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War of Deities: Darkness Rises first impressions preview - "Legendary heroes you'll want to collect"

War of Deities: Darkness Rises first impressions preview - "Legendary heroes you'll want to collect"

East and West collide in War of Deities: Darkness Rises, an upcoming RPG I had the pleasure of playing during its limited beta test in the Philippines. The test only lasted for four days, but I did get a sense of what's cool (and what's not) about the game during its development phase - and yes, it does have potential.

Table of Contents:

THE STORY OF WAR OF DEITIES: DARKNESS RISES

The narrative here focuses on a mash-up of legendary characters from across the globe, and while I didn't get far enough into the storyline to get to the heart of the story, it did pique my interest just enough. Right off the bat, you're introduced to Joan of Arc, a hero you can immediately add to your roster after she chases a rampaging dragon in the opening cinematic.

The story begins in the Holy City of Aden, where La Hire encounters the famed guardian after being summoned by Merlin. They team up to drive away the Darkness for the moment, and at Joan's instruction, you set out to the Tavern to recruit more heroes to join your cause.

WAR OF DEITIES: DARKNESS RISES GAMEPLAY AND GRAPHICS

This is obviously where the gacha element comes in, as you can pull either fragments of a hero or the full character from the summons pool. I did feel like War of Deities: Darkness Rises was pretty generous with the in-game currency needed to summon heroes - a pro that will hopefully carry over to the official version.

While the gameplay here is typical of its genre - with the autofights, the formation-based strategies, and the usual character classes - what makes this title more interesting for me is its diverse roster of heroes to collect. You can have anyone from Morgan le Fey to the onmyoji Abe no Seimei in your party, and the character designs look gorgeous (as do the animations).

Skills are, unfortunately, a little too generic in my opinion, and you'll mostly create a team comp with your basic tanks or melee brawlers in front plus your healers and mages in the back row. It was also challenging to level up characters mainly because the breakthrough materials are pretty scarce. You might just find yourself stuck at a certain point during the main campaign because the enemies are too strong for you.

Thankfully, you can challenge the Elite Campaign to farm materials that'll help you progress. There's a little bit of a random element here too, as you'll tap on crystals to reveal either enemies or free spaces in search of a key to a stage's treasure chest. However, the materials earned here still feel insufficient to level up your heroes properly - at least, for the time being.

WHAT'S THE VERDICT?

Four days honestly isn't enough time to give the title a full verdict just yet, as I've only scratched the surface of the game's content. Still, based on what I've seen so far, I do think War of Deities: Darkness Rises has potential, mainly because I found the characters so interesting. I've always been guilty of falling for a game's visuals first and foremost, and at the risk of judging the book by its cover, I think Jade Interactive's new entry into the genre is worth giving a go.

By the way, you can also browse through the gallery to have a look at all the characters available in the game, plus score some in-game currency when you acquire specific characters. It was fun to read through the heroes' backstories and learn a little bit about different mythologies - plus, the characters and animation previews are simply eye-candy.

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Catherine Dellosa
Catherine Dellosa
Catherine plays video games for a living and writes because she’s in love with words. Her Young Adult contemporary novel, For The Win: The Not-So-Epic Quest Of A Non-Playable Character, is her third book published by Penguin Random House SEA - a poignant love letter to gamer geeks, mythological creatures, teenage heartbreak, and everything in between. She one day hopes to soar the skies as a superhero, but for now, she strongly believes in saving lives through her works in fiction. Check out her books at bit.ly/catherinedellosabooks, or follow her on FB/IG/Twitter at @thenoobwife.