Raiders of the Broken Planet

Mercury Steam, the Spanish indie studio known for the Castlevania: Lords of Shadows trilogy, has a new game in the works, the third person action-adventure game, Raiders of the Broken World. Now if you haven't heard of this game, don't feel bad, because neither did I, I was informed of this game by a friend of mine. The CBT was held this past weekend (5/13-5/14).

Upon playing I have to say that I was beyond pleasantly surprised by the game as whole. Though there were some bugs, but that's to be expected in a CBT, so it was something that could be overlooked for the time being. Upon playing you're placed into a level that works like a tutorial and has learn the basics of the game, while also giving you some awesome visuals (if there's a video floating around on the net, look for the tutorial elevator scene, it's epic!). Once you finish the tutorial you can then join in on the main game, which in this test was just one level.

In terms of gameplay as a whole, Raiders isn't anything new in concept, but is different in execution. Raiders does have the Evolve, 4vs1 mechanic, but rather than a solo playing a monster, they instead control the antagonist on the map, in the map they gave us in beta it was a floating head scientist. The team of 4 pick from a small roster of Raiders (the protagonists) and they must work together to achieve the mission's goal. The way the Raiders are handled remind me of a blend of Metal Gear Solid and a cover based shooter. Getting hit in this game hurts, a lot! You can easily be downed to 0 HP, which puts you into a state of vulnerability. While in this state you're movement speed is lowered as you limp around the battlefield and you're unable to shoot as well, your best decision is to get into cover and wait it out.

The mobs in the game have some actual threat to them as even with a good team. They will rush, flank, retreat, dynamically which makes strategy against them a requirement. This makes the transition of tasks a challenge that makes the team require good communication to complete. Raiders feels really polished even it's CBT state, which is very good thing. Whether you pass or fail the mission, you're graded on your performance. If you fail, you're left with a try again of sorts type of message; however, if you succeed in the mission you'll be taking to a rewards screen. Here there will be 4 choices, a weapon blueprint, and currencies. Players have the option to either pick one of the items, or multiple players can pick the same item and gamble on earning the items. Though be warned, if you lose you end up with nothing for that run, so keep in mind, if there's too many people running for the same item, that leaves others to pick up without any issue.

There's currently no release date for Raiders, nor is there much on the possible next CBT, but keep tuned for any updates and possible gameplay footage of Raiders of the Broken Planet.


Written by: Rashaad "FhaTe" Johnson