Heroes of Ruin: Torchlight-esque dungeon crawler for 3DS releasing in early 2012
After days of nothing to go on save a teaser image and fragments of info, we now have in-game screenshots and a proper description for Heroes of Ruin:
“Heroes of Ruin challenges players to carve their own adventure, joining forces with other heroes through seamless drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer or venturing forth alone. Players will enter an ever-changing world where danger waits around every corner.
Heroes can explore and fight through wild, varied and dynamic environments, discovering new layouts and routes each time they play. Packed with strange and deadly creatures, these dangerous lands will stretch players’ combat and tactical skills as they enhance their character, collecting loot, weapons and armour to empower them on their quest.”
Developed by n-Space (Geist, Call of Duty DS games), Heroes of Ruin is set to ship in early 2012 for Nintendo 3DS. The action RPG is “custom built” for the system and has been in development for six months now.
Along with its online voice chat and drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer support for up to four players, the title has StreetPass and SpotPass features:
“Heroes of Ruin uses StreetPass to create an inventive in-game ‘Traders’ Network’ where players can buy and sell rare and powerful items picked up in battle. With an ever-changing inventory updated from each player passed in public, character strengths and abilities can be greatly enhanced through accessing items from other players’ games.
Outside of the game, Heroes of Ruin makes use of SpotPass to reward players with rare one-off items or unique challenges through local wi-fi hotspots. The official Heroes of Ruin community website will reward players further with daily challenges and quests available to complete in-game. With social media functionality, the site will also give players a platform to meet other gamers, swap ideas and items and team-up in-game.”
The battles in Heroes of Ruin are all real-time, though n-Space told IGN that “the combat experience” will be different if players team up with other heroes. The studio adds, “There is a wide range of enemies and they attack with several different behaviors which include ranged attacking from snipers, unblockable attacks from hulking beasts, and evasive and fencing attack behaviors. ”
I was a little worried that this would turn out to be yet another Monster Hunter clone, but the visual style and focus on loot is more reminiscent of Runic Games’ Torchlight, the acclaimed Diablo-esque dungeon crawler that doesn’t really have many handheld equivalents.
Publisher Square Enix will launch the Heroes of Ruin’s full site in June, so we’ll likely see a lot more media once that’s up – I expect we’ll see more at E3 next week, too!
Preorder: Heroes of Ruin
Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more
See also: More Heroes of Ruin posts
[Via IGN]
