Schlagwort: valfaris

  • Valfaris sequel switches genres, but stays true to its roots

    Valfaris sequel switches genres, but stays true to its roots

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

    As a developer, watching people play your game can be a nerve-wracking experience. It seems like an age ago (it was only 2018) that I was on a busy showfloor at the EGX Expo, peering over the shoulders of players getting to grips with Valfaris, the 2D action-platformer that myself and fellow Steel Mantis dev, Andrew Gilmour, were working on at the time.

    Luckily, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The demo we had prepared was no pushover, and I remember seeing players dying over and over. But most were determined to push forward, and they eventually made it to the end with a big grin on their face. It showed me there was something about Valfaris that made people want to persevere and conquer it. Seeing this was an incredibly rewarding experience, and it made me feel we were making something worthwhile.

    Fast forward to today, and we’re excited to be revealing Valfaris: Mecha Therion. Anyone familiar with Valfaris will immediately notice a major difference in the sequel – it’s not a platformer, but a shoot ‘em up. New ideas and features are, of course, entirely expected in a follow-up, but switching genres? Not so much.

    Valfaris sequel switches genres, but stays true to its roots

    Despite knowing players enjoyed the platforming action of Valfaris – as I’d seen first-hand at EGX and was reinforced post-launch by positive user and critic reviews – we both decided we wanted to do something new with the sequel.

    Before we arrived at that decision, however, our original plan was to make a sequel to Slain: Back From Hell, a 2D hack-and-slash platformer we released in 2016. It was going to be a 2.5D platformer and we got as far as making a bit of gameplay with some 3D elements. We had a section with the character walking around a spiral staircase, and it looked pretty cool. Even at that point, though, I was already feeling that making another entire platformer was going to be a drag.

    It was then Andrew suggested something totally crazy: that we abandon the project and make a shmup sequel to Valfaris instead. It was completely out of the blue, but I grew up playing games such as Thunder Force, R-Type, Gradius, and Raiden, and had already made a shoot ‘em up around 2008 called Cy-Clone, so I was very into the idea!

    I was immediately enthused by the change in direction, and – as there are plenty of differences between a platformer and a shmup to consider – straight away started to think about the game from a design perspective. Most notably, a platformer generally allows the player to go at their own pace (rising water/lava levels not withstanding), be that cautious or charging ahead. A shmup, on the other hand, is constantly moving, so the player has no control over the pace of the game.

    Because of this, you need to think carefully about such things as how often to throw enemies at the player, and how to give them enough time to react to new types of hazards. You also need to decide when to let the player have a breather, and for how long. There needs to be a flow and rhythm.

    In addition to the genre switch, we also decided to move out of the 2D comfort zone we’d been working in for so long with our previous games, and to set Valfaris: Mecha Therion in a 3D space to really shake up the development process and get us excited. Ultimately, the gameplay is still 2D, but the extra dimension allows us to do cool things such as have enemies come in from the distance, have a much more cinematic camera, and have the player’s flight path go in different directions.

    Yet while we have all these obvious shifts between the two games, the changes aren’t a drastic leap in terms of the player experience, and despite one being a platformer and the other a shmup, they are still unmistakably bound by a shared DNA.

    It’s the same world as Valfaris, so the aesthetic will be familiar for anyone that’s played it. We’re carrying several features over, such as collecting and upgrading weapons (with plenty of those being favourites from the first game), a risk / reward checkpoint system, loads of over-the-top gore, and another metal soundtrack composed again by Curt Victor Bryant.

    But it’s the most fundamental aspect that binds Valfaris and Valfaris: Mecha Therion – the gameplay. We think the people who enjoy our games do so for the challenge and the thrill of playing something with an authentic old-school feel that’s capable of putting a big grin on your face. And that’s exactly what we’re aiming to achieve again with Valfaris: Mecha Therion.

    Valfaris: Mecha Therion releases in 2022 for PS4 and PS5.

    Website: LINK

  • Valfaris: 6 Tips to Help You Run-and-Gun to Victory, Out Today

    Valfaris: 6 Tips to Help You Run-and-Gun to Victory, Out Today

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Valfaris is an action-platformer drenched in gore and heavy metal launching on PS4 today. The hero is Therion – a long-haired space warrior on a mission to kill everything that either a) moves, or b) gets in his way. And it’s a tough game. But is it tougher than you? Only you can answer that. Either way – BRING IT ON! (but do yourself a favor and take heed of these tips first, yeah?)

    1. Use Resurrection Idols to either power up or play safe

    Resurrection Idols are a resource you’ll find around Valfaris that can be used in a variety of different ways. Primarily, they function as save tokens – reach a checkpoint and you must spend a Resurrection Idol to activate it. However, there’s a risk/reward system in play and you can – if you wish – choose not to activate a checkpoint and save yourself the cost of a Resurrection Idol.

    Here’s Therion standing between a Resurrection Idol (on the left) and a checkpoint:

    The reward for doing this is a more powerful Therion – the more Resurrection Idols he’s carrying, the greater his Health and Energy levels are. The risk is having to respawn at the last checkpoint you activated, which may not be the nearest one and consequently requires more retracing of steps.

    Resurrection Idols can also be exchanged at the end of each level for another of the game’s resources – Blood Metal. These are used to upgrade Therion’s weapons, so the more Blood Metal you have, the faster you can upgrade for more powerful tools of destruction.

    Here’s Therion exchanging Resurrection Idols for Blood Metal at the end of a level. Note how the Health and Energy bars in the top-left corner shrink as the Idols are used:

    How you choose to use Resurrection Idols is entirely up to you – power up or play safe?

    2. Seek out those secret areas

    Bit of an obvious one this, but worth a mention all the same – there are secret areas to discover around Valfaris and they are well worth hunting for. They always reward intrepid players with either a weapon, Blood Metal, Resurrection Idol, or other kind of pick-up. And there’s also a Silver Trophy to be nabbed for finding all 22 secret areas in a single playthrough.

    To get you off to a good start, here are some giant arrows showing where you can find the four secret areas in Valfaris’ first level:

    Landing Pad secret area #01 – smash the crates to reveal a hidden room, where you’ll find a Blood Metal:

    Landing Pad secret area #02 – drop through that gap, but beware as there’s a large enemy lurking down there:

    Landing Pad secret area #03 – kill the bad doggy to open the door behind it:

    Landing Pad secret area #04 – use the hanging cables to gain access to the gap in the ceiling:

    3. Blood Metal makes your weapons EVEN MORE METAL

    With names such as ‘Bringer of Mayhem’ and ‘Hellwraith’, it’s no surprise the weapons in Valfaris are serious bits of ass-kicking kit. There are 19 different weapons spread across three different classes – Primary, Melee, and Destroyer – and all of them can be upgraded for even more extreme means of extermination.

    Weapons start at Rank 1 and can be powered-up to Rank 3 using Blood Metal – a valuable resource that can be found hidden around Valfaris, collected from some downed enemies, or obtained in exchange for Resurrection Idols at the end of a level. It’s possible to upgrade weapons to Rank 4, although to do so requires a much rarer material called ‘Blood of Valfaris’ and these should really be reserved for fully upgrading your most favourite kill-toys.

    As tempting as it is to spend any Blood Metal you find as quickly as possible on upgrading your weapons, it’s worth waiting until you’ve found and tried a few other weapons besides your starters. You can’t retrieve Blood Metal once it’s been spent, so you want to make sure you’re using the material on your preferred weapons.

    I tend to hoard all my Blood Metal until obtaining the Envoy of Destruction, a Destroyer class rocket launcher, towards the end of the second level and then spend all of them at once upgrading it as much as possible.

    4. Exploit the full power of the shield

    In addition to your selected Primary, Melee, and Destroyer weapons, you also have a shield that can be used both defensively and offensively. As you’d expect, keeping the shield activated protects Therion from incoming projectiles and melee attacks, at least until its energy is fully depleted (it loses energy each time it takes a hit).

    In addition to its basic function as a shield, if you activate it just before a projectile makes contact, the incoming missile or missiles become held in the shield’s stasis field. The trapped projectile/s can then be deflected back towards the enemy by deactivating the shield. This ‘shield counter-blast’ move is most definitely worth mastering (see it in action in the gif above).

    And when things get up close and personal, the shield can be used not just to avoid taking damage from an incoming melee attack, but to also temporarily stun the would-be assailant, giving you an opportunity to deliver a deadly riposte.

    5. Don’t let your Destroyer class weapon go hungry – FEED IT ENERGY!

    All the weapons are a whole heap of fun to use, but it’s the super-powered Destroyer class guns that are the deadliest. However, unlike the Primary class weapons, these heavy-duty bad boys drain Energy and won’t work if there’s not enough juice to power them.

    In order to keep Energy replenished and your Destroyer class weapon in business, you need to use your Melee class weapon – any enemies you slay with it release blue orbs of Energy which are absorbed by Therion. Get in the habit of constantly switching between using your Melee and Destroyer weapons – that way you’ll prevent your Energy from becoming fully depleted.

    And it’s not just enemies that release Energy when whacked – lights, crates, turrets, neon pink sacs of alien goo… if it can be destroyed with a sword, then it’ll leak Energy. So, if your Destroyer’s hungry and in need of an Energy boost, whip out your blade and get busy!

    6. Keep your ‘Clear Game’ save – Full Metal Mode is coming!

    When you beat Valfaris – yes, you can do it! – be sure to keep the ‘Clear Game’ save file. Why? Well, there’s a New Game+ mode called ‘Full Metal Mode’ currently in development that we’ll be releasing as a free update in the not-too-distant future and it will be automatically unlocked if you’ve already completed the game.

    In Full Metal Mode, all weapons, upgrades, and upgrade items are carried over, so you’ll be nicely equipped and powered-up right from the get-go. There will also be an additional Destroyer class weapon to eviscerate foes with. However, enemies and bosses will be tougher and more aggressive, and Therion will take more damage, so get ready for a challenge that’s even more metal i.e. prepare to die a lot all over again!

    Valfaris is available to download now from PlayStation Store. Have fun and keep it metal!

    Website: LINK