Immortal: Unchained
Preview
Dark Souls with guns
by Preston Dozsa
previewed on PC
DARK SOULS WITH GUNS
Toadman Interactive’s Immortal: Unchained revealed very little when it’s announcement trailer dropped in August. I had the opportunity to watch a developer play through a portion of the third-person RPG that showed off how the game plays and runs in its current state of development.
The easiest way to describe Immortal: Unchained would be to call it “Dark Souls with guns”. While comparing games to Dark Souls has been very much in vogue for the past few years, it is readily apparent that this game has been heavily influenced by the venerable series. Death happens quickly, with your character losing their accumulated resources unless they recover their body, checkpoint-like obelisks are used to level up by allocating skill points, there are dozens of weapons with their own parameters for use, and shortcuts which can be used to navigate levels easily. If you’ve played a Souls-like before, you know what to expect from this game.
COMBAT VARIETY
Shooting enemies is straightforward, as you quickly lock onto opponents and unleash a hail of bullets at them with a variety of guns, including high powered pistols and assault rifles. Weapons in each class can also differ wildly in their playstyle, such as the rifle the developer showcased that could fire more conventional rounds before switching to one that utilized plasma as ammunition instead. That being said, the enemy is more than glad to fire back with their own ranged weapons to even the playing field, as the developer was swiftly slaughtered several times over the course of the demo. And much like any Souls game, the enemy is frequently found hiding around corners and in hard to reach places, and considering the abundance of traps in the area that was shown, there will be plenty of difficult firefights in the game proper. Combat in Immortal: Unchained is not solely restricted to ranged weapons. The player has access to several different types of melee weapons, including a sword and a pair of maces, along with grenades and other consumable items. They are capable of dealing heavy damage, but more than once the developer was caught out and surrounded by enemies who had ample time to take shots at him.
Visually, the game uses a weird science fiction backdrop filled with jagged metal and strange electrical devices that glow in different colors. While little is known about the Immortal: Unchained’s universe and narrative, it’s premise revolves around a prisoner who is freed by a warden to try and help stop the end of the universe at the hands of an undead legion. Though I only saw one world in the demo, I was told that the game will feature several different planets that players will journey to.
BOSS FIGHTS
The demo ended with a classic boss fight, as a towering futuristic knight brought forth a shield that blocked most of the fire against him. The boss came with two different bars, one representing health and another indicating how close the boss was to being staggered, which will allow you to attack him without peril for a short time. From what I saw, the boss was rather difficult, as his shield soaked up a lot of damage and could unleash an instakill laser beam attack after it was planted in the ground. Victory was within grasp in one encounter, but a swift hit from the boss’ polearm ended that run and my hands off demo.
It’s too early to tell whether Immortal: Unchained will deliver on third-person shooting in a Souls-like format, but from what I saw, I am certainly interested in the world that Toadman Interactive have created. Immortal: Unchained is expecting to launch sometime in the first half of 2018.
