Canadian developer Rogue Factor is set to bring forth its first ever game, the Warhammer Fantasy-based game Mordheim: City of the Damned, and eager fans of this cult classic IP will have the chance to sample it when it arrives on Steam Early Access this month.
Mordheim: City of the Damned is a turn-based tactical adaptation of the identically titled tabletop game published by Games Workshop way back in 1999. A variant of the Warhammer Fantasy game, Mordheim featured smaller armies instead of huge ones, presenting a more focused, tactical style.
Rogue Factor have been adamant that City of the Damned is every bit as hardcore as the tabletop original. Players select a faction to play as, such as the Sisters of Sigmar, Possessed, Skaven and Mercenaries, and do battle with small, skirmish-sized warbands. Units can be customized with varying equipment and leveled up as they win more battles, but in true hardcore fashion, those units you’ve gotten close to and spent time upgrading can just as easily be killed in battle, where they will be lost forever and ever, amen. Units that sustain damage in battle but survive might even lose a limb or two.
There’s a lot of emphasis on environmental awareness. No, not the kind where you don’t litter buy organic products; the kind where you exploit buildings, ruins and street layouts for tactical advantages and adopt unconventional strategies to surprise your foes. Rogue Factor are also twisting things up a little by throwing in procedurally generated levels that surround the game world’s more notable locations.
With the help of publisher Focus Home Interactive, Rogue Factor are bringing City of the Damned to Early Access so that fans can aid in some final bug fixes and balancing tweaks. No definitive date for this has been announced, but entering your email address on the official website ensures that you’ll be notified the nanosecond the game goes up on Steam.
Mordheim: City of the Damned should be due for a full release before the year is over.