Michal Bernat’s Alder’s Blood is a cool Gothic fantasy game set during the Victorian era, where players will control monster hunters out to save humanity and rid the world of the monsters that go bump in the night.
The game has a dark, brooding fantasy aesthetic, not unlike games like Nightmare Creatures or Vampire: The Masquerade. However, this isn’t another run-and-gun or hack-and-slash game like Bloodborne or The Legacy of Kain. Instead, it’s a hexagonal turn-based strategy game where you lead your group of legendary monster slayers into the heart of darkness in order to save mankind… so that they may flourish and build social media services like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr… ehh… then again, maybe it might be best to let the monsters take over?
Anyway, there’s a promo video below featuring three minutes of gameplay and the sort of game that the developers are gunning for. You can check it out below.
The Polish developers decided that the first major change was that there would be no RNG hit/miss dice rolls for combat. What this means is that if you equip a weapon that does X amount of damage, it will do that damage… in full.
It won’t be one of those games where you’re both standing in front of each other as low level newbies, throwing hands and missing each and every turn until someone finally loses enough HP to die during the war of miss-based attrition.
However, there are elements in place that make the game a lot more tactical than other turn-based strategy games. For instance there’s a stamina system so that as you expend energy you’ll need to replenish it otherwise you will fail to connect with your attacks.
While you will have close and long range weapons at your disposal, enemies will have an advantage in the form of being able to sniff you out and hunt you down from a distance. The developers cover the basic concept of the gameplay and combat in a developer diary that you can view below.
The missions will be themed around hunting down specific targets, some of which will require research and exploration before you embark on the hunt. Additionally you can scout ahead and lay out a battle plan by hiring NPC scouts to give you a heads up on what to expect.
However, the scouting NPCs are a risk/reward venture, given that if they are too weak they will be susceptible to the wiles of the devil’s machinations and may turn into monsters themselves.
Much like Firaxis’ rendition of XCOM, each slayer will have their own abilities and skills that can be utilized during combat, as well as special perks to help give you an advantage over your foes.
There are different classes of hunters, and you’ll be able to acquire items and new weapons along the way to help you out. The game is sort of like a mix of combing the hunting and preparation from Monster Hunter but with the turn-based strategic combat from Blackguards, but with the art-style of Darkest Dungeon.
If you’re into Gothic horror games with turn-based strategic gameplay, you can learn more by checking out the Kickstarter page for Alder’s Blood.
