We are finally ready to unveil something we’ve been dying to get into your hands for months: the newest addition to CotS’ class roster, the Duelist!
The Duelist is a martial-arts cowboy… assassin… Basically, she’s awesome: “The Duelist is a hybrid strength/dexterity class, and also a hybrid melee/ranged class. Armed with pistols and martial arts, she has abilities to dash in and out of melee, as well as abilities that function differently if your target is in melee or at range. This makes the Duelist a very flexible class, capable of setting the terms of the fight. However, as the name suggests, the Duelist does best when fighting a single target, so you can defeat enemy Duelists by sticking together and ganging up on them. When you manage to isolate your target, the Duelist is without question the deadliest class in the game. The core philosophy of the Duelist is that the best defense is a good offense, and if you can get an enemy in a one on one situation you will be able to use your mobility and disruptive offense to make short work of them. When building a Duelist, you will have to choose between mobility, disruption, or pure offensive power. Whether you want to focus on staying safe and faking out your opponent while you whittle them down or simply diving in and going for the throat, the Duelist is going to be adept at picking off fragile enemies.” Here are some of the moves you’ll unlock for her in the game: Dash: From range, move to the closest available space adjacent to the target. In melee, move to the opposite side of the target. In either case, deal damage to all enemies in your path (if the enemies are lined up, you can use this ability to dash through the entire line, dealing damage to all of them). (Cost: 2)
Flashbang: Toss a grenade at the target which explodes after 3 seconds, damagingall characters within 1 tile of the blast and reducing their damage by 50%. (Cost: 3)
Quick Shot: Deal bonus damage if you have moved within the past 5 seconds. (Cost: 1)
Roundhouse: Damage and knock back all adjacent characters. (Cost: 4)
Here’s an example of how those tie together:

• Dash (Move in on target, dealing damage while you do) >
• Quick Shot (you just moved, let’s use the opportunity!) >
• Roundhouse (Damage the opponent and get knock them out of range if they’re melee) >
• Flashbang (Deal damage and reduce their damage - let’s see them try to counterattack!)

All together, this advanced combo only costs 5 AP, and you’ve just closed the distance, hit them 4 times, knocked them out of melee range, and reduced their damage by 50%. The Duelist is fast and dangerous (and is my personal favorite of all the classes)! But don’t worry - the other classes have just as much up their sleeves. We’ll be rolling out the Duelist to Noble backers and higher for initial playtesting soon. I’ll be setting up a Beta channel on Steam where players can access a build with the Duelist and our updated UI. Once the Duelist has been thoroughly tested, we will roll her out for everyone to enjoy. In the meantime, if you'd like to get a small taste of how she plays, you can check out the demo we took to EGX at itch.io!

[ 2016-09-30 10:49:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Take part in a live, player-driven story as it unfolds over four chapters. Your choices, and the choices of every player, will drive a living tale of shifting alliances as you race to uncover the truth of the magical shroud that holds Iskendrun captive.

Choose Your Allies Wisely

Somewhere along the way, you made a huge mistake.

You got to the city. You bribed the customs agent to get in. You helped a poor, old haberdasher who was being robbed - the only decent thing to do, really - and then this monster from another dimension came out of nowhere.

It was already almost dead when you punched it and it fell over. You keep telling everyone that.

Except, now they’re calling you the Hero of Portals, the five most powerful people in the city are each clamoring for your allegiance, and just when you’re starting to think of leaving the city for good...

...a magical shroud descends around the city and traps everyone inside. Next thing you know, the place is devolving into civil war, there are monsters everywhere, and apparently, you’re the answer to everyone’s prayers.

Yeah, you definitely messed up somewhere.

Good luck.

Features

• The story is a living episodic campaign: in each chapter, every player's actions impact how the world, changing how the story unfolds for the entire community in the next chapter
  
• 4 chapters: each chapter is crafted based on the cumulative influence of every player's choices and actions from the previous episodes
  
• Real-time, combo-based battle system: think on your feet and chain your attacks together to defeat your opponents
  
• Play your way: an optional “Wait Mode” pauses the action while you enter combos, and you can choose to slow down or speed up the gameplay to suit your playstyle
  
• Multiple difficulty options let you choose between focusing on narrative and testing your tactical prowess
  
• Online PVP multiplayer
  
• Deep combo and stat system lets you customize your team to suit your playstyle
  
• A distinctive world, beautifully realized in 2D and 3D