of people knew what to do as Commanders. Simply put, learning to be a successful Commander was very hard, and that is something that S2 Games wants to change in the sequel.

From the looks of things, S2 Games certainly have their work cut out for them. Still, if they can retain what was good about the first game and work on the downsides to bring a more accessible, entertaining and fluent gameplay experience, we could have a sleeper hit on our hands. We need more original titles like this one and I for one wish the team the best of luck. (Of course you do, you greedy bastard! If they produce a great game, we reap the rewards! Muahahha -Mo)