GearBox Software’s highly anticipated first person team shooter Battleborn heads into 2016 by giving a sneak peek at two brand new characters. IGN has been given first look at the two newest characters and both will be available on the game’s launch date of May 3.
Introduced first is Ghalt, the first member of the 25 Battleborn characters and a very essential part to the story. Ghalt is military veteran, and a member of the Peacekeepers (alongside the characters Montana and Oscar Mike).
The story of Battleborn revolves around a mysterious enemy destroying all the stars in the solar system. Fed up with nothing being done about the unknown menace, Ghalt pulls his resources together to create a group to combat the threat. Through favors and respect from his long tenure in the military he is key for rallying the eclectic group of heroes we will see in Battleborn.
In gameplay Ghalt is extremely powerful at short range and also equipped with several crowd controlling abilities which allow for traps and stuns. His primary weapon is a shotgun and his ultimate ability allows him to equip an additional shotgun for 10 seconds, doubling his damage output.
Next up is Deande, the Jennerit Spymaster. Some Jennerit undergo the process of Sustainment, which makes them unable to die of natural causes. Those who undergo the process can still be killed however. Deande is one of those who has been Sustained and has served as Spymaster for 1,000 years.
Her story very much fits the spy archetype. Lord Commander Lothar Rendain (seen as a villain in previous Battleborn trailers) has overthrown the Jennerit Empress and allied himself with the unknown star killers. Deande joins up with Ghalt, and secretly plots against Rendain all while staying undercover.
Deande also plays very much like a stealth/deception character. Deande will have the ability to cloak and make clones of herself to fight alongside. Uncloaking and immediately striking will add additional damage. Her ultimate ability sees her throwing 10 strikes in one direction which stun and deal 50 damage each.
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Battleborn launches on May 3, 2016 for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Players will start the game with seven players unlocked and will unlock additional characters as the story progresses. Creative Director Randy Varnell says that both Ghalt and Deande “are central to the story mission” and “will unlock later on”.
“We want you to encounter them first interacting with you about the story, then later you get to unlock them and make them your own. These are characters that are extremely central to the plot of the game.”
The last revealed character was shown at Playstation Experience earlier this month named Toby.
For those looking for more information, as well as videos depicting these characters in action are encouraged to head to IGN.