Borderlands and Bioshock Devs’ Secrets for Wartorn

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Stray Kite Studios, an assemblage of top-tier industry professionals, has just revealed their upcoming title, the intriguing Wartorn. This roguelike indie game, featuring squad-based strategy mechanics, promises to introduce a fresh and enticing fantasy intellectual property upon its launch.

Announced recently, the game titled “Warworn” is set for release in 2025. This will be the initial solo project from Stray Kite Studios, a team known for creating Fortnite minigames and transforming a Borderlands expansion into a full-fledged game. Although this is their first original production, they are far from inexperienced. In an interview with Game Rant, Paul Hellquist, who has previously worked as a senior designer on Borderlands and lead designer on Bioshock, discussed the unique fantasy setting of Warworn.

Wartorn’s World Of Talaur Explained

Making Talaur Unique

The freshly introduced fantasy realm of “War-torn” stands apart from the team’s past endeavors in titles like Borderlands. The unveiling trailer showcases a world that embodies its title, scarred by war and teeming with grotesque beasts. During an interview, Hellquist mentioned, “We aim to have more than 50 distinct types of squads for the early access period, which indicates a rich variety of units in the game.” Furthermore, Hellquist shared some intriguing details about War-torn’s universe that he finds fascinating.

I’m particularly proud of the central concept in our game, Wartorn, which is ‘Mantras.’ These are the unique philosophies followed by the people of Talaur, shaping their thoughts, actions, and even the combat mechanics within the game. Each Mantra offers a distinct perspective on the world, influencing not just their beliefs and behavior, but also determining their abilities in battle scenes. We strive to seamlessly integrate our storyline with our gameplay, and the Mantras serve as the bond linking those aspects of Wartorn.

The use of Mantras aligns well with immersive story-driven games like Bioshock, which members of Stray Kite have developed. Weaving philosophical perspectives into mechanical skills is an ingenious approach for a game that aims to explore its theme deeply, as it seamlessly connects narrative and mechanics. It’s common for a game’s central themes to inspire its most distinctive gameplay elements.

The Mantras system in Wartorn’s universe, as outlined by Hellquist, stands out as a key element in Talaur’s world creation. He discussed the narrative context, explaining that the game will center around assisting Yara and Elani on their voyage across Talaur to seek tranquility after their homeland is devastated, and reunite with their family who were dispersed due to war. This underscores the theme of Wartorn’s world being marked by conflict.

The Inspirations For Wartorn’s Talaur

I delved deep into the intricate details of the works that sparked the creativity of Talaur. Among these, Hellquist highlighted not only the masterpieces penned by Tolkien but also classic role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

In terms of epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings serves as a significant influence, offering grand inspiration for world-building and an epic sense of adventure. Similarly, we drew inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons in our approach to blending various creatures within our world’s society. It’s also essential to acknowledge Magic: The Gathering as a source of inspiration. I’ve been playing Magic for three decades now, and the game’s rich diversity in creature representations has always captivated me, particularly those less frequently seen in other fantasy franchises.

Magic: The Gathering is an unusual yet captivating influence worth noting, despite not being as frequently referenced as fantasy inspirations like The Lord of the Rings or Dungeons & Dragons. A game that takes inspiration from Magic’s distinctive and iconic creatures may introduce some innovative concepts to the digital gaming sphere.

Wartorn is coming soon to Early Access on PC.

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2025-01-19 20:05